Enchanted Beauty

by Marly Mathews

  “There is nothing I can do to myself that could possibly hurt me. Believe me, I’ve tried it. Numerous times, in fact.”

  “Numerous?” Annabelle shook her head. He could tell she struggled to fathom that little bit of information. “You tried to…?”

  “Yes. Of course, I tried to leave this living world we exist in—alas, I’m harder to kill then you would think. I’m invulnerable to physical harm it would seem.”

  “Invulnerable?” He watched her lick her lips. Her delightfully lush lips. He groaned. He’d brought this upon himself. He could only live with his regret now.

  “I need to go to bed.”

  “Of course.” He waved his hand dismissively. “I’ll accompany you.”

  “No!” Her forcefully negative response hit him like a sucker punch to his abdomen.

  “You are my wife.”

  “I’m painfully aware of that now.”

  He grew silent. What could he possibly say to refute that statement? Now, she would never allow him to grow close to her. Not in a million moons.

  “I just need some time alone to digest this newfound information. Sometimes, I do think that ignorance truly is bliss.”

  “I guess I shouldn’t have made you see my true visage. I am sorry for that.”

  “So am I.” She withdrew from him, walking backward to the door. Once she’d reached the door, she sped through it. He didn’t need to follow her to know that she was probably racing up the steps to her bedroom. He groaned.

  “You need to follow her.”

  “If I do that, she’ll think I’m even more of a monster than what she just saw.”

  “I know there will be consequences, but if you don’t follow her, you will risk losing her altogether.”

  “We’ll cross paths in the morning. At that time, I will try to bridge that gap that has sprung between us.”

  “There won’t be a meeting in the morning. Not unless you charge down to her village and drag her kicking and screaming back up here.”

  “She wouldn’t have fled the castle,” Malachi argued.

  “You seem to think too highly of her. You underestimate her. She is a strong-willed woman. She has a true heart, aye, but at the moment she has no real loyalty to you. As far as she is concerned, she did what she had to do to gain her father’s freedom.”

  “She wouldn’t leave me. We are married.”

  “Maybe in your mind, not in hers. Trust me on this one. She doesn’t yet love you enough to risk her heart for you. She knows a great deal more than you think. She knows she’s going to die if you can’t find a way to save her.”

  “She can’t. Who would have possibly been bold enough to tell her?”

  “I think you know that the Lady Melody has enough boldness for all of the inhabitants of this castle. She truly does like your new wife, and she believes that Annabelle must be presented with the truth. Lady Melody never liked a liar when she was alive, so it’s hardly to be expected that she would value dishonesty in death.”

  “I must go after her.” His head reeled. How could he have pushed her away so far that she would run from him? “Do you think my appearance scared her that much that she now can’t stand to be in the same castle as me?”

  “She is not a shallow woman, Malachi. You did not scare her with your physical appearance, you scared her with your attitude. She can’t understand why you have changed so much toward her, and she feels as if she has nothing to lose by fleeing your company. What could you possibly do to her that would be any worse than the future that awaits her?”

  “I am not going to let her die!”

  “Bold words for a man that has no idea yet on how to cure her ailment. Even I can’t advise you on how to proceed. To excuse this phrase, you will literally be working blind. You have no idea what potion she was trying to create when her incantation backfired on her, thus you have no real idea on how to treat her illness.”

  “You do have a galling way of putting things in perspective. No matter, I will accomplish the impossible. If I don’t, the outcome is unthinkable.”

  “Good luck, then. I’d advise you to get a move on, because she’s already nearing the castle gates. Those enchanted glasses are doing wonders for her sight, and it would seem that she is quite fast on her feet when she can see where she is going.”

  “I am going. Thank you for everything you tried to do for me.”

  “Anytime, Malachi.”

  He raced out of the room, and then shook his head. What the hell was he doing? He had magic on his side, and in this case it would serve him well. He snapped his fingers, focusing on Annabelle’s location.

  *****

  Tears pooled in Annabelle’s eyes. How could she have almost fallen for Malachi’s endearing personality? He was a monster, not just in the way he now looked, but also in the way that he behaved. Why had he killed all of those people? Her mind just couldn’t seem to grasp anything that she had just witnessed. She needed to get to the village. She wanted to get as far away from Malachi as was possible, even though she was bloody poor and she really didn’t know where she could go that he wouldn’t be able to find her. If she were lucky, maybe he’d just not decide to follow her. After all, she was a flawed as he, if not more so. She had nothing whatsoever that she could possibly offer him.

  “Halt.” Annabelle heard the voice before she saw Malachi materialize before her. Her stomach churned at being faced with the way he used to look. The spectacles she wore had to have been enchanted with very powerful magic to be able to conceal the way Malachi now looked. In reality, his face had been scared and disfigured horribly. The tears she’d been holding back, finally escaped their watery prison.

  “Why are you torturing me so? Can’t you just leave me be? I’ll be dead soon, so you’ll never have to worry about me telling the rest of Thaliana about your troublesome past. Please, just let me go.”

  “Never.” The determined sound in his voice made her shiver. She tried to gain control of her rioting emotions. She had to admit, he did have a troubling effect on her. He made her feel things, and think things that she had never before felt or thought. It both terrified and excited her.

