Huntsman: Love Will Find a Way (10 page)

I rolled my eyes
.
“Nothing is ever easy with you, is it?”

He stood there, not saying anything, waiting patiently
.
With a sigh, I not only closed my eyes, but put my hands over them too
.
I heard him walk behind me before he covered my hands with his own, pulling me slightly closer to him
.

“My hands weren’t good enough?” I asked jokingly
.

I felt him shrug
.
“This ensures no peeking
.
Are you ready?”

I nodded, and he nudged me forward
.
It was a straight shot from the door to where we were going, which was strange because his living room wasn’t as big as it felt walking through it
.
When we stopped, he uncovered my eyes
.
In front of me was a door I didn’t recognize, the brass handle still shiny from only being used a few times
.

I looked at him, and he smiled
.
“Go ahead, open it
.
”

Chapter 11
Huntsman

I held my breath as she turned the handle at a pace that felt agonizingly slow
.

She had bewitched me, this simple little princess, in just a few weeks’ time
.
I wasn’t sure how she managed to get through my ever-hardening heart
.
Perhaps it was her meekness, her shy character that was as humble as could be
.
Or, it could have been her outward beauty, her long hair and glimmering eyes
.
Those eyes
.
They seemed to entrap me from the moment I first looked into them
.

I was never one for love, I didn’t care for those stories in our history books
.
The ones of the Perfects meeting and, somehow, righting the wrongs of our world
.
And yet, they never seemed to be able to fix all of them, and never seemed to care
.
As long as they fixed just enough, they were content
.
They lived their lives on, seemingly with a happy ever after
.

But, I knew better
.
I knew that nothing was ever as easy as it seemed in the books
.
Those books, though they were our history, were full of fluff, of things made to make it seem more glamourous than it really was
.
They were full of romance, of all of the wars that we had won
.
But, they failed to include the couples that weren’t Perfects, that weren’t able to complete the bond
.
They didn’t include the wars and battles that we had lost, the hundreds of brave creatures and people that had died
.

I knew better than to believe what I read in books
.

When she walked into the room, she gasped, and I thought she didn’t like it
.
I worried that she would be furious at me for making the room for her, that she wouldn’t want to stay with me
.
Even the small amount of work we’ve made, I still worried that she would think that I was moving too fast
.

When she turned to me, she had a smile on her face and tears in her eyes
.
She gave me a tight, lingering hug, her tears wetting my tunic
.
“Thank you,” she whispered
.

I glanced at the room over her head, proud myself for bringing her happiness
.
The room was small, there’s no doubt about that
.
But, with the princess’s presence, it made even the smallest hole in the wall feel like a castle
.

There was nothing in the room except for a plain, wooden bed with a matching night table, an oil lamp, a bookshelf, and a small armoire
.
I wish I could give her more, because she deserved so much more
.
But, she didn’t seem to mind the meagerness of it
.

“I’m glad that you like it
.
I was afraid that you wouldn’t have
.
”

“It’s perfect, I love it
.
”

I smiled and gestured to the bookshelf
.
“Ina knows a good bookstore in town
.
She said she’ll take you one day
.
No one can ever have enough books, or so she says
.
”

She laughed
.
“That’s true, I do like a good book every now and then
.
”

I sighed, wrapping my arms back around her
.
“So, do you like it?  Really like it?”

She laid her head on my shoulder
.
“I really do
.
  I wouldn’t lie to you
.
”

I tightened my hold on her
.
“I have one last surprise for you, but you can’t have it until tonight
.
”

I felt her stiffen a little, and I laughed
.
“Not that kind of surprise, my dear
.
We just have to wait until the sun sets
.
”

She relaxed and laughed a little herself
.
“You always seem to know what I’m thinking
.
It’s like a gift or something
.
”

“It is a gift
.
I can’t hear your thoughts, but I can feel your emotions
.
It’s part of the bond
.
”

I felt her head against my chest as she nodded
.
“I’d forgotten about that
.
”

We stood there for some time, her head on my chest, my arms wrapped around her
.
Neither of us seemed to notice as the room slowly turned darker as the day passed us by
.
Just being there with each other, holding each other as lovers would, felt like a million stars had just aligned and created an arrow pointing straight at us
.

