Blood of Quartz

Chapter 13

"She said hello to me, you know. She spoke first. I think I must have given the impression I was not at all intelligent, because her first words were quite loud and staggered, like speaking to a simpleton. Once I found my voice, I introduced myself and bowed so low, all her friends giggled behind her."

"She asked me to walk with her. We had finished at the butcher, so I did. I would have done anything she asked of me right then, I was so mesmerized by her eyes and her grace. She wasn't real, I remember thinking. When I asked her what her name was, and she told me, I remember the weight of despair crushing my heart. I was a simple hog farmer; she the daughter of a noble man. About to be married to a Duke, and become a Duchess."

Niall made a noise and raised his eyebrows. "How on earth did you know that?"

"Why do you think I was delivering hogs? A wedding needs food, son," Orrick replied.

"Are you telling me you met her, stole her away and married her in a single day?" Erik asked, dumbfounded. "How—"

Orrick waved his hands, chuckling. "As we spoke, my disappointment must have shown. She asked why my heart looked heavy, and before I could stop myself I said 'Because, my lady, such a wondrous flower is about to be plucked from the garden, and I will never see the like of it again'."

Erik snorted in laughter at that. His mother, described as a flower was not something he could ever see. She was a stalwart tree, a shelter in the storm, able to bend and weather anything, to him. A flower? Never.

"I know. She must have thought I was a poor poet because her peals of laughter bounced off the stone wall around us. But she met my eyes, and without looking back, she told the women with her to head back to the keep, she would walk further with me alone. They hesitated, but then she did look back, and gave them that stare—you know which one I speak of, son—and they scurried away. Suddenly, I was alone with her."

"Scandalous," Niall teased. There was humour in his voice, and Erik was happy to hear it. He looked up and Niall wordlessly handed his wineskin to him. It was a simple gesture that they'd done so many times, but it heartened Erik. His best friend was as important to him as any family tie. He handed it back, and shared what he hoped was a relieved and happy look. Niall nodded. He understood.

Orrick continued. "So we walked out the outer gates, and into a small meadow with some gardens in them. There were gardeners everywhere, so we were not alone by any stretch, but I felt like I was the only man in the world, she the only woman. I could see nothing but her. We talked about the weather, about her wedding, her father and her siblings. I told her about Katia and Craik, about my farm. She wanted to hear all about the apple grove, the fields, the river, what it was like to have hogs to raise. She told me it sounded like the most beautiful place in the world. I told her it was the Gods domain on the earth, and that I loved it dearly. I remember your mother bent and carefully picked a flower off of a bush as we passed, and handed it to me. It was a rose, and the thorn stuck my thumb, quite deep. When I yelped, she laughed again, and said 'If I am a flower, let me be one with thorns, so that I may grow wild and never be picked, just to die' I don't think I will ever forget that."

His father stopped for a moment, caressing the pad of his thumb, looking at it as if the thorn was stuck fresh. He let out a big breath and continued.

"At that point, she sighed. I asked her if she felt as if she indeed was a wild rose, or was a garden lily, grown to grace a vase, to be admired. She got my meaning, I think, because her eyes welled with tears and she confessed to me, as we stepped behind a hedge, that she did not want to marry the Duke. I couldn't bear to see her cry, something in me broke. I asked her to run away with me right then and there, took her face in my hands and kissed her."

Erik watched his father pause and look contemplatively out the loft door, the weight of memory plain on his face. It had happened long ago, but could have happened yesterday, his voice thick with emotion when he continued.

"For as long as I live, I will never forget how she looked at me, and I had a sliver of a wish that she would. I told her that I could love her for the rest of her life, and never have my fill. I told her to meet me by the aqueduct portal at the back of the keep after the feast that night if she truly wanted to be free, and wild, and live her life away from court. With me. I spoke to her of children not yet born while I covered her hands in kisses. I was spouting anything I could to convince her to love me back, to take that chance. I was a fool, willing to give my life for just a taste of her."

"My God, Orrick, you are a romantic bugger. I never knew," Niall teased, and handed his wineskin to him. Orrick took it gratefully and swallowed.

"She left me in that garden, behind that hedge, breathless and hopeful when she said 'Yes', reached up, kissed me back, and ran. My thumb was dripping blood, the rose still in my hand." he held up his thumb, and ran a finger over it. "I still have the indent, even after all these years."

"So obviously she did come to you," Erik murmured, humbled by the story. For his entire life he had assumed she had come from a family she did not want to mention. He thought her steel was from surviving something she did not want to remember. In all that time, he would have never even guessed.

"She did, a small bag of things, and the Countess herself letting her through the door."

"the Countess?" Erik exclaimed, and a few men behind him rustled. He covered his mouth and repeated, quietly "The Countess. The current earl's mother?"

"The same. She looked me up and down, measured me, nodded, and wordlessly handed your mother a coin purse brimming with gold, enough to see us well fed for several years. 'He'll do fine.' she had said, and closed the door, bolting it. Emilie looked at me, took my hand, and we ran."