The strange girl was beautiful, but Gerald's desire to meet her in person had nothing to do with courting her. He just wanted to understand why he felt like she was so important.
Gerald threw up a leather ball tied together with twine that bit at his hands each time he caught the ball on its descent. He bounced it off the ceiling of his bedroom dozens of times until it angled awkwardly and flung itself away and far from his reach.
He groaned and threw his tired arms onto the mattress beneath him. He was too tired to retrieve it, exhausted from the events of the day: arguing with his parents, announcing the ball, arguing with his parents some more… The King and Queen often didn’t see eye-to-eye with their son. Gerald often wondered if his long-lost sister would’ve had better luck with them. It was a shame he had never even met Adelaide. Sometimes he imagined where she might be now, what she was doing, if she was happy, if she was…
The Prince shuddered, pushing those dark thoughts away from his mind. He had to believe his twin was okay. Though Gerald was just a baby when his sister disappeared, he still felt as if they had a strong connection. It was like he could sense she was still alive, and that was enough to keep him going.
The quilt beneath him became balls in his fists the more he thought of his sister’s kidnapping, and the trouble he had with his parents.
He leapt from his bed, frightened as a knock sounded on his door. He had been so deep in his gloomy thoughts that he lost awareness of his surroundings. The Prince relaxed when he realized there was nothing to worry about.
“Come in!”
Clarence tried to slide through the Prince’s heavy door, pushing at it with great effort.
“Do you need help?”
The beady eyes of the old man snapped up to meet Gerald’s gaze. “Oh, no. No, Sire. I’ve got it.”
His voice was just as frail as his body looked— squeaky and hoarse. But many years of tutelage from Clarence helped Prince Gerald get used to it. He even learned to respect the old man’s wisdom and experience. It had gotten him the most powerful position after King and Queen as their chief advisor.
Clarence hobbled over to the Prince’s large writing desk in the corner, a piece of furniture Gerald hardly ever used, and sat comfortably in the cushioned chair. Gerald winced at the sound of his old bones creaking and popping as he sat.
“So,” Clarence said, “they announced the ball today, I hear.”
Gerald let out a long breath of air. “You heard correctly, Clarence.” The Prince found a stool at the foot of his bed and sat, as well.
Clarence clicked his tongue. “Marriage is getting close, eh?”
“Too close. Why does it even have to happen at all? Can’t I be King without a wife at my side? It’s been done before. Not just in our kingdom, but the other four. And even Lurid! They just have High Kings, and their wives, when they even have them, are just… wives. Not queens.”
The old man tapped his nose with his index finger. “You are very right, Your Highness. Very right.”
The Prince furrowed his brow at his old tutor. “What are you getting at, Clarence? I’ve seen that look before.”
“I’m just agreeing. You don’t need a wife to help you rule Greriveth one day. You’ll have advisors enough for that.”
“You mean, I’ll have you.”
“Precisely.”
Gerald scratched at the chestnut-colored mop atop his head. He knew when Clarence was cooking up a plan, but he couldn’t even begin to guess what he had up his sleeve this time.
“Your Highness,” Clarence said, leaning forward, “I think I have a way to make sure you don’t actually have to get married.”
The Prince leaned forward as well, suddenly becoming more interested in their conversation. “I’m listening.”
Chapter 7
I liked Harry. He was fun to be around and a good conversationalist— especially once I started warming up to his strangeness. Yes, I did like him, but I hadn’t realized the immense emptiness I would feel once we parted ways. And then it was clear to me: he was the only friend I’d ever had. Well, except for my mother, of course. But that was different.
After another night in the inn, we traveled together until we reached the fork in the path that had once sent me into hysterics. At that point, I insisted that we part ways. As I watched him stalk away, disappointed, I found that I was disappointed, as well. Chances were I’d never see him again, and that saddened me more than I expected it to.
