Chapter 26

Hollow:

The brother walked into the house the moment I told Farley’s parents that she belonged to me. He had eyes wide open, and stuck right on me. He couldn’t have been that surprised. No one should have been. Not only was Farley wonderful enough that anyone should have wanted to be with her, but obviously I would have been drawn to her, as she had been to me. They all knew the kind of person I was, and it only felt natural that I would find someone who could tangle with me and still come out alive.

Standing in this house answered so many things for me. I looked around, seeing pieces of everything but Farley. Books she wouldn’t have been interested in, clothes that looked like they belonged to everyone but her. I saw a few pictures on the wall, painted by a child. Her brother’s name scrawled on them, but not hers.

“Coal,” the mother said with a smile. “Did you hear? Your sister and the prince are… courting.”

“More than courting,” I said. Is there a word for us? I couldn’t think of it. Such an odd place to be, in this in between state of nothing and everything. I wanted a more accurate word. Something would have to be done about that.

My girl looked up at me, put out. “What does that even mean?”

Before I could answer, her mother started talking again. “So the king wants us to be at the castle tomorrow?”

“Not really,” I said. “But he’s inviting everyone anyway. Something about showing Farley off.” I would have rather he stopped making her perform, but I didn’t think he would have given in on that one. He thought we played games, testing our places in life. In the end, he would not win.

Farley’s mother looked saddened by my words, and her brother stood in front of me. He took one look at my sword, and then seemed to stop caring about it. “You and my sister?”

“Yes.”

He nodded once. “Be good to her. God knows no one else is.”

Interesting, I thought. He had only come by the castle to see her once, so I didn’t know what to make of the boy. He seemed to care about Farley, but only in the most passive way. Farley told me he didn’t protect her from the beatings, or stand up to her mother with the many chances he could have taken. So I didn’t like the boy, but I might not have hated him. He seemed to be the only person who didn’t actively beat Farley throughout her life, and such a sad thing when that made him better than the rest.

“Coal,” her father snapped. “You forget yourself.”

“I don’t think he does,” I said. “He’s honest. Are we really going to pretend you didn’t spend the last sixteen years treating her like she was a dog? Though most people feed their dogs regularly.”

“Hollow,” Farley whispered. “Stop it.”

I would not stop it, because I wanted her parents to know that their little secret had been let out into the open. I pointed with my sword at the area above them. “You made her sleep up there, didn’t you? Where there are holes in your roof?”

The mother tried defending it. “We have a small home. Not all of us are as blessed as you, sire.”

Coal snorted. “We had an extra room and bed that were never used.”

His father looked like he would smack the brother in the head, so Farley stepped in. “Don’t touch him. We came here to give you something, not get in a fight.”

“Then why did you tell lies?” her mother asked. “You went and told the king and his son that we were monsters for how you were raised? Did you tell them what it was like to have you around?”

“I did no such thing,” Farley said. “I talked to Hollow and I only told him the truth. It’s not my fault you were the way you were.”

I smiled, because it pleased me that she had started defending herself. She hadn’t been willing to before, and I hoped the change stuck with her. She wore it well.

“How dare you speak to me like that. I am your mother.”

“And I have a sword,” I said. “So I suggest you stop talking before I use it.”

Everyone fell silent, just as I knew they would have. That was the thing about cowards, they traded in their self-respect to preserve themselves.

“How’ve you been?” the brother decided to ask Farley. “You haven’t come to see us.”

Farley nodded. “Well, it’s not like I feel entirely welcomed.”

Her mother laughed. “How silly. We would always welcome you here. You’re our daughter.”

Her mother must have been either drunk, or unsure on who she wanted to be. The woman who hated the witch in her family, or someone who saw that the witch might have been moving up in the world. Many families would have seen the benefits of their child involved with royalty. None of this shocked me, coming from her parents.

“Is that so?” Farley asked.

The woman clenched her jaw, seemingly wanting to say something biting. She lied instead. “You are always welcome back home. The prince is welcome too, and always will be. We’ll do our best to make him feel at home here.”

Not many things could have made me feel at home, but this certainly wouldn’t do it. I would have felt more at home if I had been set on fire in a pit. That might have sounded rude.

“Okay,” Farley said, sounding defeated. Her eyes wouldn’t focus on anything, and it felt like she too would rather have been anywhere but there. At least I could give her that.

