It must have been nearly one o'clock by now. And I half wished I'd run into the maze before he'd spotted me.
“You're late,” I said flatly.
“I know.” I sensed him moving up behind me. “I lost track of time.”
I rolled my eyes. “That's how important this meeting was to you then.” I stepped into the maze, figuring why the hell not?
His footsteps hounded after me as I upped my pace, the shadows thick between the winding pathways. I took a sharp right that turned one-eighty and kept going. Aladdin's hand shot through the bush on the other side and he caught my wrist.
“Hey!” I pulled my arm free and he chuckled.
“Why are you running?” he asked and his eyes met mine through the thinner foliage.
“Maybe I want to be alone.” I started walking and he trailed along on the other side of the hedge to keep pace with me.
“I don't think you do,” he growled and I bit down on my tongue as angry heat rose in my blood.
“You don't know what I want,” I said firmly, upping my pace.
He jogged away and I glanced over my shoulder as he rounded the corner into the same passage as me. My throat constricted as he padded forward and I took off like a bolting horse, speeding down paths left and right. I gathered my long dressing gown up so it didn't trail in the dirt, but my bare feet sunk in deep, the earth cool and inviting beneath my toes.
Aladdin laughed somewhere behind me and I couldn't fight a giggle as I upped my pace once more.
“I will catch you,” he called. “And when I do, you owe me a kiss.”
“I don't owe you anything Nazari!” I sang.
I knew this maze as well as the palace. I'd played here a thousand times as a child. But Aladdin would be lost within minutes.
I rounded another corner then sprinted on, knowing I was close to the middle now. Clouds drew across the moon far above me and my heart skittered as darkness enveloped me. I reached out to my left, brushing my fingers along the bristling hedge to guide my way forward.
My eyesight soon adjusted and I took a final turning, arriving at the centre of the maze where a huge statue of a horse stood at the heart of it. A wooden bench sat at the edge of the clearing and I quickly hopped up onto it, craning my neck to try and spot Aladdin in the surrounding labyrinth.
Soft footsteps pounded this way and I jumped down, hurrying behind the horse and ducking out of sight. My stomach spun and a smile dragged up my lips as I fell in love with the game.
I pressed my back to the horse and held my breath as footsteps arrived in the centre, just a few feet from me.
Silence fell and I pressed a hand to my mouth to stifle a laugh. My feet were caked in dust and dirt and my pulse was beating a happy tune.
This is what freedom feels like. And I want more more more.
A hand shot out and grabbed my arm, hauling me to my feet and sending my heart into a frantic beat.
Aladdin shoved me back against the horse's ass with absolutely no tenderness, his arms locking around my waist in a way that suggested he was never going to let me go.
He grinned, his eyes alight with the game as he ground his body against mine. “I always win.” He dipped his head and I jerked my chin up to stop him claiming the kiss he thought he owned.
He released a low laugh, placing his mouth on my jawline instead.
Oh hell.
His lips sailed up to my ear and my insides melted like hot candle wax.
“Nazari,” I warned, his kisses setting a fiery blaze on my skin.
“Sorry I was late,” he murmured, his mouth skating back down as he pinched my chin with his finger and thumb. “I don't normally ask for kisses but...” He quirked up a brow in a question. He was too proud to actually say the words, but apparently that one eyebrow was enough to make me nod.
His lips claimed mine and I shut my eyes, the tension in my body falling away as his tongue pushed into my mouth. He grabbed my thighs and pinned me against the horse's butt while his fingers slid beneath my robe. It fell open with the smallest encouragement and I gasped at how indecent this was.
He grazed the base of my lace nightdress with a groan and I knew I should stop. I had to stop. This was the most daring thing I'd ever done with a man and I could see how quickly things could get out of hand. His mouth trailed to my throat and stars danced before my eyes at this new way of being touched. I clawed my hands into his hair and his fingers slid an inch higher up my thighs.
