The King's Cursed Bride

Loving

Author's Note: A lot of you have asked me for tips on using Wattpad, so here they are. All summed up in the video above.

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Elon's gaze slid to Carissa's blood-stained thumb. His brow plummeted in concern as he rushed to her side and cradled her hand between his. "You're hurt." He glanced up at her mother. "Do you have any clean water I could use?"

Her mother jutted her chin towards the window. "Outside. There's a well."

Elon tugged on Carissa's wrist and lead her outside. Though the air was cooling as the daylight waned, it was a relief in contrast to her mother's presence. Yellow threads of grass crunched beneath her feet before Elon stopped at the stone well.

He released her hand to crank the handle, and water sloshed below. "You're hurt."

The blood on her thumb was already crusting on her skin, but without Elon's healing, it'd never close properly. "You've already said that."

"I wasn't referring to your thumb this time." With a grunt, he turned the crank once more before grabbing the bucket, pulling it over the edge, and setting it on the ground. He turned towards her. "Your mother?"

He'd known her for—how long? This would be the end of the fourth day, wasn't it? "How do you already know me so well?"

He smiled. "I'm your husband. It's my duty and privilege to know you well enough to attend your needs."

Guilt pricked her. And after four days, she still felt like she knew little about him. Though that was likely her fault. She'd had as many opportunities to observe him as he'd had to observe her.

He knelt by the bucket and cupped a pool of water between his palms. "Your mother?"

"Yes. She's upset with me. Though with everything I've put her through, I understand that. I just want her to forgive me—and tell me that she accepts and loves me no matter what." Her laugh was more breath than noise. "That doesn't seem likely at this point."

Elon rose and dribbled the water over her thumb, and droplets slid down her hand. "You always have my forgiveness."

Her eyebrows rose as she held up her thumb. "Your forgiveness? It's my mother I've offended."

"As King, whenever offense is committed against one of my people, it's technically committed against me as well." His thumb swept across hers, and the skin seamed itself back together.

Awe cascaded through her, leaving warmth in its wake. Blood swelled on Elon's thumb, and she caught her breath. That's right; she'd forgotten about that part. "You must spend a lot of time being offended."

Her words brought a faint smile to his lips. Once his own thumb had healed, he knelt and rinsed the dried blood off. "I forgive easily. And so long as you want my forgiveness, you'll always have it." Once he'd washed his hand, then hers, he paused for a beat before lowering his lips to the pad of her thumb. With her wet skin, his lips smoothly glided to her palm before settling over her wrist.

She shivered, and it wasn't because of the chill air. With her pulse thrumming beneath his lips, could he feel how her blood ran hot and thick in her veins? As warmth swirled up her arm, and her shivering intensified, she wondered how could his touch rouse her one moment and terrify her the next.

He withdrew and interwove his fingers with hers. "Come. We don't want to keep your parents waiting."

***

Dinner was painfully awkward, so much so that when one of the village girls stopped by to invite Carissa to breakfast the next morning, she was tempted to prolong to conversation to avoid the tension-rife silence.