As she grew, Romy had tried to venture further and further to find a way to break the spell. There had been moments when false hopes were raised. But no matter what the disappointment, Romy had always assured Rapunzel that she would find a way.
For once, Rapunzel wasn’t worried about the blasted curse. She refused to consider what her world would be like without Romy. Rapunzel would find her. She had to.
“What are you thinking about?” Justus asked softly.
Rapunzel glanced up in surprise.
He shrugged shyly. “You looked, I dunno, happy for a moment, and then desperately sad.”
“I was thinking about Romy,” Rapunzel said thickly.
Justus knew better than to comment on the emotion in Rapunzel’s voice.
“Will you tell me about her?” he asked instead.
Rapunzel tried to think of a pleasant memory. She began with, “I love the way Romy talks. It’s much like everything she does, fast, deliberate, and with a touch of something completely Romy. It reminds me a bit of a brook, racing and tumbling on its way over the rocks as it flows downstream.”
Justus nodded. “Tell me something else.”
“She’s not very tall,” Rapunzel said, her lips curving into a small smile. “Einar said that she would be half her size without her hair. That always makes Romy scowl.”
Justus laughed. “It sounds like you share a similar temperament.”
“Oh no,” Rapunzel answered, shaking her head. “Romy is far more patient than I am, and Einar is more patient than she is. They have worked very hard to make sure I’ve had a proper education. This is very important to Romy. She said that when I am reunited with my natural mother, I will need to take my place with the royal family.”
Justus nearly tripped, his voice going unnaturally high. “You’re part of a royal family?”
Chapter 3
“Is that a problem?” Rapunzel asked. “You have the oddest look on your face.”
Justus shook his head. “No, no. I just… It doesn’t matter. Tell me about this curse.”
“Leon,” Rapunzel said as if she were using a dirty word. “Romy says it is wrong to hate people, but I hate him anyway.”
“The man who cursed you?”
Rapunzel nodded. “His name is Leon, and he is a cousin to my father. Romy said that Leon never respected the magic that he had. He was always trying to bend the rules. Magic isn’t to be used against someone in harm. In order to do something this evil, the magical bearer must give up a part of themselves.”
“What did he give up?” Justus asked.
Rapunzel shook her head. “I don’t know. Romy said curses are a form of dark magic that she never learned. Now there are so few magic wielders on the earth. She’s spent years searching for one that has knowledge of those dark arts.”
“What did your mother do to Leon to make him so angry?”
“Nothing much,” Rapunzel replied. “Leon fancied my mother and wanted her for himself. When he learned she was to marry my father, he was terribly angry. In a fit of rage, he cursed her firstborn. Hence, the curse I now carry.”
Justus’ eyes widened. “A bit harsh.”
“Romy said that Leon was spoiled from childhood. But even knowing he was selfish, she never could have imagined he would go so far.”
“And your parents were fine with Romy taking you away?” Justus prompted.
Rapunzel shook her head. “My mother and Romy arranged it. My father was spelled along with the rest of the kingdom. I don’t know what he knows or believes. Romy never wants to speak of him. I get the impression she doesn’t like him very much.”
Justus looked surprised. “Really?”
Rapunzel sighed. “Papa Otto calls him a nincompoop when Romy isn’t around.”
Justus laughed. The sound makes Rapunzel’s stomach erupt with butterflies. Rubbing the offending area, she said, “I must be getting hungry.”
Justus checked the sun’s position. “I think we need to go a little bit further before finding food.”
“No need to rush,” a dark voice floated to them from the cover of the trees.
Rapunzel paled and covered her face with her cloak.
“Too young for an elopement, aren’t you? I wonder what a couple of kids like you are doing out in the woods.”
Justus, sounding highly offended, puffed out his chest. “I am nineteen, hardly a child.”
Rapunzel looked past the edge of her cloak. She saw an old hag coming out from behind the shadow made by the brush. She smelled of rotten earth and looked to have missed her last hundred baths.
