Forbidden Fairytales- The Complete Series

by Caroline Peckham

  Aladdin rolled his eyes. “No one saw us. Everything's cool. We'll deny all knowledge if anyone comes sniffing around us tomorrow – which they won't. Simple.” He placed the wine back on the table then got up, stretching his arms above his head. “I'm knackered, see you in the morning.”

  “What?” I gazed at him as he sauntered toward his bedroom. “How can you sleep right now? You just killed a woman.”

  “He did, I saw it,” Kyra whispered and my foul mood almost cracked.

  “You saved the kingdom – well, maybe I did more than you. But you can take the credit if you want, I don't really care,” Aladdin said.

  I glowered at him.

  “What's the problem? You were willing to die for Osaria and honour and all that crap just this morning so what gives?”

  I gritted my teeth, unable to deny the fact that he was right. If we got caught over this, at least Gothel was gone. At least I'd done what I'd set out to do. And my life was worth giving for that.

  “There you go,” Aladdin said brightly as he noted the shift in me. “All you needed was a little change of mindset.”

  I ran a hand over my short hair again with a sigh. “I still don't think I'll sleep a wink. I want Gothel's body dragged from the river so I can see proof of her demise. I need a funeral and a casket to believe we actually pulled this off.”

  Aladdin grinned wildly. “Good things come to those who wait.” He stroked the necklace around his throat where the lamp hung, concealed as an amulet. “Like that kiss from the Princess. That was definitely worth waiting for.”

  All rational thought abandoned me in that moment. “Excuse me?” I growled.

  He grinned cockily. “She came to my room after the feast. I don't know what you did, but thanks for warming her up for me.”

  I charged across the room before I'd realised what I was doing and pinned Aladdin to his bedroom doors by the throat. “You’d better be having me on, thief.” I was spewing venom, my veins were pumped full of it. This lowlife could not have had his hands on her, his mouth.

  Kyra hurried to our side in concern. “Stop fighting,” she begged.

  Aladdin tried to shove me off and I slammed him back so the doors flew open and we stumbled into his bedroom.

  He danced away from me with a scowl. “What the hell?”

  I ground my teeth, possibly more angry than I'd ever been in my life. Heat was everywhere, consuming, drowning. But I didn't have a leg to stand on with this argument. I'd been a second away from claiming that kiss for myself.

  Her first kiss. And this thief had stolen it.

  My throat constricted. Flames scored into my flesh.

  But if I lost my shit, he was going to realise this was more than me just being protective. Of doing my duty. So I settled on the only card I had to play.

  “It's not proper,” I snarled at him.

  He stared at me for several long seconds then barked a laugh. “Get out, Cassian. I'm going to bed. And please, for the love of all that is valuable in the world, get that stick out of your ass by tomorrow morning.”

  He threw himself onto his bed and Kyra hovered nearby. She looked to me with hope in her gaze. “I can help you with the stick-”

  “I'm fine,” I huffed, turning and marching from the room. I left the door open for Kyra but she didn't follow. I was half tempted to drag her out here away from Aladdin's roaming hands, but she had her own mind and it wasn't for me to tell her what to do.

  I took Aladdin's place on the couch then snatched up the bottle of wine and swigged a mouthful. What was the point in manners right now? Tomorrow we could be caught, tried and hung for the Queen's murder. So screw it. I was going to drink like a lowborn street urchin. Because why not? The Princess clearly thought Aladdin was charming enough. Who cared if his guard acted like a thug? Not me. I didn't give a shit anymore. Not one.

  You're just jealous.

  Shit.

  I tipped the bottle into my mouth.

  Bad idea.

  Shut up moral high ground. You don't get a say anymore.

  Kyra stepped out of the room, her eyes trailing over me. She had a long pair of wooden tongs in her hand.

  “What are those for?” I frowned.

  “Aladdin wished for them to...um...get the stick out of your ass?”

  Aladdin's laughter sailed to me.

  “Screw you!” I called but a laugh threatened to break free of my throat.

  Damn that thief.

