by Mary Dublin
"I've never seen someone enjoy grapes as much as you," Daniel remarked, a dark eyebrow quirked. "Or pears, for that matter." He was watching her pluck three grapes off a bunch and pop them all at once into her mouth.
She blushed deeply upon meeting his gaze, realizing in hindsight the rashness of her excitement. If she wasn't careful, she could give away her true origins.
"They're a rarity in my kingdom," she said hastily. "I've scarcely had them twice before today."
Daniel only laughed, grinning at her as he popped one into his mouth. "You truly were robbed."
Esmae was jolted out of pleasant reminiscing when the door to the dining hall flew open. She cursed her lonely heart, for not having spared the caution to hear the human coming until they were right upon her. The door swung closed completely, sealing her into a new silence with a stranger wearing black boots.
With shaking hands, Esmae lowered the scrap of food back to the carpet, never once taking her eyes off the intruder. From the tremors alone, it was obvious these were not the footsteps of a young maid. This human was far bigger than that. He moved with slower, deliberate steps that rattled her to the core.
The enormous black boots paused for a time at the foot of the table. There was a rustling sound, then liquid being poured. Clearly, someone returning for an after-supper drink.
Just take it and go, Esmae willed him, back pressed against the inner table support.
The human didn't leave, idling beside the table and allowing no chance for Esmae to slip back to the walls unnoticed.
She held still, terrified that even the slightest movement would create a beacon to her presence. She had never dared to be so close to a human while outside the walls, not after she had first woken up beneath her bed with the two servants clearing her former room. That experience frightened her into keeping her distance, no matter how much she despised the cramped darkness.
The human shifted his weight, making Esmae go rigid. Her fingernails dug into the wooden table leg as the massive boots rattled the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut, unable to bear watching each impact and the distance each footstep carried him.
With her attempts to block out the human's noises in favor of keeping her sanity, Esmae wasn't prepared for the human to walk closer, creating tremors that refused to be ignored. The table leg provided a barrier, but the rapid approach was enough to scare the wits out of her.
A boot crashed immediately behind her hiding spot, and the breath she had been holding flew past her lips in a fearful yelp. Her hands couldn't fly up fast enough to stop the noise.
For a hopeful moment, there was only silence. She stood there with both hands clamped over her mouth, stifling the panicked whimpers that threatened to follow her short scream. The human didn't move right away, and she realized with a start that he had gone completely still too. Listening.
The boots shifted—presumably to carry the human away after he brushed off the noise as nothing. She sighed in relief, silently promising to never ever enter the dining hall again. A glance around the table leg, however, revealed that the human was anything but leaving her be.
A massive knee dropped to the ground, making her go cold with horror. With her only hiding place unsafe, she didn't stop to see the rest of him. Nor did she think twice about bolting.
Her composure shattered when a current of wind whooshed at her heels. Glancing over her shoulder was a mistake: giant, monstrous fingers were outstretched, clawing at the air where she had been standing mere seconds before.
"Dammit," the man thundered.
She was past the point of don't panic. Esmae kept her eyes straight ahead as she sprinted. Her exit waited for her just past where the patterned rug ended. But this human wasn't content to let her escape. With terrifying speed, the man got back on his feet. Between the legs of chairs, she watched him outrun her in a few long strides, shaking her world with every step. He raced to the other end of the table, blocking her exit.
She adjusted her path, aiming to the right of the legs that appeared on her path. One moment of unpredictability was all she needed to escape him. Once she was in the walls, everything would be alright.
Determined or not, she screamed when the chair at the end was wrenched away as though it weighed nothing. The man filled the gap. His knees hit the ground, and this time, his face lowered into view as well. Esmae stopped in her tracks, hands flying to her mouth in horror.
"Daniel," she gasped softly.
His hands clapped around her, trapping her darkness.
