“Your husband-to-be’s family has done their best.” Maddox was back to watching the wheel, and there was more resignation in the set of his shoulders now than anger. “They control this valley, which is more than anyone else has managed.”
“They control it because they are ruthless mercenaries who don’t care what they have to do to maintain their power. They’ve been up in this castle for too long, looking down over the valley from their high and mighty position. What sort of king threatens death for failure of an impossible task, then in the next breath promises marriage for success?”
Maddox jerked his head to look at her and only then did Milly realize she’d voiced those thoughts out loud, voiced her anger and derision for a man she supposedly meant to marry. Flustered, she opened her mouth before she could think of something to say, but then closed it when her gaze locked with his. There was a sudden intensity in his eyes, a directness that seemed to bore right through her to read the words written on her soul.
You called him here, begged him for help. He’s sitting there with the demon moving his body as if he were a puppet—all to help you marry a man you just slandered. You may as well tell him it’s all been for nothing.
“I have a treasure box,” she blurted out.
Maddox’s eyebrows rose, stealing some of the intensity from his eyes. “A treasure box?”
Heat scalded Milly’s cheeks. “Yes. Sort of.” The blush grew hotter and she fisted her hands at her sides to keep from covering her face with her hands. “It is to me. It’s where I keep the things I’ve collected. The things…” She trailed off miserably, her chin falling to her chest in a pathetic attempt to hide her face. This is so embarrassing.
“What kind of treasures?”
Maddox’s voice was soft and encouraging. Gentle enough that it almost took the sting out of her cheeks. Almost.
“I don’t have much, just what I was able to barter for with the traders who came through the village. I have feathers from a golden bird that a sailor found in the kingdom of Mu, a silver coin from Dacia, a silk scarf from Nysa, a spear’s head from Meropis, and a strange little doll from the southern corner of Sanguennay.”
Maddox smiled, a real smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes. “That is, I think, the greatest treasure box I have ever heard of.”
Milly sighed. “It’s not as good as traveling to those places myself, I know. But it’s as close as I can get.” She looked at the door as if she could see through it, see the guards waiting there. “Somehow I doubt I’ll have any more freedom when I’m queen. The king of Midgard doesn’t have your passion for travel.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized how they sounded. Her mouth went dry, the voice in her head screeching in panic. You might as well have proposed to him, you idiot! Do you want to hear him laugh in your face?
“But I guess that’s a small price to pay for being queen,” she rushed to add, not looking at Maddox. “I’ll have power, and money. I’ll be able to take care of my father.”
Maddox didn’t say anything, and Milly couldn’t look at him, couldn’t bear the thought of seeing what emotion must be etched across his face. What a fool he must think her.
“Please tell me more stories,” she said finally, her voice quiet and pathetic.
Again, Maddox was silent. Milly clasped her hands together, her heart hammering in her chest. Please, just start talking. Forget everything I said.
Maddox took a deep breath and a moment later, launched into a story about sailing on a ship and seeing an angel kill a merman who was trying to drag a sailor off the ship to his death in stormy waters. Milly sagged with relief. She could listen to Maddox talk all night, listen to the unique, breathy quality of his voice. He described his adventures with such vivid detail that if she closed her eyes, she could pretend she was there. Pretend this tower and its piles of straw were just a horrible nightmare.
Just as with the previous nights, the time passed too quickly, the straw vanishing with impossible speed. After what felt like mere moments, the first rays of the sun reached through the window, touched the golden thread that lay in piles where once there had been only straw. Milly watched with the threat of tears warming her eyes as the sunlight traveled the length of the golden thread, lighting it up until the entire chamber was filled with shining gold. As if the entire tower was burning.
She stayed where she was, seated on the dusty floor with her back against the wall under the window. The cold of the stone had seeped into her body hours ago, but it hadn’t bothered her until now. Nothing could have bothered her while Maddox was talking. But now he was levering himself up from the stool, his hands falling away from the wheel as the demon’s control melted away. It was time to say goodbye.
Maddox wouldn’t look at her. His last story had ended with first light, as if the magic of his stories was too delicate to withstand the harsh light of the sun. The previous two nights, he had smiled at her before he left, had wished her well. But this time as he walked to the window, he said nothing. Wouldn’t meet her eyes even though she sat less than a foot away from him. He might have just been tired, but Milly couldn’t help the foolish voice in her head that whispered maybe this last goodbye was going to be hard for him too.
He’s going to leave now. He’s going to leave, and you’ll never see him again. If you don’t say something now, you’ll hate yourself forever. Say something. SAY SOMETHING.
Milly shot to her feet, almost falling over as her sleeping legs protested, threatened to pitch her to the floor. Her lips parted, but before she could speak, his hands closed around her biceps. The world tilted and suddenly she was staring into his stormy grey eyes from mere inches away.
“I know you’ve already promised payment to the demon.” His fingers dug into her arms, then quickly gentled. “And I know you don’t owe me anything. But if I could be so bold as to ask for one thing before I go?”
His voice was even huskier than usual, a sound that started at the base of her spine and swept out along her nerves like a velvety caress. The delicious sensations that voice inspired nearly stole her voice, left her next words breathy and thin. “What do you want?”