I moved my arms, panicking when the princess started to slip
.
Quickly, I tightened my arms back around her as she jolted awake, clasping her hands tight around my arms as to brace herself
.
I laughed once she was upright
.
She slapped my arm playfully, crossing her own across her chest
.

“I don’t know what you find so funny
.
” She said curtly, going to the mirror hanging above her dresser to fix her hair
.

“Just you, Princess
.
You seem to amuse me in ways I can’t describe
.
”

“Well, if you weren’t so comfortable, I wouldn’t have fallen asleep
.
”

I chuckled again as I glanced out the window by her bed
.
  “Finish getting ready, we’ll leave in a bit
.
”

She nodded, and I made my way to my room
.
Throwing myself on the bed, I ran a hand down my face, wondering how far I would fall before I was completely lost in the girl that should have been dead
.

Unlike any girl I’d ever seen, she was like a painting by a master, kept from the world
.
Her laughter was contagious, reaching all the way to her eyes as the melody slowly captured the air of any room
.
Her smile made me, of all people, weak at the knees
.
Her hair fell down her back in the softest curls, curls that I wanted to run my fingers through all day
.

This girl, this princess, she had to know magic
.
She must have trained under the chief wizards to have bewitched me as she had
.
She had taken over my thoughts, my emotions
.
I leave her at night counting down the minutes until I see her again, savoring every moment we’re together
.
I knew that it was the incomplete bond that was causing such strong feelings
.
But, those feelings would’ve had to be there in the beginning in order for the bond to intensify them, would they not?

When she knocked on the door, I realized how much time I had wasted in my thoughts
.
Changing my shirt and combing my hair, I met her outside our home
.
Smiling and taking her hand, she laid her head on my shoulder as we walked out into the night
.

Chapter 12
Lara

Walking down the dark path with the Huntsman, I felt something that I hadn’t since my mother died
.

I didn’t worry for my safety
.
I didn’t watch where I went, checking behind every rounded corner for someone with a knife or a sword
.
I didn’t second-guess the loyalty of those who were supposed to protect me
.
I didn’t wonder if the love of my family was true
.
I didn’t feel fear daily
.

I felt safe
.

Yes, the Huntsman was supposed to kill me, but he didn’t
.
He chose to keep me alive, for whatever reason
.
I didn’t understand his choice, I didn’t try too
.
But, I was thankful for it
.
He gave me a second chance at life
.
A life of happiness, of friendship
.

A life of love
.

It was undoubtedly clear to me now that I was, in fact, in love with the Huntsman
.
Everyone who knew us could see it
.
He saw it, even if he didn’t voice it
.
And, it was clear that he felt the same way towards me as I did him
.

I wanted to finish the Bond, but wasn’t sure how
.
He had begun to explain it to me on many occasions before, but had always been interrupted by one thing or another
.
I had decided to get a book on the Bonding when I was out with Ina, and what I read caused me to worry
.
Hidden between the pages of love and ceremonies was a very detailed section about what happens if the Bond isn’t supposed to happen
.

You can’t force the Bonding, which I had known
.
But, I hadn’t known that sometimes the Fates are wrong
.
There is a force even greater than the Fates out there
.
A force that can change the Fates commands at its will
.
And, once this greater force has changed the course of the Fates, there’s no changing it back
.

To say I wasn’t worried about this happening with the Huntsman and I was an understatement
.
But, just as I knew that I loved the Huntsman, I knew that there was the very real possibility of us not being meant to be together
.

He nudged me, and I smiled at him
.
“You’ve been quiet,” he said, wrapping an arm around me
.
“What’s on your mind?”