The Icon Unbound

Chapter Two, Part B - Rigel

So the split ended up a little uneven. :) I have also noticed that some of the formatting from WORD is not carrying over? Line spaces and things. Please tell me when you notice and I will try to fix it here. Thank you to everyone who helped make this chapter better with their wonderful feedback! --Elizabeth UPDATED 4/23/2017

Rigel turned to Era at once and pulled her to him. "I missed you, I missed you, I missed you."

Her arms went around his neck and she pressed her face into his shoulder. "My mother thought I was daft for walking down here. But when the Icon announced the roads were clear, I couldn't wait another day."

"I'm so glad you didn't." He pressed his face into her soft hair. He had to force himself to let go of her, to take a step back. Growing up together had blinded him to her perfection for a long time. Granted, she bore all the physical characteristics of an average citizen: the sharp cheekbones, the dark, slanted eyes, the compact frame; but somehow Era broke the mold whenever she smiled. Rigel took her chin in his fingers, running his thumb along her lips. "A few years ago, you were nothing but eyes that followed me everywhere. How was I to know?"

"I thought you'd never notice, my love." Her eyes remained on his as she so shyly kissed the thumb that caressed her lips.

White heat weakened his knees. Gently, he pressed the tip of his finger inside her mouth.

"Three weeks," he muttered. "It might as well be a lifetime. Come, if we continue in this vein much longer, the Icon will never be able to attest our purity at the wedding day. And then my mother will make sure I spend my wedding night hip deep in dirt, digging a latrine. After she lets your father beat me within an inch of my life, that is."

Era giggled, and stepped back, but her eyes remained, bright and fascinated, on him. Rigel understood. She would brave the censure from the village for him. If he wanted, she would want. She would follow him, no matter where he led, no matter what the consequences.

That loyalty made him want to protect her even more.

So instead of touching her again, he gestured to a glass butterfly, one of her father's more whimsical creations, which hung from a ribbon at her throat. "That's pretty. Is it new?"

"Father made it for the wedding. Mother wouldn't let him do anything else."

Every last minute detail, every final preparation was being seen to. If Master Hallstead was already procuring his daughter's wedding gifts, then very little time remained before the actual rites took place. Rigel took great comfort in that. "Come inside, sweet. You've been walking all morning. I'll make you a cup of tea and heat some soup."

"That sounds lovely. Is there anything to do out here first?"

"No. It's house chores for us."

They walked back inside and made their way into the kitchen hand in hand. Of course the kitchen's size made it more of a galley, meant to service several cooks feeding dozens of soldiers. It contained four large fireplaces as well as stoves, long counters, deep cupboards, and three water pumps situated over sinks that a grown man could use as a bathtub.

Era took a seat by the first fireplace and picked up some handiwork that Honor had left on the stool; a few shirts missing buttons, socks with holes to be darned, pants that needed hemming, and other make-work items. Era selected a shirt and rummaged in Honor's enameled sewing box for a button.