My walk alone in the dark night was terrifying. Nothing but a sliver of the moon was out to guide me. It was hard to avoid the protruding stones and twigs in my way with such little light. I shivered in the chill air and pulled my brown cloak tightly across my shoulders. Yes, the summer days in Greriveth were dry and hot, but the nights were quite the opposite.
I started sprinting once I saw the light of a few burning candles peeking through our cabin’s windows. I wasn’t particularly thrilled to see my stepbrothers, but I was eager to rest my feet and relax by a warm fire.
It was late, so I was careful to turn the brass knob of the front door slowly and pushed it open just enough to slide my thin frame through.
“Where have you been?”
I froze midway through the doorway and looked to the hearth in the living area. Standing right in front of it was Mother. The firelight accentuated the honey highlights in her hair and threw shadows across her clenched jaw. Her arms were folded, and she drummed her fingers impatiently along her arms. Jacob and Jared were on either side of her with looks of glee on their faces.
“Yeah, Ellie,” Jacob sneered. “Where have you been?”
I narrowed my eyes at the boys, but I should’ve expected it: they weren’t about to take any credit for my disappearance.
“Mother,” I squeaked, “you’re home early.”
She glared at me, brows drawing close together. “Answer my question, Ellianne, or so help me…” She didn’t finish her thought and angrily threw her gaze away from me.
I gulped, wringing my sweaty hands together. “Newvein, Mother.”
“Whatever for?”
I looked to my stepbrothers, but they, unsurprisingly, provided no help. In the past, I never dared expose their cruelty, but I'd never been in as dire a situation as this.
“I was picking up some letters for my stepbrothers.”
She flashed an angry look at her sons. “Is this true?” she spat.
“Mother!” Jacob exclaimed with a dramatic flourish of hand to heart. Jared did the same. “We would never do such a thing! We know the need for Ellie’s safety, and we would never undermine your rules.”
Mother moved her eyes back to me and shook her head disapprovingly. I clenched and unclenched my fists as Jacob winked mockingly at me behind her back. Sometimes I just wanted to slap those smug looks off the boys’ faces.
“You believe them over me?” I shouted.
“Ellianne!” Mother said with a snap of her fingers. “You do not raise your voice with me, young lady! You not only disobeyed me but yelling, too? It’s like I don’t know who you are anymore!”
I looked abashedly at my feet. Mother had never been this angry with me before— strike that, she had never even been frustrated with me before, let alone angry. I felt a tear or two bite at the corners of my eyes.
Mother pointed to the small corridor of the cabin with a stiff index finger. “You will go to our bedroom until I figure out what to do with you.”
Without another look at either of them, I dashed away in the direction she pointed. Once I made it to the room and shut the door behind me, I let the tears spill. Mother’s words were like a knife in the heart, and I didn’t know if I could ever take her shouting again. Her good-natured, loving personality had all but diminished in that moment, and it scared me.
“Ugh!” I groaned, sinking to the floor with my back against the wall. Why couldn’t my stepbrothers leave me alone just once in my life? If it weren’t for them, leaving and breaking Mother’s one rule for
me would have never surfaced to more than just a fleeting thought.
But there was no denying it: disregarding the chaos of a crowded city, the adventure had been exhilarating. Traveling outside of our little, dull haven and even meeting Harry had been the best thing that could have ever happened to me. And I was convinced that with more time out in the world, I’d get used to the bustling about of strangers and even make another friend, or two.
I slowly raised my head out of my hands and stared up to the ceiling. Maybe Mother was wrong. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to let me live my own life for once. I didn’t need her constant protection anymore. I thought back to my frustration towards my naivety while traveling to and from Newvein. I was eighteen and no longer a child. Maybe it was time to let me grow, socialize, have my own career, maybe meet someone and have my own family one day… She was robbing me of those opportunities!
“I think you’re right about that.”