  Kyra started giggling, gazing at the tongs then snapping them in the air. “I get the joke now. It just clicked together for a second. Like for a moment, I was me you know? No he doesn't know, because you're crazy. Look at him, he thinks you're crazy.”

  “I don't think you're crazy,” I said, taking another sip of wine. I'd had more wine in the last few days than I’d had in my entire life. I was going to become an alcoholic at this rate. Just another label to add to my increasing collection of shameful behaviours.

  Liar, thief, lech. And now you drink too much. A real catch. Ma-mar would be so proud.

  Well I don't need to be a catch. Who am I trying to impress?

  “You look sad,” Kyra said gently. “Is it because of the freaky lady Aladdin pushed in the river?”

  “No, that's not why,” I admitted. Although, that was definitely what I should have been focusing on. But since Aladdin had mentioned kissing Rapunzel I'd turned into a ravenous guard dog again.

  Kyra shut Aladdin's door and moved to join me on the couch. Her eyes shimmered with light and I wondered if this was what she'd meant about feeling herself again. I could see a whole person staring back at me right then.

  She rested a hand on my knee and my brows knitted together in surprise. “It's because he kissed her.”

  Shit, sane Kyra was smart. And I didn't need anyone figuring out what I was currently feeling.

  You can't be jealous over a woman you never had. Rapunzel wanted Aladdin even when you were with her tonight. Because you were just pretending to be him. If she knew who you really were, she'd be disgusted.

  “She's very pretty,” Kyra whispered, her eyes meeting mine.

  I sipped my wine, shrugging one shoulder. I didn't want to have this discussion.

  “It's not about pretty,” I grunted and she tilted her head as she surveyed me.

  “What is it about?”

  “What's right and wrong,” I muttered, knowing I would be a hypocrite to call Aladdin unworthy when I was equally so. Rapunzel had chosen him, so I just had to try and deal with that.

  Kyra glanced over at Aladdin's bedroom then back at me. Her eyes dimmed and I sensed her real self slipping away from me again. “Well he's not happy, look at him, what can I do? Maybe dance. People like dancing.” She stood up and I caught her arm.

  “Go to bed, Kyra,” I encouraged and she released a breath of relief before heading across the room and stepping through her door.

  Pity stroked my heart as I watched her go. I wondered how long she'd been cooped up in that lamp on her own. At least she was free of it at last, but now she was wrapped up in this bullshit with us. Her head would be on the chopping block too if they found out what we'd done.

  Maybe they'll find the potions, assume the worst of Gothel...then perhaps no one will bother to go looking for a killer.

  Maybe maybe maybe.

  I finished the wine, rising to my feet abruptly and the room spun. I blinked heavily, a giddy smile pulling at my lips. Gothel was gone. The plague on my kingdom was cured.

  “I'm going to go to bed and tomorrow I'm going to wake up to a shit storm,” I told a chair, then strode into my room. I tried to be quiet, but wasn't sure I managed it as I knocked over a table then face-planted onto the huge mattress.

  The last thing I thought of before I passed out was two glittering amber eyes and the words, “I want to be free.”

  Kyra didn’t come to my bed that night to watch me sleep or for any other reason either. Not that I did sleep much. My thoughts were full of her and I
spent most of the night talking myself out of seeking her out. If she didn’t come to me then I knew I couldn’t push it with her but it took every ounce of my will power to stay where I was instead of going to find her.

  I hadn’t been this hooked on a woman in a long time but I knew it would pass. At the moment she was this forbidden thing, tempting me closer all the time. I knew if I could just get what I wanted from her then I’d likely lose interest before long. Which probably meant I was better off not getting it. Because Kyra was too important to me to screw up our friendship like that. I needed her. She was the only reason I wasn’t still living under Egos’s thumb in the gutter. And now I’d had a taste of the better life, I knew without a doubt that I never wanted to go back. Which meant that instead of spending my time daydreaming about a genie who may or may not have thought I was butt-ugly anyway, I needed to focus on winning myself a princess.

