Eighteen Hundred and Twenty Six

    The wait was nearly impossible and her legs were starting to grow very antsy. By a grouping of trees she stood, eyes traveling the distance of the skyline. Hands clutched themselves tightly and her heart thrashed around wildly in her chest. Don’t go off on your own Lady Zadie! Let one of the maids accompany you. But yet she had traveled this while on her own. Rejecting even carriage. The trees began to sway in the breeze and it rustled her hair, uncovered from bonnet and pulled up from her neck. It had been a long time already. His journey away. And every minute she ached to hear word from him. 

    Sometimes she found herself satisfied. And others not at all. He’d taken a trip abroad to the Americas and his goal was to try to forge some sort of treaty with those of his kind residing there. But nevertheless, she couldn’t help but remember the events having led up to his departure. Kieran and her had never much fought the five years they had been wed. Disagreed perhaps. But never once had they had such a heated argument before. She had tried to understand it… tried to understand where his anger came from… his almost desperate desire to do things with the most tortured sense of urgency…never once slowing down for a moment.

*** 

    She felt her throat tighten and tears well up in her eyes as she watched his back retreat from her and her hands began to shake. Lowering sad eyes to her hands, she bit her lip. 

    “Lady Zadie…” Turning, she found a maidservant standing oft nearby. 

    “Please don’t take offense to this madam.” The young woman drew closer and slowly wrapped her arms around her. 

    “Though he be immortal, you must understand that you are not.” The simple truth of it rocked her. Of course she knew they were different. But not once had she allowed it to get in the way of them. She’d never once focused on it. Lifting fingers to her face, she batted the tears away in frustration. 

    “I know that!” 

    “Yes madam…well…it is not you he is angry at. Truly. He’s angry at time.” Swallowing, she leaned into the younger woman and closed her eyes. 

    “He does not want to lose you. Not to time. Not to man. Not to death itself.” Tears slipped down cheeks. 

    “If he could slow down the hands of time… if he could be human that he could live and die with you… I believe with my whole heart madam that he would.” She’d fallen for him so quickly and he with her. Their love was everything she’d wanted most. Passionate. Kind. Tender and gentle. And yet… it was cruel. To know that the one man she wanted most… she could only have him for a borrowed amount of time.

     She knew that one day the youth within her would fade and she’d grow old. Whilst he would not. He’d look the absolute same as the day they met, youthful and beautiful. She knew that she’d take her last breath, hands old and ailed and he’d watch the life fade from her until she was no more. None of this was fair. She hadn’t said a word as she allowed the maid to comfort her and for a couple days afterward. 

*** 

    Hold fast now Zadie. Just a bit longer now. Any moment. Holding her breath, she began to hear faint hooves beat against the ground. It was too far out to really tell. It could be anyone. Swallowing thickly, she felt herself grow anxious the closer the hooves got but soon she began to make out the shape of a rider. She could hear the beat of her heart straight up into her ears now as the sound of the hooves grew closer. Dear God…There she caught a glimpse of him… it was him… Emotion slipped forth and she could barely contain her tears as he spotted her there amongst the trees. Come to me my love. Please don’t make me wait any longer. And so, he neared, gaze intense and serious. 

*** 

    He never thought he’d be away as long as he had been but he had been searching. Sure the treaties with the families in the Americas went well. He had no doubt about that. Inside his heart, he burned with a fire. How was it that he could freeze time? How was it that he could exist in this world with the woman he loved more than anything? Settling the horse into an easy trot, he swallowed thickly. She was just as beautiful as the day he’d laid eyes on her. 

    Standing there under the guise of sunlight and shade, she held tight to her fingers, eyes full of yearning and tears. A dress made of cotton clothed her, a simple yet delicate brownish-red pattern. Slight puffed sleeves covered her entire arms and a modest scoop neck hem shielded her shoulders from him. Upon her head she wore a matching bonnet, a deeper darker red than the tones in the dress with a feminine lace flower stitched into the side.

     She was worth more than even rubies and gold he reasoned as he drew nearer until he had the horse stop in front of her. For a moment, they looked at each other, unspoken tension between them. Slowly, she lowered to the ground, her dress billowing prettily around her. Placing her fingers in her lap, she swallowed what he was sure were tears and spoke, her voice soft but strong. 

    “I am sorry.” To that, he knit his brows. 

    “For?” He asked, voice gentle. 

    “For having made this so difficult. For having displeased you.” At that, he couldn’t help but laugh. The action brought a confused blink to her eyes and she sat still as his face grew relaxed yet tender. 

    “You’ve not displeased me at all Zadie.” 

    “Then?”

    “Our last meeting was…it was entirely my fault. I am most sorry for hurting you…I acted like an arse and you did not deserve one bit of it.” She looked down. 

    “I was afraid. The fear of having to live without you crippled me so much the very thought of it angered me.  Even so, you did not deserve the lashing my tongue gave you.” At that, her cheeks grew the most lovely shade of red. 

    “Zadie…” She looked up. 

    “Come to me.”  At once, she began to rise and slowly approached his horse. Watching her, he felt his heart swell up big as a ray of sun and smiled as she reached out to pet the animal, lips smiling gently. He had thought he had returned empty handed. For he hadn’t found anything… there was nothing he could do. He had found himself powerless. But as she lifted her hand from the side of the stallion to rest on his knee, he realized that he was none of those things.  While she was free to live and love and be, those of her brethren in the Americas faced a most brutal life of enslavement. It had saddened him to see so many humans treated as she once was. The time they had…he would be wise to cherish it. He breezed fingers across the underside of her chin and made her look at him. 

    “Forgive me for being a fool.” Leaning into his palm, she closed her eyes and sighed. 

    “I accept your apology.” She said with a teary glance upward. Pulling her chin closer, soon he allowed his hand to rest upon her head as she pressed her face against his thigh. Smiling against his breeches, she accepted the slow gentle caress of his fingers against her hair. 

    “Shall we go home my love?” He asked above her, voice serving to both soothe and arouse her. 

    “As you wish my Lord.”