Hellcats: Anthology

by Kate Pickford

  He purred louder.

  “I’m so glad you’re alright. How did you get up here?”

  “It wasn’t easy.”

  I took a step back and stared at the cat.

  “You can speak?”

  The voice chuckled. It wasn’t coming from the cat. He just looked annoyed that I had stopped petting him.

  I stood on tiptoe and leaned my head against the wall to see the side of the tower. I could just make out a masculine silhouette pressed against the stone. It was too dark to see him well, and he wore a black cloak that covered his face.

  Definitely not a cat.

  “How are you standing there?”

  “There’s a small ledge.”

  For the briefest moment, I hoped it was Peter. But the voice was too deep and cold, and Peter would never climb so high.

  “Who are you?”

  “That’s none of your concern.”

  The cat meowed loudly, reminding me that I was failing in my sacred duty to scratch his chin.

  “That creature is persistent,” the man said. “He insisted I bring him up here.”

  “You climbed this tower to bring my cat to me?”

  “I was coming up anyway.”

  “Why?”

  His grin flashed in the moonlight. It wasn’t particularly friendly.

  “You’re in quite the predicament, aren’t you? Spin gold for the king now, and you’ll spin for the rest of your life.”

  “I don’t spin straw into gold.”

  “Then you must rely on His Majesty’s mercy when he finds that your father lied.”

  “The king has mercy?”

  “No.”

  The voice was grim. I shuddered. “What can I do?”

  He paused a moment before answering. “It is a difficult situation.”

  “I already know that! Did you climb all the way up here just to tell me I’m in trouble?”

  He laughed. “That would be a foolish thing to do. I came to make a deal.”

  It wasn’t natural, the way he balanced on nothing and glowed in the moonlight. Something shimmered in the air around him. Some kind of magic.

  “You’re fae.” I meant it as an accusation, but he took it as a compliment.

  “At your service, miss.” He accented his words with a mocking bow. A foolish gesture since he was standing on such a narrow ledge.

  “I don’t trust fae.”

  “Very wise of you, but you don’t have much choice at the moment.”

  Unfortunately, he was right. If I wanted to get out of this, I needed help.

  “What do you want?”

  “We can discuss terms later.”

  “Absolutely not. We’re discussing terms now.” I knew enough about fae to know that was essential. Their bargains always held some kind of trick.

  He laughed again. A low, throaty chuckle that almost sounded like a growl. “Very wise, Miss Emily. What do you have to offer me?”

  Not much. I turned the question back on him to buy time. “What are you offering?”

  “What do you want?”

  Talking with a fae was almost as annoying as being one.

  I considered his question. What did I want? It was important to get this right. “I want a normal life. To live without worrying about my magic.”

  That seemed impossible, but I might as well ask for the moon if he was offering.

  “A reasonable desire. Given some time, I can manage that.”

  “I don’t have time. The magic is already burning.”

  “The king will wait a few days for the promise of unlimited gold. Tell him you need finer straw. Or that you can only spin gold with your own wheel. Delay him, and I will find a way to help you escape.”

  “I told you, I can’t spin straw to gold.”

  “Very well. If you insist on telling that fiction, then I can help with the deception.”

  “And what do you want in return?”

  “I will require something from you each night we meet, and I will not name those things in advance. If you find any of my requests unreasonable, you may refuse me and end our contract. Do we have a deal?”

  “Those are horrible terms. How do I know you won’t ask for something exorbitant?”

  “Oh, you don’t. That’s what makes it fun. Go ahead. Turn me down if you like. Perhaps you’ll find someone else to help you.” He grinned again.

  I gritted my teeth. “I think I’m going to regret this.”

  “Quite possibly.” He held his hand towards me. It was smooth and elegant. Silver rings glittered on his fingers. I reached around the cat and took it.

  The fae’s skin was cold to the touch. It cooled my burning magic like nothing else ever had. I gasped, and his grin said he had known this would happen. I stood on tiptoe to move closer, and he spread his fingers so our palms pressed together.

  My hand looked tiny and rough compared to his. I had callouses from the constant spinning and freckles from days spent in the sun. He intertwined his fingers with mine and squeezed my hand. The cooling sensation spread down my arm until I shivered from a chill.

  I couldn’t remember the last time I felt cold. I clung to his hand even when he tried to pull away.

  “I must go before the guards begin their next patrol,” he said.

  “But I haven’t given you anything in return.”

  “Haven’t you?” He pulled his hand away and twirled his fingers in the moonlight. Gold rings glittered against his silvery skin. “I thank you for your payment.”

  So that was it, then. Why did everyone want the same thing from me? Why did everyone think gold was the most important thing in the world?

  “By the way, what is the cat’s name?” he asked. “I feel rather foolish simply calling him cat.”

  “He doesn’t have a name. Nothing ever stuck.”

  “No? Well, you should keep trying. Names are important to the fae. Very important.”

  Then he scooped the cat up in his elegant hands and disappeared.

  The night grew colder, and I spent hours half asleep and shivering. Had I been foolish to make a deal with a fae?

