I stole a moment to gather my thoughts, desperate to come up with some plan. Some way to defend myself.
The knife – go!
I darted toward my bed, dropping to my knees and reaching under the bed for the blade I kept there. My fingers brushed the hilt and ran over the familiar engraving of a tigress on the metal. I stood upright and fear tore at my heart as I faced the door.
I knew how to fight, but not against a man so big or so strong as Kahn.
I can do this. I can't do this.
I can. I can't.
I continually readjusted my grip on the hilt, staring at the door and trying not to panic. My hair was everywhere, gathering behind me in a pile as it grew and grew and grew.
“Rapunzel!” Kahn bellowed somewhere beyond the door and my shoulders stiffened. Terror stuffed wool into my lungs until it was impossible to draw in air.
I glanced at the blade in my hand and seriously weighed my chances against him. No matter what I was capable of, it surely wasn't enough. And with my hair growing out of control, he would be able to catch hold of me with ease.
An idea slammed into me in a wave.
My hair!
I reached over my shoulder, grabbed hold of the flowing golden river behind me and sliced the knife through it. Where I'd severed my hair, it immediately began to grow once more but I was no longer handicapped by it. And more than that, I knew exactly what I was going to do with the huge length of hair I now had at my disposal. But I was on limited time so I had to move fast.
A loud bang announced Kahn slamming into the door and my heart flew into my throat.
I kept hold of the end of the cut hair and ran to the balcony, the heated wind whipping around me in a whirl of sand. I squinted against it as the sand storm drew closer, about to hit the city in full force.
With fumbling hands, I tied the hair to the railing as tightly as I could then dragged it over the edge, throwing handfuls at a time. It finally fell in a straight line, hanging far down the tower like a golden rope. But not nearly far enough.
As I desperately tried to figure out what to do, I spotted a figure climbing the wall.
My brow furrowed as he tilted his head to the sky and I caught sight of his face.
I couldn't draw breath. Relief and fear twisted together inside me.
Surely not?!
“Cassian!?” I cried, cupping my hands around my mouth to propel my voice.
If he heard me, he didn't show it. He was half way up already, closing in on the rope of hair I'd thrown down. My heart soared and love flowed freely through my body. He'd come for me. And he was doing the impossible to reach me.
A hand closed around my wrist and a scream escaped my lungs. I turned sharply, slashing out with my blade as Kahn tried to pull me toward him. It whipped across his cheek, drawing blood, but he barely winced.
He started pulling me back inside and I dug my heels into the floor. “Release me,” I commanded, wielding the blade at him again.
He tried to grab it from my hand, but I weaved the knife through the air and stabbed low. It sunk into his thigh and he released a roar of rage, smashing his palm into my face.
I wheeled sideways, feeling like I'd been hit by a boulder as I slammed into the ground. As my thoughts realigned and my heart crashed against my ribcage, I looked up at the beast who'd struck me, the sharp tang of blood sliding over my tongue.
“Stay back,” I growled.
My knife was still stuck in his leg and as he wrenched it out, his blood dripped to the floor in a steady flow. His eyes gleamed with anger as he stalked toward me, grabbing hold of my hair and dragging me along the floor by it.
I kicked and thrashed, desperate to get free as pain flared through my scalp.
“Let go!” I shouted as he pulled me back inside.
I caught the edge of the balcony door and threw a blind kick behind me with a cry of effort. Kahn yelped and his grip eased enough for me to wriggle free.
I gained my feet with a lump growing in my throat, finding him clutching between his legs. I darted past him, aiming for the door and the maze of stairs that awaited me beyond it, but strong arms wrapped around me before I made it there.
Kahn pulled me into his chest, the sweet scent of his cologne making me ill. He pressed his nose into my hair and ran his hands over me like he had every right to do so.
“Kahn stop!” I commanded, frantic as I turned in his arms and made him look me in the eye.
His brows arched as he took in my expression, waiting for me to go on. A beam of hope filled me and I held onto it with all of my might.
I reached up with a trembling palm, placing it against his cheek. “You wouldn't hurt me, would you? We've known each other for years. And you love me don't you?”
I could almost see the cogs turning in his head as he gazed down his nose at me. “Yes, always, my sweet.” He leaned in for a kiss and I pressed him back, leaning away as far as I could.
“But I don't love you,” I said, needing to get through to him. “So we should wait. Give it time. Maybe if we get to know each other I could love you one day.”
Kahn's grip on me eased a fraction and my mind kicked into top gear, begging me to convince him of this.
“But Mother says we must con-su-mmate the marriage,” he said bluntly, sounding out the word which he clearly didn't know how to pronounce properly. I fought away the grimace which tried to claim my features.
“But that wouldn't be right until we're both in love. And I'm not...not just yet,” I said, resting my hands on his shoulders and pressing myself against him.
His lips fell into a flat line as he hesitated, seeming uncertain of what to do.
“You're not a bad person, Kahn. And you don't always have to do what your mother tells you. You're now the next in line for the throne. That means you're in charge, not her.”
