Then, Queen Briar screamed. Her despairing voice tore through me like infinite shards of glass, and I hugged Amir, searching for an escape from the raw and unrelenting truth of it. His heart thundered against my ear as we took some small measure of comfort in each other. Her scream tapered out, only to be replaced by desperate, visceral sobs echoing up the stone steps. Each one hit me square in the gut.
“We should keep moving.” Amir held my shoulders as he leaned back.
“Yes,” I replied, wiping away the tears that had travelled to my chin. “Perhaps we can at least return her daughter.”
“And if we’re lucky,” he said as he turned to move up the stairs, “her husband as well.”
“By the gods, yes. I almost forgot about the king. He could be anywhere in this city. Or anything.”
“If we find Aurora…do you think he might be open to negotiating an alliance with us? One that doesn’t require a marriage?”
I sniffed back the last of my tears, determined to file them away for another time. “I’m sure he will. What reasonable person wouldn’t?”
We fell into silence as we continued up the stairs. There was no more to say. No more we could do until we found Aurora. The torches I lit provided very little heat, and it was getting colder as we climbed higher.
“Do you want my cloak?” Amir must’ve noticed my shivering.
“No,” I said, grateful but insistent. “We must be nearly there. Even if she magicked the tower to seem higher than it is, such a spell would unlikely be infinite.”
I’d always hated the curving staircases inside some royal buildings. Darkness did not scare me. It was the design. I always felt as if I were marching through an endless void, constantly moving but never getting anywhere. Yet, for once, that sensation did not come over me, despite the unnatural amount of time we’d been moving along it. I didn’t feel lost or disoriented; I felt resolute, as though I knew where I was going and what I would do when I arrived. Though such a feeling made no sense, as I’d never been to Oldpass before, nor did I know what to do to break the curse. It seemed unlikely Amir would be able to wake her with the only known cure for such immense dark magic: true love. The kind of love expressed through touch. Through kiss.
We came to a small landing before a large, open space where there might have once been a door. What little I could see of the circular room beyond was unnaturally bright given the sun had started its lazy descent beyond the horizon. Amir and I stood on the landing, considering each other. He smiled, and though I didn’t quite know why, I smiled back. We’d made it further—as far as we knew—than anyone else who’d sought out the sleeping princess. He’d told me things about himself I suspected he’d not told anyone before, and somehow, his trust and honesty had helped me realise that I could love him in ways I hadn’t considered before. Ways that were sincere and affectionate, but not romantic. Amir had freed us both, and together, we’d achieved something incredible. Even if we failed in our final task, we’d at least freed the brothers and their mother. That was something. If it had to be, it could be everything.
“Who would’ve thought the two of us would actually get here?” I said at last.
“You doubted?” He grinned playfully.
I kicked at his shin gently. “I’m sure you did as well!”
He turned towards the chamber beyond the landing, his smile fading as he seemed to steel himself. “Let’s see if she is in there.” His hand firmly gripped the pommel of his sword, and he looked ready for a fight. I sensed his thirst for action might be denied yet again.
Without a word, I stepped past him and entered the room, Amir following behind. The capacious room was illuminated by an orb embedded in the ceiling, quite similar to my moonbeam stone but at least five times larger. Light spilled out from it, shards of light reaching towards the simplistic bed in the centre of the otherwise empty space.
She was really there. The princess.
Aurora rested on her side, one hand pressed gently against her own cheek. Red hair spilled across her neck and shoulders, its flamboyant beauty made all the more magnificent by the contrast of a bland white nightgown. Her chest rose and fell, the sound of breathing rhythmic and robust. She was definitely alive, and so my own breathing quickened.
“I didn’t really think she’d be here,” I said, incredulous.
Amir exhaled loudly, as though he’d been holding his breath. “No,” he whispered. “I don’t think I did either.” He moved to the end of the bed and looked down at her slender form pensively. “It’s hard to believe this woman has been here, trapped for almost a century, in that exact position. She looks like she’s taking a nap.” He leaned forward and tilted his head to the side. “She’s quite beautiful.”
