Once Upon a Valentine

by Stephanie Bond

  “I always thought it was figurative—everyone knows dragons don’t live near the sea.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Oh, sure. Everybody knows that.”

  “So, I assumed whoever this mapmaker was had intended to make the trip look as dangerous as possible, to discourage those with bad intentions from trying to find the castle.”

  Hmm. Bad intentions. What, he wondered, did that mean?

  He didn’t have any bad intentions. He just wanted a few fistfuls of diamonds and rubies. Maybe a gold mug to carry them in.

  He wasn’t a tomb raider, though some people thought otherwise. He didn’t have to be. Raine knew full well that the rules here were similar to the ones on Earth. A ten-percent finder’s fee was pretty standard. Should he and Ashlynn discover this mystical lost site, they would be rewarded by every monarch in her world, even if it contained no riches at all.

  Besides, deep down, he really wanted her to succeed. Wanted her dream to come true. Ashlynn deserved to find her castle and do all her archeology and history stuff.

  “If that’s really the dragon on the map, then the entrance to the secret pathway is right through its mouth,” she said.

  Meaning all they had to do was climb that hill, walk into the black cave that served as the creature’s mouth, face whatever came after it…and hope they didn’t get chomped on by any real fangs. Dragon’s, or otherwise. Piece o’ cake.

  His desire for a bath suddenly outweighed by his sense of adventure, he dropped the soap into his bag, slung it over his shoulder and reached for her hand. “Ready?”

  “More than you can possibly imagine!”

  They smiled at each other and, though his feet were almost tapping in impatience, Raine couldn’t resist sliding his hands into her hair and tipping her head back. “I’m happy for you,” he said before dropping his mouth onto hers.

  As the kiss ended, she looked up at him, her eyes dreamy and soft. “Thanks. And, Raine? I’m happy you’re with me.”

  “Me, too.” He winked, then dropped an arm across her shoulders. “Now let’s go slay that dragon.”

  6

  IT WAS A DAMN GOOD THING Raine was with her.

  Not because of any dragons—there had been none. Though, when they’d passed through the cave that led to the path, Ashlynn would swear she’d seen a few glittery objects that might have been scales from some ancient, long-dead creature.

  The real issue was the sneaky twist in the path. If she’d been alone, she might not have noticed it. And since it appeared to double back the way they’d come, she almost certainly wouldn’t have turned. Raine, however, was sure of what he’d seen on the other piece of the map. And, judging by the sea of thorny brush they had to hack their way through, she knew he was right. The hedge was just how the legends had described it—secretive and close, wicked and twisted. It would discourage anyone from traveling on, especially someone not sure they were going the right away.

  “You doing okay?” he asked as he used a hunting knife he’d produced from his pack to cut their way through.

  She carefully plucked a branch out of the way, her fingers already bloodied from the dozens she’d already moved. “I’m fine.”

  “Luckily, it’s getting thicker,” he said.

  She snorted. “Luckily?”

  “That means we’re getting close. It’s always worse right before you break through. Remind me to tell you about the pendulum that swung down about an inch from my face once.”

  Despite the circumstances, she had to smile. Raine had told her many stories as they’d traveled. Tales of his adventures, his near misses, his successes. Each had thrilled her, charmed her, opened a door to a lifestyle she’d never conceived of. She studied history, looked at artifacts, carefully uncovered them at precise dig sites, then put them on display.

  Raine actually fought for them. He’d strode through jungles, explored ancient temples. He’d battled angry natives and dishonest bureaucrats and had emerged triumphant at times, beaten at others.

  While she’d been studying life, he’d been out there—to use an Earthen expression—grabbing it by the balls.

  It was exciting. Thrilling. Just like Raine. He excited and thrilled her down to her toes. More, though, during the past few days, he’d surprised her with his tenderness. He’d been kind and playful, sexy and steady, daring and protective. The kind of man she’d dreamed of finding, in the outward package she’d never have expected.

