Chapter 16

Who is Annie?  The question flew through his mind.  Aubrey had many disguises, he knew, but who was this Annie?  Alin had sent him a large smile that had a great amount of deviance behind it.  Nathaniel could not help but wonder exactly who this Annie was.  Aubrey had said she wanted to wait for Daisy to shift into her smaller form before she did anything, but he knew she was just prolonging the process.  For some reason, Aubrey did not want Nathaniel to see the persona she had created.

The lights from the village became closer, and soon, they were standing on the outskirts of it.  Aubrey let out a deep sigh.  “Do I want to be Annie?”

Alin slung his arm over Aubrey.  “Yes, Brey, you really do.  They love Annie.”

“For a reason,” she mumbled before slinging his arm off her.

Nathaniel smiled at the action, but the smile quickly vanished as she began her transformation.  Her wavy brown hair turned a golden color and lengthened until it hit her hips.  Her height grew until she was the same height as him.  None of those things caught his attention though.  It was the way she suddenly held herself.  Instead of the slightly standoffish woman, he had known for a few days, she was now different in a way he could not explain.  There was a certain air around her that made him want to step closer, to grab her and hide her from any other eyes.

“That,” Alin whispered from his side, his eyes still on Aubrey, “is Annie.”

“What is that around her?”

Alin looked over at him and smiled.  “That is naturally an Aubrey thing, the urge to get closer to her.  The odd sensation floating about her, that is Aubrey.  She holds it back as much as she can unless she is Annie.”

“She’s always like this?” he croaked, thinking of the problems this would cause.

“Yes,” he mumbled while taking a step towards her, “why do you think that everyone loves her?”

Nathaniel watched as Alin slinked towards Aubrey.  She gave the man a large smile that would have made any man feel warm and then tucked her arm into his elbow.  Glancing back at him, she said, “Are you going into the village with us?”

He looked at her eyes and let out a disappointed sigh.  She had changed her once captivating eyes to a pretty blue color.  It was what others would have thought was beautiful, but he was more amazed by her eyes than her Annie’s eyes.  “Yes, I shall follow behind.”

Something flickered through her eyes, and she bit her lower lip.  “Do not get angry, jealous, or try to be my champion.”

His eyes narrowed at her.  “Why?”

“You will see,” Alin replied with that large smile still on his face.

Nathaniel could already feel the anger building up at the other man’s expression.  How was he going to do what Aubrey wanted of him when he could not even handle Alin’s smile.  Instead of voicing his thoughts, he nodded.  “I will do my best.”

“That is all I would ever ask.”

Again, he watched as the two walked away from him.  He thought of her words.  That had been the first time anyone had replied in such a manner.  He had been told that his best needed to be better, that the best he could do was not the best a king could do.  A smile crossed his face.  This was Aubrey; she never asked more than a person could give her.  For some reason, that made Nathaniel like her even more than before.  She was honest, but he needed to remember that she was dangerous too.

“Nate!”

His head snapped up, just realizing that they were waiting on him.  A sheepish smile crossed his face as he walked towards him.  “I was thinking.”

“Must have been some deep thoughts,” Aubrey mumbled.  “I had been calling your name for quite some time now.”

“Sorry.”

She shook her head while holding out her free arm.  “Do not be sorry, thinking is a great thing. It means that you do not do things before thought.”

Nathaniel grabbed her hand and placed it across his elbow.  She rolled her eyes at him before linking their elbows together.  “I am not a princess here; do not treat me as such.”

“I will try and remember.”

“Good, because there will be things that will happen that a princess would never do.”

They began walking once more while her words played over in his head.  What did she mean?  His question was soon answered as they entered the village.  The people closest turned their eyes towards Aubrey and large, loving smiles crossed their faces.  The men got to her first.  She was pulled from the safety of Alin and Nathaniel and thrown into the group of people.

He went to step in, to free her from the crowd, but her giggle stopped him.  Pushing through them, he watched as a man planted a kiss on her lips.  He quickly drew away, but Nathaniel wanted to ring the man.  A woman stepped up to her and Nathaniel froze.  However, to his relief, the woman drew Aubrey into a hug before kissing both of her cheeks.  The process continued with all the men and women in the crowd until finally they stepped away from her.

A smile was on her face, but Nathaniel knew that a glare was on his.  Why did she let them kiss her?  Was it part of the Annie façade?

“It is their tradition,” Alin said from beside him.  “It is how they greet family who has returned.”

“What is Aubrey was a male?”

“The men would shake his hand, and the women would kiss his lips.”

“Odd,” Nathaniel mumbled.

Alin nodded.  “Very odd.”

“Why do they not greet you in such a way?”

“Only those who do not belong to someone else.”

“You do not…” Nathaniel trailed off, doubt creeping into his voice.

Alin only nodded.  “I do.”

“Who?”

Pain flashed in the man’s eyes while he turned his gaze towards Aubrey.  “Only one person knows, and I will not tell another.”

“I may be able to help,” Nathaniel supplied.

“No one can help me,” Alin said in a serious tone before a large smile crossed his face.  “They do not greet you as such because they do not like you.”

“Why would they not like me?”  Nathaniel cursed himself for being so easily steered into a different conversation, but he could not help himself.  He wanted to know why this village of people would despise him.

Alin slapped his shoulder and pointed to a group of men crowding Aubrey.  “A man who does not belong to anyone and enters with Aubrey can only be a man that wishes to belong with her.  They want her here.”

“When you say belong,” Nathaniel stared, but Alin seemed to know what question he meant to ask.

“Love, it means you love another and nothing you do can change that.”

“Aubrey?”

“Does not love anyone in the way that she should.  She will not let herself love anyone until she frees herself from her curse.  Not trusting yourself makes it hard to trust others.”

“These men?” Nathaniel asked while motioning towards them.

“They all want her to fall in love with them.  Those who are in their way do not fair too well.”

“And if you already love her?”

Alin turned towards him.  “Do not delude yourself into thinking that you love her.  If you did, these people would know.  It is their magic.  They know when a person is with who they belong to.  They know which loves will last a lifetime and which will crumble.  They do not greet those of which feel that belonging to another, the one that will last until their deaths.  Those who feel that are left standing in the outskirts, waiting.”

Nathaniel opened his mouth to ask what he waited for, but he was pulled into a hug.  A large woman stepped back with a glare on her face before a large man stepped into view.  His hand thrust out, and Nathaniel gripped it gingerly.  The man squeezed back before dropping it.  He glanced over at Alin as the other villagers gave their greeting.

“It is what they do to unattached males whose only feelings are centered about themselves.”

With those words, Alin stepped away from him as if he was disappointed.  If his words were true, Alin was not the only person disappointed.  Did he truly only care for himself?  Watching Alin pull Aubrey into a hug, Nathaniel knew the answer was no.  He cared for another, whether she knew it or not.