“Wait,” I gasped, finding my strength and he dropped me immediately with a firm nod. The moon had returned and his eyes glinted silver under its light as he stepped back, biting down on his lower lip.
“Better get you somewhere I can't put my hands on you.”
A grin twisted up the corner of my mouth. “Such a gentleman.”
He pressed a hand to his heart as if I'd shot him with an arrow, stumbling back as he feigned injury. “Don't wound me, love. I think we both know I'm no gentleman. And I don't wanna be.” He snatched my hand, tugging me back into the winding paths of the maze.
“Have you thought about what I said?” he asked. “About being lowborn.”
“Birthright doesn't matter to me,” I said with a shrug. So what if he was lowborn? That didn’t mean he was a bad person. He’d probably worked harder in his life than any other suitor had.
“Says the Princess of Osaria,” he snorted.
I blew out a breath. “Trust me, it's not all it's cracked up to be.”
“Pfft. You're waited on hand and foot, have all the money in the world, you never have to go hungry-”
“And you have? You've gone hungry?” I asked, my heart twisting.
“Let's just say I've been hungry more times than I've been full,” he muttered.
“That's terrible.” I squeezed his hand and his fingers locked tighter around mine.
“Doesn't matter now, I've got everything I ever could have wished for. I just have to finish off the last suitors to make sure of it.”
A frown pulled at my features. “Why did you come here? You say you'll give me the throne, but you didn't know anything about me until you walked in the door. So that's not why you came.”
“No...” he agreed. “It wasn't.”
“So?” I pressed.
“Like I said, you have everything in the world, Rapunzel. I want that too. Ruling a country isn't as appealing to me as a warm bed, three square meals a day and endless wealth.”
We reached the edge of the maze and I halted, looking up at him in the darkness. “That's possibly the noblest reason anyone could have to enter the pageant. And I know we don't know each other well but...if you win, I want to win too. I want the throne Aladdin. And I want more than promises that you'll give it to me.”
“What then?” he breathed, the warmth of his body calling to me again.
“I want a contract. Signed by you, renouncing the throne to me if you win the pageant.” I folded my arms, determined to have this, to barter for my freedom in the only way I could. I pushed back my shoulders, readying for the argument I was sure was about to come.
“Done.” he shrugged and I stared at him in complete surprise.
“Just like that?” I asked, my heart lifting at this impossible reality suddenly become possible.
“Just send the paperwork to my guard.” He winked and I released a breath.
“You need to read it, not your guard.” I stabbed a finger into his chest and he scraped a hand through his hair.
“Right, will do.” He beamed, taking my hand again and leading me back into the hanging gardens.
A weight fell off of me, the whole world suddenly filled with hope again.
This could work, I could really have my dream come true.
Aladdin just has to win. And he can, I know he can.
“One more,” I begged tightening my grip on Cassian’s lapel as he tried to retreat for the third time. “Please!”
Desperate much?
I was desperate but I didn’t c
are, I was having so much fun and he was the key to it.
“I’m drunk,” he replied, his voice slurring a little in evidence of his words. I’d consumed twice as much alcohol as him in an attempt to join him in his inebriation to see what it was like but it seemed that alcohol had no effect on me. I wondered if the magic in me just burned it all up?
Or maybe you’re so drunk on your magic all the time that adding alcohol to the mix makes no difference.
“We should find Aladdin and head back to our rooms. I need to sleep and so should he; he has to fight in the morning,” Cassian insisted.
I refused to release my grip on him and forced him to move me around the dance floor yet again as I squeezed his large hand with mine, enjoying the feeling of his warm skin against my palm.
“Never mind that,” I muttered. I knew exactly where Aladdin was; he’d gone to meet the Princess in the gardens but before he’d gone he’d asked me to try and keep Cassian distracted from that fact. Apparently Aladdin was concerned that the amount of wine Cassian had consumed might lead him to getting angry over my master’s location.
