Rich Girl

by Mary E. Twomey

  My blood ran cold. “Demi belongs with me now, and you’ll keep your claws off him.”

  She tweaked my nose, and it was all I could do not to punch her. “It seems you have that ring and two other men to keep you company. Plus, you now have an entire crown from Master Kerdik himself. Demi will come to my castle until he looks at me with the same affection he doles out on you.”

  “What?” I was horrified, and grabbed onto the front of Avril’s dress, jerking her forward so I could sneer in her face. “I don’t think you want to threaten me, Auntie.” My nose was an inch from hers, and I could tell by her wide eyes that she hadn’t counted on me getting physical. “Demi is my boyfriend, and I don’t appreciate him being threatened.”

  “Unhand me and fight like a queen,” she snarled.

  Bastien moved to separate us, but before he could, my fist lost its temper and whacked her twice in the temple, dropping her to her knees. “Didn’t anyone tell you? I’m not a queen.”

  Bastien smacked his forehead, as if I was being the problem. “Was that necessary? All the royals do is idle threats and chess moves. She’s not going to take Demi. She can’t without your permission or Morgan’s.”

  Avril blinked her world into view, glowering up at me with tears in her eyes. “That was a deadly move, Rosalie.”

  Instead of responding with a stupid threat, I leaned down and punched her in the same spot again, drawing blood when my ring sliced her skin. “Threaten me or Demi again, Avril! I friggin’ dare you!”

  Bastien sighed at my temper that wasn’t all that far off from his. “Picking a fight with Master Kerdik’s favorite person in Avalon? I didn’t bring you back from the Forgotten Forest so you’d be this stupid. You can see yourself out,” he cast over his shoulder at her as he spun me toward the stone steps that led to my room. “Upstairs, you.” He sniggered as he followed after me up the steps. “That was awesome. I know I can get away with punching a royal because I’m Untouchable, but I’ve never been much for slugging women. To watch you in action? You’re mine, Rosie. We’re the exact same wild animal.” A lazy grin spread over his features when we reached my hallway, making him more handsome than his usual scruffy perfection.

  “Stop looking at me like that. What happened up there with the kissing and all of that? It was an accident. I’m still pissed at you, and I don’t trust you like I’d need to if we wanted to start something up. Plus, I just started something up with Demi, and I’m not giving that up just because you turned your head my way. Deal with it.”

  I don’t know why a small smile played on Bastien’s lips, but it teased me all the same. “I know all of that, but I’m also not going away. Deal with it.”

  I pressed my hand to my chest and muttered Kerdik’s name three times, summoning him the way he’d instructed me. Though I knew he’d come, for some reason I wasn’t expecting him to already have appeared when I pushed my bedroom door open. “Hey, Kerdik. Morgan just woke up, so if we want to go visit my dad, maybe it should be now. Otherwise she might get suspicious if she finds out you were visiting him.”

  Kerdik ran to me, his hands ghosting over my front in fear. “What happened to you?” His nostrils flared when he directed a silent accusation at Bastien.

  “Oh, just scratched myself with your jewels. A girl’s best hiding spot. I’m fine. We should get going.”

  “Very well. I’m not happy about this, though.” He narrowed his almond-shaped eyes at Bastien. “I give her to you perfect, and you bring her back damaged.”

  I harrumphed, tugging on the sleeve of Kerdik’s white dress shirt. “He wasn’t even there when it happened. And I thought you said you weren’t going to get involved with the jewels anymore. This falls under that category. Bastien’s not my Guardien, so he’s not responsible every time I break a nail.”

  Kerdik was still miffed at Bastien, but the two of them shut up about it as we ran through the castle to my father’s room. When he spotted the two guards posted, he waved his hand, and they fell limp to the floor. “Just unconscious, so we could have some privacy,” he assured me when my mouth fell open in horror.

  Kerdik held my hand like a gentleman to help me over the slumped bodies. I felt like a mixture between a princess and a ruffian. It was hard to keep track of when I was supposed to be a proper lady, and when I was allowed to let loose and punch my aunt. When Kerdik was gentle with me, as if I was breakable, it really threw me. “Now remember, King Urien doesn’t know who I really am. I’m Britney Spears to him, and that’s how it’s going to be.”