I leapt from my position against the wall and scampered to a distant corner in the room. Before me was an old— very old— and haggard woman. Her balding head unpleasantly revealed the misshapenness of her skull, and her wrinkled skin sagged further than what seemed plausible. She smiled at me, and I found myself unable to tear my eyes away from the incredible row of rotten teeth. Well, what little teeth she had left.
“Uh…” I said, clawing at the wall to try to get further away from the intruder. “Who— How—”
She held up a hand and sighed heavily. “One of these days, everybody will know who I am and what I do, so this same, droll conversation won’t have to keep happening.”
I gulped.
“I am Bavmorda, a witch. But don’t worry, I’m here to help you.”
My hands began shaking, and my pulse started to beat loudly in my ears. I thought people who practiced sorcery and magic were only something I read in fairy tales. But then again, I hadn’t had much experience outside my own isolation.
“Are you not going to say anything?” the witch said as she moved to sit on my cot. It creaked loudly under her weight, and I flashed a worried look to the door.
She waved my worry away with a crooked hand. “Don’t worry. I made sure they won’t be able to hear us.” She threw herself back against the cot and sighed happily. “I love lying down. Such a wonderful thing.”
I opened and closed my mouth about a dozen times to say something, but no words came out.
“You are much less talkative than most people I meet.”
My fear began to cripple me, and I felt my legs grow limp as I slowly sank back to the floor. The witch leapt up from the bed and rushed over to my aid. Her rank smell burned the inside of my nose.
“Are you alright, child?” She placed a chillingly, cold hand on my forehead. “You’re burning up!” She sat back, rubbing her temples with long, chipped fingernails. “If I can just remember the spell.”
Bavmorda pulled a piece of jerky from under her skirts and held it in front of herself. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she muttered incomprehensible words. I drew my shoulders up to my head defensively. Once she stopped talking, she winked at me and handed me the meat.
“Eat,” she said.
I scowled at the food. One, where in Bavmorda’s dirty skirts had she been keeping it? And two, taking food from a woman claiming to be a witch didn’t seem like a great idea.
Bavmorda frowned, deepening the wrinkles next to her lips and forced the jerky into my mouth. I nearly gagged.
“Now chew,” she ordered me.
I did so reluctantly, wrinkling my nose at the metallic taste. It was obviously stale and very old. But within seconds, I felt my tense muscles begin to relax, and my head start to clear. She smiled her gruesome smile at me again.
“Is that better?”
I stared at her incredulously. “Uh, yeah. What did you do?”
She shrugged, bony shoulders poking through some holes in her clothes. “Just a common relaxation spell.”
I expected the statement about a “spell” to frighten me once again, but I felt surprisingly calm.
“How did you get in here?”
She let out a high-pitched cackle. “Are you really going to ask me that?” She outstretched a palm to help me from the floor.
Warily, I took it and rose to stand. Bavmorda’s strength while pulling me up was surprising for such a frail-looking, old body. And she was right: questions about the impossible things a witch did were probably stupid.
“Now, child,” Bavmorda said while clasping my hands with her own dry ones. “You should not be ashamed of wanting to have a life, and there are many things you should know about the person you call your mother.”
I pulled away from the witch’s grip. Though I felt calmer, I was still understandably wary of her presence and the things she said to me.
“The person I call my mother? What is that supposed to mean?”
Bavmorda’s lips turned down into a sympathetic pout, and she gestured for me to take a seat next to her.
“You’ll want to sit down for this.”
I hesitated, but after a few seconds, toddled over to sit by the strange woman. The legs of the cot wobbled precariously under our combined weight.
I swallowed a lump down my throat and mustered up the courage to ask my next question: “What’s going on?”
“Lucinda Brooker is not your mother.”
Chapter 8
“Ellie? Are you okay?”
My mouth was hanging open, and I swear a fly flew inside and out of it about a dozen times. I stared up at the ceiling, thoughts spinning uncontrollably. I felt angry, I felt sad, I felt confused… I grabbed the blanket from under where I sat and clenched the wool into my fists, knuckles turning white from the tension.
