Blog

Two of the guards were practically carrying Taehyung to the king’s chamber.   Mari walked unassisted.  But her back was hurting something awful.  She could not imagine enduring that eighteen more times like her beautiful boy had.  

She was terrified he was going to die.  He didn’t even appear conscious anymore.  The guards carried him into the room and deposited him on his stomach on a couch.  Mari knelt next to him.

“You foolish, marvelous man,” she whispered as she touched his head.  

The bandage was soaked through with blood again.  That’s what had her so worried. She began to unwind it.  She saw him wince.

“Are you awake?” She bent over his face and whispered in his ear.

He groaned.

“I do not even know your name,” she whispered on a sob.  “You saved my life, and I don’t even know your name.”

“Tae—”

His voice faded away. 

“Please.  Let me attend to him.”  It was the surgeon’s gentle voice.

“He’s lost so much blood,” she whimpered.  “I’m terrified that it’s too much.”

The sympathetic man glanced down at her.  “Let me see what I can do, child.  He seemed pretty strong still when he shoved you out of the way.”

She nodded.  “He did, didn’t he?  Brave soul.”

“This is a nasty gash.  It’s deep.  When did this happen?”

“Around two-thirty this morning.”

“Hmm,” he nodded.  “Did you salve it?”

She nodded.  “I did.”  She told him what she’d used.

His eyebrows flew north in admiration and surprise.  “How do you know the medicinal arts so well?”

“A friend taught me from a child.”

He nodded sagely as he attended to Taehyung’s wound.  “This poor man.  He’s been beaten so badly.”

“I will nurse him every night – all night long – until he is recovered,” she promised.

“You’d best marry him first,” Yoongi’s dry voice interrupted their conversation. “Those people are bloodthirsty.”

She glanced up at the king.  “He told them I was his fiancé.”

Yoongi nodded.  “Quite right.  And so you are.  As soon as he is conscious, we’ll perform the ceremony and make it official.  It will protect you from any more days like this one.”

She demured.  “I am happy to see, Your Highness, that you’re all right.  He was very worried about you.  He tried to leave my bedchamber last night to search for you, but he passed out before he could get off the bed.”

“Foolish girl!  Why did you take him to your room?”

“He was bleeding profusely!  I was afraid he was going to die.  The palace was asleep.  I have poultices from the healing arts in my bedroom.  

“I didn’t intend to sleep in the bed with him.  But he was doing so poorly, I was afraid to leave him.  I applied pressure to his wound for close to an hour.  By the time it stopped seeping, I was exhausted.  I couldn’t think straight.  I just collapsed next to him.”

Yoongi shook his head.

Just then, Moonflower walked through the door to his bedroom.  

“Yoongi?” she whispered.  “Who’s here?  What’s going on?”

“My love,” he smiled and walked over to her, “Taehyung was attacked.  He was knocked out, and this kind girl here nursed him back to health in her own bedroom.  But they were found together in her bed this morning, and the order was given to cane her.”

Moonflower gasped.  

“Apparently, Taehyung demanded they beat him instead.  But after he’d endured several lashings, she couldn’t take it and threw herself across his back to protect him.”

Moonflower inhaled through her teeth.  She turned her head towards the girl.  “How many times were you caned?”

“Twice,” Mari responded.

“Please, come with me.  I have a cream I can rub on your back.  It will help with the pain.”

Mari didn’t move.  “Can you use it on him first?  He was beaten so much worse than I.  I’ll be all right.”

The surgeon interposed, “I’ll take care of the young man.  You go with the kind lady and let her help you.”

“Do you really think he’s going to be all right?” Mari questioned the surgeon.

“I will do my best.  And he is young and healthy.  He has that in his favor.”

Mari nodded as a tear slid down her cheek.  She didn’t know the stubborn man, but she was so drawn to him.  He had risked his life to protect her.  He had claimed her as his fiancé to defend her.   

Somehow, she knew he would keep his word.  She was overwhelmed.  Why had he put himself in harm’s way for a stranger?  For a girl he neither loved nor even knew?

She followed Moonflower into the other room.  She watched the older girl for a few moments as she wandered over to a corner and picked up a jar.

“Are you blind?” Mari asked boldly.

“Yes,” Moonflower responded.

“Then how do you know which jar you’re choosing?”

