Macha's Journey

Thinking about Tyr caused her to blush. Ever since they left Jimbaran, they had been making love nightly. Last night, he suggested that she move into his room permanently. The flip in his intimacy level shocked her. She did not know what the cause was for his change in behavior, but she did not have any complaints.

It was the perfect season for many fruits. The stalls exploded with color from the various harvests and one merchant had beautiful ripe strawberries. This reminded Macha that she still did not make Tyr the shaved ice he wanted. The other day she bought strawberries to make it, but Tyr ate them all while she had been busy talking with Luna.

While she sorted through the berries, picking out the best ones from the merchant, a hand lightly touched her elbow and a warm chest lean against her. A blush formed on her cheeks, only one person would touch her like that. Macha turned around with antic.i.p.ation, it surprised her that Tyr ventured into the market without her.

Jarnvid stood behind her with a confident smile on his face. He wore a blue velvet jacket that had metal studs on one side. He layered collared shirts beneath it and wore many rings on his fingers. "Those look delicious. I wasn"t aware you liked strawberries." He handed the shopkeeper a gold coin and said he would pay for Macha"s berries. When the shopkeeper tried to give him his change, he waved his hand and told the man he could keep it.

Jarnvid trapped Macha between the stall and his arms. Her body tensed, and she tried to scoot to the side. This was her first time meeting him and she worried that Tyr would be angry. Since he was a n.o.ble and a guild leader, she did not want to offend him, but the closeness of his body was too intimate. The shopkeeper handed her the large bag of berries after weighing them and thanked Jarnvid.

Reaching into the bag, he picked a juicy red berry from the top. He then put the berry in front of Macha"s mouth and said, "Try a bite and let me know how it tastes." He moved his arm around Macha"s shoulder and nonchalantly led her away from the stall.

Macha stared at his hand. The level of intimacy with which he treated her with offended her. Since her arms were full, she moved her shopping bags to one side and tried to brush his hand off her shoulder. "Thank you for the strawberries, but you didn"t have to pay for them." Now that Jarnvid paid for them, she did not know if she wanted Tyr to have them. Their volatile relationship was not a secret to her.

The negative reactions that Macha gave him cause Jarnvid to smile. It was interesting when a woman acted difficult to obtain and peaked his interest even more. Most of the time he would not bother pursuing the woman, but this was Tyr"s woman, and he wanted her.

Jarnvid gently turned Macha"s head to him and touched the strawberry to her lips. He waited for her to take a bite and finished the other half of the berry. "It"s nothing. Why do you have so many bags of food? That"s something you could just get some slaves to buy."

Macha tried again to brush his hand off her shoulder. He released her but moved his hand to her waist. Now she grew annoyed that he kept touching her. Her brows knitted, and she looked up at him, "Jarnvid, you do know that I"m in a relationship with Tyr right?" Although she realized she stretched the truth a bit, she rationalized it as they currently formed some sort of relationship. To her, the nature of their relationship was ambiguous, but it was definitely a relationship beyond friendship. She wanted to inform Jarnvid of this so he could clear up any misunderstandings he had.

A slow c.o.c.ky smile touched his eyes. "I know. You aren"t married to him though," changing the subject he asked again, "What"s all this food for?" He realized Tyr had feelings for Macha and he found it charming that she thought he would care. It was irrelevant to him whether they had a relationship. In fact, Macha telling him that she became Tyr"s girlfriend made this pursuit even better.

Macha wiggled a bit in an effort to shake Jarnvid"s hand off her waist. "I"m opening a pie shop with a friend and we"re testing out new ingredients. Could you help me carry the bags?" She realized if he had his hands full, he would not be able to touch her.

The delicate curve of her waist felt good in his hands and he understood why Tyr and the King found her so appealing. Jarnvid reached down for the bags and cunningly stole a kiss from Macha"s lips. "For you, anything." He continued to walk as if nothing happened. He was confident because women easily liked him and enjoyed his attention. Jarnvid knew it was only a matter of time before she fell for him too.

