by Marie Medina
“I thought I made it clear I need more. I will not be duped again.” He stood. “So then your answer is ‘no’?”
She stood as well. “Not at all! My answer is that I do not have to promise anything. I am offering you love, not vows and empty words. Isn’t it better for me to say that I love you than to make promises? If you accept and believe in that love, you do not need my hand over my heart and solemn declarations. Shouldn’t my love be a promise in itself?”
She loved him? Love? If that were true she would make any vows he demanded of her, she would do anything to receive his love in return.
“I do not like to be tested, Josette. I don’t like these kinds of games. I asked you for something plain and simple, and I know you could give it to me quite easily. But you want your own way. You want to have that power over me. If you promise nothing, you won’t be breaking your word when you tire of me. I’ll not be made a fool again!”
“I love you,” she whispered. She tried to move into his arms, though he refused to embrace her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself close despite his lack of response. “How can you need more of an answer than that? I am sorry that you were hurt and wronged, but it is nothing to do with me! With us! I want you to trust me. How can we love if there is no trust? I’m not demanding words from you—I want actions.”
He pushed her away.
She groaned and actually stomped her foot. “This is not some womanly game! You cannot judge half the world based on the actions of one person.”
“The entire world judges me for something that was not my fault!”
“I do not!” she cried, her hands firmly planted on her hips.
He turned from her. “Leave me.”
After a long silence, she asked, “You want me to go?” She reached out to touch his back, but he felt the move and took another step forward to keep her hand off him.
“No, that is not what I said. Where would you go? Your father will not have you back. You said yourself he did not want you in the first place.”
“Thank you for the reminder.”
“Go to your room. It grows later by the minute.”
“We’re not done.”
He rounded on her. “We are done! Until you obey me and give me my answer!”
“And what will you do to make me obey you?”
His hands balled into fists. “Nothing. I’ll not let you ensnare me again.”
“Ensnare you?” she scoffed. “You are the most stubborn and infuriating man!”
She dared to call him stubborn after what she had just told him? He grabbed her and pulled her against him, a growl building in his chest. “I am not a man! Your mistake is thinking you can manipulate me like one.”
“You care for me. Maybe you will never love me, but you want me.” She pulled herself from his grasp. “You’re just in a foul mood because it’s late. Tomorrow you’ll want to talk. You’ll think about what I said, and we’ll talk rationally.”
He shook his head. “You’ve been here for two weeks. I’ve been like this for two decades. I’ll get over the loss. It’s all or nothing. A mate for life, not a lover for as long as I amuse her.”
“I will never leave you.”
“Promise. One word, Josette. ‘I promise I will never leave you’.” He clenched his teeth. “Say it.”
She glared down at the ground for a very long time.
He grew tired of waiting and did not want to continue the argument. “Go to your room.”
“I’ll try to keep out of your way from now on. I wouldn’t want to accidentally bring anything warm or bright into your dark, cold world.”
She stomped away from him, tripping over a rock as she rounded the fence. She cried out, and his keen ears caught a sob. He turned to watch her as she pulled her skirts up and ran into the castle.
Confessing her love made her vulnerable and gave him so much power over her. How could she do that, yet not make him a simple vow? If she loved him, she would want to make that promise. She would come into his embrace and say the words happily. He would not pity her or respond to her tears when she was the one stubbornly keeping them out of each other’s arms. He couldn’t understand her. Why was she doing this to him? To herself?
He turned at the sound of a low growl. Rumpelstiltskin sat on a rock, looking at him. Marrok put his hands on his hips. “She’s the one in the wrong. Like a spoiled, hungry child refusing to eat just to spite the nursemaid trying to feed it. Her reasoning is absurd!”
Rumpelstiltskin growled again, arching his back and hissing.
“Go to her then, if you’re on her side.”
Rumpelstiltskin blinked his large eyes and hissed one final time. He looked at the tower, his tail flicking sharply as he spat angrily.
Marrok growled down at him. He stopped as he remembered Josette’s words. Are you going to spend all our days growling at me? He cursed loudly.
Rumpelstiltskin ran for the castle, and Marrok watched as he deftly scaled his way to Josette’s window. When he reached the balcony, the doors opened for him, as all doors did when he approached. Josette came to the window moments later, and he jumped into her arms.
Marrok went into the castle and stalked down the hall, pulling his keys out. It was only eight, but he didn’t care. He did not want to hear or see her again tonight. He slammed her door as hard as he could and locked it. He stared at the door a long time, even touching it to feel how secure it was. If she could not promise forever to him, she would never get the chance to promise it to another.
Chapter Six
Josette ran her hand under the water, surprised to find it was hot. So he was going to make her his prisoner again but now he didn’t mind tending the boiler?
“Men,” she muttered. She finally understood what the women in the kitchen had meant every time they bemoaned their fates as wives. She looked at Rumpelstiltskin as she undressed.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but if you’re really a man under all that fur, I shall be very cross at you for lingering.”
