Chapter3

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Chapter 3

Blaine walked down the path to Elizabeth's crudely built shack, or Beth as he called her. It was known as a farmhouse in these parts, but it was a shack for lack of a better word. It had a thatch roof and creaky wood floors, it was a shelter at the bare minimum. She deserved better, but she made do. He made sure of it. Ever since he met her in the meadow seven years ago, he knew he would do what it took to keep her safe. Keep the world from destroying her like it does so many.

He ensured her safety by patching the roof, fixing the rotting boards, and remounting the windows...all when Beth was out. She often didn't even know that she needed these things done. Oblivious to the idea he cared for her in any way outside of just popping by for a visit. It was his way of keeping her safe without having too many questions asked. If she did know, she never mentioned it. He knew she would. She was very independent, just like her father, or what he remembered of him.

Blaine had a flashback to meeting her father for the first time. Elizabeth had found him in the meadow, beaten and bloody. Although she was poking him with a stick at the time, he knew there was something about her. When she threw him on her horse and took him to her father for healing and told him about her dreams, he knew she was special.

Her father had even said as much as he healed his wounds, even some that he didn't want healed. His magic had given him a concussion for him to forget key elements of why he was there but her father had brought some of his mission back to light. Simple things, like his true name, Josephine, the Order, and the warning that Josephine gave him.

Her father knew immediately that he was not of this realm thanks to the magic that ran through his healing veins. Sensing his dark magic, Chapel sent Elizabeth to get him some lavender for a rub . When she left the room, he made me promise to protect his girl from the magic that was coming.

Blaine felt responsible for her ever since. When her father passed, that feeling grew tenfold.

Since her stability had been compromised and she had been removed from the Manson estate by her stepmother, Nadia, who diminished Beth's savings quickly, was quick to dismiss him along with her stepdaughter. It angered him that he could do nothing to help her besides small things. Nadia forced Beth to live like a common whore just to survive, and it never sat right with Blaine. But what could he do without blowing his cover.

So he watched as she worked long shifts at the local Tavern, doing whatever she could just to provide for herself. Sometimes that meant spending the night with a less than appealing male, and other nights she did well on drunken tips and spare change she found left on tabletops at the end of her long shifts.

When she had saved enough, he helped her pack her belongings up from her humble abode above the Tavern and transport them to this small farmhouse off the beaten path. Away from it all, but still close enough to town that she could easily sell the goods she grew in her garden and he could visit from a nearby farm where he helped the old man Forrow with his horses while training for knighthood.

When her stepmother passed away leaving the estate to Beth's aunt, Laila, and her five kids...hellions who set out to destroy the place. They left the estate in ruin. If they hadn't she could have returned to her father's estate. He knew how much she wanted to. However, after hearing the rumors of that family and their shenanigans, she was too scared to return to see what devastation she would face. Instead, she chose to continue to live happily in her old, wooden two-room shanty less than a mile from town. He couldn't blame her for it.

Blaine reached his destination after a short walk from town after his fight training was complete, eager to see Beth. Today was a special day.

As he stood outside Beth's shanty, he looked through the crack in the door that he had told her multiple times to get patched. It was an issue that would be too obvious for him to fix. She never listened to him, and he had never been happier that she hadn't. It gave him easy access to watch her admire herself in the mirror, without his notice. He wasn't a creep, he just so rarely caught her off guard. It was when she was the most beautiful. She wasn't trying.

Her mousy brown hair was free flowing like always and she had that cute, scrunched face he knew so well. Sadly, he knew what that meant. She wasn't admiring herself, but scrutinizing herself. He hated when she did that. She was beautiful inside and out. She didn't see it.

His heart broke a little, he's always held a soft spot for her. Growing up together would do that. He'd seen her at her chubby stage, and now as she became a woman, he had the joy of watching the flower bloom as they say. She was now not much taller, maybe five foot three but she had slimmed up significantly and was curvy in all the right places.

Blaine has always been the brother and protector that she had never had, but always needed. But before last year, if you would have asked him how he viewed Miss Elizabeth Manson, he would have responded that he had merely seen her as his younger sister. If you asked him today, he would respond that recently something had changed. He wanted more with her.

Although she was three years younger than him, he couldn't help but see her in a different light. The dedication he once made to protect her out of desperation to keep her alive had turned into an all encompassing need which was slowly becoming more problematic. He was starting to get envious of men she hung around with, even if they meant nothing. He looked for reasons to spend time with her outside of helping around her house. He was falling in love, he knew it to be true. Unrequited though, he knew it had to be this way. She was not destined for him.

After gathering his nerves about what he was about to do, he halted before he knocked. He knew it was necessary for Beth to fulfill the prophecy. But that didn't mean he particularly liked it, or what it meant for her. Josephine had told him to seek the girl with hair the color of moonlight and stars in her eyes. Elizabeth did not meet that description, but something told him she would in the right circumstances. If he was right, the necklace would change everything.

He reached his hand up with a heavy sigh and knocked on the frame surrounding the door. He feared the door itself wouldn't withstand the pounding of his knock and would crash down taking walls and half the shanty with it.

Knowing that Beth was expecting him, he threw open the door and waltzed in like he owned the place without an answer. He found her covering up the mirror in a frenzy. Curse Nadia for making her believe she was vain for wanting to admire her beauty. He could admire her all day. Nobody would blame her if she wanted to admire herself all day too.

"Hey Blaine," she said in a soft chirp as she turned around and dusted the dirt off the front of her slate blue dress. She met his deep brown eyes with her golden amber irises. They made him think of honey. Sweet, sweet honey.                      

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