The Promised Heir

Chapter three

The days that followed were the best days of my life.They were warm, easy ,pleasantly messy and filled with adventures I would have never dreamt of going on if Damian hadn’t come into my life. Damian and I always meet under the tree where we first met, it became our secret spot. one morning he came with a crust of bread tucked into his coat from the royal palace when I told him I haven’t had anything except my Nonna’s food. Another evening he came with a pumpkin pie. “ you really haven't lived if you’ve never tried the palace food” he never fails to remind me everytime he brings something. Each arrival left a small, private ripple through my day, and I found myself listening and waiting for the sound of his boots at our tree.

He never asks me where I disappear to after our routine talks, never questions my refusal when he tries to walk me home. And we never talked about the rogue incident either.

One bright morning he came all properly dressed without his armor and all of those metals around him. He looked dressed down, his muscles ripping through the shirt, his hair promptly combed to the back. He looked like he just walked out of a portrait and I felt heat pool to my core. My cheek lit in embarrassment as he walked towards me unaware of the things going on in my body. “We are going to the village today” he said, staring me in the eye with some sort of emotions that makes my core flood with more heat. “You, we didn’t discuss this.” “Ori, we’re going to the village, don’t think I haven’t been thinking of why you never let me walk you home, why no one has seen you in the village.” He said looking at me with question in his eyes. “I’m starting to think you never leave this forest”. He finished. “I have never left the forest” I whispered, hands clutching the hem of my gown. He stared at me in disbelief. “Never” he asked as if he didn’t hear the first time. “Never” I said. “I don’t wanna talk about it now, can we not?” I quickly added. He looked at me with surprise and nodded his head "Whenever you’re ready Ori”. “Ori?” I asked with a pleasant surprise in my voice with my eyebrows raised in question. “Yes,Ori. Do you like?” He asked with the corner of his lip lifted into a smirk. I gave him a smile of my own before he intertwined our hands and led us out of the forest. I was afraid of a world that’s not filled with greens, with trees all round and he felt my hesitation when we were about to cross into settlement. Damian gave me a reassuring grip and a look of encouragement and I let go of all my worries. With him I felt like I could walk through the whole world. He steered us past the oily fish stalls and the clatter of pots, nodding to shopkeepers as if introducing me to a club I’d never known I wanted to join. I liked how people straightened when he passed not because he was frightening, but because he carried himself like a man who knew how to keep little things from falling apart. I kept looking at everything in awe and I don’t know why I’ve been stuck in the forest all Long

He led me down a narrow lane at the back of the local pub to a path that climbed between ferns and moss. “This is my thinking place,” he announced with mock solemnity. “When the world gets too loud,I always come here. I came here the first night I saw you”.

“I could see why you stay here, it’s so quiet and beautiful” I said , pulling out some dandelions at the roots from where we stood. We sat on sun-warmed stones and just listened to nature in silence appreciating the beauty of this spot. He brought out an apple from a hole in a tree. “My secret stash” he said with a boyish grin. He peeled the apple and offered me the first bite. I accepted and bit into juice that slid down my chin, he pretended not to notice, but the corner of his mouth twitching betrayed him. He turned his other side and I saw his throat bob up and down. I smiled and offered it to him. “Your turn”

We sat there taking turns eating apple. “My parents were killed six months after I was born” I said, breaking the silence. He looked at me with pity and something I couldn’t quite figure. When he didn’t say anything I continued “ It was during the war. I’ve grown and lived with my Nonna ever since” I paused, then added “In the forest”. He held my hands “I’m very sorry about your parents Ori” I held my hands up to signal him to stop. “ I’m not done yet” I said , heaving with tears in my eyes close to falling “I also have never turned”. He looked at me, his eyes grew wild, he was bewildered. “So we stay in the forest to protect ma and it has just been me and my Nonna.” He pulled me close and hugged me. He smells like lavender and spring. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, nobody should ever have to live like that”. We stayed there in each other embrace for a long time before I decided I’ve had enough. He tried to lighten the mood. He told me silly things like the exact number of buttons on his father’s coat, the awful song he’d been forced to listen to as a child. The world felt sewn together by tiny jokes and the perfect, ridiculous softness of being seen.

“You know what?” He asked. “What?” “Come to the new moon dance with me,” he said. I laughed so loud that I snorted, covering my mouth with my hand to hide the embarrassment. “You know I can’t” I said

The new moon dance is the dance that happens once a month during the full moon where the palace hosts a dance and the people are allowed to revel in their wildness, turning into wolves at will, going in hunting games in the night and all other things attached to it. It was a bad idea for me to be there because I couldn’t turn and I don’t know what would be done to me

“Cmon, I’ll keep you safe all night I promise” he said

“My Nonna,” I countered. “Youre the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen and I would love to be at that dance with you, so if convincing your Nonna is what I have to do to get you there, then I will” he replied

“She doesn’t know you exist” i yelled in frustration

“Welll, let’s start working on that”

When he explained the new-moon dance it sounded less like a night of devauchery and more like an invitation to the best party in the world. “People loosen up,” he said, smiling as if sharing gossip. “You’ll see old men do ridiculous steps, and the bakers sing terribly off-key. And the wolves, well, they find their edges again. It’s more honest than any other night.”

My stomach did that ridiculous flip again. “Will I feel different?” I asked, because the truth was I both hoped and feared every new thing.

“Maybe,” he said, tilting his head in that thoughtful way he had that always made me look twice. “But I’ll be there. With you. If you want.”

The idea of him at my side made my chest feel fuzzy. I agreed, of course, and when he smiled that crooked, pleased smile I felt like I’d won something I hadn’t known I wanted.

We walked back to the pub, where he convinced me to try one of their beers and laughed hysterically when I spat it at him. It tasted terrible

There were little, giddy moments that felt like confessions, his hand finding mine as we crossed a bridge, the accidental brush of his thumb against my wrist, the way he cleared space for me at his sude while we walked.Once, when I felt brave , I poked his shoulder and said, “You owe me an apple.”

He pretended to be offended. “I gave you the apple,we ate it together ” he said, mock-indignant.

“You gave me half an apple, and technically it wasn't a full one ” I shot back.

“So you’re keeping tally,” he declared, and then he kissed the tip of my nose, which was somehow more infuriating and delightful than a dozen apples .

He walked me home and I showed him where the cottage was in the forest. He gave me a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll be back to meet Nonna tomorrow”

“Goodnight” I said and walked in.