“Stop!” she commanded, running up to them, wedging herself between them and Michel. “Stop!”
The men hesitated and they backed away from each other. They sniffed and wiped sweat and blood from their faces.
Michel stood in the same spot, now beaten, a black eye forming, a gash on his cheek, and a swollen lip. But his expression held joy. His eyes sparkled.
“How long have you known?” he said, reaching for her hands.
“A few weeks,” she said, brimming with happiness, struggling to contain it. “Before we were separated.”
He breathed in, and she saw him trying to control his own emotions. “Is that what you were about to tell me in Carth?”
She nodded and smiled. “Yes.”
Michel grinned, too, and she couldn’t hold back anymore. He had come for her, to face her father. Nothing mattered anymore, only to be with him again. Everything else would have to work out, because she saw her future unfurling before her and it was once again joyous. She threw her arms around Michel. He held her for a moment, then Michel sank to his knees in front of her and hugged her around her legs.
She huddled over him, her hands reaching down to wrap around him. She closed her eyes to take this moment to forget about everything else. There was just Michel. And his body and his arms around her. It was just the two of them. The three of them.
Until she heard her father.
“Stop this instant!” he yelled.
Michel looked up to her. The happiness unraveled as reality came in once again.
“Face me, boy,” her father demanded, now standing himself.
Eve gripped Michel, not wanting to let him go, but Michel stood and pulled back. He turned to her father.
Eve wasn’t sure what was coming, anxiety wrapping around her.
Her father approached Michel until he was inches away. Michel was taller than her father, but her father was a figure who could intimidate anyone of any size. Still, Michel held his own and clenched his jaw as he waited to be addressed.
He stared at Michel but addressed Eve. “Eve, when you mentioned this match to me, you did not express that you had already chosen this man. I believed you to be in shock, an affection to him because you were traumatized by the situation. I see now that is not the case.”
Eve dropped her head, not used to disappointing her father.
“I don’t know if you are a good man.” He spoke now to Michel. “My daughter seems to believe so. I am inclined to trust her.” He nodded. “And if the ancestors have blessed you with a child, it is not my place to interfere.”
Eve felt strings of hope wrap around her heart.
“IfI allow you to marry my daughter, myonlydaughter,” her father continued, his eyes hot on Michel, “to take her from her home, do you promise to spend your life in her service?”
“Without a doubt,” Michel declared without hesitation. “Nothing will ever change that.”
“Because I will have no problem bringing war to your doorstep if I ever feel that she is not being taken care of.”
“She will be my greatest concern, always. And…” He paused. Michel choked up, his voice cracked, and he had to stop to clear his throat. “And any children we have, too.”
Her father pressed his lips and nodded.
Eve jumped forward then and took Michel’s hand. He turned to her, and she saw in his face what she already knew in her heart: that, yes, he would spend his life worshiping her and protecting her and the family they would build together. She reached forward to hug him again.
Then her father barked once more, causing them both to jump. “No touching,” he boomed. Then his voice softened. “Not until the wedding.”
Eve bit her lip to contain the wonderful emotions set free inside of her. She smiled at Michel and stepped back to let him go.
Only because she would get to have him once more—and now for the rest of their lives.
ChapterForty-One
