Love & War

Elliot

Illiana stands there in front of that same window with her arms wrapped around herself. I put my shoes by the front door and take a step towards her. She hugs herself tighter than before. Is that a bandage on her arm? I know that wasn’t there before.

I quickly walk over to her and grab her hand. She looks at me wide-eyed.

“What the hell happened here?” I point to her arm. She recoils away from me.

“I cut it on some glass. It is not a big deal. Jessilyn patched me up.”

Jess? Wait what?

“When did you see my sister?”

Did she go outside after I asked her not to? Did I not make it clear that she isn’t safe?

“I went out to the field. I stopped Dawn before she ran across a broken pot. I cut myself doing so. Jessilyn came and patched me up. She is nice, by the way,” Illiana explains.

It’s cute when she rambles on, but that is not the point.

“Why did you go out? I asked you to stay inside because it’s dangerous out there Illiana.” Her face falls.

“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” She sounds distant.

Gods damnit! No!

I run my fingers through my hair. “It is not my intention for our home to be a cage. I just need to know that you can protect yourself before you venture out freely.” This shouldn’t be a difficult concept to understand.

A strange look crosses Illiana’s face and she looks away from me again.

“Why do you keep doing that?”

This woman is on my nerves with this not looking at me. What’s her issue? I thought we were doing well. Apparently not.

“Keep doing what?” She still doesn’t look at me.

“You’re not looking at me. You’re acting completely different than yesterday. When you asked me to marry you. What changed?” I stare at her. Her hair is coming loose in her braid and she still has a distant look in her eye.

“I am grateful to you for saving me from my situation. I didn’t realize how strongly you felt about my entire race. You could have told me no.” She looks me in the eye.

What the hell is she talking about?

“I may be the Banamaðr but at least I’m not so petty as to curse a whole race’s land like a cowardly slug.” She clenches her teeth and glares at me.

“Careful, husband. Your scars are starting to look like scales. If you crucify me because of the sins of my father should I not do the same to you for the atrocities you have committed?” she says through clenched teeth then walks around me to the guest room and closes the door behind her.

Did she just compare me to that lizard scum? What the fuck!

I tighten my fist and walk to the guest room door. I stop short when I hear her quietly sobbing.

She insults me and she cries? Theos this woman will be the death of me. How dare she make that comparison? I am not in the wrong. You know what? Whatever. If she wants to sleep on the sofa in there more power to her. Patrol starts again tomorrow.

I straighten out my hand and walk to my bedroom. I peel off my clothes and lie in bed. I stare up at the ceiling until daylight. All because of an argument with her. I can hear her open the shutters in the other room. So she is awake too.

I sit up and throw the blanket off of my legs. I groan and get dressed in my thickest pair of pants and put on my armor. I slide my daggers and knives into place in my armor and open the bedroom door. Illiana is standing in front of the living room window again.

“It’s my turn to lead the patrol. I will be gone for a couple of weeks. If you need anything tell Jess.”

I clear my throat and walk to the front door. She looks over at me. Her eyes are red and slightly puffy. Then she looks back out of the window. I don’t know what I expected but that sure as hell wasn’t it. I roll my eyes and put on my shoes.

“Goodbye Illiana,” I say as I open the door.

“Goodbye,” her voice is broken. My chest throbs.

Gods.

I close the door behind me and whistle for Lucinda. Turning around I see Illiana looking at me through the window. I stare up at her for a moment before mounting Lucinda.

“Ell! Wait up!” Zander rides up beside me. “No offense but you look like crap. Did you not sleep last night?”

“No. The Princess and I aren’t exactly on good terms right now.” I look over at him and slump my shoulders.

“Well, that didn’t take long. What did you do?” Zander chuckles.

“Why do you assume it was me?” I raise an eyebrow. Zander presses his lips together and raises his brow.

“I may have unintentionally insulted her race,” I groan.

“I’m sorry, you what? How do you unintentionally insult someone’s race? What did she say?”

“She compared me to that lizard scum and locked herself in the guest room all night. We’ll finish this conversation later Z. Our unit will be here soon and I would rather not air all of this in front of them,” I look ahead to the town square. My unit is all gathered talking casually.

“Okay. If you’re sure brother.” Zander straightens up and rides on ahead. My patrol unit all lines up as I ride by them. Lowe salutes.

How do I keep getting stuck with this moron?

“Come on men. Let’s get this show on the road,” I motion them forward.

The road to the main gate is lined with people on either side to see us off. Of all the faces out here, the only one I can think about was Illiana’s looking at me through the living room window. Tear-streaked cheeks and puffy eyes. My chest throbs again.

“Ell. Did you hear me?” Zander rides to my side.

