Secret

The day after their wedding, Rulryn walked in on her newlywed husband trying to kiss a pretty servant girl. Ashvaer didn't even bother to hide it. Without making a single sound Rulryn walked away from the sight, the giggle of the servant girl heard after her leave.

Rulryn sighs deeply, sitting on the ground crossed legged in the small garden that she had seen Ashvaer and another girl in before. " It's been only a day since I got married and I feel tired already." She stares around at the small garden. There were beautiful desert flowers growing all around her. A fountain that bubbled with water from an underground spring she presumed.

" What are you doing out here?" Anarta asks, appearing from nowhere. Rulryn immedieatly gets up, " Anarta! I'm just enjoying the view." Ashvaer's mother eyes her knowingly, " It's Ashvaer isn't it? Clinging to another woman huh." " Uh, not at all," Rulryn lies, " I really was just enjoying the view." Anarta shakes her head at Rulryn, " As the daughter of Ruonk of the Trees, I thought that you might be able to tame my son. Is he too strong for you?" " Tame your son?" Rulryn simply repeats. Anarta sighs, " I was hoping that if he got married he'd stop his womanizing ways. If it is just too much for you, though its only been a day, I can find him a second wife to take care of him. Do you think I should get him and ugly one or a pretty but cruel one?"

Rulryn smiles falsely, " Ah.....would he be alright with that?" Anarta laughs, " I was just kidding, our culture does not allow concubines." She suddenly turns serious, " If you won't ever love him, learn to like him. That will make things easier." It made Rulryn wonder if it was like that with Anarta and her husband. " I'll try," she replies.

" What are you scheming with my mother?" Ashvaer asks just after Rulryn had left Anarta. Rulryn noted that mother and son had a tendency of appearing out of thin air. " We were scheming  nothing," she answers. Ashvaer chuckles, " Don't lie. If it's my mother, she's always up to something." Rulryn decides to be honest, " She said that if I can't love you, I should at least try to like you."

Ashvaer felt a sting in his heart. He laughs dryly, " Of course she'd say that." He suddenly has a flashback of him crying but all his mother did was watch cooly from the shadows. Rulryn pratically jumped out of her skin when he places a hand on her shoulder. She shies away from him, " W- what?" Ashvaer smirks, " You know how I am. I don't like you, we both know that I'm intrested in other women, so how about a deal? If you don't tell my mother about me cheating, I'll find you some handsome guys. I'm fine if you cheat on me too. Fair huh? What do you say? It's a great deal." Rulryn was offended by the offer. She turns to him, glaring icily, " I'm not like you. Boy." It was from that moment on that Ashvaer was nicknamed Boy whenever Rulryn was being mean.

A few days afterwards Rulryn suddenly fell ill. No one noticed at first because she did a great job of concealing it. It was during dinner that she collapsed. As her husband Ashvaer had to carry her to her room. Of course being the player he was, he princess carried her. Ashvaer stares down at Rulryn's pale sweating form. He makes a face, " You're heavy and since when were you sick?"

Rulryn clumsily sits up, glaring at him. " Since the day I saw you," she replies sarcasticlly. To her surprise Ashvaer places his hand on her forehead, " Hot," he says, feeling his own forehead. Rulryn pushes his hand away, " What do I have?" she growls. Two servants run in, one of them Vyvren. Vyvren also felt her forehead, ignoring Ashvaer's look. " It's just a fever," she diagnosed. Ashvaer grabs her hand, " That's good, you can leave the rest to her then," he says nodding to the other servant. Vyvren pulls away from him. " Young Mistress since when have you been ill?"

Rulryn narrows her eyes, thinking for a minute, " Two days ago, I think." Vyvren immedieatly pushes her down on the bed. " You've been ill for two days?" She turns to the other servant and Ashvaer, " How come no one noticed?" " She didn't look sick," Ashvaer simply replied. Vyvren begins wrapping Rulryn in blankets, commanding Ashvaer and the other servant to get water, towels, and medicine.

Around midnight Rulryn stopped shivering, having passed out. Vyvren had forced Ashvaer to stay with her while she and the other servant went to get a special type of medicine. Unsettled by Rulryn's stillness Ashvaer walked over to check on her. To his shock she wasn't breathing. He placed a head on her chest and heard nothing. Her face was ice cold and bluish. It hit him. She's dead!

He shakes his head. Impossible! You can't die from a fever! He shakes her, " Hey! Wake up!" Without warning Rulryn suddenly came back to life. She sat up so fast that she knocked heads with Ashvaer. She lets out a huge gasp. Ashvaer sighs in relief. " You-" Rulryn got up so fast that he had no time to react. She pushed him off the bed, " Get out! Get out! Now!"

" What was that for? And why do I have to get out?" Ashvaer questions angrily. Rulryn grabs him by the shirt collar and with tremendous strength, threw him out of her room. Angered by the injustice of it Ashvaer tries to get back in, but Rulryn wouldn't let him. " Go away!" she shouts, slamming the door in his face. Ashvaer suddenly had an idea.

Rulryn was shivering violently, clutching her chest. No, not now! Why now? She thought that it had ended a long time ago. That it was safe now. Apparently I was wrong, she thought grimly. She falls down on her knees, gasping with pain. She couldn't let them see her. See her curse. She groans and rolls on the floor. Ashvaer had left, that was good. She grits her teeth as another wave of pain washes over her. I should have known that it was returning as soon as I got sick. A small cry escapes her. Go away! she tells the pain. Hurry up and go away!

There's a loud crash as Ashvaer fell into the room from the window. Immedieately Rulryn dives for the bed. Ashvaer stares at her hiding under the blankets. He felt slightly irratated. " Why are you acting so strange? Besides did you just die a moment ago? What's going on here?" He pulls on the blanket, but Rulryn wouldn't relent. Ashvaer became even more annoyed and curious. With a jerk he finally manages to pull the blanket off. Rulryn immedieatly hides her face, kicking out at him. He dodges.

Then a blur of color and he had her hand. Before he could get a clear view of her face she bull dozed her head into his chest, knocking him over. The lights from the candles suddenly went out. Silver moonlight enters the room and in the dark he saw what Rulryn had been hiding. Bathed in moonlight he saw the sharp designs that tattoed her face. They were a deep red in the dark seeming to bleed from her skin. The tattoes warped her face making her hideous and beast like.

Ashvaer stares, wide eyed. " You-" Rulryn tackles him, " Tell anybody or I'll kill you." Ashvaer's shocked face changes into a grin. His hand flashes out, grabbing her. Rulryn falls foward having lost her balance. She had expected him to quiver in fear or try to kill her in desperation or call her a monster. Instead he pulled her into a hug. Stunned she forgot that he was holding her in his arms. He leans his head against her shoulder and smiles softly.

" So, I'm not the only one."