To Love A Myth - Book 1: Mr. Higgs and the Maid🎩✔️

16

Merida woke up to feeling something on her bed and turned over, seeing Higgs crawl in.
"Mr. Higgs?" she yawned.
"What?" he asked.
"What are ye doing?"
"Getting into the bed."
"Why?"
"I just am."
Merida turned over fully as he got under the covers and turned his back to her. She moved her mouth to the side and turned so that she was spooned up against him.
"Mr. Higgs, what are ye doing in my bedroom? It's in the wee hours of the morning."
He didn't answer her and at first she thought that he may have fallen asleep.
"I'm scared." He said softly.
Merida sighed and sat up on her elbow.
"Look at me, Mr. Higgs." He turned over slightly to her. "I ken ye're afeart but ye have to get around it. Ye cannae keep in fear or ye'll be consumed by it. Ye have to be strong."
"I don't know how anymore. Every time I go to sleep I see him coming towards me, wielding that dagger and the blood and the pain and... I just..."
Merida rolled Higgs over so that she could lay back down. He rested his head on her shoulder and she rubbed his arm softly.
"I ken how it is. The fear is overwhelming and takes up yer mind, yer thoughts and yer dreams. It replays over and over, making ye relive those horrible things. But the only way ye can get it to go away is to conquer it."
"I know that. I know that I have to conquer my fears to make myself get stronger again but I was almost gutted and killed. You wouldn't understand that..."
"Ye might be surprised." Merida said with a roll of her eyes in the dark.
"What do you mean?"
She didn't want to go into her own personal fears but she had to get Higgs back on his feet. The curse and his future offspring depended on it.
"Ye ever wonder why I dinnae talk about my life back in Scotland verra often?"
"I thought you just didn't want to."
"A lot of bad things happened there that I dinnae wish I ever have to go through again. A lot of heartache and bad memories. I understand yer pain and yer worry and the way that ye feel like ye cannae move on."
"How could you possibly?"
"My parents were killed when I was a lass and my older brothers took me with them... into battle. It was during the peak of the fight with the British army in regards to the Highland territories. My three older brothers were all in the war to defend our clan. That left me in some pretty grim circumstances. My brothers taught me to fight but it doesnae matter in the midst of the moment." Merida closed her eyes and breathed in deep. "When a man is pinning a woman down, the strength a woman has, no matter what size, is always going to be outdone by a man that is stronger than her. And any man is stronger than a wee lass."
Higgs sat up to look at her, his eyes widened.
"You were taken advantage of?"
"No... almost though. If not for my brothers, I dinnae ken I'd be alive today. But I had some close calls and I was hurt like ye before as well. A man tried to rape me but I slashed his face as hard as I could. It left three long whelps on him but he wasnae going to leave without some sort of comeback. So, he lunged at me and got me right in the ribs. I was standing up when he lunged at me so when he got my side, he slid down my torso, splitting me open like I was a sack of grains... It's a miracle I survived that. But my brothers were persistent and although rough, they helped me forget my fears and focus on the future. The pain was so immense that while they were carrying me to find a doctor, they had to gag me and sometimes even knock me out... which meant they had to actually punch me to shut me up. By the time I got to the doctor, my side was scabbed over but me face was black and blue.
"The nightmares were the worst and the pain wasnae helping much. One night, one of my brothers actually came into my tent and asked what he could do to get me to 'shut the bloody hell up'. When I told him, he didnae have a shred of sympathy for me. He was a man and he didnae understand. Well... that was Dughall... he isnae too understanding."
"Then... how did you get over it? How did you finally move on?"
"Oh, I didnae. I just learned to suppress it in the back of my mind to keep from thinking about it. My youngest older brother, Coinneach, helped me with that. He was always the nicer of the three."
"Then can you help me?" Higgs asked, turning to look up at her.
Merida looked at him as he clung to her nightgown. She could tell the mixture of milk of the poppy and water was wearing off and he was starting to feel the pain in his legs again.
"The only way I ken how is to do it like Coinneach did with me. Although I say he's the nicest of my brother's it doesnae mean that he was the best at it. It's hard for warriors to understand the delicacy of a wee lass and so the exercise was more like tough love."
"But it got you to get by, didn't it?"
"Aye, it did."
"Then I want to try it. I just... I don't want to have these nightmares anymore. I'm tired of feeling so scared."
Merida smiled and leaned her head on his.
"Aye, I can try. I dinnae ken ye'll like it but... I'll try." She slipped from under him and went to find the milk of the poppy that Lucus had given her. "I'll make ye another mixture."
"You can't."
"Why?" she asked, looking back.
"The mixture isn't strong enough. It's not wearing off; it just never reached the pain."
"Aye, I see..."
"Let me lay here for a moment, please?" he asked, looking at her pleadingly in the dark. He was happy the room had no light or he knew he'd look like a stupid child. "Having you near at least keeps me from thinking about the pain."
Merida sighed but got back into bed and laid next to him. He put his head back on her shoulder, one of his hands gripping the sheets under them.
"Lady Hinkley came by while ye were in bad sorts a few days ago. She wanted to apologize for what happened."
"Oh. That was nice of her."
"Aye, so thoughtful." Merida growled, rolling her eyes in the dark.
Higgs laughed. "You dislike her too much."
"How is disliking the lass who got ye in this situation too much? Her numptie fiancé got pissed and took his idiocy out on ye."
"She wasn't trying to cause that problem. I know it seems like she planned it, but Elizabeth isn't like that."
"Oh, it's a 'Elizabeth' now?"
Higgs blushed in the darkness. "We've been distant acquaintances for a while now. Since I hardly go out, we don't see each other often."
"Ye fancy her?"
"She's nice."
"Ye fancy her. I can tell."
Higgs blushed even more. "She's always been kind to me. She doesn't know the full details of my problem but my scattered appearances never seemed to make her shun me or talk about me behind my back. She always spoke to me as if I had just missed the last party and we were catching up. The rest of society knows the Northumberlys aren't normal and whisper behind our backs, acting like our friends to our faces... Elizabeth was never like that."
Merida frowned. "Well if it helps ye, I ken she fancies ye too."
"She's engaged."
"But not married. Engagements fall through all the time."
"She'd never be able to live with someone like me. Can you see her trying to go through all of my transformations?"
Merida's interest piqued. "What do ye mean?"
"Nothing." Higgs said quickly, turning from her. "I'm going to try and sleep to not feel the pain."
Merida turned over him and practically sat on him.
"Oh no ye dinnae. Does the transformations have something to do with the cure?"
"It does but... but I can't tell you the cure yet."
"Why?! Ye trust me with so many other things and yet ye willnae trust me with the most important one?"
"Because if it's done wrong it will ruin my life... I can't make you think you have to break the curse for me and things get strange between us. You have your hint, Ms. Dunbrough... Please don't question me any further. In fact, not questioning me will serve a greater benefit for you in the long run. If you trust me to tell you when I feel it's right, then you won't question me every five seconds about it."
Merida made a face and crossed her arms. "Fine."
"Can you get off of me please?"
"Payback."
"For what?"
"The snake transformation. I had to deal with that mess for a month. Ye owe me something."
Higgs laughed a little and they eventually settled down for the night.