I felt bad when the girls decided that we should wait to see the area for another day. I felt like it was all my fault. And, in a way, it was.
During breakfast, my entire body ached. It was sore, as if I had just ran a hundred miles without a break. I felt woozy, barely able to stay sitting upright in my chair. After the Huntsman had touched me, it all went away. I had thought that it was just a coincidence, but apparently, there was more to it than I had imagined.
Because, before we even made it to the first store, I had collapsed. I don't remember much about what happened, just that I had been walking, then was lightheaded. The world around me began to spin before I felt my head connect with the ground beneath me.
I woke up in the same room that I had been in since the Huntsman took me away from the castle. I woke up, foggy headed, but my pain was gone. I felt fine. It was as if nothing had happened to me.
Sitting up, I perched on the edge of the bed, waiting to be sure that I was stable. When no dizziness or wooziness came, I eased myself off, walking towards the closet. I jumped when I heard his voice, startled by the unexpected presence in the room.
"You really should stay in bed."
I turned to face the Huntsman, hand on my heard. He was sitting in the green stuffed chair that sat in the back corner of the room, basking in the glow of the mid-morning sun. He looked tired, as if he hadn't slept in days. His beard had grown out slightly, being more than just a simple morning shadow. His clothes were wrinkled, as if he had been sleeping in them.
"What are you doing here?" I asked finally, once I had recovered my voice, and my heart steadied to a regular rhythm.
He ran a hand over his face, and I noticed the purplish blue bags under his eyes. He definitely had not been sleeping well. "You fainted when you were on your way to town a few days ago. I wanted to make sure that you were alright."
"A few days?" I wondered how long I had been out. Surely it couldn't have been a few days.
He nodded. "About a week ago, now. You were starting to worry us all. You were only waking up for a few minutes at a time, barely long enough for Ina to give you something to keep you from becoming malnourished."
"A week?" I let myself fall on the bed. "It couldn't have been a week. I would have known...I would have..."
"Your body needed to rest. You went through a lot of pain, and your body had to recover from it."
I eyed him cautiously. "How did you know about the pain? I didn't tell anyone."
He sighed, kneeling in front of me. "I went through it too. When you were asking me if I was alright that day at breakfast, I was trying my hardest to keep from touching you, keep from somehow getting too close to you. When you left with Ina...."
I couldn't help but feel bad for him. I studied his face, taking in the bags under his eyes and the paleness of his skin, realizing then that he truly was suffering as much, if not more, than I was.
I felt a slow burn start to make its way from the center of my chest, branching out to fill all of it before moving down my ribs to my stomach. Being this close to him and not touching him was killing me. I needed to feel him, even in the most innocent of ways. Carefully, I laid my palm on the side of his face, sighing in contentment as he leaned into my hand, covering it with his.
"Why do we feel this way?" My voice was barely a whisper, as I allowed the fire to die down inside of me.
He sighed again. "Have you ever heard of Perfects?"
I nodded. "My parents were Perfects. At least, that's what my mother told me."
"What else did she say?"
I tried to recall the memories of my conversations with my mother. "The Fates brought them together by chance, that they went to the Queens to be sure."
He nodded. "I spoke with Wolfsbane. He said that this, these things that we are feeling, it's the Bonding. We're not sure how it began, especially since we've only been near each other for a weeks time, but it happened."
"The more intense the fire becomes, the closer it is to the end." I recited from memory, the words that my mother spoke to me just before she passed away.
"Exactly." He took both my hands in his, interlacing our fingers. "I haven't left this room since you were brought back from town. Being away, the burn is so bad. I can't stand it. Though I haven't touched you, being near you quenches the pain enough that I can stand it."
I shook my head, tears pricking my eyes. "I'm sorry that I've caused you so much pain. I didn't know what was happening, I didn't know that I could stop it."
He wiped the tears from my eyes. "It wasn't your fault. Neither of us knew what was happening. There was no way that we could have prepared for it."
"What do we do now? To complete the Bond."
He was silent for some time. When I looked up, I found him staring at my lips, an unusual expression on his face. When he finally spoke, his voice was raspy and rough. "There is one last thing to do," he brushed the pad of his thumb across my bottom lip. "But, we won't think of that until you're ready."
I knew what he was saying. The final kiss was such an innocent task, and yet it brought a heavy weight with it. There were two choices that I could pick from, and yet it was a choice that I didn't want to make. I could wait for the kiss, and let us both live in agonizing pain when we're apart, or I could have the kiss now, and run the risk of not being ready to be Bonded, or for the Huntsman not being the One like we thought.
"I think that we should talk to the Queens," I said finally. "And then we'll decide."
He nodded, squeezing my hands a little. "I agree. We should see what they say, and then you can make your choice."
"No," I said firmly, shaking my head. "I'm not going to be the only one who decides this. We will decide. Together."
4