  I awoke to the sound of wood scraping rock and sat up. Sleeping on straw had left me stiff and itchy. I was hungry and tired and cold.

  And I forgot about all of that when King Banagher walked into the room. He scowled at the pile of straw as if it were a personal insult. “You haven’t even tried. Is there a problem with the spinning wheel?”

  The midnight visitor had given me courage I hadn’t possessed the day before. He would help me if I could only delay the king a few days. I stood and brushed off my skirt. “Sire, I did try to tell you my father is a liar. I can’t spin straw to gold.”

  The king’s face hardened. “Your father has been selling the most unusual golden items in the marketplace. Highly suspicious if you didn’t create them. Theft of gold is a capital offense.”

  “And I’m sure my father will understand that when you bring him to trial.”

  “He’s already had his trial. Your father agreed to tell the truth in exchange for a pardon, and he told us about you.”

  “What?”

  “You stand accused of the theft of gold. Prove your innocence by showing you obtained this gold through magical means, or you will be executed tomorrow morning.” King Banagher stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

  A guard brought a bowl of burned oatmeal for me. It was disgusting, but I ate all of it, wrapping my hand in my apron to avoid touching the spoon.

  Then I paced the floor, trying to think. My cell still felt cold, and the exercise did nothing to warm me.

  Spinning gold for the rest of my life was preferable to execution, wasn’t it? I gagged at the thought of marriage to the king and glared at the pile of straw. It would only take a few hours to spin it to gold. Should I?

  Or should I rely on a mysterious fae who hadn’t said how he would help and didn’t have the decency to outline the terms of our deal?

  Either
way, he needed a few days to free me. I didn’t have that kind of time.

  I didn’t trust fae. I didn’t trust humans either, but at least I knew what to expect from them. As long as I could make gold, I had leverage. I picked up a piece of straw and ran my fingers over it, accepting my fate.

  Nothing happened. My fingers weren’t burning.

  I grabbed a fistful of straw and tried to spin it to gold. The straw splintered and broke.

  I shivered. It was afternoon, and sunlight should be warm. I should be warm.

  But I wasn’t. I stared at my hands, horrified.

  The fae had taken my magic.

  The sound of purring woke me that night. I ran to the window.

  “How dare you?”

  The cat squinted at me, curious about why I was offended but not really caring. I scratched him behind the ears as I glared around him to look at the fae.

  “Whatever do you mean?”

  “You took my magic!”

  He held one of his elegant hands up to the moonlight. Gold glittered across his skin.

  “You’re a normal human now. I thought you’d be pleased.”

  “You didn’t think about me at all. King Banagher will kill me if I don’t spin gold for him.”

  “Is that so?” He didn’t sound at all surprised.

  “You knew!”

  “I told you the king had no mercy.”

  “So you’re going to let me die?” The words came out as a kind of rasp as I fought back tears. He leaned forward and met my gaze with brilliant silver eyes.

  “Of course not. I said I would help you.”

  “I don’t trust you.”

  “Very wise of you. I don’t trust anyone.” He held his hand towards me, then pulled it away.

  “Are you sure this is what you want? Last night, your greatest desire was to be a normal human. You’ll never be that if you have magic.”

  I thought of my life as a human so far. Of Peter leaving me alone with the soldiers. Of Da betraying me to save his own skin.

  “I don’t want to be human.”

  I wasn’t sure what I did want, but I didn’t want that. Not anymore.

  “Then let’s make a trade.”

  “We already made a trade. You said you would help me and took my powers in return.”

  “I gave you what you asked for. If you’ve changed your mind about what you want, we need a new bargain.”

  “But you didn’t help me. You still owe me. Give me my magic back, and we’ll call it even.”

  “Oh no, that’s not how this works. If you want your magic, I need something in return.”

  “But you tricked me!”

  He didn’t answer.

  I reached into my pocket and held up the wooden cat. Other than the clothes on my back, it was all I had to offer.

  “It’s almost solid gold. Worth a small fortune.”

  “I don’t care about gold.”

  “Everyone cares about gold.”

  He shook his head, and I found I believed him. This was just my luck. I finally found someone not interested in gold when gold was all I had to offer.

  “You have other things of worth.”

  I shrank back a little. What exactly was he after?

  “This magic is worth your life, so it must be traded for something equally valuable.”

  “I don’t understand.” I hated my voice for shaking, but he was scaring me.

  “A life,” he said, completely serious. “Your firstborn child will belong to me.”

  I dropped the carved cat, and it clattered across the floor.

  “I can’t promise that.”

  “Then you’ll die.”

  I stared at his hand, cool and smooth with golden magic glittering on his skin.

  “Maybe I won’t have a child.”

  “You’re about to be married. It seems likely.” A shiver that had nothing to do with cold ran down my spine. Maybe death was preferable after all.

  The fae’s eyes softened. “I’ll give you a way to break the deal. Discover my name and say it to my face, and your child is yours again.”

  “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “You’ve had a lot of practice naming the cat. I’m sure you’ll find a way. Do we have a deal?”

  “Can’t you just break these bars and carry me down?”

  “No.”