“Ellie?”
The witch snapped her fingers in front of my eyes to get my attention. I blinked twice and directed my gaze to her misshapen face.
“W—what? Why? How…? What?” I brought my hand to my forehead. I was getting uncomfortably hot.
“She kidnapped you when you were just a baby.”
I leapt from the bed and rushed to the other side of the room. “What?” I cried.
Bavmorda chuckled awkwardly, twirling one of the few gray strands of hair on her head with a finger. “Maybe I should start from the beginning.”
I grabbed at my heart and tried to take a deep breath to slow its pounding. “I think your spell is wearing off.”
The witch shrugged. “Sometimes, something unsettling can make a relaxation spell wear off quicker.”
“‘Something unsettling?’” I shouted. “Learning my mother has lied to me my entire life is more than ‘something unsettling!’”
Bavmorda pulled out another piece of jerky and held it up to the moonlight shining through the window so I could see it.
“Would you like another spell?”
I felt my face begin to twitch angrily and shook my head vehemently. “Oh, no! How am I supposed to trust you? How am I supposed to know that you’re not an evil witch spouting lies! My mother is just that— my mother.”
A sigh escaped the woman’s cracked lips, and she laid back on the cot once again. She kicked her feet back and forth in the air like a little child. It made her skirt slip down her legs, revealing her shift and hose. I averted my eyes.
“If you don’t believe me,” she said, “then stay, and I won’t help you escape.” She bolted upright from her position and stared me down with her beady eyes. “Maybe you can learn for yourself that I speak the truth.”
A sharp rap sounded on the door, and I whipped my head towards the sound.
“Ellie?” Mother called through the wood. “Can I come in?”
I looked back to the witch on my bed, but she had vanished. I rubbed my face with my hands and paced the entire room for any sign of her. Was it possible that my weariness caused my mind to create Bavmorda and our conversation— that it was all just a figment of my imagination?
“Ellie?”
“C
ome in, Mother!” My voice cracked nervously as I continued to search for where the witch could have disappeared to.
“Hello, darling,” Mother said as she crossed the room to where I was standing. We faced each other just inches apart, and my breathing became ragged.
“Hello,” I croaked.
Mother stepped around me and sat down on her cot under the window. She patted the spot next to her, but I moved to sit on my own bed. She sighed.
“I understand why you might be a little upset,” she said. “But, Ellie,” she scooted to the edge of her bed and stared deeply into my eyes. “You have to understand that I’m only trying to protect you.” She leaned back, closing her eyes and rubbing at her temples. “You have no idea what could happen out there.”
“But nothing did happen,” I whispered.
Mother pursed her lips. “What was that, dear?” Her words were kind, but her voice sounded strained.
I hesitated, twiddling my thumbs over and over again. “I liked it out there.”
Mother’s fingers grew stiff as she tried to take a calming breath. “Ellie, you were out for what? Two days? Trust me, I know what it’s like.”
“That’s just it!” I exclaimed, throwing my hands up into the air.
A look of great bitterness swept across my mother’s face, and I bit my tongue— not only from surprising myself with my outburst but with how intensely she glared at me. I looked back down at my hands, abashedly.
“Please,” Mother said, “don’t let me stop you. Continue what you were saying.” The coldness in her tone was shocking, but there was no point in not vocalizing my thoughts now.
“There’s a whole world out there,” I whispered in awe. “Every bit of me wanted more of it! Yet, I felt like a child. I was so ignorant to everything around me, and—” I stopped mid-sentence as Mother began to clench her fists.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
After what seemed to be an eternity, Mother relaxed her fists and rested her face in her hands. And then I heard the faintest sound of her crying. She was silent, but it was definitely there. It felt like a fist had clenched around my heart as I watched the sparkling tears spill through the gaps in her fingers.
Pumpkins and Princesses (The Tales and Princesses Series Book 3) Page 4