FOREVER KNIGHTS: #5 Subjugation of Beasts
All Goes Great

Her eyes were soft and beckoning. Densely lashed. Bow mouth lush. Straight nose and slightly angled chin framed by thick silky hair.

She is lovely.

She stood quietly, awaiting his answer.

I should’ve planned for this question. Sliding to his booted feet he avoided her nearness. I’ve no idea what to say.

“I think it best we conclude our visit today. And return you to your practices.” Dusting off his pants he offered her his hand. “Marod’s ire will have cooled, she’ll be back to avoiding you.”

“I’ve no desire to go back!” She sullenly took his hand.

I know. He pulled her to her feet.

When she stood before him, she barely rose to his collar.

Good God she’s short.

“Have you grown at all in the last few years?”

She punched him in the gut. Unexpectedly knocking the air from him. Making him laugh as he hugged his middle.

Scrunching up her face, she narrowed her eyes and her chin jutted. “As a matter of fact, I have not! It appears I’m as tall as I will be.”

He scoffed. “I’ve seen half-grown boys taller than you!”

“I’m not a boy, Alazar!”

“I’m aware.” He looked a little ill.

“You are?” Face softening, she offered a hopeful little smile.

He suddenly thought better of the words. “Go home, Girl!”

“Why is it when you’re pleased with me, I’m ‘Little Dove’ but when you’re annoyed, I become ‘Girl’?”

“Because you are a Girl, not a woman grown.”

“Alazar I’m almost seventeen. Marod is already searching for a husband for me.”

“Bloody Hell! Really?” His face was shocked. “But you’re a child!” But he was cognizant of the fact that women of Ardae, as in England, were often wed by fifteen. Riaura would soon be recognized as a spinster if she wasn’t wed in the next year.

How had I not realized it? It suddenly made all her discussions of a husband make sense. She’s afraid of remaining unwed. Her voice snapped from his unsettling thoughts.

“You didn’t answer me Alazar…” She gnawed her lip. “Do I look a child?”

“You’re starting to look like a heaping bag of trouble!” He winced. “Perhaps we shouldn’t speak anymore. I think perhaps things have taken a turn I didn’t account for.” He paced. Floundering for words.

“I’m running out of time to choose for myself, Alazareth.”

Seventeen? I’d thought her much younger.

He scowled. Crooking his finger under her chin he lifted her face. “You know very well you’re my dearest friend. But I enjoy my companions to be grown women who know what they want. Not girls seeking a way out of an unhappy castle.”

“You think that’s what I’m doing?” She gasped, appalled.

Perhaps that didn’t come out as I’d intended. He eyed her warily.

“Is that how you see me? A little girl who doesn’t know what she wants?” Outrage flushed her face and made her eyes glitter.

Now you look like a woman.

This is often how they look at me. He winced.

She glared heatedly. Small hands working in fists.

Fit to slap me!

For what?

“Have I offended you?” He asked uneasily.

“I’m well past offended Alazar.” She huffed.

Oh, no.

“Fear not! I’m woman enough to know someone as cruel as you, is certainly not the man I want.”

Good…I think.

What?

“I’m no fit husband for any woman, Girl.” His tone turned acid. Her harsh words cutting him to the quick.

“Well! I see that very clear now! And all this time I thought you cared for me!”

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Just not-

“I-” He started.

She stomped from the clearing in a huff.

What’s she trying to do?

“Riaura!” He called pleadingly. Taking a step to follow her. “Riaura, stop!”

Please.

“Leave me alone!” She commanded. Fury tingeing her in a way he’d never seen before.

He settled and watched her go. Never one to chase an angry woman.

Well that went well!

I see something I’d never thought I would. My brother has gone from the staunch unmoving man I knew, to one torn asunder by a slip of a creature. A blonde beauty that wraps him about her fingers.

He laughs, he plays, he waits for her. He thinks her friend. One truer and closer to him then he’d ever let even me be. She holds such power over him. But she longs for him and he’s too blind to see what’s plain to everyone else.

It brings my heart joy to see him smiling like a fool. I’ll help him see what she’s tried to show him. She’s no longer the girl he once protected. She’s a creature wanting more than he’s willing to give.

If he doesn’t open his eyes soon, I fear he’ll lose her forever.

From the Journal of Sebastian Bodane.

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