I walked around the opposite end of the bed, circling it so I could see her face from the other side. As she came into view, I fell to the wooden floor, my knees suddenly too weak to hold me up. Time slowed all around me as my ribs tightened against my heart.
Crimson hair. A narrow nose above generous lips and a soft chin. It couldn’t be. She…she…Aurora…the princess… My thoughts were leaves caught in a hurricane. I couldn’t grasp any of them.
“Talia!” Amir pulled me up off the floor and held me so tightly he probably would have cut off my air supply if I’d actually been breathing. “What is it?” He pulled back and took my face in his hands. “Are you hurt? Is it the poison again?” I could hear his words, yet they made little sense.
My skin grew hot, fingertips starting to tingle. I curled my fingers and stabbed at my palms with my nails to force an inward breath. Sucking in the air, I refocused on Amir.
“It’s her,” I managed to say, continuing to breathe heavily.
Amir’s eyes squinted, and his eyebrows slanted inward.
“It’s Red.”
He relaxed his face as he moved his hands to my side, holding me just enough to make sure I didn’t fall again. “Your friend from the Other World?” He looked from me to Aurora’s sleeping form. I couldn’t follow his gaze. What if I was wrong? What if it wasn’t her? What if it was her? I didn’t know which was more terrifying.
“I’m going to let go for a moment,” Amir warned before stepping towards the bed. He knelt, and I finally let myself look at the two of them. He reached out and brushed loose strands of Aurora’s hair behind her ear. She didn’t stir as her face came into full view.
“It’s you,” I murmured as I felt Red’s projected hand slip into mine, keeping my eyes on Aurora.
Amir looked at me over his shoulder but said nothing.
“You’re the princess.”
“Yes,” Red replied, her voice barely audible as she struggled to speak through tears. “I didn’t know.”
“All these years… This is exactly where we were meant to be,” I replied. Her thumb drew circles on the back of my hand, sending soft sparks of electricity through me. Sparks I knew would be forgotten as soon as her spirit disappeared.
But not forever. Aurora was right in front of me. Real. Tangible. If I were to touch my hand to Aurora’s face, it wouldn’t feel like a dream as it always did with Red. I’d be able to hold on to the memory of Aurora’s warmth, rather than mourn its passing.
“Talia.” Red pulled at my arm, encouraging me to face her. I closed my eyes as I turned, fear clamping down on my spine like a bear trap. After a few moments of thick silence, she spoke again. “It wasn’t easy for me to get here. Tanit didn’t want me to remember. Please. Please look at me.”
I opened my eyes cautiously, blinking away tears that took me by surprise. She smiled at me with such compassion that I couldn’t hold back the sob that erupted from me.
“Don’t be upset, my Talia,” she soothed, cupping my face with her hands. “You found me.”
“You made this happen, Red. Without you, I would never have ended up here.” It was astounding. Aurora, even though she might not have entirely understood why, had fashioned the making of her own salvation. It wasn’t Amir or me who had foun
d a way to save Oldpass. It was her.
“We did it together,” she replied.
“What do I do? I don’t know how to send you home. To your body where you belong.” My heart raced faster under the scrutiny of her gaze. It pumped so hard I thought my sternum might snap. I’d looked into those emerald eyes so many times before, but never with the possibility we could actually be…something.
“It’s so easy,” she said through her smile, her tears slowing. “Do you love me?”
I tried to swallow, but a hard lump had cemented itself inside my throat. Red swiftly moved her hands to my waist, pulling me towards her. I knew she was there in spirit only. Amir couldn’t see her, only the ways I reacted to her. I could feel her hands at that moment, but not her breath. There was no breath. There was no touch. Not really.
She softly dropped her forehead against my cheek as she whispered in my ear. “Do you love me?”