“Of course I mind,” Cassian objected. “I’m supposed to be his guard. How can I guard him if I don’t know where he is?”
“He’s fine,” I insisted but Cassian stopped dancing with me all the same.
“He’s gone to meet her, hasn’t he?” he asked, suddenly serious.
I stepped out of his arms, missing the warmth of his embrace as soon as I left it. “Yes,” I sighed, awaiting his anger.
Instead of it coming, he released a sigh of bitter acceptance. He spun me around the dance floor one more time but I could tell he was getting tired.
“I’m not sure how much more energy I’ve got,” he said with an amused smile as the song came to an end and we stopped moving. “I can’t keep up with you.”
“No more dancing?” I asked in disappointment. In all fairness there was hardly anyone left on the dance floor anyway and most of the nobles had left already but while there was music, I ached to move to it. I wondered if I could just stay and dance alone?
No one is dancing alone, weirdo.
“I’m afraid not, Kyra. My bed is calling to me. I think I’ve over-indulged again.”
“I can’t hear it, is it calling to me too?” I asked eagerly.
Cassian cleared his throat. “No, I don’t think so. Perhaps your own bed is though. Do you feel tired?”
“I don’t sleep. I like to watch when Aladdin does though.”
“Oh yes, who wouldn’t want to spend hours staring at his perfect face?” he asked dryly.
“It’s not perfect,” I reminded him. “He has a scar running through his left eyebrow.”
“Does he? I’ve never seen it.”
“Yes. It’s very small but it’s definitely there,” I said seriously. “He’s perfectly ugly aside from that though.”
You don’t say that with as much conviction as you used to.
Cassian chuckled. “I’ll be sure to point that out to him.”
“Maybe he’ll wish it away?” I suggested.
“Maybe,” Cassian agreed.
“So should we go back to your bed then?” I asked, having to accept the fact that our night of fun was coming to an end.
A nobleman overheard me as he passed us and he slapped Cassian on the back, releasing a hearty chuckle. Cassian seemed to want to say something to me but I didn’t give him the chance.
“Come on, let’s hurry.” I grabbed Cassian’s hand and started tugging him towards the door.
He resisted for a moment then fell into step with me muttering, “Why not?”
“Why not, what?” I asked as we moved out into the corridor. It was all white walls and tiles like every other corridor in the palace but this one held the most lovely paintings of trees along the walls. It almost felt like we were walking through a forest.
A forest with a tiled floor.
“Why not give in to your demands, my lady,” he said, giving me a smile. “You always seem happy so I might as well do as you command and see if it makes me happy too.”
I stopped suddenly and Cassian stumbled to a halt, looking down at me in confusion.
“I’m not happy, Cassian,” I breathed, knowing in my heart that that was true. “I’m not even a full person so how could I be?”
“Don’t say that,” he replied with a frown, stepping closer to me.
I looked into his deep, brown eyes, wondering what he saw that I didn’t.
“What am I then?” I asked, drawing a little closer. “When you look at me, what do you see?”
I tightened my grip on his hand, my magic trickling to the surface of my skin at the point of contact as I willed him to tell me.
Cassian looked down at our clasped hands and shook his head a little as if he was trying to clear it. He was so much bigger than me and I was dwarfed in his shadow despite the stiletto heels. He still didn’t look at me and I reached up tentatively, cupping his cheek in my hand so that I could tilt his head until he met my eye.
With a sigh, he gave in to my request and answered my question. “I see... someone who’s lost. But you’re finding your way back. Every day I see more of who you are.”
“And who’s that?” I breathed, praying he had the answer because I knew that I didn’t.
“You’re kind and strong and brave,” he murmured seeming embarrassed by me forcing this out of him but I had to know. I wasn’t sure who or what I was and if he had even the slightest idea then I needed that information like it was water and I was dying of thirst.
