Sephtis

43. Disbelief.

(Hello, to the readers from Jordan and India. So happy y'all have found my story. Hope you are enjoying everything so far.)

As the night nears its end, and Ayra and the other women cook the feast, I sit with Eleutheros on the edge of the cow pasture and tell him of the new thing that weighs on my heart.

"Ayra thinks I am the honored daughter of a king." I say. "Does she know that I was hated by the king's people, and the king himself? Does she know that they think I am evil, and that dangerous spirits lurk in my heart?"

"No. They know nothing of you, save what you and I have said today. I have told them nothing, except that you are from my pledge village, and that I favor you."

He puts his hand to my cheek, his touch gentle against my skin, turning my face towards him.

"My father thinks you are a suitable wife for me. He says there is a great strength in you, and that you shall soon tame me, and will be a great addition to the family, and too the village." 

"I would never tame a wolf, let alone a man," I say.

"But, you already have. You have completely, and utterly enslaved me." 

His lips are hot against my own, and taste of berries and sugar. A long time he kisses me, and he lies me on the grass with him, holding me so close. As if he fears to lose me. He strokes my hair, his other hand wandering down, and I hold it in my own to keep it safe against my stomach.

"Do you mind," I say, rising on my bent elbow to look down at him, "if we don't tell them of the wolves?"

"Have you forsworn them?" he asks curiously.

"No! Not for as long as I live...but, I like your people here, and I do not want to give them reason to be suspicious of me."

Eleutheros sighs, raising his had to run his thumb along my lower lip, his eyes following it from one corner to another. 

"They will not be suspicious of you, my heart," he replies. "They like you well. So is there a chance?"

"A chance for what?"

"Marriage, Sephtis. Will you be mine?"

"I think not, my heart is still elsewhere." I say.

"Then I shall have to change my methods of wooing you, wolf-woman."  

The fading moonlight reflects in his eyes, and they shine with a wicked gleam. Suddenly he growls, and bares his teeth, and throws himself on me. He licks my face and neck, and I am laughing so much I barely have the strength to push him off me. But I do, and he lies beside me, whining and howling so loudly that people come out of the houses to see what is happening, and the cows gallop away in terror. I cover his mouth with my hand, and he bites it softly. I think of Amitz, and sorrow washes over me.

I lay my head on Eleutheros' chest and we watch the first rays of the sun snake into a colorless sky, his fingers move slowly in my hair.

"You are strange, wolf-woman," he says quietly, sighing.

As we go back to the house I hear a sound that I have longed to hear all night: it is the howling of a wolf.

"It is my kinsman, Kavah." I say, turning to look up at Eleutheros.

"Is that so?" he says with a laugh, yet his eyes hold curiosity, and something else, something darker, lurking in their depths. My heart stutters before he continues to talk, but I cant help but think of how his eyes remind me so much of the one who terrorized my waking and sleeping hours of seasons past.

"What is your kinsman telling you?" His voice clears away the memories of blazing red hair and blood, so much blood...

I shake my head softly and smile at him, "he says that a lone man travels through the borders of his home, and is following the stream to this place. He says he shall be here before the sun is over the trees."

Eleutheros shakes his head in disbelief, laughing as he slings his arm about my shoulders as we enter into  his home. But our feast has hardly begun, and the plump sun barely in the sky, when a lone Fae arrives.