His eyes moved back and forth as he assessed my expression and slowly, he nodded. “Yes… I will be Emperor.” He seemed to realise that for the first time and I almost pitied him for a moment. With a mother like Gothel this oaf had never had much chance in life. But that didn't give him the right to hurt people.
“Yes,” I said, forcing a note of excitement into my voice. “And I'll be a good wife, Kahn. But you need to treat me right. So let me go.” My final words were filled with strength and I felt his grip loosening.
Relief slid through me and a small sigh parted my lips. His arms fell slack and I backed away, trying to move slowly despite wanting to run for my life.
Kahn's gaze fell to the bloody knife in his hand, the one I'd driven into his leg. His expression darkened and all innocence fled from his eyes. “You're right, Princess. I'm in charge. And I will be Emperor. But only if I make this marriage official.”
I prowled back and forth at the base of the tower like a predator guarding a kill. My body was brimming with restless magic which danced beneath my flesh, aching for an outlet I didn’t have.
I was a writhing ball of nervous energy, forbidden from acting on the desperate ache in my heart.
More than anything in the world, I wanted to help my friends and bring Gothel to her knees but I was bound by the lamp, caught in the grip of her commands and forced to guard this tower while they put themselves in danger.
The curling black G on my wrist felt like something toxic against my flesh. Each time I looked at it, a gaping cavern of loss filled me. She shouldn’t have been my master. It wasn’t right or fair. But there was nothing I could do about it now.
You’ve spent every second of your existence letting people down. You should have saved your sister the moment the Emperor’s gaze fell upon her. You should have taken her and the rest of your family as far away from him as humanly possible. Crossed the endless sea and left him to rule his wicked kingdom before he ever got the chance to act on his desire.
The old wounds felt raw somehow. Like I’d just seen my sister’s body, heard her children’s cries. I remembered how the blood had pulsed against my eardrums,
how the dagger had felt in my palm when I lifted it from my father’s collection.
My arms had felt damp with the moisture of the Emperor’s blood after I’d killed him and my heart had felt heavy with the burden of my loss, despite the justice that had been served.
I couldn’t survive the loss of another family. The shattered pieces of me had been placed back together and bound there precariously by my love for Aladdin and my new friends. But if they were taken from me too then I knew that I would shatter again. And this time I wouldn’t be left in pieces, I’d be cast into a million grains of sand, never to be made whole again. Lost to time and madness. A vessel for the commands of whatever master held my lamp and the mutterings of the insanity which would come to claim me in the dark void of what came next.
Aladdin had left me to go after Gothel and my heart pounded a violent warning against him trying to take the Shaitan on alone. I worried my lip between my teeth, anxiety eating me whole.
He’s gone to die. Because of you. You should have made sure no one could take the lamp from him. You never should have made him love you. He’s only here because of that.
“I didn’t make him love me,” I breathed, knowing I wasn’t capable of such an incredible thing. “Fate just threw us together and let us find each other.”
Either way he’ll still die for the love of you. You’re a curse.
A breath shuddered through my lungs and I wrapped my arms around myself.
I couldn’t help him.
I was useless, bound to the creature who was trying to destroy everyone I loved. What was the point in my existence if I could be forced to do such a thing?
I always said you were worthless anyway.
“Well you always were a miserable cow,” I growled angrily. I was in no mood for her tempers or foul words. Throwing myself a pity party wouldn’t help anyone. But what would? There had to be something useful I could do. My other self fell silent and I took that as a small victory. Now I only had to win a fight that mattered.
My heart leapt as a spike of fear battered my senses. One of my friends was in trouble.
My breath caught as I whirled around, craning my neck to look up at the tower high above.
Cassian was still climbing, his progress steady but slow. Too slow. I could feel Rapunzel’s fear like the crazy pattering of my own wild heart. Kahn had come for her. He’d made it through the labyrinth of stairwells. I’d failed yet again.
Not surprising.
“Shut your mouth,” I snarled. I wasn't going to allow her bullshit. It was time I stopped listening to her and started working to fix the things she criticised me for so vehemently.
My body dissolved in the blink of an eye and I swept up into the air, shooting up the sheer side of the tower, aiming for Cassian.
I reached him quickly and shifted closer in my insubstantial form.
His brow was furrowed in concentration and lined with beads of sweat. His jaw was tense, teeth gritted and his eyes burned with all the fire of the sun. Up and up he climbed, his fingers and toes finding the smallest of divots in the brickwork through sheer force of will. His fingernails were cracked and bleeding but still he drove himself higher. He wouldn’t give up. And neither would I.
There was nothing I could do to help his progress; my magic wasn’t my own and I wasn’t strong enough to pull him up without the use of it.
My heart burned with pride as he heaved himself higher, inch by inch and I raced further towards the clouds, aiming for the top of the tower where Rapunzel’s fear hung thick in the air.
A billowing rope of golden hair hung from the balcony, glittering as it swung back and forth like it was waving.
As I reached the balcony, I rematerialised, bare feet landing on the stony outcrop. A soft breeze pulled at my long hair and burning love pulled at my heart.
My life had been stolen from me when I’d been cursed with this existence but with Aladdin as my master, I’d found my way into the hearts of three people who saw me for more than my magic. The bond I’d formed to them was the most real thing about me and I refused to let a single thing happen to any of them if there was even the slightest chance that I could intervene.
