Maythorn's Wish by Emily Larkin

Author:Emily Larkin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Medieval
Published: 2016-07-28T18:00:00+00:00

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THEY DANCED AND feasted, danced and feasted. Most of the flowers she’d threaded into her hair were gone, though some still clung on precariously. Towards midnight, Maythorn requested the hand of six-year-old Gavain: “May I have this dance, kind sir?”

It was a rollicking dance around the bonfire, skipping and whooping. Gavain was shrieking with laughter by the end, his eyes bright with tiredness. Maythorn swung him up in her arms. “Let’s dance this next one, too,” she said, and pressed a kiss to his dark, silky hair.

This was a slower dance, the music—lute and pipes—was sweet and haunting and almost sad. Spring farewelled. The next dance would be bright and vigorous, welcoming summer.

Maythorn rested her cheek on Gavain’s hair. She’d danced with Ivy like this, and Hazel. Young and warm in her arms. But she’d never been able to dance with Larkspur.

Grief touched her heart—grief for all the things she’d not been able to do with her children—and then the grief dissolved and her heart held only joy in this moment. Gavain’s warmth and vitality. His trust. His arms around her neck, his legs around her waist, his sleepy laughter in her ear. Maythorn kissed his soft, warm cheek and breathed deeply of his child scent. I love you, Gavain.

By the time the dance ended, Gavain was asleep. Maythorn carried him from the bonfire, to his father. Firelight cast a warm glow over Ren’s face, but his gaze was dark and unfathomable. What was he thinking as he watched them approach?

“He’s asleep,” Maythorn said, in a low voice.

“About time.” Ren gently took his son from her; their hands touched for a second, and then Gavain’s warmth was gone from her arms.

Maythorn watched them go—father and son—and lifted her eyes to the bright stars in the sky overhead. “If it pleases you, merciful gods, let me have this man as a husband and his child as my son,” she whispered.

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