Radiance

“I’m not human, wife,” he whispered into the darkness.
“But you’re still mine, husband.”

“I’m not human, wife,” he whispered into the darkness.
“But you’re still mine, husband.”

She continued to stare at him. “What is it, Ildiko?” he asked. “What do you see?”
She twined her arms around his neck and tilted her head until her lips brushed the corner of his mouth. “My beautiful husband.” she said. “I see radiance.”

“Woman of day,” he said slowly. “You mean everything to me.”

Arranged marriages were the fate of nearly all aristocratic Gauri women, each one made for power, for trade, for good of country.

He never imagined an arranged marriage with a human woman to seal a war and trade alliance between Bast-Hardis and Gaur.

"We're growing used to each other. My kin will grow used to you and you to them as well."

The contrast of gray skin and black nails against hers emphasized their physical differences, yet sorrow was sorrow.

Dreadful in appearance, lethal in combat, Brishen was all that was cordiality and dignified royalty in every interaction with her.

She was ugly; she was beautiful, and she was his. "My Ildiko."

"..I think we all seek companionship, wife. Sometimes it's physical; sometimes it's much more....Loneliness is an empty void. We look for that friend in the light....
Will you be that for me, Ildiko? That beacon in the void?"

Something flared between them, a sense of camaraderie, of belonging.

While Brishen didn't find her beautiful, it was obvious to him the Gauri men did. Still, he didn't regret this union. Ildiko was unique and witty, and he enjoyed her company.

An intuitive sense of the vibrant soul and great heart that lay behind the ugly exterior?

"I will conquer kingdoms for you if you but ask it of me, Ildiko."

While Ildiko had the heart of a warrior, she was untrained, untried, and unprepared to fend off an attack from a determined assasin. He'd lay down his life for her, protect her with sword and axe, teeth and claws if necessary.

"I'm not human, wife."
"But you're still mine, husband."

"I am no poet possessing honeyed words...but you have always known me to be forthright with you."
"I want you, Ildiko. Want to sink so deep into you that neither of us will know where one ends and the other begins."

"What is it, Ildiko? What do you see?"
"My beautiful husband. I see radiance."

"What will I teach you?"
"Patience.
Endurace.
Ecstasy.

His need for her ran like molten streams just under his skin

"You find me ugly, don't you?"

Brishen had faced abominations on the battlefield without flinching, leapt into the thick of the fighting against creatures born from the nightmares of lesser demons. Not once had he been tempted to run away in fear. Now, his leg muscles rippled with the urge to flee. He clenched his teeth instead, prayed he wouldn't start a war with their newest ally and answered honestly.

"Hideous," he said. "A hag of a woman."

Another peal of laughter met his words. Brishen wilted, relieved she took no insult in him so bluntly validating her assumption. He didn't even know her name, but he liked her and didn't wish to hurt her. Assured she wasn't planning to flounce off and send a pack of offended relatives after him, he turned the same question on her.

"And you," he said. "You don't think me a handsome man?"

She shrugged. "I've only seen your hands and eyes. For all I know, you're hiding the face of a sun spirit in that hood."

Brishen scoffed at the idea. "Hardly." He'd never lacked female company, and his people thought him well-favored. Certainly nothing as wretched as a sun spirit. He slid the hood back to his shoulders.

The woman's eyes rounded. She inhaled a harsh breath and clasped one hand to her chest. Her mollusk skin went a far more attractive shade of ash. She remained silent and stared at him until he raised a hand in question. "Well?"

She exhaled slowly. The space between her eyebrows stitched into a single vertical frown line. "Had you crawled out from under my bed when I was a child, I would have bludgeoned you to death with my father's mace."