Rapunzel felt terror grip her heart. It was one thing to say if there was trouble, she would use her curse to get away. And it was quite another to actually do it. Rapunzel had never even killed a fly. How could she even have considered murder as a feasible defense?
“Come inside,” the hag offered, pointing back toward somewhere in the darkness.
“No, thank you,” Rapunzel said firmly.
The woman’s green left eye and brown right locked on Rapunzel. “Who do we have here?”
“My sister,” Justus said firmly.
Rapunzel guessed that they might be able to pull off that association. Their coloring wasn’t that dissimilar.
“Hmm,” the woman pursed her lips. “Sister, you said. I have heard tell that the king of the eastern forests has been in these parts. His guards arrested two men in a cottage not a day’s ride from here just this morning. Said they were harboring a lost princess.”
All of the blood drained from Rapunzel’s face. It was lucky her hood covered how strongly the woman’s words had affected her.
Justus went on as if nothing was wrong. “You don’t say? And did they have this mythical princess?”
The hag smiled, showing off her rotting teeth. “Seems she is slippery. It’s told that if she touches someone, they will immediately die. They have offered a king’s ransom for her return.”
“A king’s ransom. Now that is interesting indeed. Please, tell me more.”
There was something about Justus’ tone that Rapunzel didn’t quite like.
“You know,” the old hag cackled and moved a bit closer. “Your sister doesn’t say very much.”
Justus sniffed unconcernedly. He straightened his shoulders, and then, to Rapunzel’s shock and horror, he reached out and took Rapunzel by the arm.
Rapunzel felt as if she was dangling on the precipice of a complete nervous breakdown. She waited for Justus to slump to the ground.
Only, it never came.
Tightening his grip, Justus continued with his conversation. “We best be moving on, Madam. But if we meet your princess that can’t be touched, we will be sure to inform the authorities. A king’s ransom does sound mighty pleasant, doesn’t it, though?”
Seeing that the boy was able to touch Rapunzel, the hag seemed to lose interest in them. Much to Rapunzel’s surprise, with a word or two more, she melted back into the woods. Justus’ hand felt like a vice on her arm. Even through her cloak and dress, she could feel the pressure of his strong fingers.
Was this how it always felt to be touched? Or was she feeling so odd because he was a stranger? Perhaps Justus was trying to keep her from falling? She certainly did feel faint.
Then it occurred to Rapunzel; she had to be dreaming. Birds didn’t turn into strange boys with eyes as blue as the sea. Boys certainly didn’t have the ability to circumvent evil curses. Obviously, she was dreaming. But the thought didn’t assure her much as she wanted it too.
Turning to Justus, she said ruefully, “It’s a shame that this is all a dream. I was just beginning to like you.”
Justus tripped over his own feet and sent them both sprawling. He said some words that Rapunzel had never heard before. From the way he spat them out, Rapunzel had a good idea that they weren’t words for polite society.
Her imagination wasn’t that good. Looking down at her torn stocking, Rapunzel was forced to admit she wasn’t dreaming.
<
br /> With angry red splotches on her cheeks, she turned to Justus. “How could you?”
He scowled at her. “What did I do?”
“You, sir, are a liar!”
This really brought the fire to Justus’ eyes. “Well, if that wasn’t the prettiest thanks I never did see!”
“You want me to thank you? Of all the nerve! Why you! You! You’re magic!” she accused hotly.
Chapter 4
“How long are you going to be giving me the silent treatment?” Justus complained, for what had to be the tenth time.
Rapunzel glared at him. “I am not giving you any sort of treatment whatsoever. I am merely trying to go along my way, and you, sir, are following me. I ought to find a constable.”
Justus rolled his eyes. “Well, that there is a brilliant plan. Why don’t you walk into the next village we come to and just announce who you are? I bet they will come running to help you.”
