by Lelia Eye
“Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?” I yelled at the Invis.
The wind chimes tinkled, red glass roses gently tapping against each other, and the Invis flung the door shut.
“Battling basilisks, Invis,” I muttered, snatching the clothes out of the air. “I’ll dress myself, thanks.”
It wasn’t long before I was starting to regret that pronouncement. Though there was no evidence that a bullet had ever entered me, my body ached with a phantom pain, as if reminding me of how close I had come to death.
After dressing, I sat on the bed carefully. In truth, my whole body ached with the fatigue of overexertion.
“It would’ve been nice if these clothes fit right,” I grumbled.
The fire flared hotly.
“You’re servants! You should be used to this kind of treatment!” But I was just blustering for a moment, and I soon got serious. “Thanks for everything, Invis.” Some water came out of the fountain and splashed me in the face. I knew that meant “you’re welcome,” but I scowled as I wiped it out of my eyes.
“Door, please,” I said. As it opened, I called: “You can come in now, Elle.”
“You’re—you’re dressed?” she called back hesitantly.
“Yes, it’s safe for feminine eyes in here.”
She came and stood in the doorway, looking at me. I was dressed in black clothes that were trimmed with silver. I figured it was the Invis’s way of poking fun at me.
“You really are a prince,” she said in awe.
“I clean up pretty well, don’t I?” I said, grinning. “Come here, Elle.”
She walked forward and stood in front of the bed. I grabbed her hand and pulled her down to sit beside me.
Shyly, she looked at me from under impossibly long eyelashes. “So you really are human?”
“Yes.”
“And a sweaty one at that,” she teased. Tentatively, she reached up and brushed the hair out of my eyes. I really was sweaty and in need of a bath, but she didn’t comment on how I smelled. Instead, she stared at me. I longed for her to touch me again, but I didn’t think she knew what sort of effect she had on me.
“This is so strange,” she said.
“I know.”
“No, I don’t just mean you turning out to be human. I mean, you were the beautiful shepherd boy . . . the one who asked me to marry him.”
I laughed, and my thoughts went to the boy I had been with that motley flock of sheep. And then my hands were pressed against my temples, and I was curled up on the bed, and a barrage of images assaulted me.
“Thorny!” Elle cried. She was shaking me and sounded panicked. “Thorny, are you all right?”
At first, all I could do was nod. The images were relentless and fast-coming. But finally, I was composed enough to speak. “I remember my dreams.”
“Your dreams?”
“Yes! I—I dreamed of us. I was in my shepherd clothes, and you were trapped in this tower. Yet I was the one who was really trapped. You . . . you had your long hair and threw it down for me to climb, but I couldn’t.”
Elle was wide-eyed. “I had those dreams, too. But I didn’t know the shepherd was you, the wolf. I thought it was just the shepherd boy. He—you—said he was trapped in the castle by a wolf. I thought it meant you had him locked away in a dungeon or something, though I never found one.”
I laughed. “My dream-me wasn’t very helpful, was he?”
“It worked out. Somehow, you got brought back from your wolf prison.”
“It was my love for you,” I told her, though I knew it sounded sappy. “Love is one of the most powerful things imaginable. It broke through my mother’s spell.” Well, I didn’t know for a fact what it was exactly—whether it was my romantic love for her or her platonic love for me—but right then, it didn’t matter. There would be time enough for her to fall in love with human-me later.
I brought her down to rest in my arms. She resisted a little—I was no longer a wolf, but a human boy, after all—but she finally relaxed, and I put my cheek against the top of her head. I didn’t want her to feel awkward, but it was something I needed.
“I’m sorry I held you hostage,” I told her, speaking into her hair. “It’s just—with your family, I thought you would never see past my appearance. But I thought maybe here—here, there was a chance.”
“I know my stepsisters can be a bit much,” she began. I snorted, and she jabbed me in the ribs. “Anyway, I guess I understand. And I forgive you.”
“Good,” I murmured, placing a kiss in her hair, gently, so that she wouldn’t feel it. My heart was swelling with love for this girl. It was like all my time as a wolf had bottled it up inside, and now it needed a release. “How is your father?”
“He was a little better when I left than he was when I first saw him,” she said. But she sounded almost unsure. “He tried to get me to stay longer, but I told him I was treated well at Silverthorn and had to go. But Thorny—I was weak and almost broke my promise to you. And then you would’ve died, and I couldn’t have forgiven myself.”
I gave her a gentle squeeze. Her voice had been so tight. “We’re past that, Elle. Now, it doesn’t matter.” I sat up on my side, ignoring how much it hurt, so I could look down at her. And I told her with a laugh: “Now I can cut up my own food.”
She smiled up at me and said: “And you can ride a horse.”