“We can go now,” I told Farley. “We have more people to see.”

The girl looked around the home, and she took my hand. Her whole family stared at our clasped hands, and it looked as though no one had really believed me until they saw that. Fine then, they could think what they wanted, as long as they left her alone. I didn’t want Farley to hurt anymore, and it seemed like a deeper sting that it would come from these people.

She came right over to my side, and let me walk her out of the house. I caught her when she wiped her eyes, but I didn’t want to bring it up unless she volunteered the information. She didn’t.

Eventually, we made it down to the last invitation, and the woman in question happened to be outside of her dead husband’s butcher shop. She saw us coming, and rage took over her expression.

“How dare you come here,” she hissed at Farley. Then she looked to me. “I know what you did. Guards came to tell me that my husband was put to death for a crime, but I know the truth. This little witch got him killed.”

“She didn’t,” I said. “What got him killed was the fact that he tried to murder a child. And since you did the same with your little apple trick, I suggest you keep your mouth shut.”

She did not keep her mouth shut, and I assumed she didn’t value her life very much. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye to him. I came to bring him something to eat, and found him slaughtered.”

I felt nothing for her. “Like someone would have found Farley slaughtered?”

“I don’t care about some witch. This was my husband.”

Farley actually rolled her eyes. “Everyone knows you slept with that traveler who tried to sell us all carriages. This wasn’t some epic romance that ended tragically. He tried to murder me for no reason.”

“There is plenty of reason, you awful thing. One day, you’re going to march through this place and kill every living creature in it. I can see it as clearly as I see you standing there. You are made from evil, and you will die evil. You will die unloved, and you deserve it.”

The words shouldn’t have meant a thing to Farley, but I saw her eyes react to them as if it had been an actual stab with a blade. I… I couldn’t fix it. I couldn’t make the pain go away. It had been in her so long now, that it had become a part of her. A wound that people could poke at any time they wanted. It made me feel helpless in a way I hadn’t before.

I stabbed my sword into the ground, and pulled Farley to me. It only lasted a moment, but she stared up at me, and I could see her broken heart. I wanted her to feel like she had someone else with her. In front of God and every single person in the village, I bent down to kiss Farley.

Her hands held my sides as mine did to her face. I kept the kiss slow as I claimed her in the middle of a crowd. They needed to know that she belonged to me, and that meant I would protect her from them.

“I love you,” I whispered in her ear. “Always. I love you for everything you are.”

“You promise?” she asked, her voice cracking.

“Forever.”

When we looked up, we had more than a hundred eyes on us. Some looked afraid, some disgusted, and some unconcerned. I heard whispers, and I knew Farley could too. She heard people speculating on if she spelled me or not, and I knew nothing I could say would have convinced them. For myself, I didn’t care. For Farley, I only wanted her comfortable.

I took the last letter, and tossed it at the butcher’s widow. “Have your invitation, but know that if you do come, I might kill you.”

The woman looked at my sword, and I thought for a second that she would go for it. “You’re evil. I know what you did to my husband. We all know, and we know why you did it. You picked a witch over your own people.”

“I would pick a dead squirrel over you people. I happened to pick a person much better than all of you, so there ya go. We’re going now. I hope you have a nice day. Sorry your husband was a dick who needed to be killed. I’m sure you’ll find someone else.”

I brought Farley through the crowd before this could turn into something ugly.

They stared. They all stared at us as we hurried along, and I had never felt so watched before. I left my home and all eyes stayed on me most of the time. This didn’t feel the same. Maybe because Farley’s hand shook in mine. It made me think about how for thirteen years, she had to live in this village with magic. Having all this power and not getting to use any of it. She had to live with a hundred swords over her head.

Now, she’d been freed of this place, and we kept coming back to it. I felt her fear now, and I worried if it had been like this before. One more thing I couldn’t protect her from.

Once I got her onto the path up to the castle, Farley dragged me in another direction. I followed her into the woods, and she sank down near a tree. I sat beside her, and waited until she said something.

“Is it always going to be like this?” she asked me. “Every single moment of my life, surrounded by people who hate me on sight?”

I didn’t want to lie to her, but I didn’t see many other options if we stayed In Hylaya. I came up with something kinder to say. “One day,” I started, taking her hand. “One day things will be better. The kinds of people you’ll be surrounded by will change. We’ll have a family, and you’ll feel so much love that it’ll be overwhelming.”

