Chapter Thirty-Eight

***Present day***

"What are you thinking about?" Aidan asked as he peered at my face.

"The first time we were together." I say as I looked down at my wrists, my scars from that time.

"I wanted to ask you about your scars, but it never seemed like a good time." Aidan said and I sighed.

I looked out the window of the carriage, at the scenery going by.

"I wasn't in a good place after I thought you left and my brother left right after you...father died within the year, my brother the year after that, and mother was practically gone. I didn't think there was anything to live for so..."

I could feel the tears gushing out and streaming down my face. I didn't want to look at Aidan, I didn't want him to see me like that. I felt so ashamed, I had never talked to anyone about it, it was so embarrassing.

"I didn't...I would never leave you like that." Aidan said. I could hear a little bit of a quiver in his voice.

"I-I know what happened now." I say, trying to stop my voice from cracking.

"It's all my fault that you've hurt all these years."

"N-no it's my fault." I wipe the tears from my face and turn to look at him. "Y-you got caught be-because you stole that ha-hair pin for me. They stole you from me a-and tortured you." I say and scoot forward in my seat to be closer to him.

"All these years, you tortured yourself. You tried to die...because of me." He said, his voice wavering again.

"I regretted it right away. It hurt...so bad. And I didn't-I didn't want to die. Nothing to live for but I still didn't want to die." I say and laughed ironically.

He pulled me into his embrace and held me so tight. I sobbed like a baby as I held onto him, never wanting to let go.

"I'm sorry. I will never hurt you again." He whispered in my ear.

"It isn't your fault. The man who took you from me is dead...maybe now we can finally have peace, finally move on."

"To the next chapter of our lives?" He asked.

"Yeah...whatever that looks like." I sniffled; I must've finally stopped crying.

"I know what that looks like." Aidan said. He eased up on his embrace and I backed away.

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

"You and me living happily in our palace...filling it to the brim with babies." He said with a sly smile on his face.

"T-to the brim?" I choked on the words; I wasn't expecting him to say that.

"Absolutely. As many as we can." He said with a grin. I wasn't sure how I felt about that but I didn't press him on it.

At the end of the first day, the soldiers set up camp off the main path.

"Are we sleeping on the ground tonight?"

"No." He scoffed. "They're setting up a large tent and cot for us to sleep on for the night. Tomorrow we'll be able to sleep in an actual bed at an inn. Try to bear with it until then."

"It's ok." I say and smile. "I'm sure it will be more comfortable than my childhood home."

"It's not befitting a Queen. It won't be like this in the future." Aidan said, he was gritting his teeth.

I smiled and took his hand. "We're safe and we're together, that's all I care about."

"If anything happens to you while we're slumming it out in the woods..."

"With all these guards around? And with how hard we've been training together? Nothing will happen."

He squeezed my hand in return. The tent was ready for us so we left the carriage and went to dress down for the night.

We got up early the next morning and continued towards the beach. I felt bad that men had to camp out in the woods and sleep on the hard ground all night just so Aidan and I could have a fun trip to the beach. It must've showed on my face because Aidan brought it up in the afternoon.

"You don't have to feel bad." He said.

"What?" I asked and looked up at him.

"You don't have to feel bad for the men. It's their job to serve and protect us whether we're on our honeymoon or going on a diplomatic trip."

"I know...I just feel bad they have to put their lives at risk just so we can have a trip to the beach."

"You were pretty excited about the trip earlier."

"I-I am. I love the beach..."

He smiled. "They all volunteered. It is their pleasure to serve so don't worry so much, okay?"

I nodded. The second day of travel was another long day in the carriage but this time a comfortable bed was waiting for us at the end of it.

I fell down onto the bed and let out a moan. My entire body was sore from riding around in that death trap they call a carriage.

"Are you feeling alright?" I heard; it was Aidan.

"My body hurts." I groaned.

"Maybe I can fix that." He said and I felt him sit down on the bed next to me.

"How's that? You going to take me back in time?" I joked.

"No." He said and chuckled. "But I do have magic hands. I can massage the pain away." I felt him move to get on top of me. He pressed his hands into my back and started to massage different parts of my body.

"Mm." I let out a moan as the pressure worked away the pain.

"What did I say?" Aidan said.

"Magic hands." I said. I could feel the fire build up in my body and the feeling of desire start to rush over me. Just then there was a knock at the door.

"What is it?" Aidan growled. I could feel the anger and annoyance seeping out of his body like a fire pouring from a building.

"There's a situation downstairs that requires your attention Your Majesty." The guard said from outside the door.

Aidan groaned and got off the bed. "I'm coming." He said in a harsh tone.

"I'll be back my love." He said in a sweeter tone and bent down to my face. "Try to stay awake for me." He kissed my cheek gently before storming out of the room.