  Kerdik charged inside with me, locking Bastien out and instructing him to keep watch, like a dog. It was a testament to Bastien’s self-control that he did not argue, but folded his hands behind his back and puffed out his chest like the soldier he’d been trained to be.

  I yawned, covering my mouth before I greeted my dad. “Hey, King Urien. I don’t have much time, but I brought a friend who might be able to help you wake up.”

  “Britney? Miss Spears? Every time you leave, I convince myself you were a hallucination. But you came back.”

  I scooped up his hand. “Of course I came back. I won’t leave you here to rot.”

  “Who is this friend?”

  “Kerdik came to see you. He’d like to talk to you.”

  Kerdik cleared his throat. “Urien, can you hear me?”

  Urien’s voice was disapproving. “Tell him that I can hear him, and that it’s been at least twenty years since he last visited his dear old friend. In my book, that makes him no friend at all.”

  “Oh, jeez. This is going to suck.” I relayed the message exactly as it was given to me. I kept one of my dad’s hands in mine, and reached out to squeeze Kerdik’s fingers to calm him down, in case he had an Anger Management flare-up.

  “I didn’t know you were still in there. I was assured by the best healers that your mind was gone from you.”

  “Well, clearly that’s not the case. Please tell me you got rid of that peasant’s hat.”

  I loved that my dad wasn’t afraid of Kerdik. Something in my chest swelled at the lion-like attitude I’d always hoped my own personal Superman would possess. “He’s hoping you got rid of your hat.”

  Kerdik smirked at me, squeezing my fingers. “I only just recently found someone who would appreciate its beauty, though I can’t say the hat’s out of your life for good.”

  “Huh. You found someone you trust other than me and Lugh? My, how times have changed.”

  “He’s shocked you found someone that you trust after all this time.”

  Kerdik drew closer, his arm wrapping around my shoulders to hold me, while his other palm rested atop the hand I’d clasped to my dad’s. “I didn’t come here to talk about trust, but to see what I could do to get you out of this bed. I daresay you’ve been lazy long enough.”

  My dad and I scoffed in unison, which made me chuckle. “Yes, I’ve been having myself a good rest for the last twenty-one years.”

  “Ro—Britney said Morgan poisoned you with Hemlock. Are you certain?”

  “I’m certain it was her, and I’m certain it was Hemlock. I saved a piece I suspected from my salad one evening, and had it sent out for inspection after I’d begun to grow weak. I started to get stronger after that, but she found a way to poison me with it still. It has a sweet smell when it’s burned, but by the time I realized what fragrance my room was being filled with, it was too late.” He sighed, resigned. “In all fairness, you did warn me Morgan would be the death of me.”

  I relayed the message, feeling a little like a telephone operator from the early nineteenth century. “I warned her that if you ever did die, our truce would be off. No doubt that’s why she’s kept you on the brink all these years.”

  “What truce?” I asked, butting in.

  Kerdik rubbed my back. “I promised I wouldn’t take the vitality magic away from the Jewels of Good Fortune.”

  “Can you really do that?”

  “Of course. It’s me who put the blessing there
in the first place.”

  “Kill Morgan, old friend. Avenge me.”

  I reluctantly relayed that charming message, and Kerdik snorted. “I promised you that I wouldn’t harm any of the Daughters of Avalon.” He tightened his arm around my shoulder affectionately. “They vex me on occasion, and my temper isn’t always controlled.”

  My dad scoffed at the understatement. “That promise was for your own good, and the good of Avalon. Your temper has no control, old friend.”

  Kerdik sounded frustrated with himself when he continued. “I placed a blessing on them, making it so that the only killer that the Daughters of Avalon would face would be time, an occurrence of nature, or a death at their own hands. Not even I could kill Morgan, though I’ve wanted to many times. It was my way of sealing Avalon from the brunt of my anger after the way they fought over my gifts. Then I turned my back so I didn’t have to watch while they slaughtered each other.”

  “Who’s dead of the Daughters?”

  I asked for my dad, and Kerdik replied with six names of my aunts whom I’d never met. “I told you they were no good, Urien. At least Elaine proved her worth. Your daughter’s safe for now.”

  My dad’s voice came back frantic. “You know where she is? You’ve seen my daughter? Is she well? Does she know of me? Does she know that she was loved dearly?”

