Beauty's Cursed Sleep

by Mary E. Twomey

  It was a breath and a gasp when Benjamin sank the blade into Malaura’s belly. She’d tormented his charge for too long, and no matter what, the battle would end this very night.

  Relief flooded through Cordray when Remus fell to his knees as the last words of the curse he’d stored up for her died on his lips.

  Cordray’s world went from chaos and terror to suddenly still. The snow fell around him, tickling the tips of his ears as if to ask him what all the fuss was about.

  Remus was thorough with his confirmation of Malaura’s death, his hands pink from the icy freeze. “It’s over,” he breathed. “It’s finally over.”

  Cordray’s elbows shook as his body began to give up. He cried out for Remus, but that seemed to be all his body was capable of at the moment. He collapsed face-first into the snow, his last ounce of lucidity dedicated to hoping they would bring him home to Rory.

  32

  The Broken Man

  An entire four hours passed after his last examination before Cordray was given the all-clear from the doctor to walk around. “Apparently, they take bumps on the head pretty seriously around here.”

  “Doctors are funny like that.” Remus remained by his side through all the exams, making sure his student was given gloves until two pills could be procured to numb his magic. “You feeling alright?”

  “I’m feeling like I need to get to Rory. Tell me where she is, Remus. I followed the doctor’s orders, now tell me where she is.”

  Remus scoffed. “If you call trying to escape your hospital bed too many times to count ‘following the doctor’s orders,’ then sure. You were the model patient. Or impatient, as it were.”

  “Hilarious. Don’t you have a Foundation to run?”

  “That’s the thing about family emergencies. They sort of trump all the other things that once seemed so important. My team can handle things without me.”

  “Tell me where she is, Remus. We all know I’m the only one who can wake her.” Cordray hung his head. “Seven months! I can’t believe she’s been in that bed for seven months.”

  “That’s how long you were in captivity, Cordray. As much as I’m glad you want to get to her, the doctor showed me your scars. The Lethals really did a number on you.”

  Cordray frowned at his tutor. “I thought those files were confidential. What ever happened to the patient’s privacy?”

  “I told them I was your uncle.” Remus met Cordray’s gaze with a note of a promise blazing through. “When you were gone for so long, your friend wanted his condo back, so we moved all your things into my home. We have the same address now.”

  There were so many details Cordray hadn’t thought of while he was locked away. “I didn’t realize. Thank you.”

  “It was only a matter of time before you moved in. Benjamin doesn’t do stress all that gracefully. Watching you and Rory is just easier if you’re under the same roof. Rory stays at my house most weekends, so it just made sense.”

  Cordray frowned. “I don’t need someone watching me. I’m a grown man.”

  Remus put his feet up on the mattress and leaned back in the bedside chair. With his posture relaxed as it was, he looked far younger than his thirty-six years. “Ah, but that’s where you don’t get much choice in the matter. If you’re with Rory, you’re associated with the Chancellor, which means that if they want to get at him, they can use you to make him bend. A guard comes with the territory once you’re in the family.”

  Cordray’s mouth went dry at the very permanent role he’d somehow woken up in. “I can take care of myself.”

  “Benjamin will be thrilled to hear that, I’m sure. But it doesn’t change the fact that you need a guard.”

  Cordray sat back down on the bed. Though he’d been anxious to get out of it to go see Rory, his body felt weighted all of a sudden. “There’s no one left to come after us. I killed all the Lethals. Every last one of them.”

  Remus quirked his eyebrow. “If only that were true, and if only the Lethals were our only problems. You killed the Lethals who worked for Malaura who were there at that time. She’s got sects of them all over the place. And there are ones who are just like you – Lethals all over who haven’t sided with her. They might be totally fine out there on their own, or they might decide that they hate the Chancellor’s encouragement for Lethals to take the pill, and come after him. It’s an ongoing struggle, being in the family of a politician.”

