The Witch’s eyebrows furrowed.
“So Magdalena must have taught her a trick or two,” Jarvin said.
“Who is Magdalena?”
“No one. A healer mage here at the castle.”
“She shouldn’t have been learning any magic. I don’t like it. My Rapunzel is too naive for those complicated arts. But Rapunzel, I know you don’t know that spell. I am the one who cast a protection spell on your locks, and I would bet my life that you don’t know how to undo it. Go ahead and try.”
She had me there. Much like Lady Celeste’s coyness got her tied up in a tower with Lord Stormwild, I was not getting myself any better results.
Nevertheless, I had changed. Knowing I had life growing inside me, and a kingdom that had welcomed me as their princess, if I had to go, I would not go easily.
“I am going to be the Queen of Yirvagna someday,” I said. “I’m not a stupid girl locked in a tower you can order around anymore. Maybe you have decades, if not hundreds of years of magical study that I can never hope to match. But you couldn’t make me love you and you will have to use spells to force me onto that dragon. You will have to force me every step of the way, because I will kick and scream and never stop fighting to get back to my husband. Things will never be the same between us. I don’t want your stew. I don’t want to hear your stories. When you love someone, you would do anything to spare them from pain.”
“Gods—Father! What is all this?” Drina cut into the tension. “If we don’t get out of here soon the guards will arrive!”
“You two,” I said. “You’re the worst of all. Luring me up here…and what do you get in exchange? A title at the King of the Northlands’ court? The Witch told me he’s a troll! It doesn’t seem like you had it so bad here in Yirvagna!”
“A troll?” Drina said, in a thin voice.
“You’re right, Drina,” Jarvin said. “We have no time.” He pulled out a wand.
He flicked his wrist at me and black sparkles shot out of the wand toward me. I made a run for it. Magical heat seared my back just as one of my braids yanked my head, stopping me short, making me stumble. My knees hit the ground, my palms following, both getting scraped on the rocky path. Drina had stepped on my hair as I tried to flee.
“Enough,” the Witch said. “You’re right. We must get going. We have a long journey ahead and the King is waiting.”
“Wait right there!”
I knew that voice. Oh, thank the heavens!
“Rapunzel!” Dorin was coming up the path, sword in hand. My heart swelled with relief.
At the same time, I knew he wasn’t a match for the Witch and Jarvin. I hoped he would be at the head of the palace guard, but when no one came behind him, my joy turned to fear.
“Dorin! Be careful!” I called. “It’s the Witch!”
He ignored me, creeping closer. “Rapunzel is my bonded bride,” he said. “You can’t tear her away from me. She belongs to Yirvagna now.”
“She was mine before she was ever yours,” the Witch said.
“I was never yours.” I grabbed the closest rock and threw it at her. It wasn’t a very elegant way of fighting, but let’s face it, I didn’t have many choices. And it actually hit her shoulder, which only seemed to make her angrier, but it made me feel like I’d accomplished something. Deep down, seeing her gave me a very childish surge of anger. I’d always tried to be good around her, so she would be good to me, but all that time I had actually been furious at her. I wanted to scream at her and throw things and maybe this was my only chance. I pitched another rock.
“Rapunzel,” Dorin said, walking forward, toward the danger. “I vowed to protect every hair on your head. You are mine and I am yours. Let me fight for you.”
“Dorin, wait! You’re not—” I bit back my words. I knew Dorin wouldn’t listen if I told him he couldn’t fight. He had been training relentlessly, fighting against his very fate. He wanted to be able to protect me.
“Don’t get killed,” I said. “Think of the twins.”
“Fight me, blind Prince, and I shall have to kill you,” the Witch said. “Cooperate, and I will restore your sight.”
Dorin didn’t even hesitate. He struck at her with such force that she was taken off guard. The sword slashed her arm. Her cloak swirled as she ran from his blade. She eluded him easily enough, rushing toward the sheer wall of rock, but he heard her. He tracked her movements as I had seen him do other times, but I knew he lacked precision.
