Huntsman: Love Will Find a Way (8 page)

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Ina, who was fanning her hand in my face
.
“Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah,” I reassured her
.
“Why?”

“I just asked if you wanted to stay for breakfast, and you didn’t answer me
.
”

“I’m sorry, of course I would like to stay for breakfast
.
”

“Okay,” she said, giving me a look before gesturing to the table
.
“Go take a seat then
.
It’s almost done
.
”

Wolfsbane and I both took a seat
.
I tried to put as much space as I could between myself and the princess without being rude, but there only ended up being a chair between us
.
I saw out of the corner of my eye disappointment shadow her face before it returned to the smile it had before I sat down
.
Wolfsbane gave me a confused look, and I shook my head, signaling that I would explain myself later
.
Not that I truly needed too
.
But, I knew that if anyone could help me figure out what was going on with me, it would be my friends
.

After the food had been put on the table and everyone had filled their plates, Ina smiled at the princess
.
“Lara, have you ever been on this side of the Realm?”

She shook her head
.
“I was never really allowed outside of the kingdom
.
And, when I was, I always had a multitude of guards with me
.
”

“That’s not surprising
.
Not many people from the Northern Kingdom come this way,” Ina paused to take a bite of a berry
.
“It’s sad, really
.
Anyways, how would you like Sam, Angie and I to show you around today? We won’t go far, and there are some great little shops in Wonderland we could go see
.
”

“That would be wonderful
.
Thank you
.
” The princess smiled, genuinely thankful for the offer
.

Ina waived her hand in the air
.
“It’s not a problem
.
Since you like to read, I could take you by my favorite bookstore too
.
I have to talk to Morice anyways about a new book that I want to read
.
”

Wolfsbane laughed
.
“I think that man gets more business from you than anyone else
.
”

Ina slapped his arm, causing him to laugh harder
.
It was contagious, and both Ina and the princess started laughing as well
.
I smiled and shook my head as they continued with their fit
.
I seemed to pick up on the princess’ laughter more than the others
.
The sound was pure, more so than I ever thought possible
.
I didn’t know why, but it drew me to her, I wanted to grow closer
.

I clutched the lip of the table, forcing myself to stay where I was at
.
I tried to remind myself that she was my assignment
.
I had to remind myself that I couldn’t get close to her
.
I couldn’t start feeling anything for her
.

Apparently, my struggle was noticeable, because the princess looked over at me with a pained and worried expression
.
“Are you alright?”

I nodded, unable to speak
.
I didn’t understand
.
Why was being even a short distance from her so painful? It felt as if it were physically killing me, tearing me apart from the inside out
.
I needed to be next to her, to touch her, even if it was a simple brush of the fingers
.
I wondered what it would feel like, just the simple brush of skin
.
I hadn’t touched her since I helped her over a log on the walk to my house
.
It felt like such a long time ago, and yet, in reality, it was only a few hours before
.

Unable to resist, I carefully brushed the pads of my fingers across the top of hers, barely ghosting over her hand
.
I watched her, gauging her reaction
.
It didn’t seem to affect her on the outside, but when Wolfsbane glanced over at me, I could tell that he heard her pulse quicken
.

“Perhaps you girls should go get Sam, it’s almost the noon hour,” Wolfsbane suggested
.
“You don’t want the day to waste away
.

Ina nodded and I breathed a heavy sigh of relief
.
The princess gave me another worried glance, but agreed, following Ina out of the room
.
Once we heard the front door closed, and their footsteps faded away, I finally relaxed as much as I could
.
Wolfsbane turned to me, a knowing expression on his face
.

I still couldn’t speak, and it was as if the pain had gotten worse
.
I thought having her farther away would help ease the pain and tension that I had, and yet it had only intensified
.
It was almost unbearable, the fire inside
.
I felt as if my very nerves were burning, slowly melting until there was nothing left of me inside
.
I looked up at my friend in agony
.

“Why do I feel this way?” I asked between gritted teeth
.
“Why is there so much pain?”

He chuckled a little, and there was a small part of me that hated him in that moment
.

“Why is my pain funny? Why does seeing me writhing in unbearable agony bring you joy?”

