Loving the Forbidden Prince

Chapter 197 – Truce

ETAN

Ayleth was eyeing him, curious, but he only winked and cleared his throat when they stopped behind Falek. The man didn't stop what he was doing, but looked over his shoulder, his face going flat when he saw Etan.

Things with Falek were tense. While Ayleth appeared to have forgiven him his trespass and leaving them without word, Falek had retreated from Etan, leaving only hard edges and grunts where there had previously been a comradery and sense of shared purpose.

Etan grieved it, and prayed that as they moved toward the inevitable, he could regain the man's friendship. But for this moment, his priority was Ayleth and removing some of the tension from her dirty face.

"What is it?" Falek asked, his voice low and gruff as he ran stirrups up their leathers and unbuckled the girth on his horse.

"There's a waterfall and swimming hole two minutes walk from here. I'm taking Ayleth. We'll bathe and return before the meal. I'm asking your patience to leave us in solitude."

Falek froze in the middle of pulling the saddle from his mount's back. A moment later, he tugged it off the horse's spine and turned to slide it to the ground, settling it on its pommel in the grass. Then he straightened and faced Etan sternly.

"I am her sworn Defender. Not yours," he said through his teeth, holding Etan's eyes. "She gives my orders." Etan didn't back down, but Ayleth sighed. Part of her stress was the tension between her husband and her Knight. When Falek turned back to the horse, Etan looked a question at her. Would she support his petition in this, please?

"I would enjoy the chance to bathe," she said quietly, her eyes on Etan until Falek turned to face her again. "Will we be close enough to call for help?" she asked Etan. He nodded. "In that case, Falek, please stay here," she said. "Rest. Or help Borsche with the meal. We won't be more than an hour."

Falek nodded once, tightly, then turned on his heel and stalked away to Ayleth's horse to begin the same process of clearing the tack from it with short, sharp tugs and a jaw that twitched.

Ayleth watched him go, frowning, while Etan watched her.

It took her a moment before she blinked and turned to face him. But when she did, he offered his arm, and she took it, her smile genuine, if a fraction tight.

He led her into the trees around their clearing where a small and barely visible deer path led into the thicket. The trees closed around them, shadowing them from the rising sun quickly.

Ayleth shivered in the morning cold and clung tighter to Etan's arm. His chest swelled, but he waited until they were out of easy earshot of the men to speak. "What can I do to regain Falek's confidence?" he asked her quietly. "I understand his anger. I would likely feel the same way if the roles were reversed. But… I don't like this division between us. And I especially don't like that it makes me feel as if I cannot trust him. If something were to happen to you and we were forced to work together… I'm not certain yet that he would."

"Neither am I," Ayleth said.

The rushing sound of the waterfall grew as they walked on in silence. Etan sighed. "What advice do you have for me to—"

"Never again leave my side without first telling me that you will, and why," she said sharply, then she huffed a breath and raked her fingers through her hair. "I'm sorry, Etan," she said a moment later. "I'm trying. I'm trying to let it go. And I've told Falek to do the same. But he had to watch me fall apart. He knows how I was feeling, the betrayal alone—" she cut herself off, biting her lip. "I cannot fault him for wanting some time to watch and… warm up."

He nodded stiffly. "I know. And I understand that I have caused this," he said gently. "I only wish you understood how dire it all appeared at the time. I never imagined we could… that we would have this," he said, looking down at her, flapping a hand between them. "I was truly convinced that if you were to leave the Palace with me that you would die within hours. That if you even understood why I was leaving—if you didn't appear shocked and grieving—she would kill you. I couldn't let that happen, Ayleth."

"I know," she sighed. "And Falek does too. Give him time. And continue to reach out to him. He knows I trust you."

"Do you, though?" Etan said. He hadn't meant to begin this conversation again. But they'd spent all the time they had with any modicum of privacy either in each other's arms, or asleep. He could feel the creeping tension still underlying this tentative peace between them as well, and it made him ill.

"Yes, Etan, I do," she said. "But you have wounded me. I am… trying. I truly am."

"I know. And thank you," he said, then reached out to push back the branches of the trees and bushes that hung over the path they followed. But before he pushed through, he stopped, looking down at Ayleth and tipping his head in the direction they were travelling. The sound of water tumbling and splashing forced him to raise his voice a touch. "How about we say that for the next hour it will be as if none of this has happened? That we just… relax and refresh. Together?"

Ayleth's lips curled up. "I would like that," she said wearily.

Etan leaned in to take her lips briefly. That tingling heat that always sparked between them flared up and tempted him to pull her in, but instead he broke the kiss and blew out a breath, drawing her forward through the trees until they broke into the clearing.

As Ayleth exclaimed, he took a deep breath of the crisp, humid air and thanked his God for creations like this, praying it would be another step into their harmony.