The Silver Thread (6 page)

Merriweather’s right hand reached into another drawer and pulled out a smart phone. She turned it on and began to tap a few buttons on the flat screen.

“My direct line and my personal cell number are already programmed into your new phone,” she explained, and nodded at her desk buried in paperwork. “Hopefully it’s crystal clear to you how valuable my time is these days, so I expect you to answer when I ring you and give you your next assignment.”

“What kind of assignment? Are you going to send me to Paris?” he asked. She simply smiled and shrugged, batting her long black lashes at him just as he had done to her earlier.

“I haven’t decided yet. For now, I only want you to find Annika and keep her as safe as possible without arousing any suspicion on her part. Please consider what I said about keeping a low profile whilst you enjoy your honeymoon together. Let me know if her ring is reacting the same as yours, or if there are any significant changes in either of you. And eat something, for goodness sakes. When the time comes, I’ll need you in top form, not looking like a ragged bag of bones.”

Talvi looked into her dark eyes, trying to eke out some kind of clue as to what she had in mind, but Merriweather’s mind was an iron fortress.

“Very well. I accept. But I’ll need an American passport…and a place for my friend and I to stay tonight. Oh, and I need to exchange some currency before I leave.”

Merriweather rolled her eyes and handed him the phone.

“Prince Talvi, you are a royal pain in my backside. You’re taking me out for dinner after this nonsense is over with, and then you’re going to buy me a new bottle of scotch,” she said, and swiveled her chair back to face her computer. She clicked her mouse a few more times until she had a map to Charlie Brisby’s last known address on her screen, which she routed to Talvi’s phone via text.

“There’s a flight out of Heathrow tomorrow at 10am,” she said as his phone chimed in his hands, “with one connection in Boston before you get to Portland. Would you like a window seat?”

Talvi watched as the morning light pushed through the wooden blinds of the unfamiliar room, creating a pattern of thin stripes across the body of the woman beside him in bed. Propped up on one side, he’d been watching her sleep for the past hour, watching the slow rise and fall of her chest, trying not to reach out and caress her waist, for fear of waking her up. In those intense bursts of light, her bright red mane splayed out like a fiery sunburst on her pillow. She was the most colorful thing in that dark room. And then in the next moment, the sun was overtaken by a raincloud, and the color was washed away.

It was the perfect metaphor for how he had found his lost bride. She had been radiant and full of sass when he had first met her, but that didn’t accurately describe how he had found her last night. Instead, she was timid, anxious, and awkward. When they first met, their kisses had frequently given way to the most vivid imagery of memories and life experiences. Last night, all Talvi could see when they kissed was a distorted collage of random and detached mumblings, cloudy images with no clarity whatsoever. It reminded him of how the world seems when one is about to pass out from intoxication, or of how the world sounds when one is swimming underwater. Whatever the cause, that watery abyss had doused Annika’s flame, and it wasn’t what it used to be.

Unable to sit still any longer, he slipped away from her side, and collected his well-worn black suede pants and a few personal items on the way to the adjoining bath.

“
Bloody…bugger…bollocks,
” escaped from his clenched teeth. He had just smacked his forehead against the door frame as he entered. Wincing as he rubbed the tender spot, he set his pants, shaving soap, and blade beside the sink. He wanted to blame it on the dim lighting, his recent awakening, or the tilt of the Earth on its axis for that matter, but he knew the real reason. The old house was just not built for elves that stood six and a half feet tall.

Talvi opened all the blinds in the bathroom and it lit up with the pale grey light of a late winter morning. He turned the faucet and waited for the water to heat up before putting the stopper in the drain. He splashed some of the warm water onto his face and let a few drops fall from his chin into the cup of shaving soap, then set about creating nice, thick foam with the brush. There was a particular comfort in going through this morning routine, regardless of where he found himself when he woke up.

Glancing into the adjacent bedroom, he pursed his lips. What if she didn’t feel the same as he still did? If absence typically made the heart grow fonder, it had made Talvi’s heart grow completely obsessed. For months now, all he had dreamed of was finding the girl, whatever the cost. Now he had her. Now what?

He set down the cup, leaving the foamy brush inside of it. Leaning close to the mirror, he searched deep into a pair of blue and green eyes for some kind of affirmation that everything was going to work out perfectly.