  Cordray pursed his lips, and then jutted his chin out at Remus. “You aren’t attacked.”

  Remus put his feet on the floor and leaned forward. “Our community fears me. I’m the only one who was able to counter Malaura’s curse. Even so, I’ve still been attacked eleven times over the years because of my brother’s position. It is what it is. I believe in the chance my brother is trying to give people who’ve been marginalized by their Pulses. I know what I’m up against, and I watch out for Rory, who’s always been in far more danger than me. Still, you should know what you’re getting yourself into. They will come for you again.” He tented his fingers in front of his chest. “And when they do, I’ll be there.”

  Cordray’s gloved fingers tightened on the edge of the bed. “Malaura’s been confirmed dead?”

  Remus nodded. “That’s the thing about having people in high places on your side. My brother’s quite thorough. Four coroners confirmed her death after I did.”

  Relief flooded through Cordray as he let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in for who knows how long. “Thank you. I don’t want Rory to have to worry about that witch for the rest of her life.”

  Remus tilted his head to the side. “You really love her, don’t you. I mean, you just got out of a seven-month-long torture-fest, and all you’ve been able to talk about is getting back to her.”

  Cordray flexed his fingers inside of his gloves, looking down at the self-made prisons that brought him freedom and comfort. “Nothing else makes sense. I feel like I’ve changed so much that I barely recognize myself. I need her to recognize me, Remus. If she can still see me rattling around in here, then maybe parts of me still exist.”

  Remus bowed his head to respect the brokenness that a man goes through when he endures too much duress. When he lifted his head, Cordray didn’t bother to hold back the hollowness In his eyes, and the bags beneath his lashes that made him look haunted and on edge. Remus leaned forward and handed Cordray a clean set of clothes he’d brought from home. “Get dressed, and I’ll take you to her.”

  For the first time in over half a year, Cordray felt himself breathe. He was muscling through a broken rib, a fractured wrist, a headwound, dehydration, undernourishment, and too many old wounds to count, but now that he was allowed to see Rory, he convinced himself that he was a new man. Nothing would stop him from getting to Rory, to see if she could love the broken man he now was.

  33

  Sleeping Beauty

  It wasn’t just Remus, but also the nurses who insisted Cordray move about the hospital in a wheelchair. He hadn’t gone through proper physical therapy from when his leg had been broken, so his gait wasn’t all that steady. One spill, and his fractured wrist and busted rib would fall out of sync all over again. He was practically shaking with need to be near her, but Remus drove the wheelchair painfully slowly, as if to exacerbate Cord’s last nerve.

  “Maybe we should stop for coffee. You need anything from the vending machine?”

  “I swear, if you stop, I’ll get out of this stupid thing and bang on every door to find her myself.”

  Remus chuckled. “Well, we can’t have that. You’ll break that wrist all over again, and then where would we be?”

  Remus strolled down a few more hallways, and then finally stopped in front of a door in a quieter wing of the hospital. Though it was brightly lit, it seemed to be a place not many people wandered. There weren’t many emergencies in this wing, since most of the residents here were in comas. It was quiet, with a soft violin playing songs dripping with emotion overhea
d to soothe the two nurses at the station.

  Remus smiled at them and popped Rory’s door open, wheeling Cordray inside. The Chancellor and his wife stood, and Benjamin busied himself making space for the wheelchair. There were bursts of color from every kind of flower Cordray could think of. They littered the room with condolences and wishes for a speedy awakening. Still, with all the fragrant beauty, Cordray saw only Rory, wilted on her hospital bed, too many tubes keeping her body in stasis.

  “Come on in, Son,” Stefan said to Cord, waving him forward. “How are you feeling?”

  Cordray gave a nod to the Chancellor, but his eyes were only on Rory. His life had been filled with such ache; she was the loveliest thing his eyes had viewed in over half a year. “I’m well enough to see her now.”

