𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴, 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘪𝘦𝘴

The Next Plan (part 2)

"Hilda?" Lena's voice woke me. "Oh, sorry."

I raised my head from Wymond's chest and looked up at my sister: a spitting image of me, just with blue in her green eyes, rather than yellow and Mother's face shape, rather Father's.

"Had fun?" I teased.

The rest of the group laughed and I allowed myself to grin.

"Fuck you." She said. "What are we doing now?"

"How long was I asleep for?" I turned to Wymond and clutched his had.

"Not long. Lena woke you up just as you drifted off I think."

"Let's eat then." I said, feeling peckish all of a sudden.

"Great idea." Kamden said, reaching into one of the bags to get out the remaining food that we had not yet unpacked.

***

After we had eaten our full, we tried to come up with a plan: what we could do and who would do what. After what felt like hours of talking with some arguments mixed in, we had made a final decision.

"Is everyone all right with that?" Kamden asked as we began packing up.

"I think we have to be now." I replied, smiling up to him and steeling my face in order to become presentable to Mother.

"We can do this." Lena said as she quickly grabbed my head and squeezed it before striding up to Kamden to place a confident kiss on his cheek.

I turned away and grabbed Storms bridle. Wymond's hand then came around my waist and he mumbled in my ear.

"Even if you are with child, I will treat them as my own. I will be the only father they know and-"

I cut him off by kissing him. "Don't." I whispered. "Just focus on what we have to do for now."

***

Wymond watched Hilda in front with her sister, their brown hair flying behind them in the wind. He tried to put himself in his wife's shoes and realized that what they were doing would end all of these secret meetings and they would be finally happy.

They made it to the castle boundary and the girls slipped off their horses and turned. The Hunters did the same and flew into each of their lovers arms.

"I love you." Hilda whispered into Wymond's ear.

***

As we made our way to the castle, I felt the weight fall on my shoulders again.

"Girls!" Mother's scream came as we untacked the horses. "Whatever have you been doing all day?"

We didn't realize it had gotten so late and we exchanged glances from over Storm's neck.

"We were enjoying the peace, Mother." I said. "Get away from all this." I added, waving my hands towards our home.

"Whatever do you need to get away from?" Mother said shortly.

I shook my head and came up with a lie. "Ferox is out today and I was missing him so I turned to Lena to take my mind of things."

"Oh!" Mother sighed and her face relaxed from her scowl to a smile. "Bless you! You really must love him."

Relieved that my lie worked, I accepted to have supper with my family. Lena seemed distant all through the meal so I captured a moment with her before I left.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Tell me." I added when she turned her eyes down.

"Kamden." She whispered, colour rising in her cheeks.

I tried to hide my smirk but obviously failed because Lena slapped my arm.

"It's not funny - I'm in love! What is it with us finding people who are forbidden to us? I mean, this is completely against the rules!"

I raised my eyebrows at her.

"But I do enjoy it." She said with a giggle and a cheeky smile.

"Good," I said, " because we're about to be doing an awful lot more of breaking the rules."

With that, I placed a quick kiss on her cheek and said my goodbyes.