My Wee Mate

31 - Into Splinters

Fraser

"The princess felt trapped. It was the sort of trapped that made it seem as if it was impossible to escape. She had to accept her retched fate, for there was nothing else she could do aside from welcoming the unpleasantness gladly, even if it shattered her heart completely."
A marriage of convenience it was. The man she was to wed was not a man that she loved, but it was a man that she may grow to love, for they would spend many years together, bringing children into the world, and were destined to tolerate one another.
The mere idea agonized her. How could she? Could she even try to love a man whom she had never met?"

Ailsa paused, looking at the book in her hands and frowning thoughtfully, as if the words beneath her fingertips somehow offended her.

I smiled, tilting my head to the side, and wondering why she had stopped.

"Is something amiss?" I ask lightly, but by the time my question is finished I already know that something is most definitely wrong, because she won't look up at me. She won't give me her mirth filled eyes that she typically does when I tease her.

I wonder whether or not I should press the matter. A part of me is exponentially curious and wants to be quenched. The other part, the much more reasonable part, knows that she doesn't seem to be in a talking mood.

So I settle for a polite, "Please, continue."

She does, trying the words carefully on her tongue, feeling for poison hidden in the letters

"What if she could never love him? What if her first love was all that ever mattered to her...."

This time when she stops, she slams the book closed, tossing it aside, and folding her arms across her slim chest.

"I don't want to read this book anymore." Ailsa insists, looking anywhere but me or the book she detests.

I chuckle trying to hide the protective desires that want to burst forth at any sign of her unhappiness. There's no use for them now, not when I'm locked up down here.

"Well," I start thinking on what I should even say to her "you are the one that chose it, my dear."

She shoots me infuriated glare, nostrils flaring, and I have to try my best not to laugh at the cute pucker that appears between her eyebrows.

"Yes, well I did not know that it would Be, as if.." She trails off once more, throwing her hand over her mouth, as if to stop herself before she can reveal what she is truly feeling.

It makes me momentarily angry. I'm upset, hurt, more hurt than the knife her father dragged down my back. She can't even trust me with her emotions? Have I already been such a lousy mate?

I'm in love with her and she won't even tell me what's hurting her.

I take a deep breath through the nose and shove the feelings away, knowing they will not serve me. Those thoughts will only drag me down, they will not help the situation at hand.

"As if what?" I press, trying to keep the disappointment from leaking into my voice and giving away my inner turmoil.

She looks down.

I turn and lean forward, waiting until she looks up to capture her gaze.

"Please. Help me to understand."

She sighs heavily before nodding her head in defeat. I hate that I feel satisfied.

"The Ramsays are coming to the clan next week. Do you know why?"