Grey eyes darkened with hunger, his attention falling to her mouth. “A kiss. Just one kiss.”
She would have said yes if her body had given her the chance. As it was, her willingness was all too clear in the way she dove for him, so eager to grant the request that she could scarcely breathe. He made a sound deep in his chest that was pure masculine satisfaction and her legs trembled, her body dipping as her knees gave out.
One strong arm banded around her waist, dragged her against his body. His lips slid over hers, a soft kiss that ached with restraint. Before her courage could fail her, she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, pressed herself more tightly against him until she could feel the outline of his solid muscles through the rough material of his shirt and the thin cotton of her dress. If this was going to be her last chance, their last meeting, then there was no reason to hold back. Let him think her a foolish human, one of the many who had fallen for his charms. At least she would have this memory to last her through the sham of a marriage that waited for her.
Maddox groaned and deepened the kiss, swiping his tongue between her teeth, teasing her into playing with him. Tension sang in his muscles, a tremble of promise that made Milly wish the king wasn’t coming for her, made her wish they had more time, that she’d had the courage to ask for this kiss herself when he’d first arrived. Before she was facing a life without him, before she’d made her final deal with the demon…
The kiss ended far too soon. Maddox pulled back slowly and with effort, as if the sun had melted them together. As he retreated, he pulled words from deep inside Milly, words she’d never intended to speak.
“I don’t want to be queen.”
Maddox froze. The hands that had been slowly sliding away from her suddenly tightened, fingers digging into her hips with bruising force. “Wh
at did you say?”
“I don’t want to be queen.” Her eyes widened, but she couldn’t stop speaking, not now that she’d started. “Let the king keep the gold, I don’t care. I want another trinket for my treasure box—I want to find it myself on a beach or in some far off shop. I want to see the world, I want to get out of this miserable little valley.” She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stop the words scrambling to escape through the chink in the wall of her self control. Her hands fisted in his shirt, holding him as tightly as he held her. “Take me with you.”
“You would never be safe with me.” Maddox’s voice was hoarse and he glanced down at his body before meeting her eyes again. “With us.”
He didn’t let go of her, his grip still unyielding as if his bones and muscles themselves fought to keep her. Milly’s confidence swelled and she jutted out her chin.
“If you leave me, I will be forced to marry a man who threatened to have my head not once, but three times if I did not fill his coffers with gold spun from straw. Do you really think I will ever be safe with him?” She pointed out the window with a shaking finger. “This is not one of the five kingdoms. This is Midgard, land of chaos. Eventually, someone will try to take this valley from my would-be husband, and when they do, they will need a miracle to keep it. I cannot be that miracle. And we both know what will happen to me when they realize that.”
Anger flashed in Maddox’s eyes like moonlight on a churning lake. He didn’t speak for several moments and Milly would have lost heart if he wasn’t still holding her so tightly.
“The king will not give you up easily,” he said finally.
The protest was weak, robbed of its force by the passion that left his voice low and gruff. Milly’s spirits soared. “Then run away with me. Let us have another grand and terribly foolish adventure.”
Maddox raised a hand to brush her hair back, a faint laugh falling from his lips as the tension eased from his shoulders. “I had thought I would never desire another adventure again. But you, my enthusiastic little miller’s daughter…you make me want to live again.”
Milly returned his smile with every ounce of her being, closing her eyes and leaning forward to accept the kiss she could feel coming.
Then suddenly she felt it. The shift, the cool shadow of the demon roaring back into stolen flesh. Her eyes flew open as Maddox stiffened, an enraged protest choked off a split second before his eyes smoldered with reddish light. She cried out and tried to pull away, but the demon tightened his arms around her waist, held her in a perverted mimicry of Maddox’s passionate embrace.
“I knew it,” he hissed. “Did you think I wouldn’t come back? Wouldn’t be certain that you held up your end of the bargain? I may not be able to hear the sweet words you share with this fool, but this is my body now, and I can feel what it does.”
He leered at her then, and her skin grew cold and clammy in the wake of his lingering assessment. Again she tried to break his hold, but the demon chuckled and held her tighter.
“Such a sweet kiss goodbye,” he taunted. “If you weren’t so pathetic, I may have enjoyed it along with him.” He jerked her against him, closing his grip until she couldn’t breathe. “I held up my end of the bargain. The straw is gold, and the king will marry you. I don’t know what promises Maddox made, or what you promised him, but know this. I will have your first born.” He leaned closer, whispered the next words in her ear. “No matter who fathers it.”
Her firstborn. Maddox’s firstborn.
Fury burnt her fear to ashes, infused her with a rush of much-needed adrenaline. Milly bared her teeth and shoved against the demon, giving herself just enough space to get the breath she needed to speak. “No. You won’t. We will find a way to get rid of you. There are those who can help, those who can force you out of his body for good. You may be able to keep Maddox from them, but you can’t stop me. I will find them and I will bring them back. Call the guards if you like, Maddox will only come for me later. You can’t fight him forever.”