“They have dots and lines on them so that I can tell them apart by touch.  See, this here has two dots, then a line.  That way I know it’s the one I’m looking for.”  She walked towards Mari and held the jar out to her.  

Mari ran her finger over it.  “That’s clever,” she remarked.  “Thank you for offering to help me.  I am terribly sore, but mostly I’m worried about Tae.”

“Me too.  I hope he’s going to be okay.  He was guarding me when he was attacked.  If it wasn’t for me, none of this would have happened.”  Her voice broke momentarily.

“What are you talking about?” Mari asked.

“Some men broke into the palace and kidnapped me and the king.  They took us down the road a bit and threatened to kill the king if we didn’t get married.  Then, after they knew we’d consummated our marriage, they fled, leaving us alone.  

“Eventually, we broke out of the room they’d locked us in.  Yoongi managed to find a horse quickly, and we rode straight back here.  Just in the nick of time, apparently.  Yoongi stopped the beating, I take it?”

Mari nodded, “Yes.  But isn’t it strange that someone wanted to force the king to marry you?”

“Very strange.”

“Why would they?”

“To discredit him, I think.  A king does not need a blind wife.  I told him so many times.”

Mari gazed at the clearly capable woman standing before her.

“I think you are the exact wife that the king needs.  And I think this diabolical plan is going to fail miserably.  I do believe it’s going to blow up in their faces, actually.  I, for one, am very glad he married you.”

“You are?” Shocked, Moonflower couldn’t help but drop her jaw for a moment.  “Why?”

“Well, for starters, he’s clearly madly in love with you.  And I believe in love.”

How ironic that she was being forced to marry a man who bore no love for her!  She wanted to weep.  It wasn’t that she’d had a better prospect.  Only that she had longed for a true love. 

“What makes you think he’s in love with me?” Moonflower queried.

“That’s easy.  The look on his face when he called you ‘my love’ and the way his eyes caressed you.”

A vulnerable expression flew across Moonflower’s face.  “They did?”

Mari nodded decisively.  “Absolutely.”  After a moment she added, “And I think you were born to be a king’s wife.  You carry yourself with a great deal of poise.  You are clearly quite intelligent and very kind also.  Besides all that, you’re a great beauty.”

“Surely I am not!  My eyes must look so strange.”

“They just appear a little clouded.  You are beautiful.  I wish I had half your beauty.”

“You have a beautiful voice,” Moonflower responded.  “Clear and sweet and not too high.  It’s mellow and soothing.”

Mari grinned at her.  “Yep, you are very kind.”

“And I imagine you are quite beautiful.  You just don’t realize it.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Mari sighed.

“Why not?”

“Because he’s being forced to marry me now.  He doesn’t love me.  He doesn’t even know me!”

Moonflower frowned.  “I’m so sorry.  But…”

Mari glanced up at her.  “What?”

“Taehyung is a very good man.  I know you don’t love him.  But I think, given time, you might find him a very good match for you.”

Mari stared at her.  “But will I be a good match for him?”

Moonflower sobered at the vulnerable note in the girl’s voice.  “You’re half in love with him already, aren’t you?  That’s why you’re upset.  If you didn’t love him, and he didn’t love you, it would be easy to marry him because you wouldn’t be hoping for anything.  But…if you love him – if you even just like him – but he doesn’t reciprocate, then your heart is in a very scary place.”

“He took the beatings for me!” Mari exclaimed as a tear trickled down her cheek.  “Then when I tried to stop them, he shoved me away, and the rod came down on his abdomen.”  She winced.  “He suffered so much for me, some strange girl who led him into a world of trouble.”

“You mean, the strange girl who saved his life last night when she risked hers to venture outdoors in the dark alone?  And then took him back to her own room knowing full well what the consequence could be today?”

Mari shook her head.  “I didn’t think.  I just…I saw his beautiful face, and I…”

“Lost your head.  It’s understandable.”

“You don’t understand!  He endured so much for me today!  How could I not feel drawn to him?  I don’t know any men who would take a beating for their own wife.  Let alone for a stranger!  But that’s exactly what he did!”

“That, my dear, is why I think you’re getting an excellent husband.  Even if he doesn’t yet love you.”

“But what if he comes to hate me?” Mari finally expressed her fear.  

Moonflower gazed into the air from which Mari’s voice had materialized.  “That, my dear, is a fear I can relate to.”