Seven Years

KAZ

River whistles lowly.

And I give him a flat glance before turning my eyes back to her.

"You're right. So why did you insist on meeting me? We would've saved much of each other's time, my lady."

She tilts her head. "My father had wanted me to try at least once. I don't share his enthusiasm, but I cannot go against him as much as I'd like to."

The corner of my lips curl.

"Try? Am I an opportunity for you, Lady Arlen?"

A glint of a smile passes on her lips.

"Aren't you to everyone, Your Highness?"

My eyes pierce hers. But I can't deny what she says. It was true— most of the nobleborn who courted me were either after my beauty or my power. It was commonly both.

"But I'm not here to court you. I'm just here so I won't be completely deceiving my father when I lie to him." She says, voice dismissive. Then she turns to leave, as quick as she'd come.

"I will let my father know that you didn't find me interesting enough. And that I truly tried my best."

Lady Arlen.

A smile plays on my lips. I hadn't realized she would be so cooperative. She was far from the typical lady I'd expected— ladies who'd want me in one of their pathetic tea parties or ask for me to be their partner for a dance.

My voice is less colder, with a hint of playfulness.

"You decided very quickly not to court me."

She stops.

Then she turns, also looking amused.

"Your Highness."

"It's so very clear that you already have a woman in mind." She says. "I could see it in your eyes the moment I walked in."

My eyes flicker.

How...?

"And I don't court those who are taken."

She leaves, the hem of her gown sweeping against the floor. And I'm left stunned as the door clicks close, until River's accusing voice rings out from where he's standing.

"You like someone and you didn't let me know?"

My body heats as an image of Rinei flashes in my head.

It's so very clear you already have a woman in mind.

How.

How had she known? There was no way she could've seen her and I— was this what they called a woman's intuition? Or had she just made a guess?

My blood runs hotter.

Or was I really that obvious?

"You really do like someone." River's voice suddenly murmurs, and I whip around to face him.

"How do you know that?"

"Relax." He says, looking startled at the edge in my words. "You look like you're about to wipe my memory clean and leave me in the forest."

"Does it show?"

He makes a face. "Well, yeah, after you just said that. Besides, I've never seen anything get to you more than what she just said. You literally confirmed it for her the moment you froze up like that."

"So who is it?"

I stay silent. And the anticipation in his eyes sour, into disappointment.

"You're really not going to tell me."

How could I? It was I who knew the best that River hated the outsiders—

"It's a human girl, isn't it? And she lives in that village just outside our forest borders."

My eyes widen.

He tilts his head. "And it's where you've been making all your nightly trips for the last seven years. I'd honestly been waiting for you to tell me this entire time, Kaz."

But there's a hint of bitterness in his playful, bright gaze he can't hide completely.

"You can't keep it from me."

________________________________

RINEI

Dear God.

Where is that arrow?

I'd been practicing. But there's only so much I can do with a quiver of twenty four arrows, without missing a whole bunch of it.

And I had found most of it— I was just missing one.

Rubbing my eyes, I peer over the thick bushes for a dark, feathered arrow. I'm about to go in just a little deeper when I hear Aemin calling for me. I quickly rush back to the border, hiding the arrows and quiver into the hole of an oak tree.

Then I rush back home, where my older brother

looks up at me with a mischievous smile.

He's bent over the spot where Kaz usually leaves his kills for us.

"Hey! Rinei, come here." He says, and I'm about to ask why he smells like burnt wood when he stands to reveal something in his hands.

I blink.

Is that...?

"It's a cherry pie!" He says, with an excited look. "Doesn't it look good? Do you think he'd like it?"

I'm confused for a second before I realize.

Oh.

He's talking about Kaz, wasn't he?

Where'd you find cherries? I sign, admiring the golden crust of the pie. I thought you couldn't get any this season.

"I saw some today and I just had to get it." He says, grinning. "I made one for us too. Mother's already had a slice and she said it was good."

Aemin looks at me with glittering eyes.

"Do you think if I leave it here our secret hunter's going to take it?"

Kaz had told me that he would come today, at midnight. So I quickly nod, hands flashing.

I think he will. I think he'll really appreciate it, Aemin.

He smiles to himself. "Hopefully. Without him we'd be having a much harder time. He's giving us all the food that we need."