  He was the man she’d been waiting for all of her life. And every step they drew closer to the end of their quest was another step closer to his departure from her life.

  Ashlynn had never felt so torn. This wasn’t the first time she’d thought about how much she dreaded the thought of him going back to where he belonged. But it was the first time she realized just how soon that moment could come.

  “Stay right behind me,” he ordered. “It’s getting darker.”

  Definitely darker. The hedge had gone from a daunting chest-high barrier to a nearly impassable over-the-head one. The twisted shrubs had folded over on themselves, forming a canopy that blocked out the sky. Inside the dark, treacherous tunnel Raine created with every slash of his knife, the air was stale and thick. Unpleasant. And the farther they went, the closer the wicked plants came, until it was impossible to move without brushing against one. Usually painfully.

  This vicious barrier could not have come naturally. Someone had put it here. Which meant there was something worth guarding at the other end of it.

  Ashlynn cursed the fact that she hadn’t brought home a pair of those sneakers people in his world wore. Her sandals were sturdy and comfortable, but she’d taken more than one thorn to the toe. “Ouch!” she muttered as a wicked, needle-sharp point scraped across her calf.

  She should have brought home some jeans, too. Next time, she needed to make a list of things to bring back from Earth. Unfortunately, her number-one obsession—a confection called Chunky Monkey, which, she had been very relieved to learn, did not contain any real monkeys—would probably melt in the borderlands. But potato chips definitely would not.

  Huh, funny that she was thinking about her next trip to Earth. When she’d arrived home last week, she had thought she’d never go back. Yet, every day she spent here at home reminded her of something she had liked back there.

  One big reminder? Raine Fowler, the man carefully holding another razor-sharp branch away so she could maneuver around it.

  She couldn’t let him go without a backward glance. More, she wouldn’t. She just hadn’t figured out how to tell him that yet.

  “Thanks.” She didn’t meet his eyes, not sure what he’d see in hers. Probably too much.

  “Not a problem,” he told her, though she knew by the drops of blood dripping from his fingertips that it was a problem. But he hadn’t voiced a single complaint. It seemed his sense of adventure outweighed any physical discomfort.

  She loved that sense of adventure. Loved being part of it.

  For the past several days, Ashlynn had allowed herself to live like he did. To think only of the here and now, this moment, their journey and the thrill of the chase. Raine had no other expectations, no other obligations, and could come and go as he pleased. And so, that’s how she’d felt, too.

  It had been incredibly appealing, living this way, with him. Part of her wasn’t sure how she would ever give it up. Honestly, as much as she wanted to find this castle, and to document the history within its ancient walls, a tiny part of her wished they’d just have to keep on looking.

  “Hell,” he said with a groan, lifting a hand to his face.

  Ashlynn touched his shoulder and made him turn around to face her. He’d taken a thorn to the forehead and blood freely dripped down his brow. “This is crazy,” she said. “You could have been blinded! We should go back.”

  He wiped the blood off with the back of his arm. “Hey, no pain, no gain. And we’re almost through the worst of it.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “I
mean it,” he said, shifting to the side so she could see past him into the dark tunnel ahead.

  It took a second, but she quickly realized what he meant. It looked lighter about ten paces ahead of them, as if the hedge thinned out beyond. If it were thin enough to admit light, perhaps there was fresher air up there, too. And there might be an end to their trial by thorn.

  “Stay with me, historian,” he said, his voice thrumming with excitement.

  Her heart sped up, her breaths grew shallow, because of both the bad quality of the air and the excitement washing through her. There was no escaping his contagious enthusiasm. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  She inched behind him. Wiping sweat and dirt and blood off her face, she helped where she could. Though, mainly, she only watched, seeing the way his thick shoulders and broad back flexed beneath his shirt as he hacked at the unforgiving barrier.

  Mercy, he was beautiful—a picture of masculine strength and agility.

  “Do you see?” he asked, his breaths hoarse.

