Page 35 of Eliza's Cursed Dragon

Fine, I thought, I can wait two years, for her.

The wedding was rescheduled even though I didn’t feel right about it, having not one but two kids out of wedlock just didn’t sit well with me, no matter what she said. Or in her case, didn’t say. It was the source of our first fight.

The second fight came when she continued sewing on her ridiculous nettle mantles. I could have understood her sewing something for the babies growing in her steadily swelling belly but that wasn’t the case.

Still, I couldn’t fault her, she worked just as tirelessly on the nursery. I offered to have staff brought in, a designer, a painter, but she refused, navigating the internet with no problems whatsoever, ordering anything she needed.

One day I walked in while she was neatly folding baby clothes to stack into the newly arrived dresser. A very domestic sight, a sight that should have warmed my heart, instead, unease moved through me when I noticed one of the swans by her side, folding clothes with his beak.

I faltered against the doorway. Who was this woman?

As much as I hated it, Father was right. I knew nothing about her.

No matter how much I loved her, no matter how sweet and wonderful she was, we were about to start a family. I was about to become a father and with that came certain responsibilities, like making sure my babies were safe.

Easy, I told myself, this is still the same woman you met over a year ago.

Yes, but I know as much about her as I did a year ago, a voice sounding like my father’s argued back.

Maybe she trained the swans, I tried to justify.

She can read and write but refuses to do so to tell you anything about herself, the same voice returned. She doesn’t want to go to the authorities who would help her establish a life for herself, she won’t even tell you her name.

Fuck!

How could I possibly argue with that?

This wasn’t just about me anymore.

Two years, my heart insisted. Two years.

Alright, I compromised. I will wait two years, but she better come clean then, or…

But that was just it, I had no or. I wouldn’t, couldn’t, kick her out. I could never leave her.

She accepted you for who you are, my heart whispered, can’t you do the same for her?

Yes, I thought, yes I can, ignoring all nagging, lingering doubts and voices that whispered that even swans with human eyes didn’t fold clothes. Or listened when you talked to them. Or…

Eliza

I felt him pulling away little by little, and it saddened me with every passing day. On the surface we were just as happy as we had ever been. But sometimes I caught him looking at me and knew he wondered who I was and where I came from, although he had stopped asking about it.

My heart bled because I just couldn’t tell him what he wanted to hear and I noticed his veiled glances at my brothers. He suspected they weren’t mere swans, but he didn’t know what to make of them.

With each day my love for him grew because he was such a good man. All his doubts about me and the swans were only because he would take the responsibility as a father seriously. As such, he was very much right to wonder about the swans and me.

He also wasn’t happy that I would neither take on a fake name nor marry him yet. But how could I? I would never want to start our life under a name that wasn’t mine. I was Eliza and I wanted it to be Eliza and Edward, was that so bad?

Worst of all, I had nobody to talk to about it. All decisions were up to me. Yearning for my mother grew just as my belly did. How I wished she was still alive and here with me now. Not only to talk about babies, but about Edward too.

Was the right thing to give in to his wishes and make him happy? Or to wait until we could truly start our new lives together?

I just didn’t know anymore.

Most of the time I was just tired. The doctor assured me it was from the pregnancy and would abate, but it never did.

Edward was becoming more guilt-ridden by the minute too, because he realized he would have to leave me and the babies alone at night. He wouldn’t be able to help.

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