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Chapter 78 - Engaged
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2025-01-19 15:08:44Auden looks down at me with a frown. “Seriously?”
I frown too, shaking my head. “Yeah, Auden. Seriously.”
His confusion increases. “What the hell does that old man have to do with anything?”
I laugh. “Auden, he’s younger than your father –“
“Yeah, but he acts like he’s about eighty. Eighty and content to sit in his tower all day, counting his coins. He’s not a threat, Everleigh – why on earth would we need to talk about him in secret?”
“He’s…not a threat?”
Auden shrugs. “Wood’s desires always lean towards the largest profit. He’s predictable and easy to appease. Why would you care that he’s here?”
A slow smile spreads across my mouth when I realize that…Auden has no idea. But even as I grin my heart sinks because…those first three months of my pregnancy being h
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I study Auden, considering that there are many things I regret in my life. But that night? And the children that resulted from it? It’s not one of them.Auden hums, considering, his eyes moving over me. But his expression has no true judgment, no disdain. Just some pleasure, I think, in getting another piece of my story. And, clearly, a piece that I don’t share with many.“Good,” he murmurs, meeting my eyes. “I’m glad you didn’t go forward with the wedding. Business and marriage don’t mix.”I tilt my head to the side. “A very romantic consideration for a Prince.”“If anyone’s the romantic here, Everleigh, it’s you,” he murmurs, his eyes slipping over me again. “Breaking an engagement and raising your lover’s secret children in a cottage by the sea rather than being unfaithful?”“It wasn’t about being faithful,” I whisper, utterly serious.He raises his blue eyes again to mine. “Have you been unfaithful to him, then?”“He’s dead. You know this.”“Then to his memory.”I still for a mome
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For half a second I consider finding my way across the roof. Surely I can catch the end of bath time. But…then I will almost surely find a way to mess it up and plummet to my death.Which is…nonpreferred.I sigh, turning over on my side, hoping for sleep. I stare at the little cakes Margot left me for a moment, wondering if I should…“Ah, screw it,” I murmur, reaching out and taking a tiny cake, popping it in my mouth. It’s just a bite, and if it helps to send me off to sleep quickly so that my mind doesn’t curl down into a doom spiral of all the things I’m worried about…so much the better.I exhale, close my eyes, and pray for sleep. It comes quickly, even as I sort through my memories, some of which are more vivid tonight than they’ve been before…_ _ _**Midwinter, 5 and a half years ago**“What…what are you talking about?” Auden whispers, still shaking his head. “You’re not getting married.”I bite my lip, guilt racing through me. “I am.”“To whom!?”A smile starts but then fades
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He snarls, pleased, a predator now as he thrusts himself hard into me, claiming me with every stroke. My entire body shakes as I gasp again and again, what’s left of my mind ringing with the truth of it – with how fucking good and right it feels to make myself his, to give myself completely to him, to his pleasure –I feel it, somehow, building in him as it builds in me. My breath is nothing but fervid little gasps as he pounds me harder, his hand wrapped in my hair, pain mingling with pleasure as I dig my nails into the flesh of his back, begging him for more. I curl against him, my entire body tensing with every stroke, and I feel him watching me – taking pleasure in my helpless gasps as he strokes again and again –He growls, a command as I come to the end of it and I moan – heavy and true, my eyes pressed shut, my teeth finding his shoulder as that tension winds so tight –His fingers press
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I nod, pushing myself up and not letting my mind turn too much on the idea that Auden is inviting me to bed. We do this sort of thing all the time – let the children sit and entertain themselves by the fire while we move back here to have our own chat. The kids only glance at us before turning back to their books, not noticing anything amiss.I settle back against my pillows as Auden stretches his long body out over his side of the bed –God. I’ve got to stop thinking of it that way. None of it is his side.But then he glances at me, looking toward my pocket. “What’s that?”“Note from Mahl,” I murmur, patting it.“Do you need to read it?”I turn toward him, frowning a little. “Do you…want to see it?”He hesitates for a second and then shrugs, declining the offer but I think a little pleased that I made it. I study him for a second