Rapunzel fought the urge to throw something at him.
“I bet they are lining up to help the one person on earth that can likely kill them if she sneezes.”
“You have no proof that my saliva is toxic to anyone,” Rapunzel retorted.
“What about snot? Do you have diagnostics on phlegm filled membranes?”
“You are disgusting,” Rapunzel uttered, throwing her hands up in the air. “I don’t know what I did to deserve this.”
“You and me both, sister,” he grumbled.
“And that’s another thing!” Rapunzel whipped around to face him once again. “You are not my brother!”
Justus sea blue eyes had turned to gray. His jaw was clenched, and his fists shone white at the knuckles. “I am well aware of our non-familial connections. I was trying to protect you.”
“I can take care of myself,” she replied angrily.
“Clearly,” Justus mocked. “Just look what a fine job you have done on your first day of freedom.”
Rapunzel didn’t like the way he had said freedom as if she were locked up or tucked away. “What do you mean by that?”
Justus laughed, but the sound held no delight in it. “Do you have any idea what they say about you?”
“Me?” Rapunzel pointed to herself. “What do they say? And furthermore, who is they?”
“Everyone.” He ran a hand through his flaxen curls. “It’s as if you have been living under a rock all of these years. Rapunzel, you are a legend. I have heard your story for as long as I can remember.”
“I don’t understand.” She hated to repeat the phrase over and over again. For as many books as she had read and lessons she had mastered, Rapunzel worried that there were volumes she could fill with what she didn’t understand about Justus.
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
Rapunzel reached her hand out to stop him. It was the first time she had voluntarily touched anyone besides Romy. The act itself was innocent, but the feelings it invoked when her bare hand touched his wrist nearly put Rapunzel in a tailspin. Surely this odd reaction was because she was so used to only touching Romy.
Rapunzel tried to reason that this intense reaction would likely happen with anyone else if they were in her special circumstances. But the idea didn’t sit well with her. She wasn’t sure why Justus meant something to her, especially since they had only met a scant twenty-four hours before.
The angry color that had been staining her cheeks began to fade. “It does matter. What are you speaking of?”
Justus replied, “Everyone knows about the witch that stole the king and queen’s baby.”
“Queen?”
Justus nodded. “Your parents were crowned a few years after your birth.”
Rapunzel frowned. “My mother should know precisely what happened.”
“They say that it drove the queen mad to lose her child. She is rarely seen these days.”
Rapunzel felt physically ill. “That’s not what happened at all! How can they make up such lies?”
But Justus wasn’t through. “They call your Romy, Dame Gothel, which means godmother. They say that Dame Gothel was jealous of the queen’s baby. And so, she poisoned the queen, tricking her into giving up the baby in exchange for the antidote.”
“Lies,” Rapunzel repeated. “How can they say such terrible lies?”
“The tale states that Dame Gothel has hidden the princess away in a high tower, all under the enchantment of magic. Soldiers have searched for years and never have found her.”
Rapunzel knew about the soldiers searching. It was the main reason they had moved in the night so many times. But there were no towers.
“Why a tower?’ she asked.
“No doors or stairs for anyone to enter.”
“That is impractical. How do we get food or use the privy?”
Justus blushed. “They never mention that part. As for food, it’s said that Dame Gothel calls up to the princess to let down her hair.”
“Let down her hair? Take it out of a braid or something?”
“Stop interrupting!” Justus snapped. “I didn’t write the tale. I am only repeating it. The princess is said to have long flowing hair. It has never been cut since birth.”
Rapunzel looked at her own hair. While it was fairly long, reaching the middle of her back. It was not long enough to climb. “In eighteen years, I am supposed to have managed to grow my hair several stories high. That’s the most improbable thing I have heard yet.”
“Wait for the next part,” Justus muttered.
Rapunzel gave him a grin. “Please continue. Once I let down my hair, what happens next?”
“Well, the witch uses your hair as a way to climb up the tower.”
