That was followed by a murmured, “I’m ready for the long version,” which was immediately followed by her once again gesturing for him to get on with it.
“Should I start with ‘Once upon a time’?” Tristan asked, chuckling when she seemed to think that over as she tossed another handful of candy in her mouth.
“Will it add to the story?”
“It couldn’t hurt,” Tristan said, returning his hand to the soft swell of her belly.
“Then, we should definitely start from there,” Marty said, nodding as she once again gestured with a handful of candy for him to get on with it.
“Once upon a time, a young woman showed up dressed like a boy with the hopes of avenging her mother and killing the king,”he began, only to end up narrowing his eyes when she said, “You should have started with that.”
“I could always skip over the good stuff and go straight to the end,” Tristan said, letting his words trail off only to chuckle when she narrowed her eyes on him.
“And we could always find out what would happen if I shoved you into oncoming traffic,” Marty said with a look that told him that he better get on with it.
Deciding that it would probably be in his best interest not to piss off his hormonal pregnant wife, Tristan said, “Where were we?”
“You were getting to the good part,” Marty said, moving to grab another handful of candy only to rethink that decision and reach past him so that she could help herself to the bottle of water that he kept on his nightstand.
“She joined the rest of the boys that had been sent to the king by their parents to train as soldiers. Within minutes, she caught Shayne’s attention, mostly because she kept squeezing her eyes shut and dropping to the ground in the fetal position whenever one of the other boys came after her with a wooden sword.”
“It didn’t take him long before he realized that she was a girl. Since he was bored, he decided to see how it played out and took over her training. He ran her through the basics, watching as she kept tripping over her own two feet until she was too exhausted to do anything more than fall face-first on the ground.”
“He didn’t know why she was there, but he knew that she was in trouble, so he decided to take pity on her. He kept her secret and allowed her to stay as his servant while he trained her, and in return, she was a pain in his ass,” Tristan said with a fond smile as he thought about the little pain in the ass that drove his brother crazy.
“Half the time, she forgot that she was supposed to pretend to be his servant. She hogged his bed, helped herself to hisoatcakes, pouted when he tried to wake her up in the morning, and was known for sneaking in a few naps during the day when she was supposed to be doing chores,” Tristan said, thinking about the way that his brother would glare every time she helped herself to his oatcakes and-
“He loved her,” Marty said with a sad smile.
“More than anything,” Tristan said, sighing heavily.
“What happened?” she asked, taking a sip of water before she put the bottle back on his nightstand.
“The king asked him to kill her,” Tristan said, watching as Marty reached into the bag for more candy only to go still. “He found out that the men that he’d sent to kill her failed and told Shayne to find her and finish the job.”
“Why would he do that?” Marty asked, swallowing hard as she placed the bag of candy on the nightstand.
Tristan shook his head. “I don’t know why and I’m not sure that Shayne does either. The only thing that I know is that Shayne never would have done it. He’d planned on going, taking her along as his servant and bringing her up north to a piece of land he’d earned years earlier and leaving her there until my time with the king was finished and he could join her.”
“And that’s when the king found out that we were married,” Marty guessed correctly.
“He gave Bécc, his second in command, all the coins he had on him and the land to take her safely up north and keep her there until he could come for her, knowing that Bécc would guard her with his life,” Tristan explained, watching as the sad expression on her face turned confused.
“Wait. I don’t understand. If he loved her, why didn’t he give in to the pull and go to her?” Marty demanded as he reached up and ran his fingertips along her jaw.
“Because it she isn’t his soulmate,” Tristan said, watching her swallow hard as his words hit.
“How do you know?” Marty whispered hollowly.
“Because he was never pulled to Lasarín’s death,” Tristan murmured softly. “When you first died, I was there to watch you go. I felt the pull to you as soon as my heart stopped beating. Then, the first time that I felt the pull to follow you, I saw you standing there waiting for me and every time after that,” Tristan explained.
“And Shayne?” Marty asked, leaning into his touch.
“He waited until the last moment to give in to the pull. By the time he followed his soulmate, she was already gone. So, he never saw what she looked like.”
“What about when his soulmate died? He would have seen her spirit then, right?” Marty asked, looking so goddamn hopeful that it damn near broke his heart.
“She died in his arms,” Tristan explained.
