Chapter 14: Chapter 14
“I don’t like this at all, Imara.” Thorin skimmed his fingers down his neck. “Was biting you really necessary?”
After she stacked the dishes on the shelf in front of her, she wiped her hands on a towel. “It’s nothing.”
“Mmm!” He twisted his lips and shook his head at the still healing mark on her neck. “What a miserable rite of passage.”
The Healer’s fingers slid across the bite, and it disappeared. “See, all better.”
His green eyes rolled across the ceiling as Thorin clicked his tongue and wagged his finger at her. “My dear, you can use all the glamours in your arsenal, but that thing must hurt something terrible.”
She shook her head as she tried to downplay the situation, but she couldn’t exactly come out and say every time he touched it, a mind-numbing orgasm gripped her. “Actually, no, not at all. It’s funny, but he can read my thoughts now. A little bit anyway.”
His shoulder shrugged, and his eyes rolled closed at her defense. “Well, that is useful, I suppose. So how is married life treating you, Darlin? Other than that nasty love bite, you look positively radiant.”
When she thought about how they wrapped up naked every chance they got since they took their vows, her cheeks flushed, and she nodded. “I’m really happy.”
“Well, yes, I can see that.” The wheelbarrow that Ben was pushing caught Thorin’s attention, and he narrowed his eyes out the window. “Have you been helping Ben and his folks out around here?”
Disappointed that she couldn’t be more useful on the farm, she rubbed her fingers across the table’s grain and shook her head. “He won’t let me. He said I could collect the eggs and tend to my garden, but he doesn’t want me working.”
He chuckled at the thought of Imara being chased around the pen by a bunch of uppity chickens. “Can’t say I blame him. He’s a good man, Imara.”
Her eyes fell to the table as she nodded. “I know.”
Wiggling fingers made a circle between them when Thorin caught her sudden change in attitude. “What’s that look about?”
Pushing herself back in her chair, she sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “He’s been having these awful nightmares about me. He becomes hysterical if he wakes up and I’m not laying beside him.”
Thorin bit his lip and drummed his fingers on the table. “Hmm. I’m sure this is nothing to be concerned about.” His hand moved across the table and patted hers. “Not worth worrying your pretty little head over.”
Nodding as she tried to hide her worry behind a tight-lipped smile, Imara fidgeted with her necklace. “You’re probably right. So how was your trip? Did you hear anything?”
With a pout on his lips, his head shook from side to side. “Afraid not. Michael thinks Haldir’s living in the Realm right now.”
She wrapped her fingers around his. “Whatever happens, no matter what Fate has planned for us, know that right now, this was the best gift you could have given me.”
His fingertips slid back his cheeks and caught his tears. Each day, hope seemed to slip a little further out of his reach. “If anything happens, I’ll find you. No matter where you go, I’ll never stop looking for you.”
Every thought now was of Ben, and as she glanced back out the window at him, she licked her lips. “Promise me you’ll keep him close, Thorin. Don’t you leave Ben all alone?” The table vibrated as her fingernail tapped on it. “If they get me, you end this. Make them pay for torturing us like this all these years.”
He brought their hands to his forehead, then he kissed it, and his teary eyes looked up to her. “I will, Sweet Girl. My soul won’t rest until the job is done.”
After Thorin shut the door behind him, he straightened his coat’s collar and started down the road until he heard feet pounding against the ground behind him. “What the hell happened in there? What did you say to her?”
Thorin wrinkled his nose before turning to face Ben. He was sure his brother-in-law could tear him apart limb from limb, but every fiber of his being wanted to punch the farmer in the mouth. “That’s a neat trick. I guess something useful should come out of such an ugly fucking tradition.”
Wiping his face with the hem of his shirt, Ben sniffed and shook his head. “It’s done. No use in dredging it up again.”
“Right.” The dapper gentleman dipped his knees a bit to catch Ben’s eyes while he shifted around on his feet. “So, tell me about these nightmares you’ve been having.”
He smirked, but Thorin could spot the worry in Ben’s face as he looked out over his crops. “Just dreams, that’s all. They don’t mean nothing.”
Supernaturals were prone to visions, and the old professor had a sneaking suspicion Ben’s dreams were significant. “You sure about that?”
The nervous cracks of his neck tried to mask his fear, but his eyes revealed everything to the more experienced witch. “Imara doesn’t need to be worrying herself like this. Don’t bring this shit up again.”
His finger shoved itself into Ben’s shoulder. “No! See, but she is worrying, Ben. She can sense that something’s going on in your mind. She’s naïve, but she’s not a stupid woman. She’s worried that something’s going to happen to her and that you’ll be all alone.”