Oh, Talvi Marinossian, what have you gotten yourself into this time?
taunted a silent voice. He thumbed the platinum ring on his left hand and wondered if he had finally taken on more than he was capable of dealing with. It was one thing to slay insane maenads, eradicate Pazachi nut jobs, and fight off vampire attacks, but to succeed at marriage?

You’re really in for it, you hopeless git!
the silent voice taunted once more. The striking creature in the mirror tossed his unruly mane and boldly smirked back at him.

“Surely you jest. I’ve experienced worse…
far
worse,” he said out loud to himself and gave in to a satisfying, sinister laugh.

There was a little gasp from the doorway, and he turned around to see Annika in her red bath robe, looking completely mortified.

“Are you talking about last night?”

Talvi couldn’t tell if she was trying not to cry, or just squinting in reaction to the brightness of the room.

“Of course not, you silly girl,” he said, smiling softly. He walked over to her and pulled her close, kissing her cheeks. “Oh, you females and your damned emotions. But I suppose if you didn’t have them, I wouldn’t love you quite so much.”

“You wouldn’t love
me
, or females in general?” she asked cautiously, still reeling from the misunderstanding. It may have seemed an insecure thing to ask, but it wasn’t completely unwarranted, considering his notorious appreciation for the opposite sex.

“I was referring to
you
specifically,” he said, letting her go as he began to lather up his face, “but it also applies to my mother, my sisters, and my female friends back home. I adore all of you, yet as different as you are, you are still very much ruled by your hearts. It is my observation that this common bond is universal with all females, regardless if you are an elf, a wood nymph, a vampire, or a human. Your heartstrings do tend to get pulled more easily.”

“So the guy that I just caught talking to himself in the mirror is calling me illogical?”

An air of amusement passed across his face as he trimmed his wild sideburns with his straight razor.

“I never said you were illogical, although a logical woman would never question my loyalty after I have traveled the lengths I have to be with her.”

Annika couldn’t argue with his statement. She could only imagine what his travels entailed. She knew there was a lot of snow and ice to contend with. And judging by his looks, not much to eat. There were no heated leather seats in a four-wheel drive, with a cup holder for his gingerbread latte. It was probably a lot of half frozen vegetable soup and fighting off frostbite. Other than being on the thin side, he seemed unharmed. He had certainly felt alive and warm in her arms last night.

“I’ve never seen anyone shave the old-fashioned way except in movies,” she said. “It’s fascinating.”

“I find it downright mundane, but if it pleases you…” Talvi responded, and went back to his task. Annika stood to the side, playing with the soft rounded tip of his soap brush while he passed the blade under his hollow cheekbones with ease.

“I know this smell,” she observed, sniffing the ceramic mug with a thick cake of soap inside. Her mind made the instant connection as she caught a whiff of honeysuckle, fruit trees and cinnamon. It was his characteristic scent.

“My mother makes it,” he said, rinsing the blade in the sink full of warm water. “It’s the exact same formula that my father used when he taught me how to shave. I’ve tried others, but this is the one I keep coming back to.”

“That’s so sweet,” Annika said, and kept watching him in wonder. Here was a creature she had thought of every day for months, never sure if she would see him again, yet there he stood. She couldn’t help but stare at him, afraid that if she looked away he would disappear, and it would all have been a dream. But one glance at her twisted bed sheets suggested otherwise. Her eyes moved over to the alarm clock on the nightstand, and seeing it was blank, she ran to check the time on her phone.

“Hey, did you unplug my alarm clock? I overslept.”

“I may have been involved with the unplugging of a clock,” he admitted, rinsing the blade in the warm water. “I thought you might enjoy your beauty sleep. There is nothing more attractive on a lady first thing in the morning than a smile.”

“You would know,” she said, not amused.

He shot her a look but said nothing, and instead continued shaving while she turned on the water in the shower.

“Jeez, how can you do that without cutting yourself? You make that look so easy.”

“It’s not difficult,” he said, passing the blade up his throat and swishing it clean in the water. “I can’t recall the last time I cut myself shaving.” He made a funny expression as he focused on the tricky place under his perfectly straight nose.

“Why don’t you just run it under the faucet instead of rinsing it in the dirty water?” she suggested. He looked sideways at her as he rinsed the blade in the sink basin again, against her advice.