  I pushed myself upright and crossed my chambers to locate some clothes. The sun was coming up and we were expected at a feast with the Princess for lunch. No doubt Cassian would have more instructions for me on passing myself off as a Count. Presuming he’d gotten over his horror at the thought of me kissing the Princess enough to talk to me that was.

  I smirked at the memory of the way his eyes had bulged at that fact and decided to spend the day taunting him over it as best I could. I wondered if he’d be any better at taking my bullshit than Balthazar had been. I kinda wished I had someone to place a bet with over it. But Cassian was likely more uptight than my former rival so my guess was that he’d snap even faster. It’d be fun to find out if I was right.

  I needed to talk to Cassian about his meal with the Princess last night too so that I didn’t make a fool of myself in front of anyone or give the game away with my ignorance on what had been discussed. After everything that had happened with Gothel, all thoughts of those things had been driven from our minds but now it was more important than ever for us to have our story straight. With the Queen missing, all eyes would be open for any source of duplicity or strange behaviour so we had to have our game faces on.

  I pulled on a pair of navy trousers and went in search of my faithful guard.

  Kyra was sitting in the same windowsill as she’d been in when she asked me to touch her last night and I gave her a curt nod as I passed her by, ignoring the impulse to go to her.

  Her eyes widened as she watched me pass and her voice carried after me as I headed into Cassian’s room.

  “He already thought I was strange anyway so I don’t suppose it matters... well, ugly can take many forms...”

  I ground my teeth, refusing to turn back and ask her what she was muttering to herself about.

  Cassian hadn’t made it out of his clothes but he had managed to vomit on himself. The combination of the alcohol he’d consumed and whatever foul cocktail Gothel had forced on him had obviously been a little much for him.

  “Wake up!” I barked, clapping my hands at him when he didn’t rouse instantly.

  Cassian groaned, drawing a pillow over his face before realising it reeked of vomit and throwing it away from himself with a cry of disgust.

  “Oh my head... By Osaria, what’s happening to me? I feel like I’m coming down with sand pox.”

  “I think you partook in a little too much wine last night, mate,” I said, eyeing the state of him with a hint of amusement.

  Kyra trailed into the room to see what was going on and her eyes widened in surprise.

  “Oh it smells delicious in here,” she gasped.

  “It really doesn’t,” I replied. “I wish for the vomit to be gone and for a pitcher of ice-cold water.”

  Kyra tilted her head and the vomit disappeared alongside the stench. The jug of water arrived in her hands a moment later and she handed it to me.

  “That’s exactly what I need,” Cassian groaned, moving onto his knees so he could reach for the water. “My mouth is as dry as the Lyrian Desert and-”

  I threw the pitcher over his head and he gasped in shock as he was drenched in the freezing water.

  “What the hell?!” he bellowed, scrambling to his feet on the far side of the bed as Kyra started laughing then clapped a hand over her mouth as murder flashed in his eyes.

  “Get up,” I demanded with a smirk. “We need to discuss last night before the feast and breakfast will be here soon.”

  I turned and left the room before he could act on the impulse to attack me and Kyra hurried out behind me. As we reached the central chamber, a knock sounded at the door and I moved to open it.

  The same serving girls from the day before entered and began to lay the table with our meal. One of them moved close to me as she placed a pitcher of water on the table and I stepped into her path before she could retreat.

  I reached out and hooked a finger under her chin, forcing her to look up at me.

  “What’s your name, love?” I asked, giving her the kind of smile which should have made her go weak at the knees.

  “T-Tamil, sire,” she breathed as she held my eye and I could tell I was having the desired effect on her.

  “I think you’re the most beautiful serving girl I’ve ever laid eyes on, Tamil,” I said, lowering my voice enough to make it seem like I was only talking to her but knowing full well that it would carry to the other servants and Kyra all the same.

  Tamil inhaled sharply and I could tell that I was only a few more pretty words away from getting her to come to my bed later if I wanted her.

  “Thank you sire, but I’m really not all that-”

  “You’re a rose among thorns Tamil,” I interrupted her. “Never doubt it.”

