I felt the cool press of his lips against my hot skin. “I am glad that you listened.”
“So am I.”
Over the remainder of the day, we explored every nook and cranny of the market. He took me back across the Glaesflod Bridge and introduced me to the vendors he knew there. There was another clothing merchant, far less expensive than the ones in the market proper. I left with a new pair of trousers, two tunics, and just enough coin to guarantee I would be able to make the journey home.
When there was nothing left for us to see, Castien and I went back to the main part of the market and found seating in the Pavilion. “I have a proposal,” he began as we sipped cold water from colder glasses.
I looked at him curiously. There was typically only one kind of proposal at Everend Market, and I knew that was not the kind he meant. That proposal would come in a year if our relationship grew and withstood distance and time. Something deep in my core told me that it would. Still, my stomach fluttered. “What is your proposal?”
“We go back to your tent and pack everything, and then we go to my cabin. You can leave from there. It is closer to the main roads, and it means I do not have to spend tonight without you.”
I agreed quickly. We finished our waters and made our way back to my tent.
Packing to leave took a lot longer than packing to arrive had. Castien was skilled at fitting all my belongings into my sack in a way I never could. If I did move to Gearwick over the course of the next year, then he would be an asset. We grew distracted as we stripped the bedding from my pallet, falling into it and kissing until I felt lightheaded and drunk. I was tempted to allow it to go further, but I wanted to go back to his cabin and the solid walls it offered. It would be far less likely for us to be overheard there, and as brave as he made me, I did not care to have someone walk by and hear what we were up to.
He folded the bedding and managed to get it and the pallet packed just as neatly as he had my clothes. Underneath the bedding, he found a small satchel of herbs I’d forgotten I’d brought. “What is this for?” he asked, holding it up.
“It is to soothe nerves,” I told him, taking the satchel from between his fingers. “There is an elf I know in Emberleigh who grows it at his home.”
“How is it used? Is it a tea?”
“No. You light the dried leaves on fire and inhale the smoke.”
“And that is good for the nerves?”
I nodded. “It is, though it has some side effects. Every time I partake, I get very hungry.” I looked down at the dried leaves and stuck the satchel in my pack. “In more than one capacity.”
Heat flared behind his eyes. “Is it only for anxiety?”
My lips unfurled into a smile. “No. Some elves use it for pleasure as well.”
“Then, maybe, tonight, I should learn about this Emberleigh custom. I should understand it if I’m possibly to marry an elf from Emberleigh, correct?”
I laughed and agreed. We finished packing and went back to his cabin.
My load was lighter with him carrying half of it, and I hoped it would be that way for the rest of our life.
Epilogue
Castien
One Year Later
The last year had been the best of my life.
After six months, Oleander moved to Gearwick with me full time. He found employment at a local garment shop, and in an attempt to replicate my favorite scented oil, accidentally created a new lubricant that lasted longer and smelled better than anything I had in stock at my shop. It quickly became one of our bestsellers. He worked only a few days a week at the shop, andthe rest of the time, he devoted himself to making lubricants for me to sell and stockpiling them for the Everend Market.
When we returned to market, we both knew what it meant.
Acantha and I planned the moment together. They carried a note to Oleander’s parents on our third day, and on our fourth, Oleander was summoned to his parents’ apothecary. They claimed to need his assistance, but it was all a ruse meant to give me time to roam the market in search of a ring. I searched every jeweler’s booth first, but nothing spoke to me. None of the simple bands felt like they belonged on Oleander’s fingers. I looked at rings made from cogs and gears. I looked at rings made of silver and gold and other precious metals. Nothing felt right.
It wasn’t until I was near the end of my tether, searching the vendors’ booths across Glaesflod Bridge, that I found the right ring. It was a simple white gold band with stars engraved into the metal. It brought to mind our nights spent under the stars. It reminded me of our night in boyhood and the nights on the road when he moved to Gearwick from Emberleigh. I thought of the night we spent in the mountains outside the city, where I finally was able to tell him the stories I’d learned from my studies all those years before. There were constellations and tales he’d not known, and he’d hung on my every word before we made love beneath the same stars.
I rubbed my finger over the delicate etchings. “I’ll take it,” I told the vendor, uncaring at the cost.
There was no cost that would be too much for this.
The amount of coin was less than I’d thought it would be. I purchased a small wooden box to present it to my beloved and went back to my stall.