“Because this is how I shave, love. Better get used to it. You’re stuck with me and
all
of my habits for the rest of eternity.”

A low, wicked laugh followed this declaration, and Annika watched him in silence as he took his sweet time swishing around in the dirty water. It was almost like he was mocking her.

She suddenly realized that yes, she
would
have to get used to all these habits. She was married to this mysterious creature. There was no way she could keep trying to return to her old life now, the one where Talvi didn’t exist. Sneaking a glance at her wedding ring before returning her gaze to him, she felt a little intimidated; a little scared. It wasn’t the fact that he loomed over her in height, or that he was older than her by over two centuries, or that he possessed much more strength than her. It was that there was so much about him that she didn’t know. All she knew was her body and her brain didn’t always meet up when it came to him. She had no idea how he took his coffee in the morning, what his favorite subject in school was, or if he had even gone to school at all. She knew nothing of his childhood, really. She knew his family and liked them well enough, and she liked his close friends, but there was still an aura of danger surrounding him. Why did it linger?

She took mental note of the laugh lines on the sides of his mouth, the delicate points of his ears, the faint scars on his right index finger from getting snagged repeatedly on his guitar strings. They were such minor observations, yet they spoke volumes. His rebellious hair was a perfect indication of his personality; too wild to stay still and behave for very long. It gave the appearance that it had endured countless adventures on horseback over hill and dale, with the wind rushing through it all along the way.

His eyes, too, were symbolic of his persona. Just as he had never fully committed to one trade, one hobby, or one home, his eyes refused to commit to just one color. A hypnotic shade of green outlined their blue centers, and being the hues of water, they changed just as quickly. Most of the time they were light and twinkling, but they could flash dark with intensity, whether it was for better or worse. With the dark circles under them, they only seemed to shine brighter, with more mischief.

Annika got into the shower, and was surprised when Talvi joined her a moment later. He hummed in joy as the water warmed his skin, and held her close, hesitant to let her go, now that he had the right wood nymph in his arms.

“I missed you so much, Annika. That was the most difficult journey I’ve ever been on, especially since I knew you were waiting for me on the other side.” He reached for her left hand with his own, and their matching rings clinked gently together. “I could feel you through the distance,” he confessed, squeezing her hand, and her stomach balled up into a little knot.

“You have no idea how it felt to have you ripped out of my arms and watch you disappear before my eyes. I didn’t know where you would end up, or what condition you would find yourself in when you got there. My gods, I’m so glad you’re safe.” He leaned in close to hold her against his chest, resting his head on top of hers. He didn’t let her go or speak again for quite some time. He was taken aback when she pulled away from him and reached for her shampoo bottle.

“Annika,” he asked gently. “What is it, love? What’s wrong?” She refused to answer, and instead began to wash her hair.

Talvi stepped back and peered down at her. His eyes gleamed like flames under the falling water, as he concentrated all of his energy on piercing her soul, but she turned her face away from him. There was little he could gather if she wouldn’t look at him. He tried to scan her thoughts with all of his ability, but it was like trying to look through the thickest fog. He wondered if it was intentional or not.

“It can’t possibly be that bad, can it?” he asked. “You aren’t in love with anyone else, are you?”

She shook her head.

“Have you become a lady of the evening in order to pay for your flat?” This time she took a moment to realize what that meant, before shaking her head again. He had almost coaxed a smile out her, but not quite.

“I’m just glad you’re here,” she finally said as she looked up at him, feeling all sorts of confused with what exactly to say. “My entire family thinks I’m nuts. No one believed anything I had to say about where I’d been all that time. All I could do was try not to think about it, but now that you’re here, I just feel overwhelmed all over again by everything that’s happened.”

“Oh, you poor little dove,” he sighed, and cradled her face in his hand. His dark hair clung to his hollow cheekbones, making his pointed ears appear even more pronounced than usual. “None of them understands what you have endured, what you have seen, or what you have to bear. None of them knows you as I know you.”

“Well that’s just it. You only
think
you know me,” she argued as she rinsed her hair. “We don’t know each other very well at all. How could we? I don’t even know myself anymore.”

“I disagree,” he said, putting his smooth cheek against hers. “Though I’m happy to help you remember. I know you better than you give me credit for. I know you more deeply than any of your past lovers ever have. I’ve reached a place inside of you that none of them ever touched. Let me ignite that flame once more.”