“Oh, how I wish I had time to say all the things I want to say to you,” Dorin said. “It insults me that you would make any attempt to appeal to Rapunzel’s heart, when all you’ve ever done is kept her from living a normal life. I don’t care about my sight, only about Rapunzel’s happiness.”
The Witch called out spell words. I didn’t know what they meant. I pitched more rocks at her. “No!”
The rocks above her head shuddered and started to fall toward Dorin.
“Dorin, get back!” I cried.
Several large rocks tumbled down from their perches, rolling toward him. He evaded them just in time.
“We must go!” Drina was looking at the path where Dorin had emerged, sounding completely frantic. “They’re going to find us and execute us! Oh my god, I can’t hang in front of my friends!”
Jarvin seemed panicked. He threw his knife at me.
The Witch let out a cry, “Don’t kill her, you fool! Not Rapunzel!”
I screamed and ran sideways, trying to evade the knife. I didn’t know if I could. I feared that knife would run me through, the way it had gotten the Witch. Dorin threw himself after me, and the knife struck him. It happened so quickly that at first I hardly registered the blood staining his jacket, the knife caught between his fingers.
Dorin, even while bleeding, now lunged at Jarvin with his sword. “Jarvin, my mother trusted you,” he growled. “You had an excellent position here. I can’t believe you were stupid enough to ruin it all in a grab for more.”
Jarvin threw a potion toward the dragon. “Dragon, I bind thee to—”
The Witch interrupted him with her own spell words. The dragon screeched, and for that matter, so did Drina. Both mage and witch were shouting spells at each other, Jarvin trying to get control of the dragon to escape, and the Witch foiling his attempts.
Dorin had dropped to one knee, clutching the knife which was still stuck in his side. He was bleeding heavily. I flew to him. “Dorin—!”
“Rapunzel…”
He was sounding weak. I pressed my hand to the wound. Should I take out the knife? I wasn’t sure. I probably needed to, in order to perform the healing spell on him. I chanted the words as I slowly drew the knife out of him, trying not to shudder at the feel of the blade drawing past his flesh. I dropped the knife like it was a scorpion.
He was bleeding even more. Frantically, I repeated the healing spell.
“Dorin, hang on.”
He clutched my hand. “I am. I am. I’ll be there for you and the twins…”
But he was drifting away from me. Despite all my love, despite how I clutched his hand… He had engaged in a fight he had no hope of winning, in order to protect me. I kept repeating the spell. Was it helping? Maybe the wound was too deep.
“Don’t cry,” he said. “I told you not to cry…”
“I can’t help it!” A sob wracked my body, and tears dropped from my eyes. “I love you too much not to cry for you now…” I dropped my forehead to his own, feeling his cool skin. “You’d better not die thanks to my stupid witch, Dorin.”
“Rapunzel—!” He clutched my shoulders, and then he shoved me aside.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Prince Dorin
Light flooded my eyes.
Rapunzel’s tears…
What had she done to me?
I squinted at the sunshine flooding my vision, but only for a moment. I only had a moment. My body had problems far worse than blindness, but to see Rapunzel crying, to see the familiar landscape o
f my mountains—it gave me a surge of strength. If it was my last, I would use it well.
The Witch and Jarvin were still arguing with each other. There was no time to explain, no time to think. My warrior instincts took over. I had one chance. I could not hesitate.
I pushed her aside, forced myself up, and grabbed my bow.
I fitted an arrow to the bowstring and took aim at the Witch’s heart. That arrow had barely flown before I fired off a second. And then a third, and a fourth. The Witch and Jarvin both fell.
My mother was not going to be happy to hear that Drina would be the only one who could stand trial, but we were in too much danger to take chances with mages.
I slumped. Stars danced in my vision. It wasn’t the blindness, now, but the beginnings of unconsciousness.
“Dorin—can you—can you see?” Rapunzel put a hand to my cheek, her fingers so gentle.
“I think your tears healed me,” I said.