I couldn’t speak, so I nodded. The tears running down my face and the back of my throat wouldn’t let me say the words. I’d always loved her, but I’d never dared hope anything could ever come of it.
“Then kiss me,” she said. “Wake me up.” Like a cold mist that settles over warm water, she disappeared. I touched my fingers to my cheek, searching for some sign that she’d really been there. My skin was cold.
“Aurora guided us here,” Amir said, still kneeling next to the antiquated bed. I pressed my hands to my stomach and willed my nerves to stop scrambling my insides. When I’d calmed somewhat, I moved to the bed and sat down gently on the mattress.
“Yes,” I told Amir. “She hasn’t been lying here helpless for a century.” I wiped away one last tear as I realised how proud of her I felt. “This…magnificent princess has been weaving together the threads that would see Tanit’s evil destroyed. She must have been astral projecting for so long she completely forgot who she was, though she still somehow knew what she needed to do.”
“I know I can’t see her, but I don’t think she only came to you when you needed the help that would lead you here.”
“No,” I replied, finally able to swallow. I slid my fingers along the length of her forearm and interlaced my fingers with hers. Though she didn’t move, I could feel the life pulsating through her body. Beautiful and magical life. “It became so much more.”
Amir rose and took a few steps away. I shuffled up the bed and gazed down at Red. No. Not Red. Red was a spirit, a reflection of the woman lying on the bed before me. I searched Aurora’s face. It felt wrong to kiss a person who slumbered, yet she’d invited me, and so I hoped that what I was about to do could be forgiven.
Keeping one hand atop of hers, I lifted the other to her face and stroked the side of her neck, her skin soft and inviting. Leaning down, I let my gaze hover just above her. Her breath caressed my cheek in warm, gentle waves that brought a smile to my face. I leaned closer still, my lips brushing hers for a brief moment. Goddess. Please let this be the right thing to do.
I kissed her. It was gentle and brief, as I did not wish to linger. Not, at least, until she could permit me to do so. I pulled back, scared to open my eyes. What if it didn’t work? Nazli had said nothing could stand up against the power of real, experienced love. It was the only unfaltering truth in the universe. I couldn’t help but fear that what I felt for Aurora wasn’t the kind of love she’d spoken of. Or, if it was, perhaps it was necessary for the princess to return my feelings. Did she? I hoped so. I thought so. But I wasn’t sure.
Then a soft hand caressed the top of my knee. “Talia,” she whispered, her voice hoarse. My eyes flew open. Aurora sat upright, her head tilted as she leaned on one arm, the other moving from my knee to my neck. I grabbed hold of her hand and pressed it tighter against my neck. She was real. She wasn’t a dream or a spirit or some sort of illusion. She was there. With me. I don’t know if the sound that burst from my mouth was a laugh or a sob. Perhaps it was both. She smiled at me, as she had so many times before, but this time, she pulled me to her and pressed her lips against mine in a kiss that made me forget every other kiss I’d experienced in my life. Tucking both my legs beneath me, I wrapped one arm around her shoulders, the other reaching for her hair, my fingers becoming lost in its silken threads.
“Ahem,” Amir coughed. I laughed as I pulled back and looked at him. “Seems you managed to break the spell.” He dropped his hand from the pommel of his sword as he grinned at us.
“Of course, she did,” Aurora said, her face still so close to mine that I could feel the heat of her skin. “She was always going to. I just had to wait a while.”
My smile was so wide, I thought it might touch my ears. Every single event in my life had led me there, to that chamber. To her. I was grateful for all of it. I held both sides of her face and kissed her again, her lips, her arms, her body, all of it awakening me as if it had been I who’d slept for the last hundred years. When I pulled away, I yelled for a moment, startled that Amir had appeared directly next to us. I hadn’t heard him move. I jabbed him in the ribs with my elbow.