  “It’s lighter,” she replied. “The air…”

  “Definitely moving.”

  They kept their voices low, as if they both knew they were about to reach the end of the line. And were equally as nervous about what they would find.

  “You ready?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at her.

  She drew in a deep breath, tasting freshness, coolness and a hint of salt. The sea. Then she nodded.

  Raine reached back and took her hand as they moved on. The shrubs were not only thinning overhead—revealing a bit of bright sky with a few puffy clouds—they were also spreading out, drawing back, leaving enough room for them to stand abreast.

  “We break through together,” he said.

  Hand in hand.

  Excitement roared through her. Yes, she was worried about what might happen between her and Raine later, once they’d found what they were seeking. But for now, all the hopes, the dreams, the planning…everything was coming to fruition. She was about to find out if she—and her father—had been right about the most famous legend in all the worlds.

  Raine extended the long knife, cut away a few more branches. They stepped, side by side, until they reached one last barrier—tall and imposing, thick and impossible to see through.

  Knowing in her soul that they’d come to the end, Ashlynn reached out, unable to resist tugging at the branches with her bare hands. She ignored the thorns, didn’t feel any pain. Raine did the same, sheathing his knife, and the two of them dug and pulled and clawed their way through the last few feet of hedge.

  At last, a hole. No more shrub, no more thorns. Light poured in, bathing their faces. Together they took one more step, pushing through as if they were being born out of a long, dark passage.

  And emerged to witness the most glorious sight Ashlynn had ever beheld in her life.

  WELL, IT SURE WASN’T much to look at.

  Sleeping Beauty’s castle—if this was, indeed, hers—looked like a lot of ruins he’d seen over the years. Gray and huge, with collapsed walls, thick vines growing over everything and trees that had sprouted up inside roofless parts of the structure.

  Interesting—and probably to Ashlynn, fascinating. But he’d been expecting the wow factor. Though King Midas hadn’t had anything to do with Sleeping Beauty—at least, as far as he knew—he’d almost pictured this place being covered with gold leaf. He’d envisioned a Disney score swelling up when they stepped out of the hedge and some talking animal to greet him.

  Squawk.

  A bird flew out of the ruin, swooping overhead and dropping another kind of welcome altogether. Right on his shoe.

  “Hell,” he muttered.

  She wasn’t even listening. A quick glance told him Ashlynn was totally, completely enraptured by what she saw.

  “It’s magnificent,” she whispered. A visible shiver ran through her. “I keep asking myself if I’m dreaming!”

  Raine couldn’t help smiling, glad for her. Maybe his expectations had been too high. The place was pretty damned cool, dipped in gold or not. “So, ready to go in?”

  Her hand trembling, she reached for his. “I’m so ready.”

  “Let me lead the way, okay? There are probably rotted floors, unstable walls. We’ve got to take it slow and easy.”

  “Understood.”

  One more thing he liked about Ashlynn—she had so much common sense.

  Maybe it was because of that common sense, and because he had her to look after, but Raine didn’t barrel right in as he might have done if he’d been alone. He carefully evaluated every step they took, watching for hidden dangers. But as they drew farther into the castle—and began to realize there was much more to see inside than the outside had led them to believe—his own caution began to give way to wonder.

  “My God,” he whispered as they pushed open a nearly rotten doorway to enter what had once been the great hall.

  “Unbelievable,” she replied, equally as overwhelmed.

  The outside might have looked like a ruin from some European country. But inside—well, this was pure Elatyria. Pure fairy tale. Because, as if the powerful magic of the world itself wouldn’t allow the true destruction of anything pure and beautiful, the interior was remarkably intact. Yes, some walls had fallen, some roofs had caved in. But many still stood solid and proud, as they had centuries ago when the last occupants had departed.

  The graceful marble columns were dirty, yes, but still gleamed with soft beauty. On the walls, rotted tapestries couldn’t detract from the hand-painted murals that depicted chivalrous scenes of knights and dragons and ladies. Furniture made of stout oak, and perhaps the heart of the most powerful beanstalks, remained in place, covered in dust but mostly unbroken.

