Chapter Forty-Eight
“Do you truly believe you can keep this from gods, Arianna?” he asked the next morning as they lay in each other’s arms.
“I told Cythrawl. If he has any influence, he surely won’t allow them to harm our child.”
Darius placed his large hand on her flat belly.
“You know for certain?”
“Even a woman without magical perception, would know. I’ve missed a second monthly, I’m easily nauseated, need to pass water frequently and my breasts are tender.”
“Was I too rough?” he asked gently caressing her nipples.
“As always, you employed exactly the correct amount of roughness,” she assured him.
He moved then and quickly sat up. She sat beside him. He closed his eyes, but tears slid down his cheeks. She’d never seen him weep and it deeply affected her. He’d always been the one to console her. She pulled his head to her bosom, held him tightly and kissed his hair.
“I understand,” she whispered. “The thought of leaving you is breaking my heart, too. Perhaps I could still time…stay till the bairn’s born, then leave her with you.”
She stopped speaking now weeping, too.
“A wee lass?” Darius’s voice broke. She nodded. “How could I care for a lass without you, Arianna? All bairns need their mother…but a lass, and a lass with magic.”
“You’ll be the most wonderful father, Darius. You’d only need to love her…and show her sunsets, make certain she walks barefoot in nature and catches the first snowflakes on her tongue. Teach her the cloud game, to swim and ride horses. Maybe I wouldn’t be gone long. But if I didn’t come back…you’d need to find a wife, a mother to our daughter. Someone who’d love you and our babe…nearly as much as me.”
“This is a bloody bittersweet situation,” he said through tears. “I’m so very happy to be reunited, Arianna, elated you carry our child, but everything’s so damn uncertain.”
“Maybe I’ll create gigantic mountains of snow or rings of purple fire that no one can enter. Thunder and lightning, windstorms with twisters, earthquakes and tidal waves,” she sobbed.
“You might not be able to harm me with your magic, but I’m not certain this little cottage would withstand it. Others would be killed in such unnatural weather.”
“I know,” she said with a sorrowful sigh.
“Let’s just try to be happy on our wedding day, Arianna.”
“Aye.”
“You’re in favor of being married by the vicar who’s the son of the man who killed your mother?”
“I did cause the death of his father and my father killed his brother. I suppose it’s been evened out a bit.”
Darius shook his head at the absurdity.
“We won’t have your family there.”
“We’ll have Jean-Claude and Danhoul. As long as you marry me, I’ll be happy,” Darius said.
Arianna dressed in a simple, flowing pink gown. She left her hair loose and Darius placed a crown of flowers on her head.
“Where did you find pink flowers in December?”
“A gift from Grandmother,” he said.
“She knows?”
“Aye,” he said.
They stood on the seashore, proclaimed their love, made their promises, and Vicar Edwards declared them married. She was touched to see Darius wore the adornment of her hair and pink ribbon tied inside his shirt. She’d taken her ring off earlier. Now he placed it on her finger to symbolize their marriage. She wept for joy and he kissed away her tears before they shared a passionate kiss.
Afterward they invited Vicar Edwards, Jean-Claude and Danhoul for soup and fresh bread she’d made. Their wedding day was ordinary, yet undeniably extraordinary and their wedding night…even more so.
“You should sleep, Arianna, to ensure our wee bairn grows,” Darius whispered lying behind her, his hand on her belly.
“I don’t want to sleep. I want to memorize every detail of you, your warmth and your scent, your arms around me.”
“I want to hold you forever, my wee witch.”
“I don’t want to leave you, my love.” She turned to face him and they wept together again.
“Danhoul, though it wasn’t planned, you said you took Alainn’s husband, Killian, with Alainn to the future,” Arianna stated.
“That was criticized heavily,” Danhoul argued. “The gods were furious; Aine nearly disallowed me to be Alainn’s guardian for the deception. I thought they’d send Killian back.”
“Far worse for the gods to be infuriated than me to live without my husband.”
“You sound like her sometimes,” Danhoul said.
“Like who?”
“Alainn. You even look a bit like her. Your eyes and hair are different, but your expressions are alike and your temper’s similar.”
“You said Killian calms Alainn.”
“He does.”
“Darius calms me, too.”
“Arianna, if I thought I could take Darius with us, honestly I would. But Aine will be watching for that because it happened before. I wouldn’t put it past her to keep Darius tied up away from you.”
“Just let Aine try to tether Darius!” Arianna said. Purple fire flamed all around her.
“Calm down, Arianna. Jean-Claude’s just had the floor repaired from last time.”
“Why are you left here with me, and not Tristan or Cythrawl?”
“I suppose I have a more calming effect on you.”
“Not if I can’t convince you I’m as worthy as Alainn of having my husband with me when I leave.”
“You think it’s that easy?”
“You make it difficult! Because you’re in love with Alainn, you couldn’t see her hurt. I’m not your witch, so my feelings apparently don’t warrant as much consideration. You already robbed us of time together. Perhaps you’ll see reason when you have to contend with an angry, emotional, pregnant fire witch!”
Danhoul’s mouth fell agape. He hastily led Arianna to the sea, pulling her in with him.
“Planning to drown me?” she sassily said when she stopped coughing.
“Water makes it difficult for the gods to hear across the realms,” Danhoul whispered.
“You might have told me.”
“You’re near water half the time, but I don’t understand how you’ve kept this secret. I can hear some of your thoughts and gods usually intuitively know.”
“What will they do if they find out?”
Danhoul’s face clouded. “It wouldn’t be favorable. Don’t speak of it unless you’re in or by water. Does Darius know?”
“Aye.”
“That’s why he seemed distracted today?”
Arianna nodded and sadly sighed.