  Cordray couldn’t tear his eyes from her. For so many months, he’d envisioned her face, replaying her laughter in his mind to give himself a distraction from his grim surroundings. Yet even in his most vivid imaginings, nothing compared to the real thing. She had no color in her face, nor life in her closed eyes, but her breathing held steady. She looked to be merely sleeping, and everything in him longed to wake her. He needed to confess his many sins to her. He needed to unload all the torment he’d gone through. He needed a safe place to rest his head, and in all of his years, he’d never met a safer place than Rory – despite the doom that often followed her around like a lost puppy.

  Oh, how lost he felt. He needed her to find him in the darkness that seemed etched in too deep to ever go away.

  His eyes misted over, and his voice came out a croak. “I tried everything I could to get back to her sooner.”

  Leah produced a near constant stream of tears since her daughter had fallen asleep, and that day proved no exception. She bent down and wrapped her arms around Cordray’s neck, taking care with his broken body to be gentle. “We know, Son. We did everything we could to find you. You’re here now, and that’s what matters. You’re safe, Cordray.”

  He bit down on his lower lip and willed himself not to break down at the maternal sweetness he’d been deprived of for far too long. He lifted his good arm and touched the side of Leah’s face, keeping her cheek mashed to his for a few more precious seconds. “Say it again,” he begged in a whisper.

  Leah’s tears touched on his skin. “You’re safe, Son.”

  When he released her, she stood, and Stefan held onto Cordray’s hand in solidarity. Cordray kept his eyes on Rory as he addressed the Chancellor. “Thanks for looking for me. There was a long time I wasn’t sure anyone was coming.”

  Stefan cleared his throat. “We had teams of people who didn’t stop looking until you called us. I’m ashamed to tell you that we were looking in the completely wrong direction. Malaura made sure she was seen far from where you were being kept. It led us on a rabbit trail that only kept you hidden longer. I’m so very sorry.”

  Cordray squeezed the Chancellor’s hand. “It’s over now.” Then he cleared his throat. “Would you all mind if I had a minute with Rory? I know you want to be here the second she wakes up, but I need to talk to her first.”

  Though Stefan and Leah were hesitant, Benjamin and Remus shooed them out, leaving Cordray alone with their sleeping beauty. The room was painfully quiet, so Cord kept his voice low. “How’d it all get so messed up, Story?”

  He slowly hefted his body out of the wheelchair and sat in the seat Leah usually preferred next to Rory’s bed. He could see her better from this vantage point, and took a few moments to fill his vision with more and more of her.

  “I know I’m supposed to kiss you and it’ll end all of this, but there are some things you should know first.” He reached over and twined his fingers through hers, bringing her dainty hand to his cheek. Her skin was soft, which was a welcome relief to the hardness he’d endured without her sweet presence. “A lot happened to me while we were apart. I’m not sure how much of this you’ve overheard, or even if you can hear me now, but before I try to wake you, I think you deserve to know who it is you’re kissing.”

  Though it had been his idea to confess it all to her, now that he had the chance, the words felt stuck inside his throat. He swallowed a few times, and took a few deep breaths before the account of everything he’d been through in the past seven months bubbled out of him like bile and acid. He hadn’t told the nurses more than they needed to know to do their jobs. He hadn’t told Remus, Benjamin, Stefan and Leah much beyond what they needed to know to clear him of all murder charges under the label of self-defense. While he logically understood this pardon, something in him felt changed in an irreparable way. Good reason or not, now it would be known that he was a murderer – a mass murderer, no less.

  He told Rory of each beating, finally allowing the tears to spill down his freshly-shaven cheeks. He relived it all for her, so she would know who it was that was holding her hand as if it was his only lifeline. When he confessed how he’d used his Pulse to murder his captors, the shame he’d kept tucked inside became suddenly airborne, floating around them for the flowers to turn up their petals at the stink of his actions.