  I tried to calm my racing thoughts. I didn’t want to promise my child, and I had no idea how to discover a fae’s name. But none of this mattered if I was dead. “Deal.”

  The fae grinned and clasped my hand. Warmth seeped into my chilled fingers then turned to burning. I grabbed the carved cat off the floor. Magic flowed into it, turning it to solid gold. “There are worse fates than marrying the king. You’ll be queen. A powerful human.”

  “Humans are nothing but trouble.”

  He studied me with his silver eyes. “Don’t forget about the way to break the bargain. I’ll give you a guess now if you like.”

  I studied him. What did fae name their children? “Rowan.”

  “No. I should go. Where is the cat?”

  I blinked, realizing that at some point the cat had disappeared from the window ledge.

  I followed the sound of purring and found him nestled in the straw. He yowled in protest when I picked him up.

  “That will bring the guards for sure,” the fae said. “He’ll have to stay with you.”

  He disappeared, leaving me alone with the cat.

  I spent the night pacing the floor and talking to the cat. “Maybe I shouldn’t have asked for my magic back. Do you think the king would really have killed me when he found out I was human, Desmond?”

  The cat yawned, ignoring both my problems and the suggested name.

  “To be honest, I missed my magic. I forgot how cold it is to be just human. Dusk?”

  He looked away from me and studied the wall.

  Maybe the fae had done something when he took my magic and restored it, but the burning felt comforting now. If I focused, I could see strands of golden light dancing across my skin. It was beautiful.

  And it gave me an idea.

  I spent the night spinning straw to gold and trying to name the cat. As usual, nothing stuck.

  The king’s eyes gleamed when he entered my cell and saw the spindle of golden thread.

  “Lovely. Just lovely.”

  As I had planned, I burst into tears. It wasn’t hard. The king raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Oh, Sire,” I sobbed. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’m not fae. My father made a deal with them when I was born because we were so poor.”

  I choked on my tears and cried a bit longer for dramatic effect.

  “He traded the gift of gold for the life of my firstborn child. Sire, I can spin for you, but I can’t marry you. I’m cursed. I can’t ask you to join me in that.”

  The king’s eyes softened, and he patted my shoulder in a reassuring way. “Don’t worry, I already have an heir. We can afford to give one child to the fae. I’m sure we’ll have more.”

  I wiped away my tears and stared at him. I hoped he was joking.

  He wasn’t. He genuinely thought this would make me feel better.

  “But—“

  He turned to the guards. “Take her to a proper chamber and have the maids clean her up. We’ll be married tonight.”

  The cat yowled.

  The king stared at him in surprise. “Where did that thing come from?”

  “He’s my fae assistant. I can’t spin without him.”

  “Then he stays, but keep him out of sight. I’ve never seen such an ill-favored creature.”

  The cat behaved for once in his life, napping in the corner of my new room while a small army of women washed and dressed me. They didn’t talk, and I didn’t mind. I played the last few days over in my head, wondering if I could have avoided this fate.

  Maybe I should have let the fae keep my magic. Or never made a bargain with him
in the first place. Had he truly been trying to help me, or had this all been part of his scheme?

  What had he hoped to accomplish? He didn’t want gold. He’d had my power in his hands and given it back.

  Maybe he had been after my child all along. But why?

  The maids locked the door behind them when they finished. Someone had placed a spinning wheel and a giant pile of straw in the corner. I ignored it and turned to the cat.

  “Greyfall. Augustus. Timber.”

  He twitched an ear, and I reached out to pet him. My finger caught on something in his fur. Someone had tied a bit of string around his neck. I pulled it loose and found a crumpled piece of paper tied to it.

  “Rumpelstiltskin,” I read aloud.

  The cat opened his eyes and stared at me.

  “Truly? You want to be called Rumpelstiltskin?”

  He yowled with satisfaction.

  “Rumpelstiltskin.”

  Who had tied that piece of paper there? And when? The cat had been with me all night, which meant it had happened before then.

  Was the fae giving me a hint?

  “Rumpelstiltskin!” I called out. “Your name is Rumpelstiltskin!”

  The cat purred in agreement, but the fae did not appear.

  I needed to say his name to his face, but how would I find him?

  King Banagher came to fetch me a few hours later. He glared at the pile of straw, then at me.

  “It takes time,” I said.

  “Well, we have plenty of that. Come. I’ve arranged a party to celebrate our marriage.”

  I took his arm, wishing I had the power to turn living things into gold after all. The cat slinked behind us as we walked into the glittering ballroom. King Banagher led me to the dance floor. I didn’t know the steps, and he was a clumsy dancer. We stepped on each other’s feet and stumbled into other couples. The cat didn’t help matters. When the music ended, King Banagher pulled me towards the throne. “Enough dancing. Let’s be married.”

  I ducked my head and searched the room, looking for a way out. Guards stood at every door, and I would have to fight my way through the crowd to reach them. I didn’t stand a chance.

  A man in black moved towards us. Prince Tiergan. He offered his hand to me, and King Banagher scowled.

  “Can’t it wait? We’re about to be married, my boy.” He gestured to the priest waiting to perform the ceremony.