He Faked A Limp For Six Years To Avoid Marrying Me Chapter 01

He Faked A Limp For Six Years To Avoid Marrying Me Chapter 01

Out in Hollow Creek Clan, a man had to hunt a full-grown wild boar if he wanted to claim a bride.

Talen Reed had come back empty-handed for six hunting seasons straight. All those years, I’d sat through every clan’s wedding boar feast.

This year, I’d begged Maren to ask her husband to spare one boar for Talen.

She’d gotten drunk and slipped up.

“He’s the finest tracker in all the clan lands—he’d never need anyone’s handouts.”

The second the words left her mouth, sober horror washed over her face.

I’d planned to march over and confront Talen right then.

But I paused outside his cabin door, and overheard him talking to his kin.

“All of your wedding boars are on me this season, one for each man.”

One of the boys sounded confused, grateful all the same.

“Ain’t you saving one for yourself to win Shay over this year?”

“What’ll happen if Shay finds out you’ve been faking that limp for seven years just to stick close to Elowen?”

Talen didn’t hesitate for a single heartbeat.

“She’s too soft-hearted to leave me, long as she never learns the truth. She’ll wait around no matter what.”

His friend laughed.

“She’s rough around the edges, plain as day. Can’t hold a candle to Elowen’s gentle nature.”

It hit me cold.

Everyone knew the lie, every last soul in the clan. I was the only fool kept in the dark.

I didn’t push the door open to call him out.

I turned on my heel and went straight to Elias, our clan head.

“I don’t want a bite of Talen’s wedding boar, not ever again.”

Elias’s face lit up the second the words left my mouth.

“Six long seasons you’ve wasted pining for him. I’m glad you’ve finally come to your senses.”

“I’ll run tell Elowen the good news right away. Now she won’t feel guilty spending time with Talen, and I’ll hand over the hunt drumstick to her while I’m at it.”

I stared up at the Clan Announcement Rise from far off. Elowen stood there, holding the bison-hide drumstick high.

Clan law said only the clan head’s daughter could beat the hunt drum each autumn before the boar chase.

I’d manned that drum for more than a decade—until Elowen rolled into our territory from town.

Elias hadn’t thought twice about handing the ritual stick over to her.

“Elowen’s easy to love. Every hunter’s blood pumps harder when they hear her drumbeat echo through the woods.”

Years back, Talen and I carved our names into a Bonding Oak iron medallion and hung it on the tree’s branches.

Elias had dragged the entire clan to drag me away before the sun set.

“Bonding Oak vows only belong to pairs already wed by clan rite! This law was set by our forefathers, and no one breaks it!”

He locked me inside the Clan Oath Hut for seven full days, not a crumb of food passed through the door once.

When I stumbled out starved and weak, I tracked Maren down, burning with resentment.

“Talk to Pa for me. Tell him you deserve the drum honor far more than some outsider from town.”

Maren’s brows drew tight with irritation.

“Shay Voss, when did you turn so bitter and petty?”

If you had half Elowen’s grace, I’d count myself blessed beyond measure.”

I still remembered how she’d fought me tooth and nail over that drum position years prior.

The hide ritual shawl Elowen wore blazed bright in my sight. I recognized every messy stitch.

I’d sewn it by hand after our brutal fight, a peace offering for Maren.

I’d never touched hide stitching before; every finger was pricked raw and covered in tiny puncture wounds.

When Maren saw the shawl, she’d slapped her own cheeks hard, calling me a fool for caring so much. She swore she’d never fight with me over the drum ever again.

I dragged my gaze away from the rise. Maren stepped up beside me, hesitant.

“Did I say anything foolish last night when I drank too much cider?”

I shook my head, and she breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

“Thank the Lord for that.”

Talen hobbled over then, his fake limp heavy on every step, a massive recurve bow slung over his shoulders.

“Shay, about this season’s wild boar— I’ll do everything I possibly can to catch one.”

“Can you wait just one more hunting season? I’ll claim you as my bride next autumn, I swear it.”

I’d heard his secret talk last night. If not for that, I would’ve softens and said yes right away.

A man from the crowd sighed loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Boar fever’s wiped out most of the herd Elias released into the hills years back. If we hunt all twenty this year, there won’t be any mature hogs left for four or five more years.”

“Though it’s a blessing for Talen. He’ll get to stay by Elowen’s side that much longer, keep her from packing up and heading back to the city.”

The man speaking was Jasper Cole,who I’d sworn to look after.

When Jasper’s mother Mabel was confined to bed and unable to move, I’d tended to all her daily needs while he left the mountains to take city labor jobs.

When he came home, he brought me a tin of butter shortbread tins—and he brought Elowen Hale right along with him.

A small clan kid shouted over the chatter, unthinking.

“Grandpa Elias counted the herd! There’s twenty full-grown boars, twenty male hunters riding out today—every man gets one guaranteed!”

“Only a total failure would come home empty-handed. A hog’ll practically run straight into your crosshairs!”

One of my childhood playmates clapped a hand over the boy’s mouth fast, forcing a nervous laugh.

“Little ones run their mouths without thinking, Shay. Don’t take his words to heart.”

Maren hurried to soothe me too.

“If we don’t bag a boar this year, so what? You’ve waited six seasons already—one or two more won’t break you.”

“We’ll each share cuts of our wedding feasts with you, no need to worry about meat.”

I swept my gaze across every person gathered around me.

They were all blood kin, all the people I’d trusted more than anything in the world.

Every single one of them had a spouse already, leaving me the only unclaimed woman in the hollow. Every boar they’d hunted had been secured for them by Talen.

The joke stung bitter. I’d knelt at each of their cabin doors, begging them to surrender a hog for him.

Six years of eating their wedding boar stews had turned my stomach against pork entirely. Just the sight of it made me gag.

Talen’s soft, pleading eyes locked onto mine, waiting for my answer.

I shook my head once, firm.