Huntsman: Love Will Find a Way (9 page)

“Your body needed to rest
.
You went through a lot of pain, and your body had to recover from it
.
”

I eyed him cautiously
.
“How did you know about the pain? I didn’t tell anyone
.
”

He sighed, kneeling in front of me
.
“I went through it too
.
When you were asking me if I was alright that day at breakfast, I was trying my hardest to keep from touching you, keep from somehow getting too close to you
.
When you left with Ina…
.
”

I couldn’t help but feel bad for him
.
I studied his face, taking in the bags under his eyes and the paleness of his skin, realizing then that he truly was suffering as much, if not more, than I was
.

I felt a slow burn start to make its way from the  center of my chest, branching out to fill all of it before moving down my ribs to my stomach
.
Being this close to him and not touching him was killing me
.
I needed to feel him, even in the most innocent of ways
.
Carefully, I laid my palm on the side of his face, sighing in contentment as he leaned into my hand, covering it with his
.

“Why do we feel this way?” My voice was barely a whisper, as I allowed the fire to die down inside of me
.

He sighed again
.
“Have you ever heard of Perfects?”

I nodded
.
“My parents were Perfects
.
At least, that’s what my mother told me
.
”

“What else did she say?”

I tried to recall the memories of my conversations with my mother
.
“The Fates brought them together by chance, that they went to the Queens to be sure
.
”

He nodded
.
“I spoke with Wolfsbane
.
He said that this, these things that we are feeling, it’s the Bonding
.
We’re not sure how it began, especially since we’ve only been near each other for a weeks time, but it happened
.
”

“The more intense the fire becomes, the closer it is to the end
.
” I recited from memory, the words that my mother spoke to me just before she passed away
.

“Exactly
.
” He took both my hands in his, interlacing our fingers
.
“I haven’t left this room since you were brought back from town
.
Being away, the burn is so bad
.
I can’t stand it
.
Though I haven’t touched you, being near you quenches the pain enough that I can stand it
.
”

I shook my head, tears pricking my eyes
.
“I’m sorry that I’ve caused you so much pain
.
I didn’t know what was happening, I didn’t know that I could stop it
.
”

He wiped the tears from my eyes
.
“It wasn’t your fault
.
Neither of us knew what was happening
.
There was no way that we could have prepared for it
.
”

“What do we do now? To complete the Bond
.
”

He was silent for some time
.
When I looked up, I found him staring at my lips, an unusual expression on his face
.
When he finally spoke, his voice was raspy and rough
.
“There is one last thing to do,” he brushed the pad of his thumb across my bottom lip
.
“But, we won’t think of that until you’re ready
.
”

I knew what he was saying
.
The final kiss was such an innocent task, and yet it brought a heavy weight with it
.
There were two choices that I could pick from, and yet it was a choice that I didn’t want to make
.
I could wait for the kiss, and let us both live in agonizing pain when we’re apart, or I could have the kiss now, and run the risk of not being ready to be Bonded, or for the Huntsman not being the One like we thought
.

“I think that we should talk to the Queens,” I said finally
.
“And then we’ll decide
.
”

He nodded, squeezing my hands a little
.
“I agree
.
We should see what they say, and then you can make your choice
.
”

“No,” I said firmly, shaking my head
.
“I’m not going to be the only one who decides this
.
We will decide
.
Together
.
”

Chapter 10
Lara

I could feel him watching me
.

After our meeting with the Queens, he said that he had a surprise for me
.

I was never one for surprises
.

I huffed as he tied the strip of dark fabric around my eyes
.
Crossing my arms over my chest
.

“Something, wrong?” He asked, feigning ignorance
.

“I don’t understand why this is necessary,” I replied, pausing when a strand of my hair got stuck in the knot he was tying
.
“Ow!”

“Sorry, love
.
” He murmured, quickly releasing the hair from the knot
.

“Anyways, you know that I don’t like surprises
.
”

“And I will never understand why
.
”

I thought about that for a moment
.
“Well, what if I don’t end up liking whatever the surprise is
.
Then, I’ll have to pretend to like it
.
”

He chuckled slightly
.
“And, why would you have to pretend? Why can’t you just be honest and tell me that you don’t like it?”