“It’s not that it brings me joy
.
It’s that I know exactly what you are going through, and I know see why Hatter and Peter thought it was funny also
.
”

“What in the bloody hell are you talking about?” I threw my head on the table, unable to bear the pain anymore, leaving a large dent in the wooden table
.

“Ina is going to kill you for that,” he said, pointing to the indented wood as he got up and went to one of the many cabinets in the large kitchen
.

“Will you stop making jokes and tell me what’s wrong with me? I feel like I’m dying!” I screamed, releasing some of the built-up pain with my answer
.

He rolled his eyes
.
“Have you always been so impatient? No wonder the Fates paired you with someone like Lara
.
Perhaps her patience will mellow you out some
.
You’re a bit high strung, my friend
.
”

I just stared at him, unable to speak
.
I had used up all of my energy, what little there was that I had, trying to get an answer out of him before
.
He was so vague in his responses, and his most current one didn’t help either
.

“Think about it, boy! Think about what I just said
.
The Fates
.
Pairing
.
Lara
.
Surely you can’t be that daft!”

“You…
..
You mean…
..
”

He nodded
.
“Now you’re getting it!” He slapped me on the back, sending tendrils of red hot pain to all corners of my body
.
I gritted my teeth, trying to prevent myself from ripping his head off right there
.

“So…
.
all this pain…
.
It’s from…
.
”

“The Bonding
.
” He finished for me, as if he couldn’t believe that it had taken me that long to figure it out
.

“But…
.
I was supposed to kill her! I wasn’t supposed to let her live! How can I believe that I am supposed to be her Other Half?”

He shrugged
.
“I’m not the Keeper, I don’t know
.
But, I’m sure that if you’re already feeling this much pain, then you are pretty close to having the bond finished
.
”

I simply shook my head, unable to speak anymore
.
As the lights started to fade into darkness, I wondered what the Fates were thinking when they gave me a girl like the princess
.

Chapter 9
Lara

I felt bad when the girls decided that we should wait to see the area for another day
.
I felt like it was all my fault
.
And, in a way, it was
.

During breakfast, my entire body ached
.
It was sore, as if I had just ran a hundred miles without a break
.
I felt woozy, barely able to stay sitting upright in my chair
.
After the Huntsman had touched me, it all went away
.
I had thought that it was just a coincidence, but apparently, there was more to it than I had imagined
.

Because, before we even made it to the first store, I had collapsed
.
I don’t remember much about what happened, just that I had been walking, then was lightheaded
.
The world around me began to spin before I felt my head connect with the ground beneath me
.

I woke up in the same room that I had been in since the Huntsman took me away from the castle
.
I woke up, foggy headed,  but my pain was gone
.
I felt fine
.
It was as if nothing had happened to me
.

Sitting up, I perched on the edge of the bed, waiting to be sure that I was stable
.
When no dizziness or wooziness came, I eased myself off, walking towards the closet
.
I jumped when I heard his voice, startled by the unexpected presence in the room
.

“You really should stay in bed
.
”

I turned to face the Huntsman, hand on my heard
.
He was sitting in the green stuffed chair that sat in the back corner of the room, basking in the glow of the mid-morning sun
.
He looked tired, as if he hadn’t slept in days
.
His beard had grown out slightly, being more than just a simple morning shadow
.
His clothes were wrinkled, as if he had  been sleeping in them
.

“What are you doing here?” I asked finally, once I had recovered my voice, and my heart steadied to a regular rhythm
.

He ran a hand over his face, and I noticed the purplish blue bags under his eyes
.
He definitely had not been sleeping well
.
“You fainted when you were on your way to town a few days ago
.
I wanted to make sure that you were alright
.
”

“A few days?” I wondered how long I had been out
.
Surely it couldn’t have been a few days
.

He nodded
.
“About a week ago, now
.
You were starting to worry us all
.
You were only waking up for a few minutes at a time, barely long enough for Ina to give you something to keep you from becoming malnourished
.
”

“A week?” I let myself fall on the bed
.
“It couldn’t have been a week
.
I would have known…I would have…”