  “Nonetheless, I’m leaving.” She walked toward him. He wouldn’t let her pass. So, she walked the other way, and immediately bounced off an invisible barricade. Stunned, she fell to the ground. She heard him swear loudly. Wincing, she shrugged off his offer of assistance. “Stay away from me!” He jumped back almost as if he’d been scolded by hot water.

  “You can’t escape me. You can’t leave me, unless I let you. You forget how powerful I am, Annabelle.”

  “Powerful enough to kill hundreds of people in one fell swoop. Don’t worry, I won’t ever forget how far your power can extend. You are a force to be reckoned with, my lord.”

  “I must insist you call me Malachi.”

  “I don’t think so.” She pushed herself to her feet and brushed her gown off. “I want to go home. How can you deny a dying woman her last wish?”

  “You have a strong streak of stubbornness and a penchant for melodrama, Annabelle.”

  “Stop it! Stop saying my name like that!”

  “Like what?”

  “Stop making it sound so wonderful. You speak it in a tone of worship.”

  “That’s because I worship you.”

  “Oh, give me a bloody break. We shouldn’t be standing her engaging in this line of conversation. You should be returning to where you are truly needed. You should return to the queen.”

  “And listen to her advisors leer and snicker at me? I think not. I will not suffer that form of shame.”

  “I’m sorry that they were so cruel to act in that manner. But you must face the truth. If you don’t help Queen Zara she will lose everything! She will lose Thaliana to a brute of man. Everything that Thaliana stands for will be trampled into nothingness. Is that really what you want? Do you want our freedom to be taken from us?”

  “No. Of course not. My absence will not impede the cou
rse of the war. Do not think so highly of me, Annabelle.”

  “Honestly, I don’t really know what I think of you. One minute I want to hate you and the next minute…”

  “The next minute?” he prodded, hoping she would finish her sentence for him.

  “The next minute, I want to let myself fall in love with you. If there is such a thing as love at first sight, then there must be such a thing as love at first touch, and I had that when we both connected that first time. I felt something that I’ve never before experienced.”

  “Then, why don’t you feel it again, and again?” He extended his hand toward her. He caught the look of hesitation in her eyes. “I already told you that I wasn’t going to let you go. I’m a man of my troth. I won’t let you go, not ever.”

  She reached for his hand. He waited for her touch, anticipating it with great emotion. At the last minute she bolted away from him and ran in the other direction. If she thought she was going to find a weak spot in his magical shield, she could think again. There was nothing weak about his magic.

  He heard her let out another frustrated oath, and then he heard her hit the ground.

  “Did you hurt yourself that time?” She sat shaking her head on the ground. “Good.”

  “Why can’t I ever cut a bloody break? Why? First I get saddled with a father like Delbert, and now, I get a husband like you—you put new meaning in the word possessive.”

  “I don’t think I’m possessive. I just think I’m protecting my interests. If I let your run away from me, you will be ruining both of our futures. You just admitted that you didn’t revile my touch. Why can’t you just let your heart take a chance? I won’t disappoint you.”

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  He looked up at a screeching keening noise ripping through the night.

  “What was that?” She stood up, and instinctively edged her way toward him.

  “They wouldn’t dare!” He pushed her behind him. “Get back to the castle.”

  “There you go again ordering me around. Why don’t you just blink us both back to the castle, oh, powerful one?”

  “They will be here soon.”

  “Who?”

  “The servants of Blackburn.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Oh, shit.”

  Malachi was surprised to hear her swear with such vehemence. “How could they get past the shields you just erected?”

  “They’ve probably been lying in wait for hours. Waiting to strike against me when I was away from the castle.”

  Rage coursed through him. How could Blackburn possibly think to wound him any deeper than he’d already been hurt?

  Annabelle.

  “You have to get back to the castle. Even Blackburn’s minions can’t break through the protective enchantment that surrounds it.”

  “I won’t leave you. Not when those terrible sounding creatures are coming for you. What do you take me for?”

  “I take you for the woman that married me under duress. You were just going to run from me, what makes now any different from a few minutes ago?”

  “I won’t leave you when you might need my help!”

  “Loyalty.” His whisper made her one eyebrow shoot up.

  “What do you mean?” She shook her head. “I swear sometimes you do talk in confusing riddles.”

  “You look worn out. You should go back to the castle, I’ll be there shortly. Once I kill the things that Blackburn sent after me.”

  “Things?”

  “Dark Warlocks. It will not be a pretty sight to behold, Annabelle.”

  “I don’t care. I don’t frighten easily. In fact, if you have a sword available, I just might be able to help you.”

  “You want to fight?”

  “What do you think I was going to do, stand and hide behind you?”

  “I didn’t even know you were going to stand beside me, let alone behind me.” Despite the incoming danger, her strong reaction made him smile. Snapping his fingers, a sword appeared in his hands. “Is this too big for you?” She reached for it.

  “Now that I can see, I will relish feeling the hilt of a sword in my hand again. I’m also well skilled with a bow and arrow, but with the close combat we will be facing, they wouldn’t serve me well.”