“Because, that would hurt your feelings
.
”

“How do you know that it would hurt my feelings?”

I raised an eyebrow under the fabric covering my eyes
.
“Why do you keep asking me questions?”

“Why are you answering my questions with questions?”

I sighed, letting my arms fall to my sides
.
“You’re not going to stop until I agree to this, are you?”

“Well, you already have the blindfold on, so you don’t really have a choice but to go with it
.
”

I put my hand out
.
“Lead the way
.
”

We walked for a few minutes, stopping occasionally so he could help me cross a small stream or a fallen log
.
Sooner than I expected, though, we stopped walking entirely
.
He took both my hands in his, standing in front of me
.
I expected him to take off the blindfold as soon as we got to wherever it was that we were, and was a little surprised when he didn’t
.

“Do you remember the day that I took you?” I nodded silently, but he went on as if he hadn’t seen my acknowledgement
.
“You had said that you loved the clearing, that it was one of the last things that you had left of your mother
.
”

“So? What does that have to do with the surprise?” I didn’t mean for my words to come up as harsh as they did, but I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of emotions that I had felt when he brought up my mother
.

“I’ve felt…
.
horrible…
.
since the day that I took you from the castle
.
Since then, I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to figure out a way that I could give you the clearing back
.
”

“You don’t have to feel bad,” I tried to reassure him
.
“I understand why you had to do what you did
.
”

“It doesn’t matter why I had to do it
.
” I imagined him shaking his head then, as he usually did when I disagreed with him
.
He moved behind me
.
“Anyways, I hope this makes up for it
.
”

When the fabric was finally moved away from my eyes, I gasped as what surrounded me
.

A large circular area of the woods had been cleared, nothing left of the trees and shrubs I’m sure had been there besides a few stool-height stumps scattered around the patch
.
There was thick, braided rope hung from tree to tree, just above head-level, jar-like lanterns hanging from them
.
The lighting was mimicked at ground level also, the smaller jars being hung by thick twine strung from the branches of the shrubs, bushes, and saplings
.
The light from the candles in the lanterns cast eerily romantic shadows along the ground, seemingly dancing in the breeze
.

I turned to him, finding him watching me, gauging my reaction
.
If the gesture itself wasn’t enough, his hesitancy would have done me in
.
I hadn’t realized that I was crying until he quickly brushed away a few stray tears from my face, concern and sadness covering his features
.

“Do you not like it? I’m sorry, I can change it
.
Just tell me what you want, and I’ll find it
.
” He quickly rushed through his anxious apology, tripping over his words a bit
.

I took his face in my hands, silencing him instantly
.
“I’m not crying because I don’t like it
.
”

Confusion became prominent on his face
.
I almost laughed when his thick eyebrows furrowed
.
“Then, why are you crying?”

“Because I like it
.
”

He gave me a blank stare
.
“I’m confused
.
”

I laughed a little, wiping away a few more tears that had escaped
.
“No one has ever put this much effort into…
.
anything…
.
for me
.
I love it, because you put so much thought into it
.
It’s beautiful, and it’s perfect
.
”

“So, you really like it?” I nodded
.
“You’re not just saying that you like it to spare my feelings?”

I shook my head
.
“No, I’m not
.
I truly like it
.
”

He breathed a sigh of relief as a smile took over his face
.
“Good
.
Tomorrow, when the sun is out, I’ll show you how to get here from the house
.
That way, if you ever want to escape for a bit, you can
.
”

It was my turn for confusion
.
“But, I’m staying at Wolfsbane and Ina’s
.
The walk from there to your home is over an hour
.
”

His smile got bigger
.
“This was only part one of the surprise
.
”

He took my hand, and without another word we were making our way back to his hut
.
I felt giddy inside, excited
.
I didn’t understand why he suddenly cared so much about me, or why he was doing nice things for me, like surprising me with the new clearing
.
But, to say that I wasn’t enjoying it would be a lie
.
He had been so cold towards me, and now that he was showing some emotion, I was enjoying it
.

When we got to the house, he stopped just outside the front door, turning to me
.
“You don’t need the blindfold for this one, but you have to keep your eyes closed
.
”