Chapter
Three
Esmae didn't have the capacity to scream. Even in the darkness, she could only see Daniel's gruff, determined face. She couldn't be sure if he realized what, or rather who, he held captive, but he would find out soon enough. And he would know that she hadn't left the castle the way he commanded her to.
The thought of his anger spurred her to push against his fingers and palms, desperately trying to squeeze her way free.
Dread uncoiled in the pit of her stomach when she was unable to budge a single one of his fingers on her own. Her mind refused to slow down. Daniel had balked at the idea of imprisoning her before, a glimmer of empathy nestled beneath the pain her betrayal caused. Now that she very clearly wasn't human, would he even see her as person enough to empathize? Images of cages and chains sprang to her racing thoughts, and she writhed anew.
"Let me go!" she wailed, her voice bouncing back to her within the fleshy walls. "Please!"
There was a deafening clatter outside. She was thrown between his palms as though he were using his clasped hands to clear a space on the table.
"I mean you no harm," Daniel rumbled, sounding shaken. "But I must get a look at you…"
"No!" Her voice went shrill. "Please, just put me down!"
She was ignored. She could only watch helplessly as Daniel's hands pulled apart up slowly, his face filled the opening. She backed away, panting, but there was nowhere to go. No way to avoid his scrutiny. There was nothing she could do as she watched those beautiful blues dilate with wonderment… and then confusion.
"What the…"
He whisked his upper hand off completely, bathing her in light. Daniel's heavy breathing went absolutely silent. Recognition turned his jaw slack.
Her relief, what little there was, was brief. He gave a shout that left her ears ringing. His hand fumbled beneath her, dropping her onto the table. The impact left her stunned and sore and short of breath. Esmae massaged her lower back as she propped herself up on one arm. When she squinted her eyes open, she was frozen all over again to see Daniel was leaned over her closely, eyes wide.
"What sort of magic is this?" he breathed.
No magic, Esmae thought hopelessly. Not anymore.
Her voice failed her. She could hardly think with him looming so close. He had been intimidating enough when he'd ordered her away from the castle. Now… now he was enormous and there was no escape. She couldn't outrun him, let alone reach the floor without injury. Even the short drop to the table left her moving tenderly.
Trembling at the thought of being snatched up again, she scooted away.
"I-if I answer, will you leave me be?" Her eyes flitted away from his face, unable to bear the weight of his stare any longer. "I should be gone, I know. I'll leave, Daniel. I'll really leave now, I promise you."
Daniel nodded blankly, not seeming to really hear her. "Is it really you?"
Esmae hesitated, then stole a look upwards and nodded. A warm rush of air brushed her hair away from her face as he let out a soft breath.
"But it can't be. You're…" Daniel raked his eyes over her, no attempt at subtlety. "You're minuscule."
She cringed away from the word. He didn't appear particularly angry, but that could easily change once his shock wore off.
"I am me," she insisted. "I'm Esmae." Though he had made no promises about releasing her, there was little else she could do but explain herself. If she wasn't so distraught, she might have felt the relief
of finally telling him the truth. "I'm a… a fairy. This is how I'm supposed to be."
Her shoulders slumped, but she felt as though her heart was going to burst. She hadn't a clue what he thought about fairies or magic. To make matters worse, witch magic was involved. Even fairies balked at something so foul.
"You needn't concern yourself with me," she said, daring to look at his face, his wide blue eyes. "Let me go."
Once again, the prince ignored her request. He crashed down into the nearest seat, dragging a hand over his jaw. He'd known of fairies, certainly, but her transformation was clearly beyond him.
"Everything before… was it merely a trick?" he asked after a long pause.
She eased up slightly now that he wasn't standing over her, but his tone sent a chill down her spine. He made it sound as if she'd had malevolent intentions. Straightening up, she shook her head.
"Not to hurt you. Never to hurt you." The more she thought about it, the more she realized how ridiculous it would all sound to him. "I wish I could have told you everything. But I… I had to lie. It was the only way I could have a chance of staying human."