Rapunzel screamed from within the tower and I caught a glimpse of her golden hair as I rushed forward.
My eyes fell on Kahn, his features twisted with a determined kind of rage as he stalked towards the Princess.
I opened my mouth to shout or scream or curse him but before either of them even realised I was there, a chain yanked at my throat and I was snapped out of my physical form as energy rushed over my skin like ripples in a pool.
I was powerless to resist as the lamp called me back to my master and the cries of protest I wished to make fell to nothing in my insubstantial form.
I sped across the sky, whipped through the palace gardens and shot along gleaming corridors before finally spilling back into my physical form at Gothel’s feet in the throne room.
I rolled on the cold tiled floor, pressing my hands to the cool marble as I looked up at her from within the curtain of my black hair. The Emperor sat beside her, his gaze fixed on the distance as the bug burrowed into his brain so deeply that he was denied so much as the freedom of movement. The beetle in his brain was fat and swollen as it drained his life force and a little surge of pity dripped through me at the sight of it. He didn’t have long left; that bug would kill him soon. A few hours maybe. And he didn’t even have the freedom to think for himself and mourn the life he’d be leaving behind.
Beside Gothel, the huge magic mirror I’d conjured for her showed the undead army she’d created locked in battle with men and women on the streets of Osaria. With a jolt of surprise I recognised Balthazar as he leapt forward, taking the head from one of the corpses before stamping on the beetle which emerged from within it. Tears sprang to my eyes at the sight of him fighting; he’d saved Aladdin like I’d hoped and now his own life hung in the balance. He was a good man and he’d barely even begun to realise it. Now he might not even get the chance to live his life with that knowledge.
“Yes Master?” I breathed, unable to deny the call of my nature.
Gothel held the lamp in her hand and a cruel smile filled her beautiful face.
“I can feel unwanted eyes on me, Genie,” she purred. “I wish for you to seek out this assassin and stop him for me.”
My lips parted, a protest stalling in my throat as my head automatically turned towards the thick pillars which lined the room to my left. I pushed myself to my feet, a huge blade materialising in my hand unbidden. My magic fell to her commands even though my soul fought against them with everything I had.
But it was like a moth battering against an iron cage. I was a genie first and a girl last. Even my love for the boy in the shadows couldn’t touch the compulsion to grant my master’s wishes.
I swallowed a thick lump in my throat. My hands trembled as I gripped the heavy blade.
I was shaking my head and walking towards the shadows at the same time.
If you kill him I think it will break the last piece of us. Then when we sit alone in the dark there will be nothing but monsters and shadows and never ending pain fed by the guilt of your sins.
A tear slipped down my cheek and power sizzled beneath my skin.
Aladdin stepped out of the shadows with a soft smile, aimed only at me.
“I didn’t think you’d grow sick of me so quickly, love,” he said, his tone teasing as he waited for what we both knew was coming.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I breathed a moment before I swung the heavy blade straight for his head.
A cry escaped my lips and I threw every ounce of self restraint against the movements of my body but it didn’t so much as slow me down.
Aladdin leapt aside, a grin pulling at his mouth as he danced away from me on swift feet. But I was faster, magic lending strength to my movements even though I wished I could force myself to stumble instead.
I cried out again as I swung the sword o
nce more, my heart cleaving in two as I was forced to strike at him.
Metal rang against metal as Aladdin parried my blow and a sob rattled my chest.
“Please don’t make me do this!” I begged, turning my eyes back towards Gothel in desperation.
Gothel tilted her head, surveying me like I was a puzzle she couldn’t unravel.
“You do as I bid,” she replied coldly, no room in her withered heart for my fears or my pain.
In the moment where I managed to hold her gaze, Aladdin darted past me, racing towards her with a battle cry.
“Do as you’re commanded, Genie!” she snarled.
I dove between them, my magic spurring me on before flying from my body and slamming into his.
“No!” I cried as Aladdin was thrown back, tumbling across the tiles like a rag doll.
Blood spilled from a cut on his cheek as he shoved himself to his feet, his gaze sliding over me warily.
“Run,” I begged, my voice rough as I swung the sword before me in a threatening arc.
I couldn’t stop myself from doing this. I couldn’t fight off the will of my master. And even though I was fairly sure it would kill me, I couldn’t stop myself from hurting him.
“Can’t do that,” Aladdin replied, his gaze steady as he sidestepped me.
I followed, unable to stop myself, keeping my body in place between him and Gothel.
“Please,” I whispered.
His gaze caught mine and for a moment all I could see was the apology written there. He wasn’t going to stop. And he knew what it might cost us. But his mind was made up.
“Sorry, Kyra,” he breathed.
My grip tightened on the blade, magic burned a path through my veins and I gasped as he leapt towards Gothel again.
I dug my fingers into a tiny gap between the bricks above my head, my muscles tensed and burning with the heat of a thousand suns.
I can do anything.
I am made of steel.
But holy shit, this hard.
Forbidden Fairytales- The Complete Series Page 68