Unleashed

Chapter Thirteen: Vineyard

Mila

"Can you smell that?" I asked Lir during our walk through the fields, after I caught a whiff of something divine lifting with the breeze.

He sniffed in the air. "Pine trees?"

"No." I shook my head. "I mean, yeah, I smell the pines too, but..." I inhaled deeply. "Also something else, something sweet., like honey, but not exactly."

"Honey? No, I don't smell honey."

"Not exactly like honey, just like..." I sniffed again. "Ugh, I don't know."

I couldn't explain the fragrance using words. How could I explain and compare a scent that I had never smelled before and was unlike any other scents?

"I don't smell a thing, except pine trees," Lir replied.

A yawn escaped my mouth. "Maybe it's just my lack of sleep. I'm even starting to detect things that aren't there."

I had told Lir about my possible upcoming marriage this morning. The moment I looked into his eyes when he opened the door—after I banged on it at six in the morning—I burst out into tears. He then tried to comfort me all morning, telling me why Felix was a good catch, but he failed, for no words could comfort me. I was just so disappointed in my uncle.

"Maybe you can ask Rebecca to help you? She can talk to Darius: tell him you should be able to marry out of love. Maybe he'll listen to her?"

"He won't listen anyway," I replied. "He thinks this is for my own good."

He said he acted on my behalf, that it was for my happiness. But how could he not even have bothered to ask me what I wanted? Instead, he threatened to force me to agree if I wouldn't say yes voluntarily.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Lir shouted, snapping me from my thoughts.

"Oh. Shit, I must be really sleepy." I had started down another path, one that we usually never walked.

"Actually, let's go that way. I'm in an adventurous mood today!" He ran towards me and hooked his arm through mine. "Or do you want to go home to sleep?"

"Ugh, please, no. I don't want to be around Darius right now."

***

"Is this the one?" Lir asked. He'd picked another kind of flower and pushed the thing underneath my nose.

"No, that's not the one either," I replied after I sniffed at its petals.

We were trying to find out what caused the sweet scent I detected. First, my nose only caught it when the wind was blowing the right way, but now it was present the whole time. It only became stronger and stronger while we explored these new places of nature.

It was beautiful here. The view was amazing. We could see Liandro in the distance, with all its white villas and huge pillars that pointed to the sky.

"Then this one?" He held a blue flower in front of me this time.

"No, it smells sweet, but it's not the same."

"Okay, that's it. I give up."

"But..." I grabbed his chin and twisted his head. "What's more interesting is that. What the fuck is that?" I asked after my eyes had landed on something else than the town of Liandro.

In the far distance, up the hill, was a huge palisade made of tree trunks that were aligned vertically. Why was there a wooden wall made of pointy, thick stakes in the middle of nature? I had never seen it before.

"Wow," Lir replied. "Let's look."

We ran towards it and took a moment to catch our breaths when we arrived at the top.