Then he falters. "I'm going inside to wrap it. Do you need anything from the market, Rinei? The supplier told me that the medicine would really, really be here today."

I shake my head, biting my lip.

I hadn't seen Father for the entire past week. Mother wasn't letting the both of us, saying that he needed all the peaceful rest he could get.

But I knew that he was really just getting worse by the day. She wanted to keep us from seeing him so weak and sick.

I breathe, curling my body on the back porch. I hug my knees to my chest, eyes blank.

He'd never been like this before.

And Mother looked darker by the day. She was never happy anymore, for the few minutes I saw her out of Father's room. So what if...what if he really—

"Rinei?"

My head jerks up.

Kaz?!

"Is something wrong?" He asks, and for a second I can't believe he's really here. He looks like a piece of my imagination, the sun swathing a side of his face in gold.

It's not even close to midnight.

I thought—

Then I hear Aemin's footsteps, come closer. Kaz's lashed eyes flicker up.

Oh gosh, Aemin.

Hide! I sign furiously, hurrying to get to my feet.

"Who is it?"

My brother. Hurry!

The sound of the back door opening makes my head whip back. And Aemin trots out with his wrapped pie, his eyes fixing on my shocked face.

Kaz wasn't—

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

I turn again. To my surprise, the dark-eyed elf is gone. I hadn't heard footsteps— he's completely disappeared, and for a second I think that I really did imagine him up.

But then I see a shadow behind a tree in the Elven Forest, a flicker of a smile.

Kaz puts a finger on his quirked lips before disappearing again.

Another memory.

It's of him again. I'm sitting in the middle of a lush forest, a young girl picking flowers. But my eyes are restless— looking for someone.

The memory dissipates the moment I see an elf poke his head out from behind a tree. It's so clearly him, just much younger.

He gives me a stunning, youthful smile.

"Rinei!"

I blink when Aemin puts a hand on my forehead. He looks genuinely worried.

"I asked you if you're okay three times already. Don't tell me you're sick too."

What was that?

I look down at my feet.

No, no. Sorry. I was just...

I stop signing in the heat of my own embarrassment.

Just very, very distracted.

And so confused.

"Okay..." Aemin trails, raising an eyebrow as he sets the pie down on the porch. "You sure you're fine? I can go to the market tomorrow if you're really not feeling good, Rine—"

I shake my head.

I'm fine. Feeling completely fine, I promise.

But I still have to shove him back indoors when he insists on staying with me. He was just too overprotective sometimes, like all older brothers are.

Once I hear the front door open with him leaving, I leap off the porch to head straight for the tree that I'd seen Kaz behind.

But there's no one there.

...what?

"I'm here, love."

He's right behind me. And I nearly yell right in his face in surprise.

How do you do that?

"Do what?"

I don't know— move so fast. I sign, looking up at him. You were here. And then you weren't. When did you get behind me?

He brushes a hand down my hair.

"This is why I tell you to never wander too deep." He says, glancing towards the forest. "You'll only ever see an elf if they let you."

Not...really.

I sign that without thinking at all. So my cheeks blush when he comes closer, brow raised.

Shoot, shoot, shoot.

I'd been thinking of a few weeks ago, when I'd seen him in the river pool.

"You've seen me before, Rinei? Without me noticing you?"

Goodness sakes. Why had I signed that?

Never mind. I was just joking.

"Then why are you avoiding my eyes?"

Uh...

I quickly pinpoint my stare on him.

No I'm not.

He sighs. Then my eyes widen when he suddenly starts to walk back towards the woods, his footfalls fleeting. Where is he going? He was leaving, just because I wasn't telling him?

I hurry to stop him.

I saw you that day. You were down there by the river, bathing. I don't think you noticed me because you never looked up at me. But I promise I didn't— I didn't watch or anything, I left. I left right after.

I sign so fast I'm surprised he even understands.

So don't leave. I told you, didn't I?

I expect him to do anything but laugh.

Then he bends, freeing a familiar, dark arrow from a clump of ivy on the ground. He passes it into my stunned hands.

"I was just going to give this to you, because I thought you'd lost it." He says, eyes glittering with amusement. "But thank you for letting me know, Rinei. I appreciate the honesty."

It's my arrow. The one I'd been searching for.

I look up at him, completely mortified.

I turn and run.