I could feel him watching me.
After our meeting with the Queens, he said that he had a surprise for me.
I was never one for surprises.
I huffed as he tied the strip of dark fabric around my eyes. Crossing my arms over my chest.
"Something, wrong?" He asked, feigning ignorance.
"I don't understand why this is necessary," I replied, pausing when a strand of my hair got stuck in the knot he was tying. "Ow!"
"Sorry, love." He murmured, quickly releasing the hair from the knot.
"Anyways, you know that I don't like surprises."
"And I will never understand why."
I thought about that for a moment. "Well, what if I don't end up liking whatever the surprise is. Then, I'll have to pretend to like it."
He chuckled slightly. "And, why would you have to pretend? Why can't you just be honest and tell me that you don't like it?"
"Because, that would hurt your feelings."
"How do you know that it would hurt my feelings?"
I raised an eyebrow under the fabric covering my eyes. "Why do you keep asking me questions?"
"Why are you answering my questions with questions?"
I sighed, letting my arms fall to my sides. "You're not going to stop until I agree to this, are you?"
"Well, you already have the blindfold on, so you don't really have a choice but to go with it."
I put my hand out. "Lead the way."
We walked for a few minutes, stopping occasionally so he could help me cross a small stream or a fallen log. Sooner than I expected, though, we stopped walking entirely. He took both my hands in his, standing in front of me. I expected him to take off the blindfold as soon as we got to wherever it was that we were, and was a little surprised when he didn't.
"Do you remember the day that I took you?" I nodded silently, but he went on as if he hadn't seen my acknowledgement. "You had said that you loved the clearing, that it was one of the last things that you had left of your mother."
"So? What does that have to do with the surprise?" I didn't mean for my words to come up as harsh as they did, but I wasn't prepared for the onslaught of emotions that I had felt when he brought up my mother.
"I've felt....horrible....since the day that I took you from the castle. Since then, I've been wracking my brain, trying to figure out a way that I could give you the clearing back."
"You don't have to feel bad," I tried to reassure him. "I understand why you had to do what you did."
"It doesn't matter why I had to do it." I imagined him shaking his head then, as he usually did when I disagreed with him. He moved behind me. "Anyways, I hope this makes up for it."
When the fabric was finally moved away from my eyes, I gasped as what surrounded me.
A large circular area of the woods had been cleared, nothing left of the trees and shrubs I'm sure had been there besides a few stool-height stumps scattered around the patch. There was thick, braided rope hung from tree to tree, just above head-level, jar-like lanterns hanging from them. The lighting was mimicked at ground level also, the smaller jars being hung by thick twine strung from the branches of the shrubs, bushes, and saplings. The light from the candles in the lanterns cast eerily romantic shadows along the ground, seemingly dancing in the breeze.
I turned to him, finding him watching me, gauging my reaction. If the gesture itself wasn't enough, his hesitancy would have done me in. I hadn't realized that I was crying until he quickly brushed away a few stray tears from my face, concern and sadness covering his features.
"Do you not like it? I'm sorry, I can change it. Just tell me what you want, and I'll find it." He quickly rushed through his anxious apology, tripping over his words a bit.
I took his face in my hands, silencing him instantly. "I'm not crying because I don't like it."
Confusion became prominent on his face. I almost laughed when his thick eyebrows furrowed. "Then, why are you crying?"
"Because I like it."
He gave me a blank stare. "I'm confused."
I laughed a little, wiping away a few more tears that had escaped. "No one has ever put this much effort into....anything....for me. I love it, because you put so much thought into it. It's beautiful, and it's perfect."
"So, you really like it?" I nodded. "You're not just saying that you like it to spare my feelings?"
I shook my head. "No, I'm not. I truly like it."
He breathed a sigh of relief as a smile took over his face. "Good. Tomorrow, when the sun is out, I'll show you how to get here from the house. That way, if you ever want to escape for a bit, you can."
It was my turn for confusion. "But, I'm staying at Wolfsbane and Ina's. The walk from there to your home is over an hour."
His smile got bigger. "This was only part one of the surprise."
He took my hand, and without another word we were making our way back to his hut. I felt giddy inside, excited. I didn't understand why he suddenly cared so much about me, or why he was doing nice things for me, like surprising me with the new clearing. But, to say that I wasn't enjoying it would be a lie. He had been so cold towards me, and now that he was showing some emotion, I was enjoying it.
When we got to the house, he stopped just outside the front door, turning to me. "You don't need the blindfold for this one, but you have to keep your eyes closed."
I rolled my eyes. "Nothing is ever easy with you, is it?"
He stood there, not saying anything, waiting patiently. With a sigh, I not only closed my eyes, but put my hands over them too. I heard him walk behind me before he covered my hands with his own, pulling me slightly closer to him.
"My hands weren't good enough?" I asked jokingly.
I felt him shrug. "This ensures no peeking. Are you ready?"
I nodded, and he nudged me forward. It was a straight shot from the door to where we were going, which was strange because his living room wasn't as big as it felt walking through it. When we stopped, he uncovered my eyes. In front of me was a door I didn't recognize, the brass handle still shiny from only being used a few times.
I looked at him, and he smiled. "Go ahead, open it."
Da94