“I don’t feel like any of those things,” I replied, shaking my head as I withdrew my hand from his face. It was such a nice face, I didn’t like that I had to hide it from the world.
“What you told us about what happened to your sister and the lengths you went to to get justice... I know about love like that. Family. I’d do anything for mine too. And what happened to you because of it, becoming this...” he trailed off, seeming unsure of what else he should say about what I was now.
“I feel like my magic has eaten up my soul,” I breathed, wanting to confide my fear in someone. Needing to let it be free. “You can feel it, can’t you?”
“Your magic?” he asked and I nodded, wondering if he could or not.
I lifted his hand and rested his palm against my chest where the steady pounding of my magic had taken over from the beating of my heart.
Cassian seemed torn between pulling back and remaining where he was but I didn’t give him the option, pressing his hand down on my flesh and waiting for him to acknowledge what lay within the prison of my skin.
“How can there be room for me in here while all of this rules?” I asked, looking into his eyes for the answer.
“I can feel it,” he admitted. “But when I look into your eyes, I can see you. I think there’s room for both you and the magic in there. And the longer you’re out here, more and more of yourself is revealed.”
My pulse pounded at his words and I found that I desperately wanted them to be true.
I gave him a wide smile and stepped closer, moving onto my tiptoes so that I could place a kiss on his cheek. I wasn’t sure if I knew how to give one but it was like the dancing, my body remembered how even if my mind couldn’t.
I pressed my lips to his skin and I felt my magic flaring between us for a moment as he stilled beneath my touch.
“Well isn’t this cosy?” a deep voice came from behind us and I turned, finding Kahn lumbering towards us from the direction of the ballroom.
The scent of alcohol rolled off of him in a wave strong enough to hit the back of my throat and I had to fight the urge to recoil.
“Does your liege know that his servants like to get busy with each other in their spare time?” he taunted.
“We do no such thing,” Cassian replied angrily, placing himself between me and the man-mountain who had set his sights on us.
I sidestepped him though, not wanting to back down against thi
s creature. Looking at him wasn’t like looking at Gothel, he didn’t hide a demon’s face beneath his beauty but I could see the magic which had altered his features. It hummed around him, drawing power from the air to sustain it. The magic that had created the illusion wasn’t dark but it wasn’t particularly powerful either.
I stood up to my full height, which admittedly wasn’t that tall, and glared at him.
If your magic was free you could kill him right now. But it wasn’t and I couldn’t. My magic was trapped unless my master set it free and he was nowhere in sight.
“Why don’t you go back to your demon mother and leave us be?” I growled.
Kahn’s eyes swept over me and he seemed to actually see me for the first time. “You’re the one she wants,” he said. “So why don’t I just take you to her?”
He lunged towards me and Cassian dove into his path, taking a sledgehammer fist to the face which sent him flying to the floor. He snarled a curse as he leapt to his feet again but Kahn had already shifted his attention back to me. His meaty hand landed on my arm as he attempted to haul me away and I gritted my teeth as pure rage flooded through me, hot and demanding.
“My body is my own!” I snarled. “And I didn’t say you could touch it!”
My magic poured from me in a flood, slamming into Kahn at the point where our skin met. He screamed as he was catapulted off of me and I knew it was burning him from the inside out. He slammed into the opposite wall with enough force to send a crack splintering through the stonework before slumping to the ground.
“By Osaria,” Cassian murmured as he moved to my side. “You’ve killed him.”
Let’s hope he’s right.
I wasn’t so sure though. Kahn was more than just a man, he was born of death and magic and I doubted even a blast as strong as the one I’d just delivered would have been enough to finish him.
I stepped forward to where Kahn lay unmoving on the floor. His huge arm covered his face and I nudged it off with my toe.
I gasped as I realised my magic had devoured that which had shrouded him in beauty. His head was bald, his ears lumpy, none of his features matching together properly on his vegetable-like face. He was also definitely breathing.
Forbidden Fairytales- The Complete Series Page 37