Page 147 of Bound

The garlands of greens and the deepest blue that seemed endless as they twined and swung in elaborate swags. Braum would stop her every once in a while to point out a few that were from his own groves. How he knew she couldn’t possibly know, but it made her itch to see his lots for herself. The trees he nurtures and cared for with as much attention as she did her own grimbles.

Or... had.

Until he’d become rather preoccupied with her.

She tucked herself a little nearer to his side.

He smiled whenever she drew closer to him. He didn’t always look down at her in acknowledgment, but she could see the upward turn of his mouth. Could feel the way his arm settled about her, steady and firm and welcome.

She tucked her face into the wrap she’d made for him, a little overwhelmed. The sights. The smell of incense in the air. Of spices and meats. Of sweet treats that called forth from smiling vendors. All of it was exotic to her, even though it shouldn’t be. She did not know which recipes had come from beyond the sea. Which were traditional only to here.

She’d learn, though.

Every year, they’d come.

Until it felt as natural to her as it did to anybody else.

Braum saw him first.

She felt the stiffening in his frame, which made her look about for the source of his sudden discomfort.

For one awful moment, she thought somehow he’d plucked the image of the cad from her mind and he’d be there, spoiling things.

But no.

That wasn’t possible—a groundless fear rooted in a bond she was only beginning to understand.

Instead, it was her father. In a cluster of faces she did not know, but could begin to guess. A woman’s hand was tucked into his, and he was smiling as the boy next to him pointed toward a stall further up the street.

She couldn’t move. Her feet had forgotten their purpose. Braum stopped with her, his hand a warm presence on her back as he waited for her to decide what she might do.

Was it a decision? She didn’t think so. She had to run, obviously.

Back home before she was seen, back before she made any trouble.

Isn’t that what Mama had taught her?

She could hear whispers about her. Braum explaining in hushed tones the bare minimum of what his family would need to know.

And it shamed her. That she should react so to seeing her own father. With a family that wasn’t hers, but might have been. If Mama had not feared losing her, if she’d met them early on.

Her throat ached. Her heart too.

Braum’s mother was there.

Holding her face with her palms, her eyes so much like her mate’s that suddenly she could breathe.

Perhaps it should have been him. And yet...

The relief was pronounced. Hadn’t she known she needed a mother even still? A woman grown, but...

“You’re all right,” she stated firmly. “You are not alone. We can walk on, or perhaps it would be better if we went and said hello?”

The way she said it, it was clear which option she thought best. This woman that was a stranger to her, but wasn’t. Because she’d raised the man beside her. The one with his hand she tucked hers into. That knew when to press and when to give space. That knew how to be kind and gentle, yet firm when he needed to be.

She knew these people, because she knew Braum. Because she loved him with all that she had, and maybe...

Maybe she needed to do this after all.