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From Chapter 12 Through the uncovered doorway, all of nature was covered in silver as the moon emerged from behind the clouds, etching each blade of grass into stalks of crystal as a dense mist rose slowly, ghost-like, from the earth. It was then that I saw him, leaning against the trunk of that old rowan tree, his body nearly hidden behind the cascading branches. I felt as if I knew him, and I was on my feet and running across the field before my head knew what my body was doing. As I neared him, his features became clearer. "Aiden!" I cried. "My sweet Rhiannon," he said. I stopped a few feet from him, my breath coalescing into clouds before me. He looked so relaxed, leaning against the tree as he was, his blond hair glistening in the moonlight, his eyes gleaming as he looked at me. "Why... how...?" He smiled. "I have missed you so," he said. "I have missed you, too, Aiden," I said. "Weylin said such things about you...." "The things he said...." "He was lying, wasn't he?" "About some of it," he answered. "Rhiannon... there is so much I have to tell you, and I haven't much time." He looked around as if expecting to see someone coming at him, but there was nothing. He fixed his gaze on me again. "Weylin found me in the forest after my uncles left me there to die. He wouldn't help me unless I agreed to do what he asked. I agreed, and that, my love, is my biggest regret." I reached my hand out to him, but he stepped backward, out of my reach. "What did he ask of you?" He closed his eyes. "He told me that he would see that a healer would tend my wounds if I agreed to take a certain girl from a village as my wife and then take something from her and give it to him. He didn't tell me who the girl was, where the village lie, or even what it was I was to steal for him, and I did not ask. I simply agreed." "Aiden... I am so sorry for thinking...." "There is no reason, Rhiannon." He again looked around, and his manner suddenly became more hurried. "You must know that I loved you. I never could have killed you, no matter what Weylin offered. I love you," he repeated. "You must remember that." "I do know that, Aiden," I said, "but my life has become so muddled." "It will get worse," he warned. "Your life is about to become very difficult." He glanced behind me and a wide grin spilt his features. "But you are with Dominic. He will protect you." "He detests me." "No, he doesn't. He doesn't understand you; I never did, either, but I loved you all the same, and he will, too. There is a bond between the two of you. Your mother saw it before you were even born, didn't she?" "Aye," I managed to say around the hard dryness in my throat. "She did." He stretched out his hand toward me and I reached back toward him, but our fingers never touched. "He will stay with you, Rhiannon; he has no choice. He just doesn't know it." He smiled and I suddenly saw the outline of the tree through his body. A tear slipped down my cheek. "You're not really here, are you?" He shook his head, staring at the ground. "No." He glanced at the ruined house again. "Stay with him, Rhiannon," he said. "Stay with him with my blessing." "Aiden," I said, my voice cracking under the strain of holding back my tears. "Aiden... don't go...." He put his finger to his lips and then held the finger out toward me, almost touching my lips. Warm tears covered my cheeks as I remembered him doing the same thing the last time I saw him. I blinked, and he had gone. "Aiden!" I cried into the darkness, but there was no reply. |