Daniel didn't look any closer to understanding. His eyes bore into her, searching for something to make sense of in the confusion.
Esmae's face warmed. "I wanted to be human, but my kind has no such magic to make it so. I… I sought out a witch of the woods. I made a contract with her, and she granted me a transformation in exchange for my magic." She halted, gnawing on her lip as she looked upon Daniel's face. The kiss must be true. "It wore off," she murmured.
Finally, it sank in. Daniel was looking at her like less of a specter. Still, Esmae took a few more skittish steps backwards as he rested his arm on the table's edge, chin planted in his hand.
"But if you're meant to be a fairy… Where are your wings?" His frown deepened, struck by a possibility. "You didn't hand them over to a witch, did you?"
If she had wings, they would have twitched in agitation. "We only agreed that my magic would be the cost," she said rather snappishly.
The frustration was nothing new to her. Besides the desperation for survival the past few days, Esmae's mind constantly wandered to the witch and what sort of mix-up could have possibly occurred.
Catching herself before she could go on with such a blunt tone, she glanced down at the table timidly. "The enchantment could only work for three days on its own. I failed my end of the contract, so I reverted to my former self when time was up. Something must have gone wrong with the reverse transformation. I'm going to get my wings and magic back. I have to."
"And was hiding under my dining table a part of that plan?" Daniel pried gently.
Esmae blushed, struggling to form a reply. It was difficult to look him in the eye while remembering how he had dived to capture her just minutes ago. And had, quite easily.
"I didn't know you were going to be here," she admitted quietly. "If you must know, I was merely looking for some food for my journey."
Daniel's face contorted. "From the floor?"
"I wasn't stealing! No one else wanted it."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm not worried about the food, Esmae. I'm concerned that you've been eating table scraps for—have you been here the whole time?"
She flinched. One more crime against him. "I'm not trying to trespass against your orders," she hurried to say. "I meant to leave the first night, as you said! But without flight it's been impossibly tedious and I needed something to—"
"You're hungry?" he interrupted.
Esmae faltered, then bobbed her head meekly. When he didn't seem angered, she dared to press her luck.
"T-there's a potato just under the chair there," she squeaked out, pointing hopefully. "No one will miss it. If you only retrieve it for me and set me on my way…"
"No," Daniel muttered. He set his hands on the table and pushed himself up to his full height. "Stay there. I won't let you eat like one of the hounds."
Something fluttered in her chest as he walked away, rattling the table less and less by the time he reached the door that led to the kitchens. He sounded genuinely concerned for her, just as he had been when he found her at human size in the forest. But every one of her attempts to convince him to let her leave just now had been either brushed off or met with resilience.
As surprisingly calm as he was taking the news that he had been tricked by witchcraft, Esmae couldn't be sure what was going through his head. A powerless, wingless fairy would make quite a novelty.
Now was her chance—and it could very well be her only chance.
She ran to the nearest high-backed chair and peered over the side of the table, where leather cushion of the seat waited below. It wasn't a devastating distance, but her stomach still churned. She was bruised and cut up as it was, but a little more soreness was a small price to pay compared to being held captive.
Sliding her legs and the frayed skirt of her gown over the side, she turned carefully and braced her upper arms on the edge of the table. Gritting her teeth, she endured the protest of her muscles as she dropped lower and clung to the edge with her only hands. She contemplated the drop to the seat, beginning to wonder if she had made a mistake.
A gasp lodged in her throat before she could proceed. Daniel's footsteps came in the distance, followed by the kitchen door swinging open. Esmae dug her fingers into the table to hold on, her short breaths and her pulse ringing in her ears. Her eyes squeezed shut as the thunder of Daniel's approach increased in its intensity.
"Esmae?" he called out in a cautious voice. "Esmae, are you still—gods!"
Spotting her, Daniel threw what he was holding onto the table and thrust his open hands under her dangling feet.
"What the hell are you doing?"