  “The thrones,” she whispered.

  He followed her stare, seeing a raised dais with two intricately carved chairs. Still plush and covered with red velvet, they looked as though their occupants had just arisen and stepped away for a moment.

  Both drawn to different things in the cavernous room, they separated, Ashlynn moving to study the paintings on the farthest wall, Raine to examine the thrones more carefully. He told himself he was looking for jewels embedded in the wood, having pictured this moment in his mind ever since he’d heard about this place.

  But he suddenly realized something. Even before he’d reached the dais and examined the thrones, he knew that, even if there were stones to rival the Hope Diamond studding every corner, he wouldn’t dig them out. This place almost seemed like sacred ground. A feeling of reverence he’d never experienced at another site washed over him. He wouldn’t desecrate it, not for all the jewels in Seaside’s lost kingdom.

  Now, a handful of them lying on the floor? That would be another story. Fortunately, there was a lot of castle left to explore. And the more they found, the bigger that ten percent finder’s fee would become.

  “Raine, look at this!” Ashlynn called, sounding excited.

  He strode across the richly veined marble floor, to her. She was pointing to a series of paintings, smaller and less ornate than the floor-to-ceiling ones that graced much of the hall.

  “The whole story is here,” she told him, her voice actually shaking.

  She pointed to each picture in turn, and he saw what she meant. They began with an image of a beautiful family of three—the king, queen and beautiful little girl. Then storm clouds, a dark fairy, a spindle. A sleeping maiden, the grieving parents, a royal court falling into slumber.

  God, it’s all true?

  With everything else he knew about Elatyria, he shouldn’t have been so surprised. But, hell, this was pretty major stuff. It would take some time to process.

  “Someone stayed behind to tell the tale,” she told him as she moved down the wall to the last sequence of paintings. “Mercy, this alone is a priceless treasure—the mystery of the disappearance of the entire royal court is explained right here!”

  He stared at the images, trying to see whatever it was she saw. It t
ook a long moment, then the truth started to dawn. The painting showed the happy Beauty—awake—and in the arms of a handsome man who stood on the bow of a ship. The royals were gathered behind them on the decks, celebrating as the ship literally sailed off the edge of the sea into a dark blue abyss.

  A blue abyss with some odd shapes—like landmasses.

  Familiar landmasses.

  Very familiar ones.

  “Holy shit, it’s Earth,” he said, everything making sense.

  The handsome Prince Charming who rescued the beauty was from Earth, and he took her and all the rest of them back with him. Raine knew enough about Elatyria to know its geography didn’t match Earth’s. And there was no disguising those familiar shapes—from Africa to Europe and Asia, right down to North America and the tiny tail of Florida. It appeared the Elatyrians had known more about Earth’s geography than Earthlings had.

  She laughed and clapped her hands. “Yes! That’s why they disappeared forever, leaving no trace, no descendants…except for the person who painted this mural and possibly drew the map.”

  And that’s why the legend had become one of the most long-abiding, popular stories in both worlds.

  Raine closed his eyes, shocked into silence. For years he’d called himself a finder of things. Of treasures. But today, he felt like the finder of a deep, irrevocable truth. And he at last understood what real treasure was.

  This game Ashlynn played—searching for truth and clarity amidst the deepest mystery—was powerful. More thrilling than any he’d ever known.

  He reached for her, drawing her into his arms. She looked up at him, her eyes gleaming with excitement and pleasure.

  “I’m so happy for you,” he told her, a little overwhelmed at the seriousness of the moment. Although this had started as an adventure, it had ended with a discovery that truly shook him.

  “Thank you. This is a dream come true,” she replied. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck, tugging him down for a long, warm kiss.

  He held her tight, plunging his tongue against hers as if needing to memorize the taste of her, almost desperate to make the moment last. Right in the middle of the kiss, he realized why.