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“Oh, my apologies for the profligate waste of your youth,” I return, rolling my eyes at her.“Thank you,” she says, nodding sharply.Niall hesitates, glancing back at the books, clearly liking the homework and not wanting to let Vivi know.I sigh, glancing at Auden and then back at the kids. “All right, all right,” I say, shooing them back toward the fire. “If your instructor wants you to do it you’d better listen.”They both turn – Niall pausing to give me another hug before he darts back to the books and Coco. Coco nudges Vivi’s page, looking at it curiously and wanting it turned, almost as if he’s reading along with her.“What do you think about this?” I murmur, frowning and leaning closer to Auden as I watch my children turn their focus on what looks like quite large and serious set of books for two small children on their first week of school. “Is this really the best –““Everleigh.”The words fade from my lips as I turn my face up to his. I’m proud of myself for going only a lit
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“Oh my god,” I whisper, leaning across the table to get a better look at Margot’s mother’s face. She grins at me again, showing a set of straight white teeth. “You’re…you’re the woman, from the cart…”She laughs, her eyes crinkling in the corners, blending in with the wrinkles that otherwise crease her face. “The woman from the cart – yes, my finest moniker, the name my mother dreamed I would bear –“I laugh a little, sitting back, my cheeks flushing – because that was rude – but Margot laughs too, harder than me, and a glance at her happy face lets me know that it’s all right – I haven’t truly offended anyone.My friend looks between me and her mother, interested. “Wait, so really? My surprise introduction isn’t so much of a surprise?”“You tell her,” the woman says, gesturing to Margot a
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My eyebrows raise as a rough little laugh sounds, echoing around the grove as my horse walks away from me, revealing a very small grey-haired woman standing before her door, her hand fisted on her hips. I blink for a second because…do I…But a wide grin stretches her features as she looks me up and down, disrupting the thought. “So,” she says, quite cheerful. “Are you one of my fancy daughter’s fancy friends?”I laugh and dip into a little curtsy. “I suppose I am.”The woman steps closer to me – peering up into my face. I am not particularly tall but she is particularly short. One corner of my mind considers that Margot’s father must have been a giant to get a daughter so tall –But there’s no time to think about that as the woman steps forward, sniffing the air, reaching for me. “Hands, please,” the woman orders, her own held out palm up. I barely hesitate before slipping my hands against hers, but she hastily turns them over and brings her face close, studying my palms. “I see, I se
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I push back the hood of my cloak a little, looking around the shady grove into which we ride.“Just ahead!” Margot says, laughing a little, clearly pleased to be home.But…home.God, I knew Margot came from humble beginnings but I didn’t think she honestly lived in the wilderness like this. Everything around us is just wild - woods and trees – a pretty brook with waters tumbling over its rocks in a lively, cheerful way – sunlight falling through the leaves and dappling the floor. Not a sign of civilization anywhere – not even a road leading to this little clearing.But it’s…beautiful.Honestly nearly the entire ride here I've just been worrying so much about Auden - what to do, how to fix this - but now that we're here -God, all I can do is just...stare at the beauty all around.As I nudge my horse further forward, following Margot’s own mare, I wonder if I would have liked to have grown up in a place like this. Such freedom but also such…boredom. I don’t think I would have made it w
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I lean towards her, studying her face. “I’ve never even heard of something like that – a substance that makes you able to sleep and dream so vividly – and then to share dreams. It’s like something out of a fairy tale!”“Just like me!” she says, fluffing her hair and giving me a smug, joking smile before she laughs. I laugh too, unable to help it. But then she leans towards me, her face sweet and a little conspiratorial. “Look, Everleigh…Mahl forbid little tricks like this years ago, but that doesn’t mean that everyone stopped using them. And the women in my family have been doing this sort of thing for years – we didn’t just give it up because some big bully king told us to.”My eyes widen as I realize what Margot is truly telling me – that she comes from a tradition of magic users and makers – the sorts of women whom Mahl would mark as witches an
