He Faked A Limp For Six Years To Avoid Marrying Me Chapter 02

He Faked A Limp For Six Years To Avoid Marrying Me Chapter 02

“I’ve waited six whole years for you. If I hold on five more, I’ll hit thirty-two. I’m done waiting.”

Earlier that dawn, a mountain raven had flown down from the neighboring Ironvein hills, a scrap of parchment clamped in its beak.

The note read: [Shay, I’ll hunt the boar to claim you as my own, wait for me.]

Talen’s jaw dropped hard, his mood sour instantly.

“You’d turn down marriage entirely just because of this?”

“I’m desperate to bag a hog and wed you, Shay. Can’t you cut me some slack?”

The surrounding clansmen all chimed in on his behalf.

“He drags that hurt leg through every dangerous stretch of mountain just to win you over—what more could you possibly demand of him?”

Elowen stepped down off the Clan Announcement Rise then, her voice soft and fragile.

“I heard everything the clan head said to you.”

“I won’t fight you over the drum honor anymore. I’ll stop lingering beside Talen too.”

She reached for the straps of her hide ritual shawl, ready to pull it off and hand it over.

Talen’s face darkened in an instant. He grabbed the shawl and tugged it back onto her shoulders roughly.

“Do you enjoy stirring up all this chaos just to make everyone miserable?”

His choice hadn’t changed one bit, just like the day we’d ventured into Forbidden Bluff Woods together.

Elowen had insisted on trekking into the restricted timber to find healing herbs for Talen’s fake leg injury.

Talen had bolted after her without a second thought the second she stepped past the boundary stones.

I couldn’t bear to leave a crippled man alone in dangerous woods, so I chased after them both.

We caught up to Elowen deep in the bluffs, but the three of us walked side-by-side only a minute before she darted off again into thick underbrush.

A timber rattlesnake struck my calf before I could yell a warning.

Talen’s eyes never left Elowen’s fleeing form.

“Elowen’s terrified of snakes and dark woods. Hold on a moment for me, I’ll be right back.”

That moment stretched on forever. He never returned for me.

I stumbled through the woods alone from midday until full night fell, dragging my poisoned leg, and limped back to the clan cabins to find them both already safe at home.

Snake venom had seeped deep into my lungs by then. Elowen only had minor scrapes from tree branches.

Elias held the single vial of healing salve passed down through our clan bloodline.

He hesitated three short heartbeats before making his call.

“Elowen’s a delicate city girl—give the salve to her.”

“You were raised in these hills, Shay. Your body can fight off the poison on its own.”

I survived, just like he’d claimed I would.

That night, I scraped the venomous rot from my wound without anything to dull the agony. Blood and tears soaked every thread of my bedding.

Maren’s tone turned sharp the second she saw my state.

“Quit putting on this pitiful act. I see right through your little ploy to pull pity.”

“Elowen’s my sworn sister by clan oath. Even if you’re my blood, you can’t chase her away from our hollow.”

Jasper stepped forward to stand beside Elowen as well.

I’m the one who brought her here. If she leaves these mountains, I’m leaving too.”

Mabel, the woman I’d fed and nursed for years, shook her head at me.

“If Elowen’s gone, I won’t touch a single bite of food you fix for me ever again.”

Elias raised his palm and struck me hard across the cheek.

“You swore off Talen’s wedding boar feast only hours ago, and now you’re playing this manipulative waiting game to win him back?”

“If you had a fraction of Elowen’s gentle heart, I wouldn’t carry so much worry for you.”

They lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, a solid wall shielding Elowen from every harsh word.

I stood outside their group entirely, cast aside like trash. They only cared about protecting her.

I watched Elowen brush stray tears from her cheeks, purposefully tilting her neck to flash the Bonding Oak iron medallion hanging there.

I knew that token all too well. The one Talen and I carved together had been smashed to bits by Elias’s boot years prior.

This new medallion bore only her name and Talen’s, our old bond fully erased.

Talen had snuck her to the Bonding Oak and replaced our promise with hers.

I stared at every person surrounding me, then planted a boot firm in my horse’s stirrup and swung onto its back.

“I don’t want a bite of Talen’s wedding boar, that much is true. I can hunt my own hog to claim a husband myself.”