The Last Mareta

Chapter 2

GARETH POV

There she was, once again clouding my senses. Beautiful but yet belligerent, you could tell that she wasn’t made for this scenery. No, she was too perfect to fit into this pretentious scene filled with flamboyant and cunning women, with their hands in the pockets of even more cunning men. No, she isn’t like those people. She is perfect, inside and out, and she doesn’t even seem to realize just how much my mind, body and soul seem to recognize her and no one else. Cathy, my heart couldn’t deny how much it longs for you even if I tried.

I waltzed through the crowd towards her, paying my respect to all the noble ladies who fawned over my physical appearance. There she was standing in their midst, as stunning and ever. Her red hair, freckles and unique skin could make any man lose his composure just as it did to me. She seemed to spot me approaching, and I could already see as a blush crept slowly into her cheeks. “Hello Gareth” she said with a mock curtsey.

“A blind man could see through your act”, I laughed, and she did the same.

“And here I thought I had finally mastered this whole thing, but I guess it doesn’t work as well outside story books” she said as she giggled.

“Well, you definitely pulled off looking breathtakingly beautiful.” It made me happy to watch as her cheeks began to compete for pigmentation with her hair.

“Sadly, I’m not the one with the thirsty eyes of noble women not so discretely sizing me up”. I offered my arm to her, and she took it as I led her through the crowd to the balcony.

“May I?” I asked

“Gareth, I may admit you are a fine dancer, but I need to remind you that I have two left feet” she said as a matter-of-factly.

“I promise not to let you fall”, I assured her.

“If my memory serves me right, I remember you said the same thing at the last winter ball. I ended up getting more frost bite than a gargoyle from falling one too many times on my rare”, she definitely did not relish the memory as much as I did.

From her first moments within the palace, Cathy and I spent every ball together. She never seemed to be comfortable in crowds, and I was her escape. But it wasn’t just at the balls. It became every time both our busy schedules would allow it. I didn’t mind being her escape from her reality because she was mine also. Dancing out here had become our tradition every time there was a ball, one I looked forward to every single time, no matter how many times she stumped on my toes. Being able to guide her movements within my arms was enough to set my desire for her ablaze. I loved that. I loved her.

“Good thing its spring” I replied with a chuckle. She stared at me suspiciously as though she was weighing her options. After what seemed to be much deliberation, she took my hand, letting me sway with her along to the rhythm that was pouring out from the ballroom. Her body was pressed against mine and my hand rested on the small of her back. She looked fragile but could send half of the highest ranking soldiers to the physician who happened to be my father. She was simply perfection to me.

***

CATHERINE’S POV

Melina had managed to fit me into the most beautiful dress I had ever seen on myself. The leafy green fabric and delicate lace made me think my red hair beautiful for the first time in my seventeen years of living. I had hugged her so tightly after she helped me get dressed. She had painted my lips cherry red also, and even my two colored patchy skin didn’t seem to bother me. I looked beautiful.

Standing in the midst of all these beautifully adorned people, had begun to play slowly on my newly found confidence. I couldn’t wait to spot him in the crowd. I turned around and noticed him making his way towards me through the crowd. His gaze did not leave me for even a split second as he half-heartedly acknowledged the women who had not so subtly fawned over him. He made me feel like I was the only one that mattered to him in that room with the way his eyes lingered on me as he approached me. I could feel my heart flutter and I wish I could pause and hold the moment a little longer. Once he got to where I stood, he offered me his hands and I took it without a second thought, and he led me out of the ballroom to the balcony where we would always go during balls to escape the crowd.

I imagined a world where I was all that mattered to him and nothing else or no one else. A world where all these other people could never get to him and my place in his heart would be sure and could not be contended. But in reality, he had always treated me like his clumsy little sister that needed to be watched closely, even though he was only a year older than I was.

‘Breathtakingly beautiful’, was what he called me. I wasn’t sure if it was my childish crush on him or the atmosphere the surrounding scenery had invited, but those words were affirmation enough to make me feel like the prettiest in the room. Deep down I knew it was because the words had come from him and no one else. He had found me ‘beautiful’. The words had felt divine rolling of his tongue. Just for me.

We had stood in this same spot severally in the past, but today was going to be the last ball I would be attending before I fully gained the power of the Mareta. After I turn eighteen, nothing can and nothing will stay the same. The life of a Mareta is a lonely one filled with daytime praise of war victories and lonely nights with no one to call your own. For that reason alone, my love for Gareth could never be anything more than my little fantasy.

He pulled me to dance with him and, far more than frostbites, I feared that I would not be able to hide my growing attraction for him while I was in his arms. I eventually gave in to him and swayed along the way his body led me. It was like time had frozen to be able to accommodate this moment. His hands were placed on the small of my back with so much grace and familiarity, like I was made to fit perfectly into his palm. There was no other place in this world I would have rather been at that moment. Not even back with my mother.

I was taken away from her to the palace the moment I was discovered to be Mareta. The king had decided that family bonds would only make me weak. As the Mareta I was to live for my people and not for myself. I wasn’t bothered about leaving her. For as long as I could remember she was too busy mourning the loss of her husband and first daughter to pay any attention to her bastard child. The palace had been the only place I considered home and Melina and Gareth as my only family. The king may have taken me away based on his personal desires, but to me, it was the best thing that could happen to me if it meant nights like this with Gareth. I didn’t need a seer to tell me that I was hopelessly in love with him.

***

GARETH’S POV

“I think I have fallen in love with you, Cathy”, the words slipped out of my mouth before I realized that I wasn’t thinking to myself. I felt her body stiffen at my words and at that moment, I knew I had ruined the serenity our togetherness brought. She was probably disgusted at the thought that I would look at her in such a way when I was meant to be a sibling figure to her.

I dared to look down at her and caught her gaze instead. Her eyes screamed an emotion I could only translate as shock. The surrounding air thickened with her being only an inch away from me. I could reach out and claim those beautiful lips in mine. I could pour in all the passion and desire I had managed to suppress for far too long into the kiss and etch my love so deep into her mind she’d be conned into loving me too.

But I couldn’t.

I couldn’t live with myself knowing she had other options, but ended up with me just because I didn’t give her much of a choice. So I stood. And I waited to get any form of reply from her. Not even her face gave away any aiding emotion. Her shock had been replaced with confusion, and I was beginning to fear losing the one person I had managed to fall for.

“Catherine I…” trying to salvage the situation was all that I could do now, but I couldn’t even find the words to remedy the damage I might have already caused. Moving a step back, I created a little bit of room between us in an attempt to quiet my longing thoughts and figure out what to do next.

“How do I say I am hopelessly in love with you without sounding desperate for your attention”, she said.

I looked up from where I had been staring at the ground to catch her gaze and was utterly dumbfounded at the look of relief in her perfect beady eyes. She loved me too. It was like living a dream and I needed to ensure that this was my reality and not just something my overly active imagination had cooked up. Taking a step closer to her, I rested my hands on her shoulder a gently as I could and stared into her teary eyes. “Good thing I love desperately”. Her eyes seemed to glimmer at that, and I didn’t need many words to be said at that moment to know that she had my heart in her palms and I had hers in mine. Cupping her face in my hands, I placed a kiss on her forehead and let it linger, salvaging every moment of this that I could.