He squeezed his eyes at her and curled up on a towel to sleep. He’d stayed by her side ever since her fight with Marrok. She wondered how he knew she didn’t want to be alone. More importantly, why was he with her and not his master? Did it mean she was more in need of comfort? She reached down and stroked his head, causing him to purr. She sighed. The sound comforted her, and it had helped her sleep last night.
As she settled down into the water, she heard a noise. Then the lock of her door turned. She had not imagined it. The sound echoed through the entire tower every single morning. She swore, knowing she’d never get down the ladder and the stairs in time to catch him. Of course, he’d only think her chasing after him, wet and naked, was a ploy to seduce him and “get her way.”
He loved her. She felt it deep in her soul. She saw it every time he turned his eyes to her. She’d even heard it in his pained voice as he’d told her to go away. If he’d only turned around it would have been written all over his face. She did not believe she was fooling herself on that point.
“We have to do something about your master, Rumpelstiltskin. He’s stubborn and proud and afraid.”
The cat jumped off the towel and stretched on the rug beside the tub. He kneaded the plush material with his front claws and then sat to clean his paws. She closed her eyes and immersed herself further in the water.
Marrok had accused her of being stubborn and wanting her own way. Wasn’t he doing the same by not listening to her reasoning? He wanted a promise from her and expected her to simply give it without questioning his reasoning. Didn’t he see how silly it was to expect a promise from her because his first wife couldn’t keep her promises? As sweet as relenting would be, she couldn’t. She resented the lack of trust his jealousy showed. If he truly believed she was different, he would at least be willing to work on it. She didn’t want to spend her life listening to apologies for jealous outbursts.
She hadn’t expected him to unlock her door at all
this morning. Did he expect her to leave? She couldn’t believe he wanted her to leave. He could scream that he would get over the loss all he wanted. She knew he would come around in time.
She grabbed a cloth and some soap and began to wash. Or would he? Exactly how stubborn was he? He’d locked himself away in this castle for years simply to avoid people. He could probably avoid her easily enough since he could smell her coming. Her best chance of having any influence on him was seeing him. Even if he didn’t want to listen to her, he would want to touch her. He would criticize her for that thought, but to her it was simply a fact.
She’d been reading books from his study, and wolves did indeed mate for life. The word mate kept running through her mind. She wasn’t a werewolf, but that didn’t matter. The wolf in him had chosen the mate it wanted. She could feel that when they touched. She admired his control, in fact. They’d spent nearly two weeks playing with fire. She’d trusted him not to take her until she said she wanted it, and he’d trusted himself to touch her and not lose control.
She sighed. He loved her. How had he been able to keep the words in after she said them? She knew nothing of men except for her encounters with him, but she’d thought their bond ran deeper than that. Or perhaps his control was truly that strong.
Last night should have been perfect. She’d decided once and for all that there would never be another man for her. She would say those words if he really wanted to hear them, but she would not make a promise of forever just to satisfy his desire to have a hold over her. It still perplexed her that he demanded a promise because another made to him had been broken. Wouldn’t it make more sense for him to want what she wanted, a love with no empty vows and meaningless pledges? He kept saying he didn’t want a wife. So why did he need the kind of vow a wife would make? She would rather hear him say he loved her than hear promises of forever and always.
She got out of the tub and began to dry off. If she was destined to spend today, and many other days, alone she’d best find something to do with herself. She smiled to herself as she had an idea.
“Want to reorganize all the books in the study, young master?” she asked Rumpelstiltskin. “He doesn’t need to read, does he? He can go pout in the woods until we’re done, can’t he?”
Rumpelstiltskin meowed and purred loudly.
* * * *
Marrok saddled his horse and took one last look up at the tower before riding off. He needed to clear his mind. Every single time he turned around, Josette was there. It had been almost a month, and he could not understand how she was able to putter around the castle humming happily when he was going out of his mind.
She had cleaned everything. She had scrubbed all the mold and mildew from the parts of the dungeon that had flooded. She had moved every single book in his study and arranged them by color! He couldn’t find anything. She had polished every piece of silver and dusted every inch of everything in sight. She had even cleaned his bedroom and aired out all his winter clothes. She’d made his bed and washed his sheets, and now they smelled like her. He’d taken to sleeping in the woods during the day as well to avoid the intoxicating torture.
He knew she heard him howling every night, and he’d heard things as well. During the day he often heard her happily chattering at Rumpelstiltskin, the tiny traitor who had not left her side since that night. He’d started bringing her jewelry now! Rings and pendants and jewels of every kind. But Marrok had heard other things too. Sometimes she threw things. Other times he heard her arguing with herself. He often caught words like “stubborn,” “silly,” and “infuriating.” And some nights he heard her crying as he shut her door. At times, he heard other sounds in the night, cries of pleasure. Every time he had to flee the castle, the need to join her and bring her completion far too great. She also very often went around only half-dressed, as if she knew he was watching her from afar. Many nights he’d seen her standing on her balcony for long periods of time, staring at the woods in her nightgown. Her every move tortured him, and he was certain she knew it.
