36
"And now? Are you still cautious? I understand it will take time to find a place in your heart," The man asked the pertinent question. She had accepted him mentally and acknowledged she was attracted to him. Would he have a chance to go further and be as important to her as she was to him.
"I could have left you here and gone back with my father but I couldn't," Jza answered with shake of her shoulders. She was frustrated how difficult it was to find words that conveyed what she felt.
"You told us your reasons. Your sisters, the court-"
"Of course, but I couldn't leave you here. It just didn't feel like the correct route to take. And I heard your words; your declaration. I wanted to give it a chance." Jza uttered with utmost conviction.
He took her fingers in his own in a delicate fashion. His thumb rubbed over the wrist. Showing ankles may be the fashion nowadays but having bony wrists was not which suddenly Jza rued. Tarquin's hands skimmed over a recent injury and he paused his ministrations.
"Stop hurting your self. It pains me," He ordered with a sigh. His wet hands were cool to the touch.
"Is that how the bond works?" Jza asked, curiously. He smirked at her assumption and shook his head in negation.
"Not at all."
Jza blushed prettily but was too stubborn to look away. They stared at each other before the girl announced her intention to take him to the temple close by.
The forest was denser around the temple although the path was clearly defined. Someone had at least taken the time to cut through any random shrubbery that blocked the path. They soon stood outside the temple which was a circular stone building with columns around it that came out of the woods without preamble.
"It's smaller than I remember," Jza uttered with a bitter smile. Everything was back at the farm. The courtyard that had seemed vast when she had first arrived after her mother's passing was insignificant in size now. She could cross it in s couple of footsteps when back then she had raced across it.
Inside there was no one to welcome them. The golden altar was empty and no flowers were laid out as was the norm. Only a dozen pews were laid out for the worshipers. The rest of the potential occupants either sat in the corners or stood on the rough stone floor.
The pair walked in together in hushed silence as if the deity was in the room judging their deeds as it would after they passed.
Jza watched Tarquin's pale features wash over with the light trickling through the large, glass windows. She pulled him close, her fingers clutching his threadbare clothes and raised her face expectantly. In the broad day light she had lost that fearless edge that had brought her lips to his at her own instigaton but she was still temped by his clever lips.
"The deity watches us. Hush!" Tarquin instead shook his head with a smile. Up close the girl could see his face was now dotted with a mild semblance of a beard. She had never seen him anything but bare faced and she could not decide what she preferred.
"I did not take you attached to a religion, particularly a foreign one," Jza tilted her head with curiosity.
"This is my religion too. The barbarians left it behind for the Goridians to appropriate."
"The badosh," Jza corrected, "Why don't we use the correct name of the Barbarians. I'm sure you know it as well as I. I did find the right book containing their true name before the ball occurred."
Tarquin nodded and walked towards the altar as if reliving terrible moments of his life. He placed his hand on the empty altar and let it slide over the marble.
"My mother was a religious woman. The only reason she tolerated her suffering was because she was waiting for the deity to save her. I grew weary of her waiting and decided to do something. The deity was too slow," The man explained with a bowed head hiding his features from her, "I have killed my own father in front of the deity. I cannot afford to make any more mistakes in a temple if for no other reason than my mother's beliefs. My weight of bad deeds overtakes the good which was not the man she raised me to be."
"The deity will understand, I vow it. You were saving your mother when you slayed your father," Jza tried to comfort him although she was not as well versed with their common religion as he was. Her uncle and Hyacinth had never saw fit to teach her anything beyond the basics. By the time she had gone to the castle her guardians had assumed she had been taught everything there was to learn.
"It does not excuse the blood I let after Ivan's demise. My- The Somerlian palace is made of pure white marble. The taint of red took so long to be scrubbed out. I could say I was a child but it excuses nothing especially not my overzealous takeover," The Lord said softly still not facing away from the empty altar.
"But you've repented. You can fill up your good deeds up to the brim and the deity will embrace you in his fold when it's your time," The girl was certain she was correct.
"At least there's a chance I will have a companion when I am judged," Tarquin turned around and gave her a thoughtful expression.
Jza suddenly remembered a key component of the vow and sat in the dusty pew with shock etched over her face. She had known the terms but she was hit by how real their predicament was. She had accepted her own existence was on borrowed time but she had still not accepted the truth was the other way around. The temple circled in her vision for a fleeting minute.
"If I die then you will be forced to follow me," The grief of the unfairness towards the man hit her profoundly. She did not wish for him to die just because her time was up.
"I shall never die abandoned and alone if you are by my side," Tarquin gave her his arm which she took, forgetting they were not back the castle with their contrived mannerisms but at the farm where no such formality was necessary. He held her as if he could bear her weight if she was to collapse which she did not mind at all.
-_-_-_-_-_-_
They were back at the farm by noon, famished and exhausted. Jza and Tarquin had collected fruits from the orchard as they had meandered back in a leisurely pace. Jza had explained what she planned to do with the farm in the future while Tarquin had added his own suggestions.
They had walked into the courtyard surrounded by half the farm men loitering about almost as if waiting for them to make an appearance. Jza mentally sighed wondering what new problem she had to correct today. She approached Oliver who watching them nervously.
"Alright, what's the ruckus?" The Princess asked the man with an impatient look around. She was also desperate for a nap and did not care for the delay in her plans.