She smiled at me, but it looked tiny. “That’s the third time you’ve insinuated that you and I are gonna have kids eventually.”

I felt a line form between my eyebrows. “Well yes. Do you not want children? I guess we haven’t talked about it.” I assumed we would be making a family, though I hadn’t thought of it much. I didn’t want one before her, because I believed my children wouldn’t have meant anything to me. Now, it looked different. I would love their mother with all of me, so how could I not feel the same for children? I didn’t worry that I wouldn’t be able to love them as well. That part of me had shifted, affections growing from the size of a poppy seed to the moon above us.

Farley nervously messed with her cloak, not looking at me. “I didn’t think I would get the option to be honest. There are a lot of reasons why, and I’m sure you know them. But…” She looked up at me. “I do. I do want that.”

“Good,” I said moving her onto my lap. She sat sideways, with her head on my shoulder as I held her hand. “I’ll get you anything you want.”

“You. I want you.”

I smiled.

***

The little rose came together better than I thought it would, but it worked out. I had never tried carving anything but animals, and I felt like my efforts were worthy. Farley would like it, I thought.

I carved off another little piece of wood, shaping the petals delicately. Another hour and I might have been finished.

I stared out my window, watching the world turn as I made this little present. The villagers went about their day as if nothing changed. Of course they did that, because their lives stayed the same. It all felt turned on its head, but that had been only for me. Interesting.

Farley had abandoned me in the morning, in favor of preparing for her show. That left me with too much free time, and no clue how to spend it. I read an entire book, and then started staring at the wall. It felt uncomfortable to say the least.

The day brightened up when my door flew open, nearly breaking on the wall. Farley stomped her way into the room, eyes locked on me. “We need to talk.”

I set the carving down and went to sit on the edge of my bed instead. She got a little feisty when she was in a mood, so I could hope for the best. “About?”

She stopped in front of me, arms crossed and staring like she’d caught me in the act of something. “I talked to Audrey. I wanted to get more stockings, so I went to her work room. Wanna guess what I saw there?”

I had a pretty good idea, but playing dumb might have been more fun. “Clothes?”

Farley flicked my ear. “She asked me my opinion on a dress she was making, and got some measurements from me. She said you commissioned a wedding dress for me. Care to explain that?”

I didn’t know what the hell her problem was. Of course I wanted to get started on the dress. Why should I have added that extra time to the wait just to talk to her about it first? The seamstress wouldn’t have obeyed her requests on the design anyway. Farley had been busy today, or she would have known the second I did it.

“What is there to explain?” I asked. “She’s making your wedding dress. Did you want someone else to do it? I can have that arranged.”

Farley buried her face in her hands, groaning about something before she looked at me. “I think you forgot a little something.”

Did I? “Everything else can be taken care of rather quickly.”

She smiled, but it didn’t look like a happy one as she took my hands. “Sweetheart, love of my life, darling, you dummy. You didn’t ask me to marry you.”

“Oh…” It seemed so obvious to me that I hadn’t thought to ask her. “But we talked about our future. I became immortal, and I’ve said several times that I wanted to be with you for the rest of my life. You agreed.”

Her smile changed, and she placed a kiss soundly on my lips. “I love you so much, but you still didn’t ask. I didn’t assume we were getting married. Maybe some time, but not so soon that I thought a dress would be being made. So imagine my surprise when the seamstress tells me I’m getting married.”

I saw her point. Really, I didn’t think I needed to officially ask her. Not that I hadn’t prepared to, because it would have come up rather soon. I could fix this right now.

“I’m sorry I fucked it up,” I said, standing. “I should have done it the right way.”

I walked over to my dresser, and looked around for what I had planned on giving her when I got the chance. It had belonged to my mother, and Father gave it to me when he thought I would be marrying that little pink mess of a thing. I couldn’t have imagined it on her finger. This felt right.

I stared at the thing in my palm. The ring had several stones in it, making up a kind of flower. Diamonds and sapphires, and I thought it would be something Farley could appreciate.

When I turned, she watched me walk over. Her eyes widened when I dropped to one knee and took her hand. Somehow, I felt nervous with the question at hand.

“Farley,” I said. “Will you be my wife?”