Were her tears real, or would she be ashamed he had heard them? Would she deny them? If she were that upset, why did she trip along every day as if she were happy? Except for the occasional bout of temper and a few broken knick-knacks, she acted like she didn’t miss his company. For all of her late night vigils, she never made any effort to find him. He stopped to give his horse a rest. If she were so determined to change his mind, why not try to talk to him? Even a note would show some effort. Was it a punishment for his avoidance of her? He would not go groveling back to her. He still remembered breaking down when he confronted Lilianna. He’d been furious, but her cold and contemptuous words had pierced his very soul and reduced him to begging at her feet. He’d offered to forget everything if only she would stop. He banished the thoughts as he heard another horse on the path.
He turned and the other rider stopped as well.
“Philip?”
The man looked terrified. Marrok dismounted and held us his hands. “I have a question for you. And something else to say.”
Philip made his horse walk forward. He dismounted as well. “I haven’t bothered her again. I promise.”
He took a breath before beginning. He had no choice but to go along with her story. “I was going to apologize for that. We’d only been married a short time, and you saw how beautiful she is. She had many suitors before she chose me. I was still feeling a touch of jealousy.”
Philip nodded, smiling even though he still seemed very nervous. “She is lovely. I can’t blame you for your reaction.”
“What did you talk about?” He’d confirmed she really had said she was his wife, and now he wanted to hear more. He needed to hear it.
“Well, Lord Marrok, I was shocked to see her of course. She probably thought I was crazy, asking her all those questions.”
“Like what? She seemed very amused once I’d calmed down, so I was curious.”
“Well, I asked her if she was there by choice. I thought it was odd you let her outside the castle, that she didn’t run away. She just laughed at me.”
“Did she seem happy?”
“Yes.”
“Did that surprise you?”
“Sir?”
“Philip, I’d appreciate some honesty. Did it surprise you?”
He nodded. “At first. I thought about it later, and I was less surprised.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Why?”
“Well, you’ve never actually done anything, have you? Not to anyone. You’re honest in dealings with me. You pay me far more than you need to. I was so shocked I asked her if she loved you. I felt like a fool later.” He attempted another smile. “Once I stopped shaking.”
“And what did she say?”
“Well, yes.”
“But her exact words?”
Philip thought, scratching his head. “I think she said, ‘Of course I do!’” He shrugged. “Like I said, once I realized I wasn’t about to die, I felt stupid. I was glad not to see her again not only because of your reaction but also because she probably thought I was slow.”
Marrok clapped him on the shoulder. “She didn’t. She defended you royally, and she had a good laugh at me and my jealousy.” He turned back to his horse. “Thank you, Philip.”
“Um, there is one thing.”
Marrok mounted and rode over to Philip. “What?”
“I told my wife.”
“Ah.”
“So everyone in the village knows.”
“That’s fine.”
Philip’s eyebrows went up. “It is?”
Marrok smiled, and Philip’s eyebrows shot up even further. “It is now, Philip. Tell the world, if you like. The wolf has found love and witch’s curses be damned!”
He rode off, making plans. He would let her stew for another day or two, and then he would give her an evening she would never forget. After only two days, she had cared enough to try to ease his suffering by starting the rumor that he was happily married to a beau
tiful woman who had willingly come to him. Married or not, he would see that they both fulfilled the “happily” part soon enough.
Chapter Seven
Josette stared at the note. Want to play hide and seek? She looked at Rumpelstiltskin, and to her surprise he hopped down and left the room.
“What is he planning?” The sun had just set. When had he put the note on her bed? When did he want her to hide? And why did he want to play a game when they hadn’t spoken in weeks? She didn’t know what could have happened, but the thought of him finding her stirred the fire in her belly. The past month had given her many long days and nights to miss him…and his touch.
She descended the stairs and looked around. Where could she hide? She didn’t want to end up crouched somewhere for hours because he couldn’t find her, but she didn’t want to make it too easy for him either.
She felt hot breath on her neck. “If you don’t hide soon, how am I supposed to find you?”
She didn’t turn. “You’ve changed your mind? You’ll listen to how I feel? Hear me out?”
He leaned forward and smelled her hair. “I need my mate, not promises. If you still want me, run and hide. If not, go back to your room and don’t let me in. That’s the only thing that will keep me from claiming you this night.”
A smile spread over her face, and she lifted her skirts and bolted away from him. She ran up the stairs and turned quickly. She opened three doors and then ran even further. She went all the way to the end, closing the door softly. She bit her lip as she huddled behind the draperies. Her trick with the doors wouldn’t work because his sense of smell would tell him exactly where she was. She’d completely forgotten about that. Silence ensued. Was he going to make her wait? The tone of his voice had implied he wouldn’t be able to hold out for very long.
