The Truth About That Day

Macha convinced Tyr not to leave the apartment, and they spent hours cuddling while listening to music. While they cuddled on the sofa, they both read a book. As she rested between his legs, leaning against his chest, he debated when he should give Macha her gift.

Eventually, she got up and went to use the restroom. Springing off the sofa, he brought out the maroon box that contained the rings. Tyr quickly opened it to look at them. When he heard her footsteps down the hall, he closed the box and put it on the end table.

When Macha sat down, she saw the jewelry box. She gave a small frown but decided to ignore it. Love entered her mind today, but she understood she was not ready for marriage. After all, she had some boyfriends longer than she knew him. They also never talked about serious things like children, family expectations, and marrying other people.

After a few moments passed, Tyr put his book down. "Macha, when you were kidnapped in Kochi I realized something important," he wanted to explain the importance of the enchantment he put on the rings.

Panic swept through her. 𝘖𝘩 𝘨𝘰𝘥... 𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦, she thought. No one ever proposed to her in her life. She had boyfriends claim they wanted to marry her, but eventually, like always, the relationship ended.

Macha interrupted him, "Wait! Tyr, I know you love me, but I'm still not sure if I love you yet. I like you a lot and respect you, but I don't want to lie to you about love."

The words stung. Tyr hoped that Macha loved him, but did not want to force her to give a false confession to him. He told her today because keeping it a secret began to eat away at him. Every day he felt he loved her more, and it was becoming hard to keep those words to himself. He nodded, "I understand. Thank you." He continued with his explanation, "I realized that if we were ever separated...."

She interrupted him again, "So, since I'm unsure of something that important, I know you wouldn't ask me to marry you, right?" She did not understand why he continued with his speech. He looked so calm, but right now she felt like a bundle of nerves.

At this moment Tyr realized something was wrong. He would never ask Macha to marry him so early into their relationship. She looked terrified, and it seemed like at any moment she would bolt for the door. His brow furrowed, "Macha, I wouldn't ask you to marry me unless I knew you loved me. Only an idiot would do that. What's going on?"

Confusion hit Macha. Luna claimed he was going to ask her to marry him. She brought her hands up to her cheeks to hide them. "Nothing! Go on," she squealed.

𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘪𝘵, 𝘓𝘶𝘯𝘢! 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵? 𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺, she silently cursed her friend. She did not understand why Luna would tell her something like that.

Tyr opened the box and took out a small golden ring. He took Macha's hand and slipped it onto her pinky, "If we were ever separated I wanted to be able to find you easily. I had these rings made so we can find one another. After a lot of deliberation, I went with gold to match the ear-cuffs I got you. I already used my blood to activate this ring, but I will need a drop of your blood for mine."

Slipping the ring onto Macha's finger filled Tyr with a strange sensation. He regretted getting the rings for a moment because it made him realize he was not asking her to marry him. The action of putting the ring on her finger came off as a 'what could have been' sort of moment.

Although it was too early to ask for marriage, he wanted to keep her around all the time. If she was willing to spend the rest of her life with him, he would gladly let her. Tyr understood that he had only known Macha for less than two years, but he never felt closer to anyone in his life. The willingness to marry never occurred to him until he met her.

He watched Macha's reaction and saw her smile when she noticed the floral detail engraved in it. Her brown eyes twinkled, and he knew he made the right choice.

The ring was beautiful and fit perfectly. Macha did not understand how he figured out her ring size, but it left her overjoyed.

When she looked at him, his eyes stared off into the distance as he contemplated something. She admired how handsome he looked at night. Tyr's dark brown hair shone and he had such long lashes. "It's beautiful! Thank you. I wish you didn't get something so expensive this year. Now I feel like my gift is lacking. It has been a few days, so now they're old." Macha went into the kitchen and pulled out a tin from a cupboard. She brought it back to Tyr, who sat on the sofa.

Tyr opened the tin. The madeleines still smelled fine. "I don't mind. You didn't have to give me anything." He ate one of them and closed his eyes, indulging in the chocolate flavors. "How about this? If you don't ration me off to one per meal, I think it's the best gift you could have gotten me."