“Hey!” he protested. “I didn’t want you two forgetting I was here. That could become…awkward.”
Aurora huffed at him cheerfully. “You’re taller than you looked when I was projecting.”
“Well, I can’t comment likewise, I’m afraid,” he replied with a boyish smirk. “Whenever Talia spoke to you, she just seemed like something of a lunatic, mumbling to herself and shoving herself about the place.”
From somewhere outside, a loud trumpet sounded throughout Oldpass.
They were waking up!
“It’s working,” Aurora said. “That’s the call for a gathering in the square. My father must be out there somewhere, only he can give the command to assemble. My family! We must go find them.”
My heart grew heavy as I remembered what had happened to Anton. “Aurora, I-I wish I didn’t have to tell you this.”
Her face grew ashen, her eyes hardening. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Anton. He…”
“I’m sorry,” Amir said, saving me from my inability to speak. As gently as he could, he explained what’d happened in the castle courtyard. Aurora’s eyes glistened, until, finally, she cried out, covering her mouth with her hands. I engulfed her with my arms, holding her. She needed to know I was there. That I would support her. Love her. Whatever I could do.
“Wait,” she snapped back, suddenly calm. “Talia. We can help him.”
“What do you mean? He’s gone. I don’t know what we could do. It’s impossible to bring people back from the dead.”
“Only because there would never be enough power to drive such a spell.” She spoke quickly, and I had to concentrate to understand her words.
“What did Nazli tell you? Remember! There are three key philosophies.”
“Well, so she said. I never did find out the third.”
“But you have! You’ve always known the third. How do you cast your spells?”
“It’s difficult to explain. I suppose, at their heart, all spells are energy transferred. Taken from one place, often somewhere unseen, and moved somewhere else.” My mouth fell open as I realised what she meant. “Tanit’s curse! The power behind it isn’t gone. We just moved it. It’s still here, stuck to the web!” I jumped to my feet. We could fix this.
“If we can harness it, draw it to us—”
“And redirect it, we can pull Anton back through the veil—”
“And return him to his body!”
Amir clapped his hands together and drew his fingertips to his lips. “Is this possible? Can you bring him back? I would do anything to see my mistake undone.”
“The third philosophy—” Aurora started as she looked at me.
“Is that anything is possible,” I said. “Because no truth—” I took Aurora’s hand in mine and brought it to my lips, kissing it softly. “—is unfaltering. Not even the truth of death.”
“No truth, that is,” Aurora said, dropping her head to rest on my shou
lder, “but love.”
About Rebecca Langham
Rebecca Langham lives in the Blue Mountains (Australia) with her partner, three children, and menagerie of pets. A Xenite, a Whovian and all-round general nerd, she’s a lover of science fiction, comic books, and caffeine. When she isn’t teaching History to high schoolers or wrangling children, Rebecca enjoys playing broomball and reading.
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RLanghamAuthor
Twitter: @rlangham85
Website: www.rebeccalangham.com.au
Other books by this author
Beneath the Surface
Master Thief
Sita Bethel
THE WANING SUN looked like a huge gold coin as it edged toward the horizon, and Tyv wanted to pluck it out of the sky and hold it in his palm for a moment before sneaking it into his purse. He settled for climbing a nearby tree and snatching a round, fat, blushing apple from a high branch. Tyv sat on the bough with his legs swinging back and forth as he bit into the apple’s crisp flesh. A shock of juice washed over his tongue, both tart and sweet at once.
“You know, by law, I could stick a bolt into your heart for stealing from my orchard.”
Tyv looked down and saw Eirik astride his cream-colored horse named Sommer. The horse helped himself to an apple peeking up from the grass even as Tyv took a second bite. Slanted as the sun was, Eirik’s flaxen hair looked like a golden fleece. Tyv licked juice off of his lips.
“You won’t, though.”
“Oh? What makes you so sure?”
Once Upon the Rainbow, Volume Two Page 21