Conrad’s hand twitched on my back, and he gently pushed it to the side, steering me away from the head table. “We can sit here on the side where we’ll be less noticed.”
The prince would never go unnoticed, but it was a kind gesture, and I let him lead me to the side seats where people ventured our way to say hello and meet the girl who could spin straw into gold.
It seemed I was wrong. Conrad was not the one who drew eyes tonight, but me. The village girl with the unique Gift.
Under my smile, I willed myself not to do anything foolish. I would be lucky if I was able to carry on any sort of conversation, or even remember their names.
“I’m sorry,” Conrad leaned over and whispered to me. “I meant this to be informal, but I mentioned to Father that you were joining us tonight and it seems he turned it into a spectacle.”
I smiled tentatively back. We didn’t have another second before another cluster of finely dressed men were upon us, introducing themselves and reaching to shake my hand.
“Hello,” I managed to squeak out. There were four men, each middle aged and wearing thick suits with gold buttons, who tipped their heads and looked at me expectantly, but I was unsure if I needed to say more. A few glanced to my hands, then back to me like some spectacle or show that would soon start. I moved my hands to my lap.
“How’s your wife, is she still sick?” Conrad saved me by turning to one of the men.
The man looked pleased that the prince remembered. “No, she improved a few days ago. She’s still resting, but color has returned to her face.”
Conrad nodded. He still had a big smile on his face, and I wondered if he ever dropped it. But then I recalled when I met him. He hadn’t smiled once. I much preferred his face with the smile.
“Good, and the baby? All still well?”
The man shrugged. “Far as the midwife says. I’m hoping for another strong son.”
“We shall see! And are your cousins still visiting?” Conrad turned to the next. He made a disturbed face.
“Unfortunately. I’ve been hinting at them to leave for a week now.” The men all laughed.
It went on this way, Conrad asking each a personal question or two, and each man seeming pleased that he’d remembered something about them. With every person that came to greet us, Conrad knew their name and their kids’ names and all the little details of their lives. He even spoke to some in their native tongues.
I was beyond impressed. No wonder he was so well liked, he seemed to really care about the people.
Partway through the caravan of well-wishers, Conrad reached over and put his hand over mine. My whole body froze. I let his hand stay, but for the remainder of the night I could feel his hand on mine, even long after he withdrew it.
Anna’s words flickered through my mind—she’d mentioned the King might be looking for a match between me and his son. By the way Conrad had so fearlessly taken my hand, it made me think the match could be on his mind as well. He was a kind man, from what I had seen: smart and relatable. Handsome too. But I was just a tavern owner’s daughter. How had I suddenly become important to the prince?
I would be honored if he sought a relationship with me, but if asked, I wouldn’t say yes.
I didn’t belong here. It would only be a matter of time before they found out that I couldn’t spin straw into gold, perhaps by then they would be grateful enough for what wealth they had received to not hold my deceit over me. At that point I could return home.
Back to where Aiden waited. The thought of that sent a tremor to my hand.
I peeked over to Conrad. He didn’t look anything like Aiden, but they held themselves the same. Both confident, both with wide smiles and chins tilted up. They both could make anyone laugh. But one was a poor villager, and one was a prince. I had no doubt that if Aiden had been born a prince, he would be exactly like Conrad.
A flicker of gold caught my eye, interrupting my thoughts, and I almost gasped out loud.
Standing at the edge of the room was Rumpelstiltskin.
I blinked. He was still there.
He stood along the wall opposite of us, standing out among the crowd of well-dressed folks with his plain tunic shirt and trousers. His arms crossed over his chest as he looked at me with a frown on his face. People walked by him, and I watched for their reactions, but they didn’t seem to notice him. Was I the only one who could see him?
Slowly, he shook his head at me disapprovingly. Confused, I pushed my eyebrows together.
“Are you alright?” Conrad asked. He looked at me with worried eyes, then twisted his head to stare in the same direction I was.
I looked back to the wall, fearful that Conrad would spot Rumpelstiltskin, but he was gone.
My eyes sifted through the shadows to see if I could spot him somewhere, but if he was still in the room, he kept himself hidden from my sight.
I put my hand to my head. “Yes, just overwhelmed.”
Conrad leaned closer to me. “Don’t worry, I’ll send everyone else away tonight. We can just enjoy our food and each other’s company.” His voice was calming, and it was nice that he was so considerate. Servers had just brought us our food, and my eyes grew wide at it. I had more food on my plate then I had ever eaten in one meal. My surprise grew when another plate was brought out with bread and fruits. I held the bread in my hand. Was it normally this soft?
Conrad did most of the talking as I ate as politely as I could. He asked me about the village I was from, and what I thought of Westnut Castle so far. I said I liked it, and asked how they got the name, launching Conrad into a story about a man and a squirrel.
I never fully relaxed, keenly aware of all the eyes on us, but being with Conrad made it a delightful evening. When the evening ended, I excused myself. Conrad offered to walk me back, but I told him I could manage on my own.
I wanted to get my thoughts together and change out of this stuffy dress before I saw Rumpel. He owed me an explanation.
