AllFreeNovel
Share Us
HENRIK’S ENDING
“Father, you must rest now,” I said, making my voice light. “Remember the doctor’s orders.”
Father laid his head back against his pillow, his eyelids fluttering open and shut.
“Yes, yes,” he said, complying. “You’re quite right.”
I pulled his blankets up to his shoulders, tucking him gently as he submitted to sleep. There was a weight in my stomach as my fear for his health and my guilt for using charmspeak intertwined.
This is the only way I can help you, Father…
When he had fully fallen asleep, I stepped outside his bedroom, shutting the door behind me and putting my face in my hands.
It had been three months since I had come home, my father’s health improving slower than the doctors had wanted. There were times he went into fits of rage from his illness, and I started using my charmspeak to keep him calm and stable.
But it tore me apart to do so. Just knowing I could affect people in such a powerful way was overwhelming. Even though I had broken off my engagement to Jacques’s father, could I actually marry for love? I’d forever be a natural charmer, my feelings undoubtedly real but my husband’s always questionable.
I swallowed, wondering if someone could love me truly as a woman; if there was someone who could care for me beyond a spell.
Even if it isn’t real, I want to feel it.
I understood Henrik’s words so well now. Because even if a man couldn’t love me without power, I still wanted to love someone with every fiber of my heart.
I felt so unsettled here, trapped between wanting a normal life with a family, and thirsting for the sea and my home beyond it.
A strong knock came to the front door. I lifted my head, looking toward the staircase to the first floor in curiosity.
Who would come to call so late?
“May I help you?” Lina asked downstairs.
“Yes, I apologize for coming so late in the evening and unannounced,” a familiar voice said. “I was wondering if I might speak with the lady of the house.”
That formal tone…
My heart jumped to my throat as I rushed to the top of the staircase. Henrik stood frozen in the doorway, his eyes meeting mine as he swallowed. I froze as well, unable to say a word, not even his name.
Lina cleared her throat as she reached for Henrik’s coat.
“You two can visit in the parlor,” she said. “I’ll make you some tea.”
She nodded sharply at me, her way of telling me nonverbally to act presentable and come down. I came down the steps, trying not to show how much I was shaking.
He was still as handsome as the day I had met him. Not a trace of demon in his eyes, pure and mature, every bit a gentleman.
But how did he seemenow? As a siren he was meant to answer to? Or as a woman?
I stepped down from the stairs, meeting him only a few feet apart. He abruptly broke eye contact, opening the door for me to the parlor. We both took a seat on opposite sofas, not able to speak at first. It seemed that neither of us knew how to start the conversation.
Lina brought in the tea and left it on the table, closing the door behind her.
Neither of us touched it.
“It’s good to see you, Henrik,” I finally said.
He laughed ironically. “Is it? I was worried about what you might say when I came to your door.”
He looked at his folded hands.