“Or maybe my healing spell healed you! Magdalena said I might be able to heal you once I fell into true love with you…”
“We didn’t have true love before?”
“I don’t really know, but we certainly have it now, and—Dorin, Dorin, please—stay with me.” I could barely see her now; I just felt her little hand smacking my face.
I felt something else, too. Footsteps, thumping up the path, their gentle vibrations signaling that help was almost here. I heard Rapunzel gasp. She sprung to her feet, crying for help. In another moment, Magdalena had swept to my side, smelling strongly of herbs. Something cool and wet pressed against my wound, and her fingers rubbed it into my flesh in circular motions.
“Ow!” I snapped.
“There he is,” she said. “You’re going to be all right.”
“Can I hug him?” Rapunzel asked.
“No!” Magdalena said, with a laugh.
My vision was starting to clear again. I looked at her, and then looked past her. Drina was scrambling onto the back of the dragon, screaming all the way.
“Can you see?” Magdalena was only looking at me.
“I fixed him!” Rapunzel said.
“Yes, and I see—” Damned if the Witch wasn’t getting to her feet again, despite the two arrows jutting out of her cloak. Was the woman immortal? I had missed her heart—if she had one. No one had noticed yet; the men were focused on firing at the dragon as it swept its wings, stirring up dirt.
Rapunzel went pale. She looked very young in that moment. The Witch brought up old fears within her. I had one arrow left, but before I shot, I met her eyes. When I thought I had killed the Witch with the knife, it was somewhat of an accident. When I shot the arrows the first time, I felt I had no choice. Now, I wanted her blessing, although I knew it had to be done.
I had not seen her eyes in long weeks, and now they told me everything in the space of a moment. She put a hand on her stomach and nodded.
“Shut your eyes, love,” I said.
I let the arrow fly, but this time I aimed for the Witch’s head.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rapunzel
A few days later, I climbed the stairs to the highest palace tower.
Ever since the kidnapping incident, I had been swarmed with attention. The whole kingdom knew I had almost been stolen away. “Princess, princess, so glad you’re okay, we couldn’t bear to lose you!” The same thing, everywhere I went. And lots of, “Be careful!”
Dorin assured me the King of the Northlands was never coming back, but it made me nervous, all the worry and fuss. (Maybe I didn’t like fuss any more than he did.)
I belonged here. But—sometimes I needed desperately to be alone. Being a girl in a tower meant being alone almost all the time. Being a princess meant never being alone.
“You’re going to have a very different childhood from me, aren’t you?” I asked my unborn children. “Not only will you have a whole kingdom that’s dying to see you, but you’ll always have each other, too.”
Snow was falling softly, dusting the evergreens with white as far as my eyes could see. The circular room was a sparsely decorated guest chamber with several large drafty windows. I had been watching flakes drift by for a while when I heard footsteps. Queen Maria came up the stairs.
Oh, no. I was probably missing my music lesson.
But for once, she didn’t scold me. Maybe almost being kidnapped had its advantages. I should enjoy that.
“All the way up here?” the queen asked. She joined me at the window. “Does it remind you of home?”
“Not really. It’s a very different view. And a very different place.” I shrugged. “I’m not really homesick anymore, now that…it’s all over.” I bit my lip. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to speak to the queen candidly about the Witch dying. It didn’t seem like a polite topic.
“I’m glad to hear that. I’m sorry it ended in such a way. I know it must be a lot to sort through.” She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I don’t talk about it much, but my father was a drunkard. I felt so ashamed of it when I was bonded to Alexander, so relieved to escape my home, and then when he died…I could finally invite my mother and sisters to court without worrying about him. But it’s hard, isn’t it, when the person who brings you up is…a disappointment.”
She wasn’t terrifically good at sympathetic conversation, but it did make me feel better that she tried. “Yes,” I said. “I don’t know what outcome I would have wanted.”