Chapter Twelve
“What is this?” I shook Rumpel’s note at him.
“A note. You told me you could read,” he answered calmly. He sat at the spinning wheel and began to thread the bobbin. He had a thin jacket on over his plain shirt, protecting him from the last month of winter’s chill. It was the same outfit that I had seen him in at the dinner earlier that night.
I put myself in front of him as I waved the note again for effect. “I know what it says. I’m asking what it means.”
“It was a caution, which I see you did not care to follow.” Rumpel started spinning, ignoring me with his eyebrows set low.
I scoffed. “You don’t get to send cryptic messages, then be upset when I don’t heed them.”
“I’m not upset,” Rumpel corrected me. “If you want to make a mistake, then that is on you.”
I threw up my hands. “What are you talking about? I’ll have you know that Conrad was nothing but pleasant all night! The perfect gentleman.”
Rumpel finally stopped spinning and stood up. He was a few inches taller than me, but if I stepped back, I didn’t have to tilt my chin up to look at him. “And now, after one night, you know everything about him? You know him well enough to be confident in his character?” He raised his eyebrows at me.
“I don’t know everything about him. But I’m a pretty good judge of character.”
He laughed, and I detected a hint of mockery in his tone. “Everyone says that. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t think they were a good judge of character. You’re wrong, though. You’re wrong about him.”
“Is there something I need to know?” I folded his note back up and put it in my pocket before crossing my arms and looking at Rumpel with the best arched brow that I could manage.
Rumpel took a step closer and a strand of his golden hair fell across his face as he bent down like he was about to tell me a secret. His voice, usually lyrical and soft, was thick as he spoke. “I have wandered this castle since Conrad was a baby. I know him more than you ever c
ould, and I don’t trust his motivations.”
Swiftly, he turned back around and reassumed his position at the spinning wheel. I watched silently for a few minutes, unsure of what to say next.
Now calm again, I settled myself on the floor next to him to feed him straw as he worked. The process would go faster if I could help.
“What are your motivations?” I asked flatly.
He paused for a second to look down at me. He opened his mouth then shut it again, turning back to his spindle. “I have none. If I don’t spin for you, you will die.”
I continued to watch him work, biding my time before I pressed further. The straw flowed effortlessly through his hands as he continued to feed it through the bobbin, turning it into gold as it wrapped around the spindle. I was right; it was going faster with me handing up the straw for him. I should have helped the last two evenings.
“I still don’t understand why you’re helping me,” I said. “What’s it to you if I die?”
Rumpel paused again, looking down at me with amusement in his eye. “Would you like me to stop? If that makes more sense to you, I can do that.”
I shook my head quickly. “Of course not. I just want to understand you.”
“And I would like to understand you,” Rumpel said. He pushed back one of his sleeves and continued to work.
I jerked my head up. “What do you mean?”
He stopped working again and twisted himself around to face me. “You asked me my motivation. I want to know yours.” He folded his hands on his lap and tilted his head as he waited for my answer.
“I don’t want to die,” I said plainly.
He laughed for a second before his face turned blank again. “No. That’s not all. You could argue with the King. Tell him you’ve given him his gold and now he has to let you go home. He can’t keep you here. But you didn’t. He didn’t have to push too hard to get you to stay here until the end of the war. You really think he will let you go then? He won’t. And you won’t fight him. You don’t want to go home.”
I threw down the straw and stood up. Why did he feel like he knew me? “You’re wrong!” My voice was louder than I intended, and I lowered it slightly. “You’re wrong, I want to go home more than anything, but I’m just a girl from Autumn Leaf Village, who can’t argue with the King. He can kill me if he wants.”
Rumpel stood too. “You like the appreciation. You like being wanted by the King, wanted by Conrad. It feels good to be needed, doesn’t it? You aren’t ready to go home, back to your old, undervalued life. For the first time, you matter, and you care too much about others’ opinions of you to give it up.”
My face flushed with anger as I balled my hands into fists. “If you think so little of me, why are you helping me?”
Rumpel laughed again, though I saw no humor in the moment. “If I don’t help you, you will die. Then it won’t matter what anyone thinks of you. You’ll be gone.”
He was avoiding my question, whether intentionally or not, I couldn’t tell, but I was too hurt by his comment to say anything more. So, I sat back down, keeping my head angled downward while he calmly picked up the straw and continued spinning.
It hurt to hear his words, but it hurt more knowing that he was right. I did care what others thought of me. I wanted to be more than the girl with no Gift. At dinner, all those people had looked at me like I was their savior, and while it had made me uncomfortable, it also filled me with pride. Infuriatingly, Rumpel saw right through me, when I saw so little of him.
How could I learn more? History books in the King’s library might speak of Rumpel, if he really was an ancient, cursed king.
“I’m sorry, Cosette,” Rumpel said, stopping to look down at me.
I shook my head, still upset. “We need to hurry, at this rate we will never finish.” The King had filled the room with more straw than ever before. Rumpel nodded, and we spent the rest of the night in strained silence.
