One for Kami

One for Kami

By Charlene A. Wilson

Chapter One

Kami's blouse bunched up her back as she slid down the wide oak's trunk. She cringed as aged bark grazed her skin and snagged her hair until her bottom hit the ground. She folded her knees to her chest, buried her face in her arms, and welcomed the sharp pangs. Hurting Ian pained her more than anything she'd done in her life.

Autumn leaves crunched as he paced the woodland's small clearing. Each stride matched two beats of her heart and crushed the sweet memories of their grove. Dust scented the air as he shuffled through a turn.

"Why are you just now telling me this?" His breath hitched, and he cleared his throat.

Words wouldn't form as Kami lifted her gaze.

His hazel eyes shifted to the shadows of the young birch trees as he set his hands at his waist. A cloud of insects drifted through the pale trunks. Soft hums filled the air as they paused.

He ran his hand across his jaw and looked back at her. "You know I love you, Kami."

Tears seeped beneath her lids, and she blinked to relieve the burn. "I need to be the only one, Ian. I can't know you might love someone else more than me when you choose another wife."

She stared at the thick roots that surrounded her and then traced the curve of one nearby with her fingertip. They wove into the caramel-colored ground, creating a perfect lounge for two lovers in an embrace. How many times had they sat there and shared their secrets, their love? How many times had he told her she was the one? She cursed the fact that she had been gullible enough to believe it could be true.

Kami forced her voice through her tight throat. "When I first saw you, you were playing in the park with that scruffy little dog. Its hair was so long and matted, I thought you couldn't afford to pay a groomer. I thought that sock with the knot in it was all you could come up with to be his toy."

His gaze dropped to the ground. "That stray lives at the park, and I removed my sock to have some fun with him."

"I know that now. But then I assumed you were poor. And after the third date of peanut butter sandwich picnics by the river, I thought I knew for certain. I mean, who could love peanut butter that much? And what member of the elite class chooses such a simple activity for a date?"

She scanned his solemn countenance. His love of nature was one of the things she adored about him, alongside the fact that he didn't feel the need to flaunt his wealth. But to keep such a fact from her under the circumstances… "I fell in love with you, believing you would make me the one choice you were allowed as a member of the lower class."

A gust of wind lifted his black hair to dance around his face. The cheery motion seemed to mock his lips as they dipped into a deep frown. "If it were up to me, I'd have only you. Can't you believe that? I've waited, pushed the age limit to wed, looking for the right one to be my first. My first, Kami. The others will never mean what you do to me."

"If you really love me, you'd want me alone. No other. Period." Frustration bubbled in her chest at her misconception of their love.

He tilted his head and bit his lips together. "I can't help that I was born an elite. If it were possible—"

"If it were possible, what? You'd give up your birthright and join the ranks of the vagabonds who can't afford food for the one wife and child they're allowed? Or you'd buck the system and refuse to wed the other two? That would only land you earthbound, exiled to a foreign dimension, and stripped of everything but the clothes you wear. And while you're considering it, I'd advise you to wear a thick coat and heavy boots, because I hear they choose some pretty rough climates for those who refuse to live by this law."