Claiming The Remnant

Chapter 56

[ Ethyn ]

“Oww.” I rubbed my head before reaching for the object that had hit me. A book. Having been hit in the head while I was sleeping in the library was quite odd but I supposed being hit by a book was less odd. Afterall it was a library.

'Gaëlle Wants an Apple'

What a dull book. I couldn't blame someone for chucking it but chucking it at me? Not so much. I was turning the book over in my hands, debating what to do when it happened. From the otherside of the heavily burdened book shelves she came.

She was the most lovely, unlovely thing I had ever seen. Her hair was an incredibly plain, unassuming shade of auburn, dull and lifeless but styled fashionably, framing her pinched, paler than pale face perfectly. Ne'er had I seen flesh of such pallor. It appeared unkissed by the warmth of the sun and without the caress of the moon's gentle light. Instantly, a longing to see her cheeks glow with a blush, and her sickly complexion banished, affixed itself to my heart.

Every vein was visible under her thin skin. They wove a tapestry of loose threads; an unfinished work hanging from the loom. A beauty in its incompleteness.

The lady was a little short, perhaps just under average but her frame was as petit as they come. She looked as though a stern word or perhaps a cutting look might break her.

My heated, lustful heart was being set by the coolness of her eyes; pools of blue so deep, deeper than the ocean or even the sky on the cusp of receiving the dawn. My heart was forged anew in those eyes and she didn't even know it. She was like a blacksmith quenching their latest creation.

I yearned for her voice, to know her name. A single utterance from her lips would be a sound I would forever treasure. It mattered not if it would be as sweet as a bell or as sharp as the piercing crowing of a cockerel.

I would ever be a famine and she my feast. Without a doubt, she was my le coup de foudre.

"Enchantée, mademoiselle, I believe this may be yours?" I offered out the item in question with the most charming smile I possessed.

Mon foudre, the picture of everything that I would not have asked for in love, simply stared. A little frightened perhaps, after all she had just assaulted a stranger with a book, but not as frightened as I would expect, and therefore I deduced that she did not know who I was. It was a relief that I stood before her purely on the merit of my simple self and not my title.

“My apologies good sir, it was an… accident.” She spoke softly, reaching for the book as I offered it. A kind voice. It reminded me of dappled sunlight and spring flowers. We each held the book, gazing into one another's eyes. It was an aeon. It was a second. It was not enough.

“What mischief you must be embroiled in for the natural tranquillity and temperament of a book to become so antithetical to its own essence!” I teased, with what I hoped were warm eyes and a rousing smile. The beguiling woman looked on, those captivating eyes of hers soaking me up. She made no reply. My jesting seemed to draw a line of worry on her forehead and dust the shine of her boastfully blue eyes with confusion. “This is the part where you reply.” I grinned but kicked myself inside. Ye Gods, I was normally so much smoother.

“Err, thank you for returning the book.” She gripped it a little tighter with her delicate hands but I didn't let go.

"I'm Ethyn." I practically squeaked. Yup. Not smooth at all. I kept my title to myself. As much as it was a useful tool it was also sometimes a stumbling block. I didn't want to stumble here; I was soaring so high. "Miss…?" I prompted when she continued to stare as if transfixed. Did she feel it too?

Her lips, a light daisy pink, parted. In my heart I was begging the Earth and Sky that she would grant me her name. This fleeting moment, where we were just a man and a woman pinned in place by fate's arrow, we were equal in a way that I would not be able to replicate again. The smallest whisper of a word began to tumble over those delicate lips when we were interrupted.

"Crown Prince Ethyn." Willis, at least I think it was Willis - the dyed hair and dress confused me, curtsied low after very loudly announcing me. I was betting a certain someone heard that. Willis nudged mon foudre into action as they went. It was a fight within myself not to reach out and lift my captivating damsel out of her curtsy.

"Thank you, …" I left a space for them to interject. After all, if Willis had donned a disguise then they were most likely working. Why this fragile woman needed such heavy-handed supervision, I could not fathom.

"Josephine, Your Grace." They replied with a subtle air of panic. Certainly there was something afoot.

"And this is?" I was just bursting to know.

"Ethyn!!" The call came as I knew it would. If only there had been a few moments more. I swear Willis had said my name louder than necessary on purpose.

"Zach! Ye Gods, you've gotten taller." I mussed his green hair as he bounced around me. He laughed; a sound I'd missed.

"Jo, Lady." He nodded to my present company. An odd look passed between Willis and the lad, it was only fleeting but I spotted it. As for the 'Lady', I assumed it was a title and not her name, Zach had a big friendly smile for her and she for him. Oddly I was a little jealous - I wanted that smile to be for me. There were a million more questions buzzing in my brain. Wanting her name was the first one. I opened my mouth to speak but Zach's hand slipped into mine and we were gone.

The cheeky beggar had me on the exhale.