Page 30 of These Eternal Bones
Later that night, my eyelids are drooping when Elric finally releases me from my duties of lounging around, snooping, and listening to his stories. My mind is heavy with sleep as I’m tugged into his arms on his horse, Jin, I learned. A shire horse, although that means very little to me. Apparently, he is from a long line of horses that have been born and raised here for hundreds of years. I quite suspect the beast of an animal only barely tolerates anyone but his master as he stomps the moment I’m hauled atop him. Elric’s arms are cold, but I am wrapped snugly in cloaks, his tendrils securing me to him like binds. Between their snug hold and soothing, rocking cadence, the sounds of the woods that would normally fill me with apprehension can’t reach me. Elric’s chest rumbles as he begins that familiar song again, my mind coming in and out with it. I don’t wake again until the creak of the cottage door, the hinges new and refitted, jolts me. Péal is there waiting with an odd look on her face as he sits me just inside the door, lingering while I right myself.
“In the morning then, syringa.”
I offer him a sleepy nod when Péal speaks up. “Tomorrow is Sunday, master.”
The sense of disappointment is immediate and alarming. The man in front of me all but glares at the selkie, “A moment, please.”
She nods, heading outside with a small smile on her face, her pale hair braided as always.
He opens his mouth, and I can see the question there. The lines between us are as hazy as the fog. A bad idea for a visitor, someone who plans to leave…needs to leave. As I move away from him, his eyes track me like prey. "I had almost forgotten to thank you for the easel and paints. I love them, truly; I’ve missed it so much. So, I uh…I made you something to say thank you. It’s nothing special…” I trail off for a second, going to the small closet I had stuffed it into.
I peek over my shoulder, finding him watching me intently, a soft, endearing look in his eyes. My chest feels odd at the sight of it. “Cover your eyes,” I command softly, and he does, his strong hands covering them immediately.
“I wanted to say thank you. I’m hoping it’s enough until I can repay my debt.”
When I look up, I gasp at black swirling eyes peeking from behind his palm. I slam the painting face down, glaring at him. “You peeked! Now you have to turn around since you cannot be trusted!”
He laughs, and I barely suppress the bubble of my own as he pivots, giving me his back. “You know, I think there is no one else alive who would dare to command me as you do.”
I huff. “I’ve found you listen well enough.”
He laughs again, but this time my nerves keep my laughter away as I approach him, stopping just behind. For the first time all day, my fingers rub together, testing that rough flesh he's eyed at least once every time we’ve been together. I dread the day he asks, although Iknow it is inevitable. The painting feels so silly after seeing the ones in his home, after seeing the dark vines and arched windows, stained glass, and opulence that make up his castle.
“Molly, your pulse is racing.”
I breathe out, “Okay, you can look.”
My heart rages in my chest as I look way out the window of the cottage to the clearing behind, my arms outstretched, holding the painting up for him. It’s of a clearing much like this one, a similar dark cottage in the back, but the focus is a…unicorn. A very pink and purple unicorn. Mortification consumes me the longer he’s quiet. It's only when he gently removes the canvas from my hands that I dare to look back at him. “I know it is silly, probably much too girly for you, but it was–”
“Thank you, Molly.”
My heart stops in my chest, going from a wild sprint to nothing at all in the blink of an eye. The somber…sincerity in his voice is nothing compared to the look in his eyes as he studies my painting. “It was nothing really.”
When he looks away from the painting, I’m again caught off guard by the emotion in his eyes, the pure adoration there. Something so strong, so overwhelming, something that shouldn’t be for me. “It is not nothing to me. I would like to have breakfast with you tomorrow, if that is alright.”
I just nod, my chest heaving as Péal steps back into the room.
“Goodnight, Molly.”
“Yes, goodnight, Elric.”
He’s barely out the door when Péal tugs at the laces of my bodice with a giggle. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather stay at the estate mistress? You’re positively feverish.”
My heart jolts as I hush her, gripping onto her as if it’ll silence the tiny woman.
15
A Doomed Captain
I Can’t Go On Without You - KALEO
Elric
The sea wind roars past cobblestone, its wild whipping signaling a storm far off over its turbulent waters as I step onto the dock. My coat billowing behind me, making me grateful, not for the first time, that I barely feel the cold. That my little human is tucked into her bed, a fire roaring to keep her warm. My shoes echo among the waves as they crash and the ships as they creak. It’s a terrible night to set sail, a terrible night for the Tabot indeed, as I walk onto its loading ramp. The fetid smell of the crew had hit me far before this point, but now my nostrils flare for it, wishing not for the first time…and certainly not the last that it was lilac I was pulling through my lungs.
That is why I am here, after all.
Why, after all these years, do I endure?