  “I killed Dustin,” he confessed. “I didn’t want to. I know he was a bad guy, but every now and then he cracked jokes and tried to make the whole thing not so terrible. I don’t know why I can’t shake it, but it’s eating me up inside, Story. I didn’t want to kill anyone with my Pulse. I tried so hard my whole life not to let that part of me hurt the world I was dumped into. But now it’s out there. And the worst part is, I’m not sure I would’ve done it any differently if I was somehow given a do-over. I don’t know what other option I had.”

  He hung his head, his chest moving in and out with a bit more grace, now that he’d unburdened himself. He moved her fingertips over his tears, pretending for a moment that she was comforting him of her own accord, and that she accepted this broken version of the man he now was.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry for all I did, but most of all, I’m sorry I kept you waiting. I’m here now, though. I’m here, and I promise you, you’ll never go to sleep without me again.”

  Then Cordray carefully lifted himself out of his chair and leaned over her, clutching her thinned hand between their chests. Their hearts were beating in the same rhythm, as it seemed they always had.

  While others might doubt that a single kiss could wake the nearly dead, those people weren’t witness to the love Cordray had for Rory, nor the storm of magic a humble kiss can unleash on the world. The only thing that could undo malice that was strong enough to bring forth a curse was the simplest and purest of all counter-curses – love.

  As Cordray brushed his lips over hers, he knew before her eyes opened that Aurora’s long sleep was finally over. He loved everything about his Story – the broken parts, the fragile parts, the strong parts and the gentle pieces that made him the perfect fit to wake his sleeping beauty.

  34

  Vows

  “You said I could wear a dress,” Henry complained, turning sideways in the long mirror to admire himself in his tuxedo.

  “I said you were my Maid of Honor. Where’d you make the leap that I told you to wear a dress?” Rory couldn’t sit down. Her dress was too tight around the waist to allow for luxuries like sitting or bending.

  “Adam should be here,” Henry groused quietly. It was the third time that morning he’d said as much, but every time he glanced at the door and didn’t see his best friend charging through it, he frowned.

  “Adam is where he wants to be, which is moping inside his castle.”

  “He’s being a baby about the whole thing. So you two had a fight. I feel like six months is enough time to get over it already.”

  Rory balked at him, her pink lips matching the roses in her bouquet perfectly. “He waited four months to try and wake me. That’s not friendship. Adam’s selfish, and I’m done trying to save him from himself. He’s sulking, because he knows he was a shoddy friend, and I finally called him on it.” She shook her head, and straightened
out the heavy silk that belled out at her hips and brushed the floor with elegance. “I’m done babying him.”

  Henry shrugged. “But Adam’s a baby. It’s just who he is. I’m the charmer, you’re the beauty, and he’s the beast. It’s how we work.”

  “Well, maybe that doesn’t work for me anymore. I was in a coma for months before he even came to visit.” Rory felt around with her toe for the tall satin heels that would make it so Cordray didn’t have to bend too low for their first kiss as husband and wife. The shoes were hiding under her massive dress, and she huffed in frustration trying to locate them.

  “Here, let me help.” Henry knelt down on one knee, fishing under her gown for the errant shoes. Once he found them, he gingerly slid them on her feet, grinning up at her with a devilish gleam as he pressed a kiss to her knee just to see her blush.

  Rory ran her fingers through his blond hair, softening at his sweetness that was always and ever purely him. “You came to see me the first day. Benjamin told me you kissed me every single day that first week, trying to wake me. That’s friendship. You didn’t leave me in limbo for four months before you decided to grace me with your presence.”

  Henry rose and wrapped his arms around her as best he could without crumpling her veil or wrinkling her dress. “That’s just me trying to sneak one in on you, like I’m always doing. Adam is who he is. He was never going to be the one to wake you. You had to know that.”

  “I do, but even so, he visited me once in seven months. I’ve stopped by to check in on him at least once a month for the past decade!” She shook her head. “Well, no more. He can live and die in that filthy castle, for all I care.”