  Her pupils dilated and I drew an inch closer to her before releasing my grip on her chin and leaving her flustered before me.

  “My lord, we really must be getting ready for the feast,” Cassian interrupted loudly as he strode into the room, pushing his wet hair back irritably.

  I drew away from Tamil and gave her a wink before she scuttled from the room with the other serving girls. I could hear the three of them giggling in the corridor and my gaze strayed to Kyra who had laid down on the couch and was twisting a curl of her hair around her finger, changing its colour from black to red, blue, purple, blonde, green... She didn’t seem to care that I’d just been flirting with that girl. Or even to have noticed at all.

  I don’t give a shit anyway.

  Keep telling yourself that and it might become true.

  I ground my teeth in annoyance and looked away from Kyra as she kicked her legs up onto the back of the couch, revealing her thighs. If she’d been any other woman I’d have been sure she did such things to gain my attention. But the most infuriating thing about her was that I was positive she didn’t. She was just insanely alluring without even trying to be. And the more convinced I became that she held no interest in me, the more difficult I found it to draw my attention away from her.

  Cassian rounded on me and I fixed my gaze on him as he started to berate me about impropriety and maintaining standards and rumours circulating faster than wildfire...

  I yawned widely, dropping down before the food and quickly filling a plate.

  Cassian cursed and moved closer to me, reaching out towards me as if he thought he might shake some of his nonsense into my head.

  “I wouldn’t, mate,” I warned, my gaze icy as I looked up at him before he could close the distance between us. “The mood I’m in, I might just take your spleen out with this fork. So keep your hands to yourself and take a seat. I need to know how badly you screwed up my reputation last night.”

  Cassian glared at me, eyeing the fork in my hand and seeming to wonder whether or not I meant it. I cocked my head at him, preparing to rise from my seat and he released a heavy breath before dropping onto the couch.

  “Trying to pass you off as a Count was a terrible idea,” he growled. “You can’t fake good breeding and your blood might as well be rat piss.”

  “Well this scumbag might just be your Emperor soon so maybe yo
u should watch your mouth.” I speared a piece of melon onto my fork aggressively enough to carve it in two and send one of the halves falling to the floor.

  “I can watch your mouth for you if you’d like me to, Cassian?” Kyra breathed, gazing at his lips in a way that made me want to rip them off.

  “It’s an expression Kyra, stop staring at him like a common street whore and try to add something useful to the conversation or don’t speak at all,” I snapped.

  The genie ducked her head, looking like a puppy I’d just kicked before hurrying from the room and disappearing into her chamber, making me feel like a total sack of shit. Cassian raised an eyebrow at me in surprise and I turned my attention to my food, ignoring the judgment in his eyes.

  “Tell me what happened at the feast last night,” I demanded, keeping my eyes on my meal.

  “Don’t you think we should be discussing how to cover our tracks with the Gothel situation?” he asked incredulously.

  I rolled my eyes at him. “That’s what I’m doing. We all agreed that we never went to Gothel’s dungeon last night so we know nothing about that. It doesn’t need any further discussion. But what I do need to know is every detail of what happened at that feast so that I don’t raise any suspicions. And then I’ll fill you in on what happened after it and we just imagine that following that we all went to bed.”

  “I suppose that’s the best way to deal with it,” he murmured in a way that made me believe he wasn’t at all convinced.

  “Right then. Details,” I prompted as I continued to demolish my food.

  “For most of the night, I did as you said,” he muttered. “Kept quiet, feigned disinterest.”

  “And then?” I prompted.

  “And then what?”

  “You said for most of the night so I’m guessing at some point you got inebriated enough to loosen your tongue. Tell me how much damage control I’ve got to do.”

  “Well...” Cassian cleared his throat. “I insulted the young Prince and I imagine he hates you now. He stormed from the meal and the Princess didn’t try to stop him-”

  “Well it sounds like you managed to do that right at least. Besides he’s irrelevant; he’ll be taken out of the running in the next bout.”