“Can I kiss you?” I asked her. Just like the marriage proposals, it had simply blurted out of me.
But I could tell she wasn’t ready. “Thorny . . .”
“It’s all right,” I told her. “I can wait. Once I read you some love poetry, you’ll start to change your tune.”
She laughed and shook her head. I really, really wanted one of those happily-ever-after kisses that you read about in books, but it was obvious I wasn’t going to get one. We had time, though. My brain was already trying to concoct a way to make her fall in love with me.
Smiling, I reached up and touched the rose in her hair. It was now dry and dead. “I don’t think you need that anymore.”
“I’d like to keep it a little longer,” she told me, touching my hand. “After all, it brought us together. Every day I was gone from here, it started to lose a little color. I kept thinking about how I needed to get back to you and this place . . . and how I told you that I’d return.”
I gave her a sideways grin. “Well, I hope you aren’t too attached to the castle. I’d like to get out of here as soon as we can.”
“Not until you’ve had a chance to rest.” She put on a stern look. “I’ve seen you wincing.”
“All right. But only if you stay here with me.”
“Thorny—”
“Please. This is—it’s something I’d really like. You here beside me, it . . . it makes me feel more human.”
She gave a gentle smile. “All right. I guess I’m not too eager to leave your side so soon after I almost lost you.”
“Good. Because I don’t want you to ever leave my side. You’re my companion, remember?”
She shook her head, and I shifted so I could simply luxuriate in the feel of her in my arms. This was something I could get used to.
“Oh, Thorny,” she mumbled.
Chuckling, I moved slightly so I could see her face. She was fast asleep.
Though I was bone-weary, I had no desire to follow her into dreamland yet. Instead, I took everything in—her soft form, her gentle snores, her fragrant scent—and I recalled, too, how I had felt when I realized I would get to see her again before I died. I also reflected on how my arm was asleep, but I would do anything to keep from moving it and waking her.
A million thoughts went through my head, and she was at the center of them all.
Eventually, I heard the slight creak of the door, and I watched as my mother came in. “Hi, Mom,” I said softly.
She responded in a quiet voice, though I could detect a slight nervousness in it. “I guess you’re not quite as mad at me anymore?”
> “Not as much, yeah.” I wasn’t going to let her get off completely clean.
“I really am sorry for everything, son. This was just one of the best ways to get to a good ending. All I want is for you to be happy.”
I looked at Elle and smiled. “I am, Mom.”
“I’m glad,” she whispered.
I began hesitantly: “How . . . how come I’m not dead? Did Elle’s tears heal me?”
She chuckled. “When you changed forms, it changed everything. Your wolf body was dying; your human body was not.”
I snorted. “Not sure I completely buy that.”
“You don’t have to. You just have to accept that sometimes magic is miraculous.”
I nodded at that and looked once more at Elle, feeling a deep contentment I had never thought I would know.
I glanced up at my mother, and there almost seemed to be a sad look on her face, but then the expression was gone. There was sorrow in her voice, however, as she told me quietly: “You know I can’t go back to your father.”
“Yeah,” I said, “I know.”
“And you know I can’t stay with you?”
“I figured as much. I guess you fairies have to go fly around and be free and all that.”
“We don’t actually fly, Thorny—not unless we take on a bird form.”
“Really?” I frowned. “I thought all fairies had wings—they just kept them hidden.”
“That’s only in books, Thorny. They’re wonderful resources, but you can’t believe everything you read.”
“Hmm.” I breathed in Elle’s hair and then looked back up. “Hey, if you’re a fairy, what does that make me?”
“Not today, Thorny. There will be time enough to talk about those troubles later.”
“Troubles?”
“Don’t worry. Just live in the moment for now.”
I put another kiss in Elle’s hair. “How could I not be happy right now? I’ve learned that Beauty can care for the Beast, and that’s all a shepherd boy could hope for. Even a shepherd boy who’s a prince.”
My mother smiled. “Goodnight, son.”
I looked at Elle and listened to the door close. I believed I was looking straight at my happily-ever-after and would soon be taking Elle’s hand in marriage, even if there were a few pesky details to take care of, like making her fall in love with me and actually succeeding with a marriage proposal. I didn’t know whether the future would be as happy as this new beginning, but still, even if it was just for a moment, I was glimpsing paradise.
I squeezed Elle against me, burying my nose—which seemed stronger than my old human nose—in her hair. Then I tilted my head and smiled as something occurred to me. “You know, Elle,” I whispered as I listened to the soft sound of her breathing, “you never did tell me what your real name was.”
End Book One
The adventures of Thorny and Elle continue in Book Two, Unsoiled.
Can Elle overcome her ill treatment as Cinderbella by her stepmother and stepsisters?