“My hair?” Rapunzel asked in surprise.
“Well, yeah.”
Rapunzel laughed. It wasn’t a light, polite laugh. It was a belly laugh so contagious that Rapunzel was sure she saw Justus’ lips twitch a little. Soon his glower had faded, and he was looking a bit sheepish.
“It sounds a little ridiculous now that I hear it aloud,” he said with a grin of his own.
“Can you imagine the headache one would have lugging that hair around? And how could it possibly have grown that thick? If one were to try and climb it, I would fear those strands of hair would rip right out of my head. That has to be the most ridiculous tale I have ever heard. Nobody in their right mind could possibly believe it.”
Justus frowned. “They do, you know.”
“Surely not. It’s riddled full of ridiculousness. Goodness, I needed that laugh.”
Justus sighed. “Ridiculous or not, that is what they are saying about you and your family. Rapunzel, it’s a dangerous time right now between the kingdoms. I don’t know what you know of the politics of the nations, but tensions are high. And you, well, you are right in the middle of it.”
“Me? How could that be possible?”
“What do you know of the kingdoms?”
Rapunzel tried to remember what she had been taught. “There are the Raven people from the Midlands. The lands of the Northern Sea. The Forests of Craven, where my parents live, and also where I was born. And last, the Cliffs of Carmichael.”
Justus nodded. “I don’t know what you have been taught about my kingdom, but the Raven people, my people, are starving. Our nation has never coveted wealth. We are simple people with simple needs. However, times are desperate. People are desperate. Never mind,” he cleared his throat. “I was about to do something I shouldn’t.”
“Just realizing that now, boy?”
For the second time that day, a woman appeared out of nowhere. Only this time, the woman wasn’t an ugly old hag. She reminded Rapunzel of Romy with her inky black hair and the exotic shape to her eyes.
“Corbina,” Justus said, suddenly looking very awkward. “What are you doing here?”
“Did you really think I would let you turn my niece over to the King of the North Sea?”
Rapunzel froze, hurt and betrayal in her eyes. “What?”
“Did y
ou have to show up right now?” Justus tugged at his hair in frustration. “I was going to make a clean breast of it.”
Corbina shrugged her shoulder. It was then Rapunzel realized that the woman’s form was slightly see-through.
“Are you a ghost?” she asked half in fear, and the other half completely fascinated.
Corbina smiled. “Some would say yes. I have been called a ghost, specter, wraith, spirit, shadow, and more. I am Corbina, first and foremost. My time among the living has long since passed. But sometimes it is necessary for me to return to help guide those that lose their way.”
“Like me?” Rapunzel asked.
Corbina’s smile widened as she added, “In a sense. You, child, are very important to my kin.”
Rapunzel shook her head. “What do you mean?”
“Come,” Corbina said as she motioned to a little clearing with a place to sit and fruit trees.
“How?” Rapunzel could hardly believe her eyes. She knew this hadn’t been there moments before.
Corbina floated over to a soft bench and motioned for Justus and Rapunzel to join her.
Before Rapunzel took another step, she had to ask, “A woman told us that Papa Otto and Einar were taken captive early this morning. Romy is missing, as well. Do you know where they are?”
Corbina nodded. “Yes, child. I will tell you everything, I promise. I am afraid your journey is only beginning, and there are many perils in front of you.”
Chapter 5
Rapunzel followed Corbina to the small clearing. Before sitting down, she asked, “Where is my family?”
Justus, having picked some apples, handed her one and then took a bite of his own.
“How can you eat at a time like this?” Rapunzel asked incredulously.
“What? We haven’t eaten all day, and I’m hungry. Besides, I already know where Romy is. The king of the Northern Sea has her.”
Corbina shook her head. “Poor deluded boy.”
Rapunzel glared at Justus. “You don’t think you could have mentioned that before now?”
Kingdom of Crowns and Glory Page 18