CHAPTER 178: BE MY...

{Music Recommendation: Breathe Me ~ Sia}

"....look! From the mountain there is someone....we have a winner!"

. . . .

Jenna trotted behind her father after he had left the council hall; though her dress was still slipping from her shoulder, she didn’t mind.

"Father...father, please wait." Jenna reached her hand forward to hold him, but her father didn’t stop walking. The next step she took, she tripped on her dress and fell, watching her father go without turning.

Jenna had been glad to have her father speak on her behalf. It was a rare sight, a grit she hoped her father had before now, but what Jenna didn’t see coming was her father choosing Hart for her.

Sensing that his daughter was no longer behind him, Brown turned. With a tired sigh, he walked back to stand in front of Jenna.

"You will be happy this time...trust me."

Jenna looked up at her father. "Can you not allow me to choose my happiness now? The last time you did brought me to the place I am now. Can you not trust your own—"

"I’d have trusted you if that young man wasn’t Nikolai’s son," Brown replied with a soft exhale. "You said it was hell in that home, but now you wish to go back? And Rhane is your brother-in-law! What will people say if they hear of such an affair?"

Jenna dropped her shoulder and sighed; her father still had a long way to go when it came to really protecting her. No matter what, he was moved by the words and scrutiny from the public. Though Jenna didn’t blame him, she hadn’t expected that she would fall in love with Gerald’s half-brother.

"This is the only way to break the ties...let us leave Nikolai and his family to settle out their bad blood without involving you." Brown reached for his daughter’s hand, then helped her to stand.

"You can walk away from all of these...live happily anywhere in the kingdom. I will make sure to support any man you bring to me...but it has to be someone else." He fixed Jenna’s dress to cover her shoulder.

"I no longer wish to see my daughter this way.... Once was a mistake, twice would be foolishness. Don’t you think?" Brown meant every word he said. He hadn’t been the best father to his daughter, and all these years he didn’t know the effect his nonchalance had caused her. Seeing it now, he wanted to make amends.

Jenna closed her eyes tightly; she hated that she understood her father. Just when he started acting like a father, he decided to take it too seriously.

"Father...I didn’t even know Rhane was—" Jenna shook her head; it was no point explaining. She took her father’s hand. "Fine...Rhane and Nikolai don’t get along. You know it! Rhane is about to change his family name."

Master Brown hummed. When he was about to agree, he shook his head. "But the blood still runs deep...he can’t change that." He twitched his lips. "Jenna darling, just listen to your father this one time."

Jenna raised her hands in frustration. "That is the whole point of this...I’ve been listening to you...why can’t you do the same for me now? Just give Rhane a chance...fine...we can delay the wedding until you get to know him more. Please...I’m begging you."

"No." Brown found it difficult to look at his daughter’s face and not give her what she wanted, but he didn’t want to get it wrong this time. "I have had your things packed...you should wear a dress and get ready to leave." Looking behind Jenna, the man noticed someone lurking behind the pillars.

"It seems you have made friends during your stay here...bid them goodbye so you will have no regrets."

Jenna turned; as she had suspected, it was Olivia who was watching her from a corner. Though worried about Rachel and what would be their fate, Jenna needed to convince her father first.

"Father...please you should—"

"....look! From the mountain there is someone....we have a winner!"

The commotion from outside interrupted Jenna; she followed the noise, dragging her dress along with her.

"He is the winner?"

"Wow...I didn’t expect it to be him..."

Jenna could hear her own heart as she stepped outside; she didn’t know why she was scared. The look on everyone’s face showed that they didn’t expect the person who had won. It meant that it wasn’t Rhane...Jenna shook her head, it couldn’t be! She tried to think about the good side.

Master Brown cleared his throat, his hand behind him. "Well, it’ll be easier if Hart comes out as the winner."

Jenna gulped, rubbing her clammy palm on her dress. Her father’s words were about to get to her, but she shook her head.

Rhane never quit, and winning had always been his mantra. Except...Jenna paused...except he had passed out again. She had been too busy with the council to get the chance to go to the mountain.

"What really happened in the mountain...how could he be the winner?"

Jenna gritted her teeth; she shoved aside the person standing in front of her to get a clearer view.