  I patted my dad’s hand. “She knows.” Something precious started growing inside my chest, begging me to believe that Superman was real, and that my father was a good man.

  I really wanted to believe in Superman.

  Kerdik seemed satisfied. “Now that I know it’s Hemlock, I at least have a jumping off point. I was wary to try anything medicinal, not knowing if you were still in your body, or if you’d passed on into the mist. I searched that whole first year for a cure. I left Avalon soon after that, and haven’t been back since.”

  “You can’t abandon your creation just because I’m not awake enough to enjoy it with you.”

  When I relayed the message, Kerdik gave a contrite nod. I wondered if anyone else got to see him like this. “I’m sorry, old friend.”

  “You’re the old one,” my dad jabbed. When I told Kerdik what he’d said, Kerdik’s arm dropped lower to squeeze my waist, as if the joke had been from me.

  “Then I think it’s time I put my considerable knowledge to good use. I have a date with a beautiful woman first, and then I’ll be off to see what I can find that might work as a cure.”

  My dad made a few disparaging remarks about Kerdik fancying anyone, and the disaster that would lead to. I didn’t translate those, since I knew Kerdik had been joking. “I’ll be back tomorrow, King Urien,” I said, squeezing my dad’s lifeless fingers.

  “I’m afraid it’ll be longer for me, friend,” Kerdik admitted.

  “I impatiently await the moment you both return to me, and the moment I can return to you.”

  27

  The Best Bath of my Life

  I took Kerdik back to my room, and Bastien excused himself to go check on Mad, Link and Rousseau. He wanted to make sure the jewels had seen their way safely into Lane’s hands. I caught his arm on the way out, cringing at the electricity that was still there, despite my best efforts to put him out of my mind. “Make sure Lane gets out of here now,” I told him. “Before Morgan gets back on her feet, if you can.”

  “Of course, Daisy.” He leaned down to kiss me goodbye, as if that was a thing we did all the time.

  I jerked away, my cheeks flushing. “No, Bastien.” There were a million reasons why he couldn’t kiss me goodbye, and none of them needed restating. He knew them all, and still he gambled on me.

  Bastien’s caramel eyes hardened. “Lock the door while I’m gone, and don’t open it for anybody.”

  I nodded and shut him out, latching the lock so he’d feel better, now that I’d listened to him on at least one point. I pressed my forehead to the door and exhaled, my lashes sweeping shut as I tried to collect myself. When my eyes opened again, I tried to act as if the whole implosion didn’t matter one bit.

  I turned to Kerdik with my best “I’m totally normal” smile in place, fake though we both knew it was. He motioned for me to come to him, understanding enough to know that I needed a hug to wash the day off me. I crumpled into his arms, seeking warmth and comfort against his hard chest. Kerdik radiated kindness and sweet affection, offering himself up to be the soothing balm I needed. My heart was dangerously close to freezing over, so I clung to the solace he gave me without hesitation. “Thank you,” I whispered, hoping I didn’t burst into tears, or do something totally embarrassing.

  “My Fleur,” he scolded me, “how did it all get so broken?”

  I didn’t want to admit that I’d taken my clothes off in front of Bastien for such a horrible reason, so I chickened out with, “Wasn’t it always?”

  “You got engaged today, and got yourself a brand new crown. Yet here you are, breaking in my arms.”

  I gripped his bicep too hard out of desperation. “Don’t let me break,” I begged.

  He tucked a stray curl that had fallen loose from my braid wreath behind my ear and kissed the top of my head. “You are your father’s daughter, darling. Too stubborn to break, but you still feel it all. It’s hard to look away.”

  “I don’t want to feel it all. I wish I felt nothing.”

  “Ah, but then you’d be your mother’s daughter, and what a tragedy that would be.”

  I leaned back and shimmied the piece of parchment that had the portrait sketched on it out of my bloody bosom, earning a frown from Kerdik.

  “Where is your soumettre? He’s to tend to things like this.”

  I shrugged. “He’s probably hiding from you. I didn’t want him involved in the jewel business, so I sent him away for a little bit. I don’t want Morgan going after him. I like Demi.” I glanced down, unperturbed. “It’s just a cut. I’ve had worse.” I opened the paper and showed it to him. “Is this me?”