Macha did not expect him to kiss her. Her lips felt dirty and wished she could rip off the skin that touched him. Not even Freyr had been that bold. A sudden jolt of fear surged through her. She still did not know where she stood with Tyr and she did not want the kiss to cause any problems. Turning her head from side to side, she scanned the streets, worried someone they were friends with saw what happened. Her heart raced as she wiped the kiss from her lips. Macha glared at Jarnvid, but he was busy looking ahead. She concluded that she needed to call him out on his action. Gathering up her courage she said, "Please refrain from kissing me like that."

Jarnvid glanced down at Macha and chuckled, "All right. I will do a better job next time. Where are you headed now?" He liked that Macha seemed to play hard to get. He wondered if Freyr had sampled Macha"s lips yet. The thought of taking the woman who Tyr and the King were interested in, made him happy.

As they walked to the orphanage, he inquired about the pie shop she planned to open. It surprised Macha that Jarnvid asked so many questions about it. He even promised to put in a big order the day she opened. Not only did he promise to buy some pies from her, Jarnvid even suggested she gift some pies to the other guild leaders. This gift would help get her shop"s name out and show off their quality. Macha heard that he poorly managed the Carnelian k.u.mas finances, but she thought his idea was fantastic.

When Jarnvid entered the orphanage, Talon eyed him. Today, Talon dressed in a tight sage colored pair of breeches and wore a pair of dark boots. His white shirt was ripped open and some fingerpaints streaked across his chest and cheeks because the children had been chasing him around the house trying to paint a mustache on him. He lifted a small girl into his arms and voiced his annoyance, "Lord Jarnvid, what are you doing here?"

Jarnvid was aware that Talon disliked him. He once caused an Obsidian Dragon orphan to cry because he refused to buy a cookie that the child was trying to sell. He blamed Talon for the incident because Talon had the orphans sell food from time to time to raise money. He did not understand why they bothered when Tyr took care of all their expenses. It taught the children nothing. In the real world, you either had money or you did not. The small amount the children made was barely anything and would not be enough for them to survive on.

Another thing that bothered him about children was that he did not believe in treating them any different than adults. He honestly disliked children because they had difficulty understanding the finer nuances of society. While he stared at the dirty orphan that Talon picked up, he sneered, "It isn"t to play with them if that"s what you"re wondering. I came to escort Macha here. I met her in the marketplace."

Talon remembered that Luna informed him that Macha was Tyr"s woman. He also remembered how Jarnvid stole Fenrir away from the Captain. He put the child down and took the bags from Jarnvid. "Well, she"s safe now. You can hit the road or play with the kids." He then yelled down the hall, "Kids! Lord Jarnvid came to play with you!"

A mob of children came running down the hall. Their hands were covered in blue, yellow, and red pigments. Some of them had the paint in their hair and they screamed high-pitched incoherent words at the top of their lungs. They swarmed around Jarnvid begging to be picked up, each one not wanting to be outdone by the other. This only caused them to shout louder and tug at Jarnvid"s sleeves.

Jarnvid slapped their hands away and backed out of the front door. He smiled at Macha and tried to do a quick bow. "I"ll see you later. Remember to let me know when you open that shop!" he called. He ran from the children who wanted to play with him.

When Jarnvid was off of the property and Talon saw the children wanted to chase him further he shouted in a commanding voice, "RTB! RTB!" The children immediately stopped and ran back to him.

Seeing the immediate reaction these words had on the children caused Macha to raise her eyebrows. She had never heard Talon use this term before, despite visiting the orphanage with Tyr many times. "What is RTB?" she chuckled. She thought it was adorable how some of the younger children stopped so suddenly that they toppled over.

Talon walked towards the kitchen and looked over his shoulder, "Return to Base." It was a term he used while in the military and during missions. He found it easier than shouting the whole thing at the children.