Love & War

Illiana

I watch as he leaves. The man that I am legally bound to.

What have I done? He does not respect me or my kind. He openly mocks and degrades my race. In front of me no less. I am so stupid.

The sun sets quickly here. Wherever here is. I wish nanny were here. She would know what to do. I stare down at my hands and sigh.

Well, this is my life now. All of the furniture here looks to be twice the size of anything back home. Home. God, I just want to go home. This is a terrible mistake. My husband quite literally hid me from all of his people. Is he embarrassed or ashamed of me? Am I not worthy of the Elven Prince? If not, why did he accept my proposal?

I shake my head and glance at the field again.

I know he asked me not to go outside but since he is embarrassed to be seen with me, and no one is around, I am going to go out. Yeah. I am going outside.

The sun is not fully set yet. The sky here is shades of blues and orange. I set the cloak on the living room coffee table and walk to the door. I slowly open the door and poke my head out. There is only one house on either side of this one on this road. They must belong to elven nobles too. The coast is clear. I step outside and quietly shut the door behind me.

God even the steps here are massive. One step is half the size of my shin.

I shake my head to snap out of my thoughts and turn to the field again. There is that eerie quiet again. I make my way across the uneven dirt road and to the edge of the overgrown field. The tall grass is an amber color. It is dead too. Everything here is dead. With every step I take into the field, grass crunches loudly beneath my feet. I walk maybe three feet in when a head of brilliant silver hair pops up a few yards away. A child? She is laughing at something.

I take a few more steps. The child stops and pokes her head out of the grass. She smiles brightly at me and begins to walk towards me. I look at the space between us and a jagged piece of broken glass catches my eye. Instinctively I take off running. The little girl gets there about the same time I do and is going to step down.

The next thing I know there is a pain on my left forearm followed by a shriek from the little girl. I throw myself on top of the glass to prevent her from stepping on it. Not my brightest moment.

“Mama! MAMA! HELP!”

She runs screaming toward the house to the left of Elliot’s. I stand and examine my arm. There are a few pieces of glass sticking out of it but they do not look to be too deep.

Is this not supposed to hurt?

I slowly pull a piece of glass out of my arm. It is about half an inch long. Three-quarters of it are inside of my arm. That is when I notice the blood running down my arm and the stinging pain.

Fiddlesticking toadstools this freaking hurts!

I bite my bottom lip and tears prick at my eyes.

“Fiddlesticks this hurts,” I whisper to myself as I pluck tiny shards of glass out of my arm. They hit the ground with a light ting.

“Are you alright miss?”

A woman’s voice comes from behind me. I spin on my heel to face her. The woman almost reminds me of Elliot. She has the same silver hair. Except hers is long and intricately braided away from her face. She has amber-brown eyes and tanned skin too. She is dressed in a similar style to Elliot too. Leather pants with pockets sewn onto the sides and a cotton shirt.

“Yes, I am fine. There was a little girl. She almost ran over that broken pot and I cut myself stopping her.” I give a slight smile. The woman stares down at my arm.

“Do you mind if I take a look?” She looks me in the eye and raises an eyebrow.

Does she want to help me? I hesitantly hold my arm out for her.

“If you want to?” It is more of a question than an answer.

The woman takes a look at my arm then pulls some batting and a bandage out of her pocket. She slowly plucks the rest of the glass out of my arm and begins to bandage me.

“I figure the woman who caught my daughter deserves to be looked after herself. My name is Jessilyn and that was my daughter you helped,” she says as she rips off the extra end of the bandage.

I stare at the bandage. “I appreciate this. My name is Illiana. I recently moved here with my husband. Is your daughter okay? I do not think she got cut.”

Jessilyn smiles at me. Genuinely smiles.

“Yes, she is perfectly fine, thank you for helping her. Does your husband happen to be Elliot? I only ask because of your braid.”

I look up at her and raise an eyebrow. “Yes, Elliot is my husband. Is there something unusual about my braid? He told me it was custom here for married women to wear their hair in braids.” Suddenly I feel self-conscious in front of this goddess of a woman.

Is it braided wrong? Elliot would not do anything to humiliate me, right?

Jessilyn’s smile gets wider. “No, I’m the one who taught my brother to braid like that. He is the only man in town, other than my Zander, who can do a wonderful braid, and Elliot adds a little twist to his braids as a signature.”

I cock my head to the side. “That makes sense. He has mentioned a Jess a few times. I apologize, I do not know much about elven customs or anything about this place. It is nice to finally put a face to the name!”

I can hear my nanny scolding me in my head. “Illiana Glennwood- er- Cottonwood! Where are your manners!”

Jessilyn grins at me and puts her hand on her hip. “It is a pleasure to meet you as well. I have always wanted a sister. I will gladly help you learn if you’d like?”

I smile at her and nod. “I will accept any help you are willing to offer. I do have to go though. Elliot asked me not to venture outside, but I could not resist.”

Jsssilyn throws her head back and chuckles happily.

“Oh you will fit in great here and we will get along amazingly. Here let me walk you back.”