  “Indeed.” He watched her wrap her hand around the jeweled hilt of the sword. The screeching sound drew closer. He could see that her eyes were wide with trepidation. He wanted to protect her at all costs. He wouldn’t let Blackburn’s men hurt her. “Stick close to me.”

  “How about back to back? That way, you can’t be caught off guard.”

  He smiled again, wondering at the concern in her voice.

  “Why are doing this, Annabelle?”

  “Because like it or not, you are my husband. And because, the queen needs you to stay alive to fight another day.”

  “Your loyalty to the queen is above reproach. I shall have to introduce the two of you someday.”

  She put her back to Malachi’s. Even though she hated to admit it, the terrifying sounds that Blackburn’s men were making made her blood run cold. She wanted to run, even though she couldn’t. She’d never been up against dark warlocks before, but then, she knew there was a first time for everything, and today was turning out to be the time of a lot of firsts for her.

  “What will you be fighting with? I have my sword…”

  “Your sword is not just any ordinary sword, it is a Hawthorne sword. If it was not, you wouldn’t have a hope in Thaliana of ever doing any damage to Blackburn’s men. I, on the other hand will be using my magic. You forget, I am a force to be reckoned with.”

  “I shall never forget that.”

  It was the truth. She would never forget the terrible and wondrous power that he commanded.

  “Just do not stray far from me, they haven’t come for me, they’ve come for you.”

  “How could they possibly know about me? We’ve only been married a few hours.”

  “In magical circles news travels fast.” The dry tone to his voice made her wince.

  “I don’t think I really like the speed of news in your circles, then.”

  “We’ll talk more about the magical news network, later. Right now, we have bigger things to worry about. They are coming.”

  “Coming? It looks to me, like they are here!” Her heart jumped in her chest. Black cloaked figures dropped from the sky. She tried swallowing past the formidable lump that had just lodged in her throat. “May the Graces be with on our side during this battle.”

  “Graces? If that’s what will make you feel better.”

  “You need to learn to have faith in something more than yourself, Malachi.” Before the five descending warlocks could reach them, Malachi destroyed three of them. At once. She felt a flicker of fear at seeing the concise and effective manner in which he used his magic. “On second thought, maybe I should have just gone up to the castle. I don’t think I’m needed here.”

  “Don’t jump to conclusions, Annabelle. The last two are shielded from my magic. It will take a little ingenuity to kill them. I’ll have to find the right spell, and the right force.”

  “Oh. And, that’s supposed to make me feel better?” she shouted She screamed, when one of the warlocks shot off a great bolt of lightning. It headed straight for their location. “Now, would be a good time to erect one of those shields.”

  When Malachi didn’t reply right away, she grew troubled. She turned around, and looked into his eyes. “Malachi? Snap the bloody hell out of whatever trance you’re in!” The sheen of lightning was traveling fast. Without thinking, she pushed him forcefully to the ground, only to find that the lightning had been programmed to follow their trajectory. “I need a shield!” she shouted. She watched as the sword shape shifted into a shield. “By the Graces, what the hell was that?”

  His statement about it being a Hawthorne sword echoed in her brain. Obviously, the House of Hawthorne made their weapons well equipped for any scenario
.

  The lightning connected with the shield and then dissipated. “Thank the Gods,” she breathed a sigh of relief. However, she still had to deal with the two warlocks that were left.

  “Malachi. Wake up! Or snap out of it, whatever. Just come to—please.” She kept the shield in her one hand, and poked Malachi with the other hand. “Wake up!” His eyes were glazed over. Whatever sort of spell he fought had to be a powerful one. She didn’t like the fact that he didn’t seem to be gaining the upper hand. “Malachi?” The other two warlocks still circled in the sky, screeching out their ear-shattering wail.

  She doubted she could take down the warlocks if they had overcome Malachi.

  “Katrina … no … you must stop this!”

  He sounded tortured. “Katrina? Who is Katrina?” She shook her head.

  “Don’t kill Annabelle.”

  Suddenly, realization dawned. He was being subjected to a nightmare scenario in which her life hinged in the balance. “Nice,” she groaned. “You’ve only known me not even a day, and yet, she’s able to manipulate you with me? I don’t think so. Katrina, if you can hear me, I’m going to kill you when I meet you. You’re a treacherous bitch. Traitors get the death penalty here in Thaliana.” Dropping the shield, she gripped Malachi’s shoulders. She gave him a shake. “Fight her…listen to my voice. I thought you were supposed to be equal to her power. And, if you’re as powerful as they say you are, if you don’t rejoin the fight, Thaliana doesn’t stand a chance against King Roland’s forces. Be a wizard or warlock, or whatever the hell you are, and get your head out of her control. You can do it! Return to me, Malachi!” She watched a muscle pop in his forehead. He was straining to fight against the black magic that had enveloped him. Without really thinking about the consequences of her actions, she brushed her lips against his.

  She couldn’t take the look of pain in his eyes any longer. He looked so bereft. His sister was only able to win against him, because unlike her, he didn’t have the fight to wage battle against one of his own. She took advantage of his heart, and for that, Annabelle would one day make her pay.