  Kerdik’s almond eyes softened, a small smile playing on his lips. “Indeed. Where did you find this? I gave it to your father so many years ago.”

  My mouth fell open. “You drew this?”

  “Of course I did. Do you expect a mere mortal to have gotten the details so perfect?”

  I sniggered at his cocky swagger. “I’ve never seen myself as a baby before. My best friend, Judah, has a million pictures of him as a baby, but mine started when I was two, and Lane finally got a camera.”

  He glanced down at me, his eyes sharpening. “Take this dress off. I’ll see to having your healer sent up to look at you. I’ve seen a great number of graphic cruelties in my many years, but I admit, a small cut on you does me in. I would heal you myself, but I’d have to touch the wound.” He glanced down at my breasts appraisingly. “I’m guessing we’re not at the point in our friendship where I could get away with massaging your breasts?”

  I shot him my best withering stare and placed the portrait on the table. “You guess right, pal.”

  Kerdik smiled, and cupped my chin in one of his hands, angling my face up so he could examine each crevice. “I don’t understand this hold you have on me.”

  I grinned up wryly. “It’s called being a friend. I’m afraid there’s no cure for growing a heart, K. Best get used to it. I feel the same way. I don’t like when people shy away from you, like you’re scary or something.”

  I don’t know what was so funny about this, but Kerdik tilted his head back and let out a light laugh. “I prefer the fear, darling. I prefer the terror. It keeps people in their place. Now take off this dress and get cleaned up. I’m afraid I can’t stomach the sight of blood staining your skin any longer.”

  “You’re such a puppy. I’m alright.” I leaned up on my toes and pecked his cheek, drawing out a coy smile from him that was absolutely precious. I went behind the partition and yanked off my dress, the hand-scrawled cursive note fluttering to the floor. I gulped, wishing I could understand what it said without letting Kerdik know I was
a dummy who couldn’t read. “I found a letter that Morgan wrote. It was stuffed in with one of the stolen jewels. Haven’t had time to read it yet.”

  “Must be important to be hidden with the jewel.”

  I set the letter atop my ruined dress, and glanced around, realizing with chagrin that Demi always filled the tub for me, and that I had no idea where to get fresh water. “Uh, Kerdik? Can you call one of the people who work here? I don’t know where to get water to fill the tub up.”

  “Silly girl. I’m all the water you need. I can help with that.” He waited until I had a towel wrapped around me, and then came behind the partition with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. “I must say, that towel is far better than your bloody dress. It’ll be the height of fashion if anyone sees you like this. Stunning.”

  My cheeks turned pink. “Oh, shush.” The blood was half-dried but still sticky between my breasts, making me super uncomfortable. I shifted the towel around me and watched Kerdik kneel next to the tub, jumping in surprise when fresh water poured out of his palms. “Whoa, that’s way cool, K.”

  “That’s me. ‘Way cool.’” He grinned as flower petals of all colors and varieties sprouted out of his wrists, severing themselves at the base so they could topple gracefully into the tub.

  My hand went to my heart, moved at the beautiful above and beyond kindness. “You didn’t have to do that.” A yawn caught me out of nowhere.

  “You’re tired.”

  “Yeah. Used a lot of magic today. I’m alright.” He extended his hand to me, as if he wanted to help me into the tub. “Oh, you don’t have to do that. I’m not a real princess. I’ve been bathing myself since I was a kid.”

  “You’re sending me away?” His face hardened, his mood swinging like a pendulum.

  I shrugged, unsure what the rules were. “I guess you can stay, but you have to turn around. We are not naked friends, dude. And I can wash myself.”

  “Very well.” He made a show of turning around and crossing his arms over his chest while I slipped into the tub. The water was the perfect warmth, and the petals lapped at my skin to soothe the suckiness of my day. He handed me the soap and sat on the floor next to the tub, letting the sounds of the water stroking my body fill the silence. I made good use of the hard gold-flecked rose soap, sighing at the luxury of being able to get good and clean. Kerdik smirked at my modest shifts under the surface of the water, and when our eyes met, I could tell he was experiencing the same kind of I-guess-this-is-something-we-do-now revelation. “Your soumettre is no doubt the envy of all the men in the castle.”