Storm

StormAfter several minutes of walking, during which Lily was silently horrified to realize just how far into the woods she’d blindly traveled, they at last came to the clearing where Scout’s home was located. She’d been so preoccupied lately, she hadn’t really taken it all in. Wildflowers were everywhere, everything from dandelions to the flower that was her namesake. Though they used the well for water, there was a small creek cutting through where Scout had gotten them fish once.It was just a clearing in a forest, but it reminded her of the valleys she’d loved to ride through when she was younger, before duty and responsibility had consumed every second of her time.Inside, Scout fetched her a bucket of water to clean up with and brought her fresh clothes. Once she was clean and dressed, Scout pulled up a stool and sat to attend her feet. Lily was touched all the time as a princess: servants who helped her dress, officials she met with, her handmaidens to comfort her, people trying to court her, citizens eager to get close, and people who just in general did not understand, or at least obey, boundaries. It was something she tolerated, for the most part, just one more aspect of being royalty.None of those touches were like Scout’s, firm but gentle, her hands deft and elegant, calloused but somehow softer and warmer than the finest fabric. Her touch left Lily feeling squirmy, a funny fluttering in her stomach that she was absolutely going to ignore because there was no way on earth she was attracted to the single most annoying, aggravating, infuriating, rudest person in the kingdom, if not the continent."Thank you," she said when Scout had finished wrapping her feet. "I swear, I don’t intend to undo all your hard work."Scout snickered. "I’ll believe that when your feet are healed, Your Majesty." She stood and gathered up the supplies. "Now stay there and out of trouble while I finish up outside.Left to her own devices, Lily hobbled over to the bed, where she’d noticed a basket that morning and investigated to find bits of clothing and other items that needed repairing. Even with her sore hand she could manage a bit of simple sewing. Fetching the basket, she rifled through it and was pleased—and relieved—to find a small sewing kit already inside.Settling comfortably on the bed, she turned up the lamp beside it and set to work, beginning with a shirt that looked like all the others Scout wore. Sturdy, well-made, light enough for warm seasons but would layer well in the cold months. Ruthlessly practical, the veritable definition of Scout. Josiah would have liked her greatly, and so would the others. Scout and Alice would get along famously.She sniffled, thinking of her friends, but pushed the anguish aside. Time for that later. Maybe some of them were even still alive. A foolish hope, but she’d cling to it all the same.Finishing the shirt, Lily worked next on a handful of socks, until the door opened sometime later and Scout strode inside. Lily’s chest did that stupid, annoying flip again, watching Scout bustle around, sweaty and dirty, so effortlessly strong, but so deft and elegant in every movement as she set to butchering what looked like some sort of fowl before vanishing outside again, likely to wash up.Lily set aside a finished sock and began on the next one, pausing to stretch out her neck and shoulders, stiff from being hunched over in the same position for at least a couple of hours. She looked up as the door opened again, eyes helplessly trailing a damp, flushed Scout around the room. Damn it, the woman really was beautiful, unfairly so. Clearly woodcutting did marvelous things to a person’s body. More than tea and conversation would ever do for Lily. Not that she’d ever cared until now, because she looked every bit the refined princess—queen—she should.Stifling a sigh at her own nonsensical thoughts, Lily went back to work on the socks, leaving Scout to her own thoughts, which probably were a lot more intelligent, listening to the oddly relaxing sounds of her working in the kitchen, butchering the bird, chopping vegetables, bustling around.It wasn’t until Scout spoke that she realized the work had stopped. "Are you sewing?"Lily huffed, annoyance replacing her fragile good mood. "Yes. Believe it or not, I’m not entirely incompetent. Back home I mostly do embroidery and tapestry pieces, but we all start with the basics."Scout sighed. "That’s not what I meant. I hate sewing. I put it off for as long as I can. If I’d known you could sew, I’d have put you to work on that ages ago, and spared myself the torment even longer.""Oh," Lily said with a laugh. "Most of my days are spent on conversation. Meetings, teas, parties, more meetings, even more meetings, and it’s nice to have something to keep your hands occupied. Jotting notes, drinking tea, but where it’s appropriate, I like to embroider or sew. Your thread is cheap quality, more prone to breakage than good thread, but these stitches should hold for some time."Scout smiled. "It’s appreciated, Your Majesty."Lily rolled her eyes. "Not really much point in calling me that. What’s for dinner?""Roasted partridge and a vegetable soup."She could also smell fresh bread, which honestly was becoming one of her favorite things. Back home, it was always one fancy bread or another, and all of them delicious, but there was something about the simple, rustic bread Scout made that was so much more appealing. Comforting, in a way fancy palace food could never be."Sounds delicious."Scout smiled briefly before returning her attention to the partridge, getting it on spits to roast over the fire. "Want to help me with dinner? Could use someone to turn the spits while I clean up.""Of course!" Lily said, putting the sewing away for the night and slowly crossing the room, where Scout showed her how to keep them turning steadily so the meat cooked evenly and nothing burned. Her