Macha laughed and slapped his stomach playfully, "Fine. Eat them however you like." She knew the tin would be empty by tomorrow afternoon at most.

"I can give a drop of blood now if you like. What do I do?" she asked, referring to his ring.

Shoving another madeleine into his mouth, he handed her the box with his ring. "Just put the drop onto the stone. That's all."

Macha went into the kitchen and pricked her finger on a paring knife. She made sure she coated the stone well. It absorbed her blood.

She then drew out a small cloth from a box in the cabinet. It was white and the size of her palm. She focused her energy into it and wiped the spot where her finger had been pricked. The wound closed, and she threw the cloth away. Tyr had gotten the one time use healing cloths in case she cut herself. It only worked for small cuts like the one she gave herself.

He laid back while he ate the madeleines. He remembered the voting for Jarnvid's trial was set for tomorrow. "Macha, Jarnvid's trial is tomorrow. Did you want to go?" He did not like the man, but as a noble, it was something he was expected to attend.

The happy mood she had been in evaporated. Her body tensed at the mention of Jarnvid's name. "I... want to tell you something." She knew she needed to tell him about what Jarnvid did, but she was scared how he would react.

She made her way back to the sofa and sat down, handing him his ring. The memory of Jarnvid's hands touching her made her feel dirty. Her face tensed as she thought about it.

The way Macha looked worried Tyr, so he put the tin down and pulled her so she laid down against him. "You can tell me anything." He felt her shaking in his arms and he tried to rub her back to console her.

Macha stared at the fire while she laid on Tyr's chest. His heart beat in a steady rhythm as she continued, "When I opened the pie shop you were off on the mission with Krystof and Luna. I did a lot of deliveries then."

At first, Tyr did not understand what she talked about. He was in town when Macha opened the pie shop. Then he remembered that he lied to her, and he felt guilty. He took a deep breath and waited for her to continue.

Macha's vision grew distant as she thought about that day. "Jarnvid ordered some pies from me and when I went to deliver them..." Her heart raced now. She was worried that Tyr would not love her anymore after she told him what happened.

Tyr felt Macha begin to shake. He wrapped his arms around her. Intuition told him Jarnvid did something to her, but he hoped it was not the case. "Go on," he whispered. If it really was what he suspected, he realized he had been an ass to treat her the way he did. His chest filled with rage at the idea of Jarnvid touching her.

So far he remained calm. His reaction gave her the courage to continue. "He pushed me onto the desk," it became difficult to talk and Macha's voice shook. She covered her face in shame, forcing herself to continue, "I-I tried... he touched me," she choked out.

Macha's words sounded so soft but hit Tyr with more force than a hurricane. He wanted to kill Jarnvid but could not do that at this point. The pieces all fell into place and he immediately understood Freyr's actions. The whole scenario caused him to have many regrets.

His arms tightened around her a little more. Leveling his voice, he asked, "Are you all right?" The question seemed stupid now, but he had to ask. It happened months ago, but he still worried about Macha.

The reaction that Tyr gave her had not been what she expected at all. She initially thought he would be disgusted with her or want to kill Jarnvid. His question asking if she was all right eased the pain slightly. "I guess...," she muttered. It was not all right, and she was still ashamed of the experience. Mentally she understood it should not have happened, but her emotions still raged and she blamed herself.

Sometimes she panicked when she found herself alone with another man, but she always forced herself to remember that everyone is different. Most people do not do the things Jarnvid did.

The fire crackled and Tyr put the blanket on them. They remained silent for a while. Macha blamed herself while Tyr got his anger under control.

Eventually, Macha calmed down. She wanted to know if Jarnvid's trial was related to his attack on her. "Why is he going to trial? Did Freyr charge him with assault?"

Once Macha confessed to the attack, he understood why Freyr even looked into Jarnvid. Tyr wanted to be the executioner but understood that it would be impossible. Without compassion, he revealed, "No. He's accused of having a drug factory."