“Crap, no, sorry. What did you say?” I shake my head.

“I asked where our squadron is patrolling today.” Zander raises an eyebrow.

“We’re headed to the southwest border. There have been reports of fae presence in our territory. I believe it’s to get to the healers since this kingdom stands between them.” Zander nods and falls back with the rest of the men.

“Joben. Go ahead and scout. Then report back to me.” I point in the direction of the border. Joben takes off in that direction and I turn to face Zander.

“What do we know about the healers who have been crossing?”

“Our spies have reported it’s some kind of slave trade. Mostly elderly healers being forced into the fae kingdom.”

And Illiana wonders why I hate the rapska kingdom. I purse my lips and tighten my grip on the reigns. We ride in silence for what I would estimate to be three or four hours judging by the position of the sun.

“What’s on your mind El?” Zander says from beside me. I sigh and look over at him.

“My wife. Goes out after I tell her not to and even gets hurt. Then gets mad that I’m mad. I don’t know what I even did wrong here!”

“Well,” Zander scratches his chin, “Dawn was running in the old garden because she thought it was an empty field. Your wife saved her from cutting her foot open on one of the broken pots there.”

Well, now I feel like an ass.

“Woah. El. The tree.”

Zander points to a rune fashioned out of twigs and twine hanging on the tree in front of us. Joben had found a group of Brier beasts.

They must have migrated. Great.

I raise my arm and motion for my unit to go around.

Gods this will throw us off by at least a week or so.

We trail around the outside of the rune-marked trees until nightfall. I motion for my unit to stop.

“Alright men. We’ll set up camp here for the night. A guard will swap out every hour for a perimeter check. Tomorrow night we will be riding through the night. So rest up.”

I dismount and pat Lucinda’s neck. “That goes for you too girl.”

It doesn’t take long before we have a small fire built and sleeping bags unrolled around it. I am sitting on a rotting log and Zander plops onto the ground beside me.

“So, El, have you thought about what you’re going to say to Illiana when we get back?”

I look at him and raise an eyebrow. “What I’m going to say? Should she not be the one apologizing for doing the opposite of what she was told?”

Zander shakes his head. “Ell, brother. She’s your wife. You are equal. Not a soldier or civilian for you to order around. You’ve gotta put yourself in her shoes. She’s in a foreign place, with a husband she doesn’t know, with customs she doesn’t understand, and now is alone to figure it out by herself. Except you forbade her from leaving your house to figure it out. How would you feel if that were you?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, “Do you know how fucking annoying you are when you do that?”

Zander chuckles. “But I’m right and you know it.”

“Gods. I know you’re right but I can’t get it across to her that all I want to do is protect her. I just want her to be safe and alive. But she’s acting like... like... Gods- I don’t even know what and it’s frustrating,” I groan as I watch the firelight flicker across the dirt in front of me.

“These things take time. Just give her some space and some freedom and watch how much that helps,” Zander pats my shoulder. “Whelp I’m going to sleep while I can. I’m not as young as I used to be so tomorrow night will be a rough one.”

I nod and look down at my sleeping bag. I should probably rest as well. I get up from the log and dust off my pants before lying in my sleeping bag. It is just a simple fur-lined fabric but it is warm. I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths.

“Prince Elliot. Wake up. It’s daylight. We need to get to moving,” says a familiar voice. I open my eyes and Lowe is squatting down beside me.

“I’m up. Get everyone else packed. We ride in five minutes.” I rub the sleep out of my left eye.

“Yes sir! Right away sir!” He scrambles to his feet and quickly starts helping Zander load his bag.

Gods that guy has entirely too much enthusiasm for it to be this early in the morning.

I sit up and pull my legs out of my sleeping bag. I roll it up from the bottom and tie it closed with the leather strap on the back of it. I stand up and tie it onto my saddle on Lucinda. Even she looks half asleep. I look up at the sky and hold my fingers to the horizon. It is only six in the morning. Too early to be awake. I mount Lucinda and look around. Everything is packed up and the makeshift fire pit is dismantled. It looks like we have never even been there.

Perfect.

I look through the trees for more hanging runes and navigate us around them until the sun begins to set again. Zander rides up beside me and points to a tree to my left.

Another fiddlesticking rune.

To my right are the Brier beast runes we were going around. To my left is a different rune. The rune for the Azizi. The rock and moss beasts. More lethal than the Brier beasts with cat-like reflexes and saliva more potent than a creeper’s. I look over at Zander and tighten my grip on my reigns.

“Z, these migration patterns are wrong. The Brier beasts and the Azizi are never near each other. What the fuck is going on?”

I stare up and the runes dangling from the branches and frown. It’s going to be a lot longer than two weeks to get home.