Page 7 of A Minotaur Tale

"What is this all about then, this evening? Shouldn't you be trying to impress me? isn't that how this works?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. There wasn’t much in the books on nymph mating habits, and even though I figured you might be used to the dwarven way, I'm no good at boasting, so I'm just going about it the minotaur way. Well, at least partially anyhow. I haven't had much opportunity to show off my physical prowess, so that bit is out. The rest of it though, is really just me showing you–as best I can, who I am. As much as I want to be with you... I don’t want you going into it with any false notions about who I am. My actions will have to say what I can’t, because I'm no goodat it."

They were well within the depths of the mountain now, the crystal lanterns swinging from the horses' harness. If he was trying to make her feel safe, Asterion was going about it the right way, to be sure. The familiar walls of her mountain around her, and a warm cloak around her shoulders were a balm to her usual anxiety.

Cora could feel them nearing the edge of the mountain, like a coat rapidly thinning and exposing her to the cold. Asterion pulled the phaeton over to the side of the passageway. Asterion leapt from the phaeton and held out his hands before him.

"Stay right here, I need to check on a few last-minute things, I will be right back!"

The clops of his hooves on the stone floor gave way to the crunch of snow beneath him. If she’d wanted to, Cora could have gotten a sense as to what he was doing via her connection to the mountain, but wanted it to be a surprise. She could hear him walking around, and every so often he would make another noise that she couldn’t quite place.

While she waited, Cora fingered the smooth abalone shell she kept in her pocket in attempts to keep the anxiety at bay. The repetitive motion grounded her, but not nearly as much as it usually did.

“All right, I’m ready! " Asterion’s voice traveled to her from outside.

The phaeton was higher than Cora realized without Asterion to lift her down, so she was glad that he wasn’t present to see her disgraceful exit. As always happened, she felt herself leave the interior of the mountain like she was passing through a thin veil of fabric. The pool of her magic, and its connection to the mountain, still tied her through her feet, but otherwise, she lost some of that sense of connection. The sight before her though, wiped any thought of her connection from her mind.

Amid a sea of lights in the night sky, Asterion stood before a veritable feast. He had brought her to an outcropping overlooking the ocean, the stars reached him, and reflected on the water. Around him, candles littered the outcropping. On the ground, what looked to be several layers of thick furs were festooned with all matter of food. Many had closures over top, though Cora could see a selection of meats and cheeses, fruits, and pastries.

And in the middle, was the best sight of all, Asterion. His chest was heaving, his cheeks ruddy in the night air. His breaths puffed out of him, the only clouds in the sky. He was a vision of virility and light, putting all others to shame.His mouth stretched wide in a smile, and his ears perked up.

He looked at the picture of confidence, a powerful God, who saw fit to grace the night with his presence.

“It’s my understanding that most people here share a feast with their family the night before Yule. Since neither of us have family here this year, I hoped that, even for just this one hour, you’d consider being mine.”

His mention of the meal, and her lack of family made her throat sting. Normally, shewouldhave had dinner with her family, and as much as she told herself she was fine with being lonely, the pain she felt said otherwise. She couldn’t find her voice, so she simply smiled and nodded. Asterion waved one massive hand over a section of furs, indicating she should sit. When she sat, he settled across from her and pulled two plates from a basket. Next, he retrieved two wooden flagons, and filled them with steaming mulled wine. Despite his outward confidence, Asterion seemed to have trouble meeting her eyes, and his hands shook when he handed her things.

Though she denied her attraction to him for months, she knew her frequent annoyance with him was largely caused by frustration. It was one thing to know that nearly everyoneexpected her to be different than she was, to acknowledge that should anyone come to truly know her, they would likely be disappointed. It was another thing entirely to be confronted by someone she could truly admire with that knowledge. To face the fact that they too, might expect her to be someone else, someone that would conform to what they wanted of her.

But to be his? Perhaps she might be able to risk it. He'd at least shown that he'd listened to her when she spoke of her interests, and that had to count for something, didn't it? That he'd asked for it, that he wanted that with her, stole her breath.

“I think that sounds lovely, actually.”

Asterion smiled again, and Cora was confronted with a strange new reality, one where she'd risk everything once more to see that smile on his face.

When Asterion smiled, his entire being smiled. His cheeks lifted and his nose pulled and scrunched. His eyebrows raised, as if he could not possibly believe what was happening. But his smile didn’t stop there, his shoulders raised and his hands cupped, he shifted forward on his hooves, and behind him, she could see his tail swaying back and forth.

That smile? That was a whole-body smile that you could live to see. lt was a smile that could get youout of bed, or–she considered with a smile of her own–a smile that could get you into it.

He didn't meet her eyes as much as she expected. It was something she'd learned over the years that people did, and she'd adopted it, and so many other mannerisms, so she especially noticed when someone failed to do them, and always wondered at why. This time, she also noted that his cheeks were red, and perhaps not from just the cold. Was he embarrassed? Shy?

How much did she know about Asterion before he delivered madeleines to her door? She knewsome, of course. She knew about the way he stuck his tongue out to the side when he read, she knew how he always tried to manage a pile of books that was clearly too tall. She knew that he had trouble containing his excitement when he found an interesting fact... but so much else of what she knew, she realized, had come from their brief conversation earlier.

In one short night, she'd learned more about him, Asterion, not the diplomat, but the man himself, than she'd ever known about many people.

"So," she started. "How are you finding Berggeheimnis?"

Asterion tilted his head to the side, considering. "It's larger than I expected... when you hear of a city inside a cave, I suppose you expect connected caverns, like a labyrinth, but dark. I about lost my nerve when I realized how open it all was. Minotaurs, you see, we like close spaces. We don't mind what's above us, ceiling or sky, like, but we like good solid walls around. When we sailed into the harbor, everything felt so...wide. Like I said, I almost turned to the captain and told him to take me home right then." He piled a plate full of small bites and traded her for her empty one. "It's one reason I like the library so much. The bookshelves divide it up, and even if you have those big windows looking out over the city, you know you're enclosed... protected."

Cora nodded; she knew the feeling. "Like somehow the separation, the glass, makes seeing it all a bit easier..."

"Exactly! My house, well, it's very lovely, but I don't know how much they knew about minotaurs when they picked it for me. It's uh, veryopen." He scrunched his nose up, and his tail gave a sharp twitch to the side. "I bought some dividers, so I could sleep, but the place doesn't have any walls... at all. It’s just a largecave, really."

"I know exactly what you mean, I felt it when they created it. I think they assumed that would be what you’d prefer. Really, it must be horrid for you!"

"Don’t think of it, I know it was an attempt to make me feel welcome. It just happens that it was exactly wrong.2 It’s why I come to the library so often. Hell, the day of my first council meeting, I left and dreaded going home. I stood outside the chambers for probably ten minutes trying to work up the courage. Then, I remembered my tour, and how I'd felt in the library. So, I decided I needed to do some reading."

"I remember that day... you wandered in like a lost puppy!" Cora giggled and popped a grape in her mouth.