The Bride Rite: Sea of Trees

A Life for a Life

"Surely there is something that you want?" he asked incredulously his eyes roaming the contours of my face.

At home when people would stare I'd feel a prickling on the back of my neck, the unease of attention that was not kind or wanted. The way I would find Aeron hanging on my every movement in a crowded space. The sight of eyes in a window I'd pass. This was, different. There was no cruel judgment, no pregnant stare of condemnation or leering want. Fenix truly seemed at a loss for me. Like I was a puzzle he so desperately wanted to take apart and analyze to learn its mysteries.

I felt pity for him, that he was so unaccustomed to kindness. That's how I had felt when Ida had befriended me. The kindness she would shed on my life for no reason other than she liked me and wanted to be my friend. There was a part of me that said that I wanted more than that from this man but I silenced it. He was a Fae, a dangerous unknown, even if his touches pebbled my skin and brought warmth to my heart this was not something that I should even entertain. I didn't even know him, any questions about him or his past had led to him deflecting and asking more about my life.

I turned my head away from him intent to stare into the flames, there were things that I wanted. I wanted the bakery, I wanted Aeron to leave Asura and never come back. Yet, even though at this point trusted (probably foolishly) Fenix not to kill me I couldn't say that about others. I knew he was a man of violence, he'd shown it, he'd spoken of it, and I hadn't saved his life to end the life of someone else.

"Speak little fox," His words came with a growl, making my nose wrinkle. There it was, his commanding tone, he'd lost it for a while but now it was back again. Joy.

"How original, first red animal you could think of?" I grumbled, yanking on a curl of loose hair. I felt the intense need to restrain it, to hide it away but he was quicker, pulling up onto his knees, leaning over to push my hair gently behind my ears in an affectionate way I wasn't used to. In a way that seemed impulsive to him since when he finished he sat back down quickly and put his hands in his lap.

"The red hair is fitting but no, it's your personality. Now, tell me what you want," He demanded, not bothering to explain what about my personality reminded him of the animal. I wondered if it was a good thing or a bad thing. He said it with affection, the cracking of his cold demeanor and shield.

"I-" The words stuck in my throat. There was something I needed desperately, even more than the bakery or how to get rid of Aeron. Even though Fenix called me human, there was still that nagging at the back of my mind, that persistent thought about the branding. His arrival had been a distraction but now that he wasn't on the verge of death and things had calmed down my brain had no reason to shut down my intrusive thoughts. My worries bubbling to the surface.

Reaching down I picked the loaf of honeyed bread from next to the fire where it had been warming, ripping off a healthy section of it before handing it to him, pulling the pouch of winter berries free from my satchel and showing him "You should try the bread with the berries," I instructed plucking a few for myself and popping them into my mouth.

"That's not how this works," he said brows scrunched together, but taking the bread nonetheless. "You have to pick something," he demanded.

"I need you to take my dress off," I whispered pulling my knees to my chest again, my pale cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"Oh?" his face was impossible to read, his stony expression making things worse than they were, "I was not offering sexual favors, Adelaide..." He paused, biting his full bottom lip before giving a curt nod. "If that would make you happy, I would not be opposed." It might have been my imagination but for a moment I think I registered a pleased smile twitching at the corner of his lips and a mischievous twinkle in his jade eyes.