He Faked A Limp For Six Years To Avoid Marrying Me Chapter 09

Our wedding day arrived, and Mercer Homestead Wedding Grounds swarmed with Hollow Creek clansfolk.

Before the rite began, Elias clasped both my hands tight in his, tears streaking his lined cheeks.

“I watched you grow from a tiny babe into a hunter. How will you ever adjust to life in foreign clan lands?”

They intend to tie you to Ironvein forever, to bury you far from Hollow Creek soil when your days end. Have you forgotten our forefathers’ teachings about returning to your home hollow when your life fades? This mountain’s where your roots lie, with us.”

Kael’s father stepped forward to speak, calm and steady.

“Ironvein holds no suffocating, rigid clan rules like Hollow Creek. Our women are free to travel anywhere they wish after marriage, cross mountain passes, wander city streets—we never lock our daughters to our hills.”

Ironvein encouraged clansfolk to leave the mountains to work city jobs, knowing they’d return home with new trinkets, fast thoroughbred horses, and stories from the flatlands. Our tribe prospered far more than Hollow Creek Clan because of that open mindset.

Elias fell silent, no counterargument to offer, his eyes locked onto mine in a silent plea for me to stay.

Maren stepped up next, holding the hide ritual shawl she’d stitched alone, messy uneven stitches covering every inch of its surface, her fingers pricked raw from hours of work.

“Take this drum shawl back, Shay. The hunt drum honor will always belong only to you from now on, I swear it. I regret giving your original stitching to Elowen more than anything.”

“I’ll keep the shawl you made for me all those years locked away safe, never letting anyone touch it again.”

I smiled and pushed the hand-sewn shawl back into her arms.

“I won’t be returning to Hollow Creek Clan ever again. Your hunt drum traditions don’t exist here, so keep the shawl for yourself.”

Maren shook her head violently, sobs breaking through her words.

“I’ll drive Elowen out of our hollow for good if that’s what you need to forgive me.”

I glanced between her and my father, heart heavy with exhaustion.

“You’ll always be my blood sister, Maren. You’ll always be my father, Elias. Our family bond can never be broken fully.”

“But I’m drained beyond repair. I don’t have the strength to come back to Hollow Creek ever again.”

Jasper shuffled forward awkwardly, dragging Mabel’s hand along with him.

“We swore brother-sister oaths as children, Shay. I promised to protect you through every hardship life throws your way. How can I keep that vow if you leave our hollow behind?”

I shot him a quiet, bitter question back.

“When you left these hills to work city jobs all those years, did you ever lift a finger to shield me from all the unfair treatment at home? For years, I was the one protecting your mother and your cabin, not the other way around.”

Jasper’s face burned bright red with shame, unable to meet my gaze after my honest rebuke.

Mabel grabbed tight onto my wrist, babbling like a confused small child.

“Come home with me, Shay. I want you to feed me my meals again.”

“Elowen poured stew all over my head once, she’s terrible to me.”

I gently pried her fingers loose from my arm, maintaining a calm, soft smile.

“Your son’s home to care for you now. Let Jasper prepare all your meals from this point forward.”

One of my childhood Hollow Creek playmates tried to plead with me to stay as well.

My tone stayed flat and unyielding.

“You’re Elowen’s closest friend, not mine.”

Talen stood last in the line of people begging me to abandon my wedding with Kael.

“I’m calling off my marriage to Elowen entirely, Shay.”

I fixed him with a cold, unamused stare.

“And what of it?”

“I’ll keep a wedding boar hunted and waiting just for you.”

“I’m going to be Kael’s wife now.”

Talen’s eyes welled with desperate tears, helpless against my unchanging resolve.

“Have you erased every single memory we shared together completely?”

He pulled the shattered Bonding Oak iron medallion from his pocket, the broken metal pieces glued back together as best he could manage.

“What memories do you speak of? The day you abandoned me to a rattlesnake’s bite deep in Forbidden Bluff Woods to chase Elowen? Or the hunt when you loosed an arrow through my thigh and watched me tumble down a rocky bluff, all your attention fixed on claiming a boar for her?”

Talen’s voice shook violently as he tried to defend himself.

“I never meant to put your life in mortal danger, Shay.”

“Yet you stood by and agreed to give our clan’s only healing salve to her when venom filled my lungs, didn’t you?”

I took the patched metal medallion from his palm, raised it high above my head, and let it fall hard onto the rocky ground. It shattered into countless
sharp fragments once more, irreparable forever.

“The token broke once already. Gluing the shards back together won’t fix the
trust you destroyed years ago.”

Talen’s legs gave out entirely, and he crumpled onto the dirt path in total
defeat.

Kael stepped behind me instantly, steady hands resting on my shoulders to
hold me upright. Only he could see how close I stood to collapsing under the
weight of all my stored grief. Pouring every old wound out into the open
brought temporary relief, yet it burned my heart raw all over again in the
process.

“I’ll never leave your side through anything,” he whispered soft into my ear.

He pressed an engraved iron oath blade into my palm, cool metal solid beneath
my fingers.

“If I ever betray your trust down the line, you have full right to drive this blade
straight through my heart.”

His gaze locked onto mine, full of unshakable, devoted love, every promise he
spoke carved clear in his eyes.

That was the exact moment Elowen burst through the wedding crowd,
disrupting our ceremony without warning.