Thank you for reading Thorny.
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Please enjoy the following excerpt from
On Wings of Air, Book One of the Earth and Sky fantasy trilogy.
Tierra had rarely seen such a fog as had fallen that evening. It was so thick she found it impossible to move quickly without risking bumping into something. Still, knowing that she needed to be the one to prevent Skye from escaping, she grimly continued on, her eyes darting here and there throughout the courtyard, peering about in an attempt to find the rogue slave.
“I know you are here, Skye,” she said. “If you give yourself up now, your punishment shall be much lighter than it will be if you force me to bring you in myself.”
A soft snort sounded in the air above her, and Tierra stepped back and looked up in surprise. There, squatting among the shifting currents of the fog, was Skye. He had a grin on his face, and he appeared to be as comfortable as he would have been if he were seated in the queen’s best armchair.
For a moment, Tierra froze in surprise. How was Skye able to stand on the fog, of all things? She was caught by the ethereal beauty of the sight of the Skychild hovering in the air, wisps of fog eddying about him, the light of nearby torches illuminating the water droplets with an otherworldly hue.
Skye reached down and grabbed her, lifting her into his strong arms. He then sprinted up into the fog and over the castle walls, down into the countryside beyond. In a night of surprises, the act of going over the walls on stairs made of nothing more substantial than mist was the greatest shock to Tierra’s already alarmed state.
It was hard for her to process anything at that point. Changing from captor to captive in an instant was enough to render her speechless. Yet despite the whirlwind of confusion assaulting her brain, two things did register in her struggling conscious mind.
The first was that Skye was holding her in a rather intimate way while she was in her nightgown. One of his arms was wrapped around her waist, and the other was beneath her legs, as a man might hold his wife. She had not simply been thrown over his shoulder as she might have expected from a Skychild carrying off a captive Groundbreather, and she shivered at the realization. The second thought to register in her mind was that the ground was not so far beneath her that a fall would kill her.
She looked up at the Skychild, noting the amusement tugging at the corners of his mouth and the way he clutched her tighter when he felt her gaze on him. Then she jammed the edge of her palm up against his chin, causing his head to whip upward and back.
“Celesta’s skies!” he swore, his grip on her loosening.
She tossed her sword down to the ground and struggled out of his grasp, pushing away from him. As she fell, she grabbed the bottom of his legs, trying to slow her momentum right before she let go. But she only succeeded in bringing him down with her.
They fell in a heap onto the grass, with Skye landing on top of Tierra heavily. Ignoring her discomfort, the arrogant Skychild grinned down at her. “I should have expected a fight from you. Just be glad my sword didn’t accidentally bring a quick end to our evening with that foolish move you pulled. It could have gutted one of us, you know.”
The close proximity of their faces sent butterflies fluttering in Tierra’s stomach. Yet she ignored them and shoved Skye off her. She sprinted to her sword and picked it up, feeling a sense of relief once the familiar hilt was in her hand. This was territory she was more comfortable with.
In the meantime, Skye was calmly rising to his feet and pulling a sword out of his belt.
She took a few steps forward and pointed her own blade at him. “You cannot win this fight, Skye. We already know my skill with a sword surpasses yours. Come back with me quietly, and I will ensure the responsibility for your punishment is mine.”
Skye’s responding smirk was bigger than she had ever seen it. The prospect of having his freedom so close at hand—in his mind at least, if not hers—was apparently enough to make him almost giddy. “No one could beat me tonight, Tierra,” he said.
On Wings of Air
from One Good Sonnet Publishing
The Smothered Rose Trilogy Continues . . .
Book 2: Unsoiled
When Elle finds herself constantly belittled and practically enslaved by her stepmother, she scarcely has time to even clean the soot off her hands before she collapses in exhaustion. So when Thorny tries to convince her to go on a quest and leave her identity as Cinderbella behind her, she consents. Little does she know that she will face challenges such as a determined huntsman, hungry dwarves, and powerful curses . . . .
Book 3: Roseblood
Both Elle and Thorny are unhappy with the way their lives are going, and the revelations they have had about each other have only served to drive them apart. What is a mother to do? Reunite them, of course. Unfortunately, things are not quite so simple when a magical lettu
ce called “rapunzel” is involved.
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Implacable Resentment
A grudge forces Elizabeth Bennet from Longbourn, necessitating her removal to the Gardiners’ home in London. Ten years later, she returns to Hertfordshire at the request of her father and learns that the prejudice has not subsided. Elizabeth must withstand her family’s machinations if she is to have any hope of finding her happy ending.
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Those who need a little love and laughter in their lives need look no further than this anthology, which gives a lighthearted look at beloved Pride and Prejudice characters in unique situations.