Before leaving, Rumpel tried to make amends. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I think highly of you. You have a good heart.”
I paused, my arms folded across my stomach as I breathed. Holding a grudge against him, one of my few allies in this strange new world, would do me no good, so I pushed down my hurt with a sigh. “Thank you. I really am forever in your debt.”
Rumpel got a funny look on his face. “No. It’s important to me that I do this for free. You don’t owe me anything.”
“Why?” I asked. Why was he so adamant that he got nothing in return?
“I can’t explain. But I need to hear you say it. Tell me that you don’t owe me anything.”
Exhausted from the night, I gave in. “Alright. I owe you nothing.”
“Thank you. I’ll leave you to the rest of your night.”
He bowed deeply, but his image started to shimmer. Before he stood back up, he had floated off like the wind. The air around him was void and empty.
He turned straw into gold before my own eyes every evening but vanishing into the night left me staring at the space where he once stood, a clear reminder that this was not the world I thought I knew.
A stubborn king, a charming prince, and a magical man who spins straw into gold. What had I gotten myself into?
Chapter Thirteen
I woke up angry at Rumpel, his words coming back to stab me all over again the next morning. I scowled as I rolled out of bed and slid my feet into the slippers that I was becoming so attached to.
Suddenly, those slippers felt like another way in which I was forgetting the village girl that I was, and I kicked them off in disgust. I was sure Rumpel would say something like I cared more about the comfort and fine things than being true to myself. His assessment had a bigger impact on me than I thought it would.
“There, are you happy?” I shouted to the air, where Rumpel might be listening. “I’m not wearing the nice shoes!”
Barefoot and still grumpy, I trudged over to the mirror to pull myself together. Rumpel’s words replayed in my ears as I yanked the brush though my hair.
Was he right? Did I care more about people liking me and fitting in than I cared that the King was using me?
Part of it was true. I liked to please people, and I liked to be accepted. I had always known that about myself. But wasn’t that only natural? Didn’t we all want to be loved? What was so wrong with that?
Still bitter, I put my brush down. Since Rumpel seemed to know so much about me, I figured it was time that I found some things out about him. The library seemed like a good place to start.
I changed quickly, putting on the most plain dress I could find and leaving the slippers on the floor. I was surprised that Anna wasn’t in yet this morning, but I usually slept later so I figured she would stop by in a few minutes. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, though, and hurried to leave before she could find me.
It only took a few minutes to regret that decision. Anna could have pointed me in the direction of the library, but on my own I was lost. Bored guards were stationed around the castle, and I thought about asking one of them, but I was determined to not need help. I wound about on the stairs, trudged through hallways, and peeked into more rooms than I could count. I found the kitchens, where I was offered some biscuits, but no library.
Munching on my biscuit, I tried another hallway. A guard stood along the wall, and I was fairly certain I had seen him three times already.
“Can I help you, miss? You seem lost,” he said generously, stepping forward.
“The library?” I asked hopefully.
He nodded. “Right this way.”
He led me to the books, and I was glad he did because I was nowhere close. I thanked him numerous times before he left with a bow.
I still wasn’t used to the bowing and doubted I ever would be. I didn’t deserve a bow. Rumpel would have something to say about it, I’m sure.
Reinvigorated with my goal in mind, I ventured in among the shelves to find some answers. What I found caused me to stop and hold my breath.
There were more books here than I had ever seen.
Back home, the bookkeeper had four wide bookshelves, and I had thought that was a lot. But this room, which was twice as large as our tavern back home, put them to shame. Tall shelves lined the walls, each one brimming with books. There were also rows of shelves in the middle of the room, holding more books than I thought there were in the world. Even Anika, who I knew disliked reading and had little eye for beauty, would find this room magnificent.
Plump chairs formed a circle in one corner, while three others sat by the tall windows. The rest of the chairs were dotted throughout the remainder of the room. Each chair was a different size or color or shape, and they each caught the light in a different way.
The bleak, cold, stone walls were covered with bright tapestries, each depicting a different scene with colorful threads. One was a dragon, one was a maiden in a field of flowers, and a third was a cozy cottage littered with trinkets and illuminated by an active fireplace. I wondered if books correlating to those beautiful pictures were hidden somewhere in the library. The chairs and tapestries, combined with the tall windows and colorful books, made quite the picture. I could look at them all day.
Getting over my initial wonder, I started trekking through the shelves, searching for anything on Westfallen history. It took all my strength to pass by other books that looked interesting. I would come back for them.
On the sixth shelf that I checked, I found a cluster of books that looked promising. The History of Westfallen, Westfallen Kings and Queens, History, and Westfallen Past. I pulled out each book and hauled them over to a chair.
The first one didn’t go back far enough to talk about Rumpel, assuming he was the old king that I had heard whispers about. The second one looked more helpful, and I flipped through its pages until a picture near the back made me stop. It was the present King, only several years younger. He stood with two older people behind him; his parents, I assumed. He looked happy here, even though he was in a serious pose. When did that light leave his eyes? I scanned the top of the page. King Henry, Queen Germaine, and Prince Bellifusa.
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