"Who is this Lord, your highness? The men are dreadfully concerned the identity of this man is being hidden from us," Oliver confided with a frantic expression.
"Lord?" Jza's eyebrows raised at the unexpected question. She knew a time would come where the truth would appear but she had hoped it was much further away.
"My Lady, it was James that revealed the strange Somerlian was a Lord."
Jza took a deep breath and decided it would be better to be truthful, "He is my betrothed. Father gave us his blessings."
"Of course, it makes sense the exalted King would never tie his daughter to a nobody," The bearded man persisted and the girl knew there was no way out.
"He looks it like he drinks very expensive wine," Someone called out from the crowd surrounding them which gave Jza much needed relief. The crowd was in a jovial mood. Their urgency was due to their overprotectiveness surrounding the Princess and less to do with hunting the man down.
"But a Somerlian Lord?" Oliver asked. He knew there was something not adding up. There was only one Lord they were aware off and surely the King hadn't embraced the enemy.
"He is exactly who you think he is. This is Lord Tarquin son of Altani the Bodosh Princess and the Somerlian Lord Ivan," Jza kept her voice strong and steady as she announced the man's identity to her small world. She expected more response than the defening silence. Tarquin walked up besides her gave the men his most placid look.
"I have ended the war at Princess Jza's behest and there shall be no more enemity between the two nations from now on," The man declared to the sea of shocked men who had been expecting many things but not this.
"The treaty between my father and Lord Tarquin shall be signed two months from now at our wedding which will be held at our local temple," Jza added to the statement and placed a hand over the man's shoulders.
"That's news to me," Tarquin hissed in her ear.
"For me too. What one must do to avoid a murderous crowd!"
The farm boys were still silent and beyond the light whispering among them it could not be deciphered what the reaction to the news was. Were they so incensed they intented to rip the pair apart in a fury it could not be guessed.
"Do not worry, your highness. I will talk down all dissent. No one will harm your Somerlian King. They will know the war ended because of him," Oliver looked apologetic for putting them in the spot.
"Yes, if it were not for his decision we would not be free," Dermot one of the original men who had elected to stay at the farm also added his support.
"We have seen Somerlian hospitality. It has not been an unforgettable experience
Now it's turn for us to show our guest Goridian hospitality. I will be pleased if we outdo ourself in our show of kindness. After all he must contend with me," The Princess' order was masked as a sweet request. She looked confident no would dare refuse her command.
"He doesn't look as blood thirsty as they said he was," Some comedian cried out once again making the crowd titter one response.
"He's not even fully Somerlian. His barbarian blood must be the reason he ended the war. The Bodosh are a fair nation," Another older man stated.
Tarquin looked baffled by the reactions. He had not realised the Goridians thought positively of his mother's nation. He had assumed like the Somerlians they reviled their existence and treated them like muck but he was proven wrong.
"He'll make a very handsome King when you become the queen," Rose whispered in Jza's ear finding courage to run through the crowd to give her the support.
"Oh, no! The only land I shall be ruling over is this land but he's rather handsome is he not," The Princess was feeling elated by the reception their future marriage had received.
"Now, what?" She sighed as she watched Oliver speak with the crowd. There were a few sour expressions that spoiled the mood.
"Now, we must decide what colour you're wearing at the wedding," Tarquin teased.
"I have a partiality for yellow," The girl answered.
"Gold it is!"
"What?"
-------
Their compromise was a dress made of both gold and yellow her father had specially commissioned for his beloved daughter. The King had been liberal in dripping his wealth all over his daughter's outfits since he had not been allowed a free hand over anything else. Their temple had remained simply adorned and the farm decorated modestly leaving no room for her father to meddle. At least everyone at the farm ended up with new outfits
What had surprised them the most was that one of her sisters had also planned a wedding soon after. She had found the noble at the holding she had been exiled to irresistible and had planned a wedding a month earlier. But Jza had not attended the Royal wedding at the castle and had no interest in inviting anyone over to her farm for her own. She was uncertain if her father had even informed her sisters of her good luck.
The weather was chilly but the weight of the dress gave Jza the necessary warmth to combat the elements. She had signed all the necessary documents related to the wedding and the treaty in the rickety rocking chair in her small parlour. Even the half a dozen men witnessing the historical moment had made the room crowded.
Jza and her father had taken a newly built bridge over the dry river and walked solemnly over to the temple. They talked about the weather, the rain and the journey but never about their tweleve famous beauties. It was unsaid how much Jza did not wish to acknowledge their existence.
Tarquin had stood at the alter waiting for his bride to make an appearance. He wore elegant navy finery that mimicked the outfits he used to wear when in power. Jza wondered if her father had returned all his belongings. Atop his head sat the crown he was wearing one last time. In the treaty he had signed away the right to wear it ever again.
The couple had beamed at each other brilliantly eclipsing all the others in the room. Jza had hurried over to her groom not caring what anyone thought because the only people in the room were her well-wishers although counting Hyacinth as one had been a stretch.
"Privet, moya lyubov," Jza whispered in his ear making Tarquin chortle had her sudden mastery of the Somerlian language. He had met his match and they would spent the rest of their lives vowed as one.
_______
I hope no one's disappointed. The epilogue is a fun one. Features our favourite twelve beauties for all those curious to meet them.