The demon snarled, twisting Maddox’s handsome face into something hideous, like a candle left too close to a hot stove. “I will kill you, girl. Do not think that Maddox—”
A snarl of pain from his own lips cut him off and the demon released her, half hurled her back. Milly fell, hitting the stone floor with a grunt of pain. She watched, mesmerized, as Maddox’s body contorted, muscles twitching as if they would peel away from bone. It didn’t last more than a few seconds, and when it was over, the demon glared at her with hatred burning in his red eyes.
Milly swallowed her fear, forced herself to smile at him. “What’s the matter? Ride getting a little bumpy?”
“You will not get rid of me,” the demon growled. “One of you—or both of you—will die first.”
Milly’s smile wilted, but she kept it pinned to her face. The demon wasn’t as confident as he seemed, she could see it in his eyes. But neither was she. What if that brief struggle was the summit of what Maddox could do? The hardest he could fight?
“You might be able to kill one or both of us,” she agreed slowly. “Or you might be wrong. It might be that we will find a way to not only banish you from Maddox, but to imprison you permanently.” She sat up with forced nonchalance, tapped a finger against her chin. “It seems to me that there have been cases of demons being trapped in bottles, or even enchanted objects. A sort of firefly in a jar, perfectly harmless.”
The demon said nothing. He stood there, staring at her as if she were a fly that had just landed in his soup. Milly’s confidence rose with every second that passed, every second that kept him standing there, offering no threat. Then something slid through the demon’s red eyes, and he nodded.
“Very well,” he said finally. “Then I propose another deal.”
Milly’s heart leapt, but she fought to keep her face calm. “I’m listening.”
The demon strode over to the spinning wheel, trailed one finger over the spindle. “I will give you until sundown. If you can guess my name, I will leave Maddox forever. If you can’t, then our bargain proceeds as intended, with the added stipulation that neither you nor Maddox will do anything to try and stop me, to try and be rid of me, before I get the child that is rightfully mine.”
Dear gods. He means to possess my child. Milly shook her head as she stood, brushing off her skirts to hide the trembling of her hands. “No. Let me give you something else for your help. I can get you gold, or I will find you some treasure—”
“Nothing you could offer me would be as valuable as the life you already promised. I will have the child.”
“Be reasonable. You gave me gold. To ask for a life—”
“I gave you more than gold, and well you know it,” the demon snarled. He flicked a hand over the wheel, sent it spinning with a low, steady hum. “That gold is all that stands between you and death. I gave you your life, and I will have a life in return.”
Milly ground her teeth. It was no use. The demon wouldn’t budge, wouldn’t withdraw his claim on the life she’d been such a fool as to promise him. The opportunity he’d offered her to guess his name was as far as he would go. Her only chance. “Fine. Till sundown.”
The demon fled Maddox’s consciousness so quickly, Maddox stumbled and nearly fell into the spinning wheel. His elbow hit the tip of the spindle and he hissed, arching away from the cursed thing as a bright red droplet of blood beaded on his skin. He was still rubbing his elbow and getting his bearings when his gaze landed on Milly. Immediately he straightened and he took a breath to speak.
The sound of the door’s lock being disengaged cut him off. Milly’s eyes widened and without thinking, she ran into his arms, too upset to relish the way he embraced her without hesitation.
“We’re too lat—”
Before she could finish her sentence, Maddox’s body changed. One minute she was cradled in his warm, solid arms, the next he was gone, and only a strange undulating pressure marked where he’d once been. The door hinges creaked and she looked toward
the door, her heart in her throat. The pressure around her increased and the room tilted madly. She barely had time to draw breath to scream before she was flying, hurtling out the small window and into midair. Shouts sounded behind her, but they faded quickly as she was carried off at dizzying speed.
Milly didn’t have words to describe the sensation of flying in what she was increasingly sure were Maddox’s arms. Her nerves danced with exhilaration, the caress of the air against her skin firm enough to hold her, but still remarkably gentle. The land flew by below her, but as she adjusted to the sensation of flying, she could concentrate enough to make out landmarks. The land opened up into a yawning green field, and the pressure against her eased. Maddox spiraled down in lazy circles until her feet touched the grass.
He let her regain her footing, and before she could turn, he’d taken the physical form she’d known him in since that first night. His black hair floated around him on the remnants of a breeze and his grey eyes were sharp with concern as he ran gentle fingers over her face, down her arms.
“What happened? I felt him grab you.”
And just like that, the thrill of flying evaporated, and the sinking feeling returned to her stomach. Quickly, and with as little despair as she could manage, she told Maddox about the new deal. It was difficult to speak past the lump in her throat, and she scanned his face the entire time, waiting for the inevitable moment when he would realize how foolish it would be to tie himself to her and her terrible, terrible promise. For the gods’ sakes, they’d known each other for less than three days. Any minute now it would all sink in.
When she was finished, that look still hadn’t come. Maddox merely pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I’ve tried to find out his name. I can’t.” He looked away then, the shadow falling over his features out of place with the sunny field around them.
Milly put a hand on his arm, trying to summon a confidence she didn’t feel. “But that was when you were trying alone. This time you’ll have me to help.”
Once Upon A Curse: 17 Dark Faerie Tales Page 32