“Anyway,” the queen continued, “I came to tell you that I’m glad you defied my order and learned a little healing. Magdalena says Dorin might have died if you hadn’t cast a few basic healing spells to staunch the bleeding. And I certainly don’t think he would have been able to shoot Jarvin and the Witch. I hate that I trusted that man. If you would like to keep learning healing, you have my blessing and my apology. It might be useful in the future.”
“Really?”
“Do you think I would say it in jest?”
I grinned. “Definitely not. Thank you so much, your majesty!”
“Dear me, you know, you are my daughter now, and your children will soon be calling me Grandmother! You can just call me Mother.”
I hesitated for a brief moment. I had avoided that word for so long. Then, I realized it was the perfect time to change that. “Thank you, Mother. I will.”
Everything was a little bit easier, now that Dorin could see again. And at the same time, it hardly seemed to matter at all. I think it only made us stronger. I knew now that we could handle any challenge that might come our way.
But I certainly wasn’t complaining about the way he looked at me during dinner and then, in our room, by candlelight, as he slowly and torturously released me from my evening wear.
He ran his hands down my braids. “You’re really stuck with me now,” he said.
“Am I?”
“I’ve gotten a message from the King of the Northlands,” he said, whipping a paper from his jacket. “‘I am taking the girl you have sent, young Drina, as my bride. I hope our kingdoms will enjoy good relations henceforth.’” He glanced at me over the top of the paper. “What do you think? Should I go to war to get her back?”
We both laughed.
“I can’t stop looking at you,” he said.
I looked up at him, trying to be extra-alluring. “I’ve noticed. What would you like to see tonight, my prince?”
“Hmm. What wouldn’t I like to see?” For a few moments, he just held me, gently caressing my curves, before he flashed me a wicked smile. His finger traced the curves of my ass. “I’ve never taken you from behind with my cock.”
I shivered at the thought of his thick girth in my ass.
“You can handle it, can’t you? My tail should have gotten you ready.”
“I think so…”
“Lay down on the bed for me and show me that beautiful peach,” he said. “But turn so I can see your face, too.”
“Don’t you mean a plum?” I teased him. I climbed onto my stomach, lifting
my bottom for him. I put my head down on the quilts and looked at him sideways. He pushed my hair out of the way, baring the back of my neck.
“I’m glad you can see me now,” I said. “Out of fairness. Because I like the sight of you quite a lot.” My eyes raked shamelessly over his broad shoulders and narrow waist. The lines of him seemed to be cut just right to show off his hard cock. Obviously, I thought, whatever god created man wanted me to look.
He picked up a bottle of oils from the bedside table and slipped a warm, slick finger in me back there, and I breathed hard, wet with anticipation.
He surprised me delightfully by slipping his tail in my pussy first, curving it to tease me until I was panting. I pressed my head into the quilts, gripping the fabric. My breasts felt heavy, hanging toward the bed.
His hands slipped around my hips, drawing me a little closer to him, until the head of his cock nudged the oiled nether passage. He pushed into me, filling me until I was already moaning loudly. I felt the warmth of his stomach draw close to my skin as he pushed into me all the way. I wriggled just a little, settling my body around him. When he was all the way in, he leaned forward, caressing my shoulders, my braids, my arms, stimulating my skin everywhere.
“My beautiful girl,” he said. “My brave princess.”
I was weeping with pleasure as he started to fuck me deep and hard in both places at once. I loved how many ways he could make me feel like I belonged to him. This feeling, when he was driving me to climax, when I was completely surrendered to him… I craved it like anything, because I knew he would never do anything to hurt me, nothing that I didn’t want with every fiber of my being. Except, well, making me attend those dinners every night. But that was quite different.
When I started to cry out, my body clenching around him, he took my braids in his hands and tugged on them gently, so I lifted my head. I cried his name. Then, I went limp as a wet towel. It felt like I could hardly take any more, but he fucked me to his own climax and by then I was starting to get there again. He pulled out of me but then he fingered me, looking deep into my eyes the whole time. That was more arousing than I had ever realized, as I panted and licked my lips, unwinding for a second time under the firm stroke of his fingers.
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