“Um…” The fine tremor in his hand from lack of sleep was hard to hide as he scratched at his head. “I dream that a man in black comes and kills her while I’m at work.”
Thorin blinked away and rubbed his chin. “What else?”
“She, she dies on the kitchen floor and” -Ben took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead with his fingertips- “She’s always pregnant, Thorin.”
He knew he had no right to suggest it, so Thorin rubbed the guilt of it from his mouth before he said it. “Well, I suppose that the two of you might want to hold off on having a baby for a while. You have the rest of eternity for it; it doesn’t need to happen right now.”
The shame was heavy and dragged his dark eyes to the ground as he wiped his hand across his mouth. The old witch felt it too, as Ben’s grief reached out to him. “Oh, Ben. Are you sure?”
His tongue caught the tear that dripped from his nose, and he nodded twice. “I can smell it on her. She doesn’t even realize it yet.”
The heels of his palms pressed at the pain in his forehead as Thorin closed his eyes. “Dammit.”
Shoving his hands in his pockets, Ben hissed at himself as he shook his head. “It happened the first night. I was careful with her after that first nightmare, but it was already too late.”
Every day for the last decade, Thorin spent his time pulling plans together to keep Imara safe, and he could do it without thinking now. “I can’t find Haldir. I’m fairly sure he’s in the Realm, and I don’t know anyone else who can travel. We’re going to have to face this on our own for now.” He mulled it over and rubbed the pad of his thumb over his lips. “She can spend the days at my home, and Shaw can stay here at night so you can sleep.”
His lips pulled down, and his tired face was ugly with the frown it made as Ben shook his head no.
He tugged at Ben’s shoulder and pulled him closer as he tried to reason with him. “Listen to me. If your dream is always the same, then we change the elements. Her being with me is something different. At least you’ll be able to go about your day and work without
having to worry about whether or not she’s safe.”
The prickly hairs on Ben’s chin scratched at his palm as he rubbed his chin. “Fine.”
Understanding what kind of hell Ben was living with now, Thorin sighed and patted his brother’s cheek. “Get some sleep tonight.” The candy he pulled from his pocket crinkled as he freed it from his wrapper when he walked away and yelled back over his shoulder. “And shave that beard; you look like shit.”
Ben closed the door behind him, and Imara gave him a smile when she looked up from the table she was setting. “You all done for today?”
He peeled off his dirty shirt and hung it up on a nail by the door for tomorrow. “Yep.”
She patted her hands on the air above the placemats and candlesticks Thomas and Sofia gave her at her wedding as she admired her perfectly set table. No matter how simple their life was, she tried to make it as fancy as possible, so Ben never had guilt for the things he
couldn’t give her. “Well, dinner’s ready, whenever you are.”
His arms crossed over his chest as his hip dug into the table and his eyes bore into her. “Thorin told me you were talking about my nightmares. Baby, I don’t want you telling people our business.”
She licked her lips, then stopped arranging the table and looked at him. “I’m worried about you, Sweetheart. You’re barely even sleeping now. Maybe if you talk about what’s bothering you…”
His hand flew up between them to stop her. “Imara, stop.” She gasped as she clutched at the chain on her neck, and he pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bark at you like that.” The calming fragrance of her hair made his eyes close as he rocked her back and forth. “I just want you to be happy. I don’t want you worrying yourself about nothing.”
With his heartbeat right under her ear, she closed her eyes and listened to the quiet ticking. “I am happy. For the first time in my life, maybe, but I don’t want there to be secrets between us, Ben.”
“You’re right.” His hands cupped her cheeks as he dipped his knees to look at her. “You’re expecting, Imara. I just…I don’t want you to worry. I’m going to take care of everything.”
She gasped through her fingertips as her hands covered her mouth. “Are you sure? I couldn’t be! You’ve been careful.”
With his lips pressed together, Ben shook his head. “Not every time, not that first night.”
The aura surrounding him was anything but joyous, and tears dripped from her cheeks as she bit her lip to keep it still. “Um, are you happy? You don’t seem thrilled about this right now to me, Ben.”
His hands wrapped around her head, and his thumbs swept over her cheeks. “Of course I am. I just got stuff on my mind, but, believe me, there’s no happier man alive.”
The curly hairs on his chest wrapped around her finger, and her shoulders dropped as she sighed. “It’s so early, though. You should’ve waited to tell me for a while.”
Every cell in his body told him that time was short, and he’d never meet his baby. An ache rose in his throat, and an audible swallow echoed between them when he tried to push away his regrets for the things that would never be. “That’s why I’m telling you, Baby. I don’t want us to miss a second of all this.”