"Uh...." Jenna gasped, her trembling hands over her mouth. She couldn’t speak of what she was seeing.

Hart leaned a little to his side. "You don’t look very happy to see me, Jenna," he said with a grin.

Jenna finally found her voice, but it cracked. "H-how..." she staggered forward, her hands stretched.

"W-hat happened..." the fresh taste of salt hit her lips. And her chest tightened, almost knocking air out from her lungs.

Hart nodded in agreement. "I could say the same...how?"

Jenna moved Hart to the side, then caught Rhane, who was bathed in blood. She pulled him very close to her chest, almost falling with him.

Hart rubbed his blood-covered hands on his shirt and nodded. "Yes...yes...carry on...I will keep standing just right here when you need me."

"What happened to him...how did he...oh lord...someone please help him," Jenna cried out loudly.

As if hearing Jenna’s voice brought him back, Rhane opened his eyes slowly.

Hart twitched his lips. "Well, about that...it was really a crazy mountain climb. You see...this obsessed woman—"

"Jenna..." Rhane’s tired voice was heard.

Jenna leaned closer, bringing her face so Rhane could touch. "It’s me...I am here..."

Hart rolled his eyes. "I can continue some other time...I will just shut up now...and oh— I had covered the wound with the veil..."

"You found the veil?" The council leader who had arrived asked.

Jenna frowned. "Is that the problem now? A man is dying! Have you all really lost your mind?"

Hart nodded. "She is right...that man needs help and yes...he risked his life to return with the veil."

Hart watched Jenna and Rhane with mixed feelings; he could see just how genuine whatever those two felt for each other was. It was safe— their first instinct was to protect one another, no matter the cost. He was glad he had helped Rhane using the tonics and herbs Lois packed. Remembering the girl, Hart grimaced.

"And some men will need to go to the mountain to bring back some persons...one dead and the other alive...I think?" Hart concluded. He gave Jenna a quick glance. "You owe me for this one, Jenna..." he muttered before walking away, seeing that Jenna could handle it from here.

As some physicians rushed in to help Rhane, Jenna turned to her father, who was also watching.

"Do you see now...he is willing not just to die but also return alive for me. Please don’t take him away from me...please."

Master Brown noticed everyone’s eyes were now on him; he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Let us have him treated first....we can discuss this later."

"No, let’s do it now."

Even Jenna was surprised to hear Rhane’s voice; she touched his face. "Please don’t say a word, Rhane...you are hurt."

Rhane forced a smile through pain; he sat up, taking Jenna’s hand. "I have missed your face and the eyes that stare back at me like I mean something in this dying world..." he squeezed Jenna’s hand.

"The mountain was a battle of life and choices, and now I have returned. I can only..." he grunted, feeling a sharp pain. "Only spend the rest of my days coloring your world so bright that you’d never have to face the struggle I already won for us."

Jenna nodded with his words. "I know all of that, Rhane...but please you need to get treated."

"Please be my wife, Jenna..." Rhane struggled up, now on one knee. "They say a man only speaks his truth when he is intoxicated by ale or in the face of death. If all my words haven’t reached your heart...I’d like to ask now when I am not sure of tomorrow..."

"Be my woman...let your womb grow my seeds...children with your eyes and laughter. Grant this fool in love...this man at your mercy his only will in life."

Jenna wiped her eyes with her hand; she tried to smile and at the same time not cry. "Then stay alive! I’ll be whatever...your wife...woman...master...slave...whore...Jenna...whatever."

Rhane smiled; his eyes fell on Jenna’s father, who tried to look away quickly.

"I’ll do whatever you ask...please let me have your daughter...I won’t have my sanity if she is not waking up next to me...every single morning of her life."

"I—"

"I love you so much, Rhane Henderick." Jenna pulled him into a tight hug, interrupting her father before he could speak.

Rhane let go of his breath, resting his head on Jenna’s shoulder and leaning into her warm embrace. "I waited for more than I did for air to hear this from you...I can now rest, my love." He closed his eyes tiredly.

The last thing Rhane heard was the muffled screams of Jenna and the clamoring of physicians who tried to help him.