Reeve

Part 4

I sit in the light of a broken window for a while; not wanting to go back home. I rest my head against the wall, my future plays through my head repeatedly; having to marry the child queen leaving my mother, Ninette, Sela and Otto. My life would be so different a prince not a lord, my old tattered jacket replaced with new silk shirts and then it hits me; becoming a father. The thought sent a shiver down my spine, I'm twice her age but we would be expected to bring an heir into this world. If I'm lucky she'll die in childbirth and I can go back to being me, I drag myself up and carry myself slowly through the pitch-black woods back to my house, praying that everyone's asleep. 

My prayers were not answered unfortunately as I see my mother sitting at the kitchen table in candlelight, she looks up at me with tears in her eyes; she jumps up and wraps me in her arms, 

"Otto told us about the letter" my mother's voice is soft as she speaks 

"I don't want to marry her mum" I cry, my mother strokes my head like she did when my father died "I know" she says still stroking my head, she doesn't stop until I stop crying. The next morning I'm sitting at the table playing with an apple when Otto walks through the door carrying some eggs, he looks at me and gives me a weak smile.

"Hey, look what Annie laid" he says clearly not wanting to bring up what happened yesterday

"You named the chicken?" I ask 

"Yes, why wouldn't I?" he says 

"Because she'll be killed once she stops laying eggs and you'll be the once doing it" I say bluntly not looking him in the eye, he laughs slightly and starts humming a song as he put the eggs away. I watch him as he goes about the house doing the things Ada did, his golden hair flying in his eyes as he works; he pushes his hair behind his ear showing off his many scars he got from his mother. The shine of crimson blood before his ear catches my eye, I stand up and walk over to him; he stops humming when I get inches away from him. I brush my finger over the wound gently and he winches, 

"What happened?" I ask, he doesn't look at me; I move his head so he has too look at me. His eyes lock onto mine,

"I forgot I had a knife and caught it when I scratched my head" he tells me, I can tell he's lying but I don't question him anymore. I pull him to the kitchen table and make him sit down, I pull out one of the creams Sela made and grab a damp rag; I gently wash away the blood and apply the cream. He pulls a face that tells me it stings like crazy,

"Just be happy it wasn't your eyebrow" I laugh Otto smiles faintly and goes back to pulling strange faces. I let the cream sink in and wash my hands,

"Where did you get that?" Otto asks trying to stretch his face

"Sela made it from some seeds she found in the forest the other day" I explain sitting back with him, I watch a thin barrier layer form on the wound. Otto turns his face so his nose barely touches mine, I notice my heart starts beating faster than normal as Otto's breath lands on my face. I see every mark on his face from the slight discolouration on his nose to his birthmark mix into his eyebrow even the sparks of gold in his green eyes. I turn my head slightly to get a better look at his wound, 

"You should have been a doctor, not a prince" he laughs, I smile and agree; if it were up to me I would have been a doctor but instead I'm going to end up being a prince to a child queen and then it hits me,

"Otto you're a genius" I say grabbing his face in both my hands, Otto makes a sound between laughter and pain when I release him from my grip. I give him an apologetic smile and rush off barely missing my mum and sister as I run past them to the forest, I sit and pick berries leaves and other unidentified forest life and carry them back to my house; Sela gave me a look of confusion as I placed my haul on the table.