The Heartwood Box: A Fairy Tale (4 page)

“Genevieve,
darling, what’s wrong?”
He watched her face carefully
.

“I’m sorry, please, I did
n’t…
” she fumbled
.
“I don’t mix much with strangers
—
I’m sorry
.
I get nervous
—
it’s
so foolish
.
Please don’t be offended.”
It all
just sounded worse and worse.

“
Never, Genevieve
.
Don’t apologize again
.
Y
ou
have nothing to be sorry for.”

Again, the words sounded like they meant something more
—
like he felt deeply, which only alarmed her more
.
She realized he was still holding her face
.
She instinctively tried to turn her head
, but he held her face more firmly
.

“Don’t look away from me
, Genevieve
.”
He was watching her, studying her face, as if looking for something
.
She tried to pull away again, but his grip tightened
.
“
W
hat did just I say?”
His tone was laced with iron, and
she suddenly swayed
dizzily
.

“What
i
s happening?”
she gasped
.

“Get up and walk into the trees
,
”
he ordered.

“But the lunch…  the
B
ridal…
”
N
othing made sense
.

“They don’t matter
.
Listen to my voice
.
Walk into the trees
.
Do it now, Genevieve.”

She stumbled to her feet
and did her best to walk purposefully, as if she had a perfectly goo
d reason to leave the picnic
.
A
s
soon as she was out of sight of the rest, she wondered
why
on
earth
she’d done this, just like that, because he’d told her to
?
Would he follow her
?

Suddenly it was all too much
.
She hiked up her skirts and
started running blindly
.
She
hadn’t gone far before she
slammed into something, which some part of her knew was Damian, but her mind wasn’t working properly
.
She struggled and flailed, tears running down her face
.

“Stop struggling, Genevieve.”

“What’s happening?”
she
cried again
.

Damian
pulled her into his arms
and clasped her tight
ly
.
She struggled for a moment
before realizing her arms were pinned
.
She started to come out of her panic and allowed herself to relax, somehow trusting that he wasn’t disgusted by her lunatic behavior
.
He was even taller than she’d realized
—
almost a foot taller than she was, not that she could call herself tall
.
S
he was exactly her mother’s height of five foot three
.

He loosened his hold slightly and gripped her chin to make her raise her
eyes
to his
.
She was surprised at how warm his gaze was, which calmed her further
.

“
Are you better?”
he asked gently.

“Yes, thank you
.
You must think me a lunatic
.
I’
m so sorry,” she said lamely.

He tapped her cheek firmly
.
“
K
neel down
, Genevieve,
and don’t apologize again.”

His words brought on
the dizziness again
.
She
slipped down to her knees
, not even trying to understand
what was happening
.
After her panic, it
was soothing
to
just
be off her feet
, out of the sun
,
away from all the others
.
So for a long time,
she just stayed there, enjoying the
cool
grass
under the trees
and the quiet
f
orest sounds
.

Finally she
became curious about
Damian
and why
he’d insisted on coming out here
,
so she
looked up
.
He was standing against a tree, watching her
.
He
’d
said nothing
for all those minutes
—
attempted
no apology
or explanation
for the oddness of
his demand that they leave the picnic
.

There was something intimate
about
that
—
that way of
ignoring the
usual rules of interaction, the expected topics of polite conversation
between
two people who’d never met before
.
Those rules were a boundary between people, and somehow it had just been shunted aside
.
It was freeing: she felt no more pressure to pretend
she could chat
about
tea parties
and sewing
.

She suddenly wanted him to understand
.
“I’m not like them
—
the other girls.”

“I know.”

“I have moods
.
M
y thoughts aren’t
…
right
—
they’re not nice…
Something’s wrong with me
.
I used to think it was a demon
.
The priestess said no, that Titania gives her children many different gifts, and mine was harder to bear
.
I don’t know what to think
.
I’m babbling.”
She cut herself off before she apologized again
.
“
I just didn’t want you to get the wrong idea.
”

“
Wrong idea
?”

“You asked me
to come out here with you
….
”
She
paused to see if he would help
, but he remained silent
.
Suddenly she felt annoyed
.
“You obviously have your reasons, Damian Black, whether you say them or not
.
I’m telling you now, I’m not totally right, so don’t ever say I didn’t
tell you
.”

“
I never would, Genevieve
.
A
re you trying to warn me off?”

“The o
ther girls are afraid of you.”

“Answer my question, Genevieve.” 

“I
don’t know…
.
No
.
I just wanted you to know, in case…
.
”

“In case of what
?
”

“In case there was some reason you asked me out here
.
Don’t treat me like a fool.”
Her voice was rising again
.

“Hush, Genevieve, you know I’m not
.
Perhaps I just wanted to watch you kneeling.”

“I don’t understand you
—
can I get up now?
”

“No
.
I’ll tell you when you can get up
.
Be silent now, Genevieve
.
”
S
he slumped down, tired from dealing with such a confusing male
.
“Close your eyes,
darling
.”

“Damian…”
she protested,
her
anxiety
rising again.

“Do as I ask
,
”
h
e
responded
in
a
soothing voice.

“This doesn’t make sense!”
she
cried, letting
her eyes
fall shut
.
But i
t was too difficult to hold them closed knowing he was there, wondering
what he was doing
.
She blinked and then realized he was no longer in front of her
.
Suddenly a soft cloth covered her eyes
and then was tightened
.
She stiffened in panic
and reached
to pull it down
, but he
gripped
her wrists and pulled her firmly against him
.

“Easy
,
darling
.
You’re safe
.
Stop struggling
.
”
He rested his cheek against hers
—
it scratched
—
and then she felt his soft lips
touching
her
face
.
“Are you calm?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, though her voice was shrill
.

“Keep your hands here,” he said, placing them on her thighs
.
When she started t
o protest, he covered her mouth
and said, “
Hush
,
Genevieve, you mustn’t speak.”
He gave her a little kiss on top of her head, and then he moved away
.

So she knelt there,
like he said,
blindfolded
.
She was beyond
fear, beyond misery: h
er emotions were in chaos
.
Her body began shaking, so she fisted her hands,
gritted her teeth,
and held herself
rigid
, as if she might suddenly shatter into pieces
.
She could feel the tears dampening the blindfold, and finally she let out a
sob, which
turned into a scream
.

A second later he was in front of her, pulling
off
the blindf
old
.
He kissed her on the lips
and sat back against a tree, pulling her into his arms
.

Genevieve huddled there,
sobbing, feeling like she’d turned into a small child
.
“What is happening
?
What do you want?”

“
Shhh
, love,” Damian soothed
.
“
Easy now, it’s over.”

“Who are you?”

“You need to trust me
—
I would die before I let you come to harm
; quiet now
.”

So she lay there
enclosed
in his arms
.
She just caught
a
trace of his scent, oakmoss she thought
sleepily
, and leather
.
It was
extraordinarily pleasant
.
A
nd so
masculine
.

T
he tension drain
ed
out of her, leaving her utterly exhausted
.

She was startled when
Damian
nuzzled her face
.
He looked elated
.
“You fell asleep, love, but we should re
turn now.”

Genevieve moved to
get to her feet, but Damian suddenly stood while holding her, which she vaguely
recognized
must be very str
enuous
.