Free The Soul Mate by Madeline Sheehan

refused to
pay her any attention. He paid other girls lots of attention. She
watched him sneak off with them all the time. Had even caught him
kissing other clan girls, while she got nothing more than glares,
dirty looks and lots of lectures.
    At 10 and 4 years she was dreaming of her
first kiss, had even had several boys try to kiss her but she had
been repulsed by the prospects. It had to be Emilian. There’d never
be anyone else, but there must be something wrong with her since he
seemed to hate her so much.
    “ TREIME!” He roared.
    “ Okay, okay.” She jumped down, falling
hard on her bottom. Emilian laughed as Treime tried desperately to
wipe the snow off her kirtle.
    “ You’re soaking wet now,” He
scolded.
    “ What do you care?” She threw back at him,
defiantly crossing her arms.
    He threw his arms up in the air and shook his
head causing his long brown hair, now damp from the snow, to fall
in his eyes. “You’re right. I don’t. Now go.” He pointed in the
direction of the camp.
    Tears stung her eyes. She never understood
what she had done to deserve such treatment?
    “ Treime! Start walking!” Emilian grabbed
her arm. “Get mov-
    Treime? Oh, Treime, why are you crying? I
didn’t mean…”
    She looked up at him through watery eyes.
“Why do you hate me?” She whispered though chattering teeth.
    “ Hate you?” He laughed as he captured her
cheek in his palm. Both of them instantly felt the heat their touch
caused. Treime gasped and Emilian closed his eyes. When he opened
them again he took a moment to swipe a few of her tears away with
his thumb. “I don’t hate you.”
    “ But…but you never play with me anymore.
You never talk to me, we never run. You just yell at me
and–
    “ Treime, stop.”
    Treime looked up at him. His brown hair was
covered in snowflakes and his breath was coming out in short little
white puffs. His brown eyes had turned gray and what she saw in
their depths made her want to weep.
    Emilian had once been her playmate and her
best friend. He’d always be the most handsome boy she’d ever seen
but now… he was what? Emilian was a man now, full grown, who
thought her still a child. She knew she didn’t belong in his life
at all.
    Emilian sighed, a deep heavy sigh, and Treime
knew this was the moment where he would tell her to leave him alone
for good.
    “ I wanted to let you have your childhood
for as long as you could. For as long as I could stand it…”
    “ I don’t understand?”
    “ Puţin o, it’s simple. We are betrothed.
We have been since you came into this world as a red faced
babe.”
    Treime’s heart stopped beating. Betrothed! To
Emilian? This was the best Yule gift she could have gotten! Emilian
smiled seeing her face light up and gathered her in his arms.
Suddenly she needed more of him. She wanted to be… even closer to
him. She was burning from their contact in a way she had never
experienced before. Grasping frantically at his furs, she tightened
her hold on him and aligned her body with his.
    Emilian stiffened at the intimate
contact.
    Treime flushed, embarrassed at his rejection
of her.
    “ All of those girls Emilian!” She accused.
“You can kiss and touch them, but not me! Don’t even try to deny
it! I have seen you!”
    She screamed when he tried to reach for her
again. “God only knows what else you did with them!”
    “ I am one and twenty, Treime and you are
seven years younger than me. A child! I…I just…” When he didn’t say
anything else Treime stomped her feet and turned away. Tears formed
again in her eyes.
    “ You were betrothed to me! And you…with
them! You are a liar and…and you are IMMORAL!”
    I had to!” Emilian bellowed, startling her.
“You were and still are a child!”
    “ I’m not a child!” Treime yelled. “And I
will never marry you!” Even as she said the words she knew they
weren’t true, there was no one else she would ever want but the man
in front of her.
    Hurt and angry, she took off