The quaking of his movements and overwhelming nearness were terrifying enough, but it was his booming voice that truly undid her. Her aching muscles twitched painfully before her grip gave out. The drop to his palms was less staggering than she expected, but not quite comforting. He could all too easily trap her between them as he had done before.
Determined not to give him that chance, she gathered her skirts and stumbled to the edge of his hand. Ignoring his deafening protests, Esmae took another leap for the cushion. Perhaps she could take him off guard and—
She landed in his other hand.
He was quick for a human. Too quick. This time, he swept her to his chest, far from any easy escape.
"Why are you so determined to get away from me?" Daniel's voice rumbled behind her, and she whipped around to face him.
The proximity of the intimidating frustration on his face made her lean away in terror. She peeked toward the ground, but she was stuck. Even if the fall to the floor wasn't deadly, all Daniel had to do was shift a hand to halt even her most adamant attempts to escape.
Her voice was thick with the threat of tears. A lifetime of being drilled to tell the truth couldn't be erased by a few days' worth of lies. In her distress, she couldn't help but pour out exactly what she felt.
"Don't you see how easy it is for you to stop me? That's why! It would be just as easy for you to lock me away forever, or put me on display like some exotic creature! And I'd deserve it, wouldn't I? I did something terrible—I sought a witch and spent days lying to you! And you're not absolutely furious about it. I… I don't trust it. You could change in an instant, I didn't want to be here when it happens!"
Daniel's face fell, clouding with understanding. "I won't hurt you," he murmured. Esmae looked unconvinced, and he doubled his efforts when she averted her gaze. "I won't!"
"But you could."
Daniel sighed. "It looks as though you're suffering enough for dealing in dark magic. Adding to that burden would be cruel." After a beat, he lifted her higher. "I can help, if you'd let me."
Esmae looked up in astonishment, searching his face. Uncertainties still flooded her mind, but tentative hope trickled in as well. Still, she couldn't forget his look of betrayal when he'd taken her down to the basement
.
"Help me?" she echoed. "Why? I lied to you. By now, any fairy would have…"
Before she could ponder it any further, her stomach growled viciously. She grimaced and looked down, color rising to her cheeks.
Biting her lip, she peered up at Daniel from beneath her eyelashes. "You brought food?"
For the first time, the beginnings of a smile appeared on his face. The world rose around her as Daniel promptly stood and returned to his seat at the end of the table. Though his hesitance made it obvious he was still concerned about her running, he let her climb out of his hands next to a gold-rimmed plate.
"You still like grapes, don't you?"
Esmae's eyes widened. A torn piece of brown, nutty bread lay askew next to a grape sliced in half, along with a fresh bit of roasted potato. If she hadn't been so hungry, she would have stopped to seek a confirming look from him. The gnawing in her stomach was far more demanding than whatever uncertainty she felt about accepting a meal that she couldn't hope to finish in one sitting. Stepping up eagerly, she snatched the nearest grape slice and took a bite out of the edge, practically whimpering in satisfaction.
A low chuckle came from the side. "I suppose that answers that."
She found Daniel staring at her, and her blush deepened. Taking care to slow her eating, she lowered herself to the edge of the plate, smoothing her skirt down.
"I wasn't lying about how grapes are a rarity where I come from," she said, contemplating the fruit in her hands. "And… I wasn't lying about Evrosea either." She took another bite of the blessedly fresh fruit, shutting her eyes for a second in utter bliss.
"I don't need any more convincing," Daniel mumbled. "In a strange way… this all makes sense to me."
Esmae nearly dropped the grape half onto her lap. "You're serious?" she choked out.
Daniel smiled, nodding. "It makes a great deal more sense than you being a high-stakes criminal. You really didn't seem the type. Still don't, I might add."
She couldn't help but laugh. As frightening as her night had been, it lifted a weight off her chest to finally come clean to Daniel. She could hardly believe he could smile at her at all.