I walk quickly beside her to keep up with her pace back to Elliot’s house. My house.

“Thank you again for patching me up back there. I have a feeling Elliot would have had a fit.”

Jessilyn shakes her head and smiles at me again. “No problem. I have been stitching Zander and my brother up for years, and on occasion, my kids too.”

I pause for a moment. Years? She’s been stitching them up for years?

“Do people get hurt often here?” I ask quietly.

Jessilyn’s eyes go hazy for a minute. “Sadly all too often. It’s not safe here anymore like it was back when my father was young and in love. Sadly now it is a cruel and unforgiving place.”

I feel a pang in my chest. I will bet anything my father caused this. He ruins everything good.

“Was this caused by the fae king?”

“Hello, Princess! Hello Jess! Are you two okay out here?” A man’s familiar cheerful voice comes from beside me. It is Elliot’s friend, Zander.

Jessilyn gives him a smile. “Of course we are fine, just having a chat. And sadly, yes, Illiana it was. He had the magi curse our land when he found out his Queen loved my father and not him.”

Zander clears his throat as a lump forms in mine. “That is her father, Jess.” He whispers. I barely hear him myself.

Jessilyn’s face goes pale, “I...I’m so sorry Illiana I didn’t realize.”

I give her a sad smile. “You have nothing to apologize for. My father is a terrible man. Elliot only married me to save me from him.”

I look down at my hands. We stand there in silence for a moment before I am wrapped in Jessilyn’s arms.

“I’m sorry I spoke ill of him, but I am even more sorry you had to deal with that wretched man. Our family will love you and treat you as one of our own. The way you deserve to be treated.”

I freeze for a second. What is happening right now?

I gently pat her back. “Really it is okay. I am okay. Thank you for everything.”

Zander looks at us for a moment before looking in the direction of his house. “I will see you later Illiana. I’m going to check on the kids. Gods only know what they’ve gotten themselves into.”

Jessilyn glances up at him. “Can you help Dawn clean up? She...um...got dirty.”

Zander gives her a side-eyed look. “Did it get in her hair? I swear these kids know it’s a pain in the ass to keep their hair all nice and silver.”

I look down and bite back a laugh. So this is what a loving family is supposed to look like. I envy them.

Jessilyn giggles, “Sadly, yes, my love. It is in her hair.”

Zander’s shoulders slump and he groans. “Gods help me.” He trudges home. The next thing I hear is “Dawn! Come here please, princess!”

I look at Jessilyn and bite my lip. “I am so sorry it got in her hair.”

“It’s alright, Illiana, it wasn’t your intention and Zander makes it out as more than it needs to be.” She grins to herself.

Is she really this happy? I think this woman has had a smile on her face the entire time we’ve been talking.

A streak of red splattered silver hair runs behind Jessilyn and into the field.

I raise an eyebrow and stare at the field. “Ah, I see. Thank you again for patching me up though... Uh- I think Dawn just ran into the field naked.”

Jessilyn groans. “I better catch my little hellspawn. Have a good night Illiana”

She takes off to the field. “Dawn Azalea! Get back here now or by Gods, this will not end well for you!”

I smile and climb up the massive steps and into the house again. Jessilyn and Zander have what I want. Love. Happiness. Family. I close the door behind me and look to the right. The grand piano sits in the corner of the room. I walk over to it and run my finger across the keys. It doesn’t have even a speck of dust on it. Elliot takes very good care of this it seems. I pull out the piano bench and rest my fingers on the keys. Taking a breath I begin to play the melody of the lullaby Nanny sang to me.

“Deep in the wood away from prying eyes.

Past where the mushroom circles grow.

There is a field of wildflowers.

Where the woodland creatures dance to the waterfalls flow.

Fire grass grows round the little cottage.

Weeping willows bend to touch the stream.

Skipping stones and collecting toadstools.

And there, my darling, you will be with me,” I sing softly along to the music.

I play the final chord and stand up from the piano. I walk back to the living room window and look out into the field. Zander seems to have caught Dawn.

“Honey, I think this is a two elf job.” He struggles to keep hold of the wriggling child.

Jessilyn nods from the edge of the field. “Yes, my love, it is.”

I can barely hear them over Lucinda’s trotting by. I look up to the sky and it is already getting dark, but there are no stars. Just an empty void.

“Was that you playing the piano?” Elliot walks in and looks at me.

“Oh. Yes, it was. I am sorry, I should not have touched your piano without first asking permission. It was rude of me.” I stare down at the ground.

Elliot walks over to me and stops directly in front of me. “Illiana. Please look at me.”

I look up at him. His hazel eyes are full of curiosity. “You do not need to apologize. That piano hasn’t been played since my mother passed away. Play when you feel like it.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

I keep my reply short. I know what he thinks of my kind. He must hate that he married one. Even for political gain.

“What was that song you were playing?” He asks as he kicks off his boots.

“It was just the lullaby my nanny sang to me growing up. Nothing fancy.” I look back down to the ground.

This is not exactly what I had in mind for my first day in my new home with my husband, but I should have known. The Banamaðr is not exactly known for kindness or affection.