arms and shoulders wouldn’t love her by the end of it, but she was happier being helpful and sore than completely useless.An hour or so later, always hard to tell exactly inside the quiet cabin, dinner was ready, and they sat at the worktable across from each other as they ate. Halfway through the meal, though, Lily started yawning so much she could barely finish bites between them.Scout looked at her with amusement and a softness Lily couldn’t interpret. Probably Scout thought she was a child. An oh-so-mighty queen, and here she was being treated like a child by a woodcutter. "What?""You’re exhausted. Go to bed. If you wake up hungry later, the food will still be here.""I’m not a child," Lily replied, scowling at her half-empty plate.Scout snorted softly, drawing her head back up. "No, you’re most certainly not. You are a woman who has been through a lot of physical, emotional, and mental trauma, however. Trust me, after going through everything you did, all your body wants is rest. Something you seem stubbornly determined not to give it.""Speaking from experience?" Lily asked, brow furrowing, because she honestly couldn’t tell if it was experience talking, or Scout being her usual know-it-all, infuriatingly calm and confident self."Yes," Scout said shortly. "Even the part where you saw your father die." She gathered up the empty dishes and Lily’s half-full one. "Only difference is, I did the killing.""What!"Scout, though, true to form, had already vanished outside. Lily was going to clobber her. Saying something like that and then—and then—and then running away. It was like she went out of her way to be as confounding and infuriating as possible.Throwing up her hands in exasperation, Lily stood and slowly went about getting ready for bed, sighing in relief when she was finally able to slide beneath the warm blankets. Despite her best effort to stay awake and confront Scout over her shocking statement, the lull of a crackling fire and a cozy bed was simply too much when she was already so tired…Sometime later she woke up, heavy and groggy. What had woken her? Lily dragged her eyes open and sat up slowly, staring blearily at the only significant source of noise in the cabin—and went hot in the face when she realized she was staring at Scout, bathing by the fire, outlined by the light, every detail of her beautiful body on loving display. Cheeping in alarm, Lily dove back into the blankets and pulled them up, heart pounding.She’d seen people naked before! She was hardly an innocent, blushing maiden! What was wrong with her? Yes, Scout had nice…well, everything…but that wasn’t sufficient reason to act like this. Lily muffled a groan of frustration in the bedding—and then shrieked as a very loud crack-boom filled the air and shook the cabin.Before she could say anything, light filled the room, a blinding, searing flash that was over nearly as soon as it had begun. There was also a crashing sound, but this time of something being struck. Some poor tree, no doubt.Scout, dressed now, thankfully, looked at her in amusement. Somehow her voice carried over the rain that started drumming down. "Surely Your Majesty has endured thunderstorms before."Lily glared. "I lived in a palace, deep in the palace, so it’s harder to reach me should the walls be breached. Thunderstorms are a bit different there.""Fair enough," Scout said with a laugh, then went to the back window and peered out, though what she thought she’d see in all the dark and rain, Lily couldn’t begin to guess. "Damn it, that was my shed. All these tall damn trees around and the lightning went for my poor, innocent shed." She groaned and dropped the curtain. "That’s going to fuck over the rest of my week, damn it."Another deafening crack of thunder prevented Lily from replying. Giving up on going back to sleep, she joined Scout at the window. "Your valley is going to turn into a pond.""Hasn’t yet, but each time it rains I wonder," Scout said with a laugh. She smelled like the soap she made herself, woodsy with hints of lavender, soft and comforting, like everything else about her home. Lily wanted to lean into it, let Scout take her weight, but that would be presumptuous at best.Anyway, she was Queen. It was her job to take the weight of everyone around her, not foist it onto others. Nobody wanted a weak queen. So she stood tall and straight, holding the blanket she’d wrapped around her shoulders, missing the soft, cashmere shawl Leigh had crocheted for her a few years ago as a birthday present. Lily had given her a new chatelaine decorated with filagree and delicate enameled flowers.If anyone was still alive, it was Leigh, because surely they would not kill a woman lying sick in bed. Then again, Leigh had been part of her inner circle, and so likely eliminated as a threat. The minute she got within reach of that backstabbing cretin Ferdinand, she was going to stab him in the throat. With her embroidery scissors."What has you so tense all of a sudden?" Scout said, and Lily jumped slightly when a hand rested, warm and heavy, on her shoulder. "Don’t like storms?"Lily shook her head. "I was worried about my friends, all of them probably dead, and thinking about how much I can’t wait to make Ferdinand pay for this. My father trusted him, respected him, thought so highly—And Ferdinand murdered him. Murdered so many, I don’t even know how many yet. I need to get home.""You can’t save anyone until you save yourself," Scout said. "Trust me, I learned that lesson the hard way. The hardest way, some might say. Come on, I’ll fix us some tea to enjoy until this storm abates."Not really knowing what to say, or even really what she was feeling, Lily quietly let herself be led over to the fire and settled into a chair. Like some poor, scared child. This couldn’t continue. She was a queen, damn it, she needed to start acting like one.Starting tomorrow, she damn well would.