They all would thank me.
Chapter Four
The Third Day: Laila
“Remember,” the stranger said before he vanished with the dawn. “Pain is power.”
Then he was gone, and I was left alone with enough gold to buy the whole world.
Glistening spools were stacked in whimsical towers that swayed from their impressive height. Some of the stacks resembled castle walls and pillars, and others the shape of crumbling ruins. I touched the smooth, metallic twine, and its lifeless chill sunk into my fingers. To me, the golden walls were nothing more than a dungeon. I was the gold’s prisoner, each thin thread as unbreakable as an iron bar.
But not for much longer.
I heard the telltale protesting squeal of the door and the sound of footsteps on the stairs. A figure emerged from the gleaming haze of the gold, and I knew the time had come.
King Edward moved towards me, running his fingers over his lips. The look of utter amazement on his face as he surveyed his glittering prize disgusted me as usual. But, I found myself paying attention to the strength and handsomeness of his features. It left me unsettled, but nothing would sway me from my course.
“In two short nights you have made me richer than any monarch of any kingdom in the whole of history,” he said, inspecting the heavy spool he now held.
“Then your majesty is satisfied with what I have provided?” I asked, morbid curiosity pushing me to make him reveal just what exactly he had planned for me. Not that I planned on being surprised.
“Nearly. I believe I have almost all I need,” he answered in a preoccupied tone. Thankfully, his new riches distracted him from noticing my hands ball into fists. I hated that I had guessed correctly.
“You wish me to spin again?”
“Of course! One more night, at least for now. Yes, one more night should be quite sufficient for the time being.”
As if I believed him. Men like him would never be satisfied.
“After I have spun your gold for another night, what will you do with me?” I asked, growing impatient for him to reveal his plans so I could put my own into play.
Putting down the spool he focused his gaze on me, like a wolf eyeing some spectacularly talented hare. “Keep you somewhere safe.”
“Safe? Where would this ‘safe’ place be, your majesty?”
He let out a frustrated sigh. “Stop thinking of yourself for a moment and consider the broader issues your very existence creates. If my enemies ever discovered the source of my wealth, there would be war for sure. Entire nations would rise up to fight for such an asset. Do you really want to be responsible for such bloodshed?”
“So I am to remain locked away until you have brought war to all other nations and vanquished their threat?” I snapped.
He chuckled and grasped my shoulders. “I would wager anything I provide is far nicer than that hellhole you came from. Why would you even want freedom if it meant being chained to a drunk? The best prospect you could ever hope to have would be a marriage to some farm boy who prefers the comfort of a sheep over a woman.”
I let the bite of his words fill me and fuel my pain…and my power. For the first time, he was right, which was all the more reason to bend him to my will.
“That’s where you are wrong, your majesty,” I said, looking him squarely in the eye. “You are assuming I want my freedom. I don’t.”
His condescending satisfaction disappeared into confusion. His fingers dug into my shoulders.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “Isn’t that what this little interrogation is about? Trying to weasel your way to go home to your felonious father?”
“That man can burn in hell,” I shot back. “I am no longer concerned about him, or with anyone for that matter. I only have concern for myself.”
His eyes narrowed, and I was surprised he didn’t command me to quit my insolence. Not that I would have listened at this point. I realized the real truth of the stranger’s words. My pain had cost me everything, but now, with nothing to lose, I had everything to gain.
“I have now spun more gold for you than all other kingdoms combined,” I said matter-of-factly. My hands trembled, but thankfully, my voice didn’t. “I think I deserve a reward for my efforts.”
“You mean your head is not reward enough?” he chuckled. “My, someone imagines they have the right to bargain with her king.”
Blood pounded in my ears and pumped power through my veins.
“No. It is you who are mistaken if you think you have the right to bargain with me,” I retorted, the bite of my words extinguishing his amusement. “We both know you don’t dare kill me. I am far too valuable, as you just admitted moments ago. You won’t risk the chance of losing the only thing standing between you and endless wealth.”
“You ungrateful bitch!” he seethed.
“In fact,” I continued, loving the taste of strength on my tongue. “You should consider the greater game at play now. You won’t kill me, but that doesn’t mean I won’t kill myself. It wouldn’t be difficult to do, and all of the gold I have ever spun will turn to ash just as my corpse.”
His cheeks engorged with blood and his fists shook. “You lie. You wouldn’t do such a thing,” he hissed.
“Are you willing to take that chance? To test me? I am not afraid of death.”
He considered my words for several long moments. Slowly, his anger dissolved into a disturbing calm.
“For a peasant you are quite cunning,” he said with forced civility. “If you don’t want to be free, what is it you want?”
I gave him my sweetest smile and said, “I want to be queen.”
He looked as if I had punched him in the gut.
“I will spin for you for one more night,” I continued. “Then, you can never ask me to spin again. You will make me your queen, and you will never have to fear that I shall fall prey to another kingdom or that your wealth will turn to ash.”
He looked at me hard and crossed his arms. My breathing remained steady and my gaze firm. I would not let this opportunity pass by without a fight. The king might have been a merciless ogre, but he wasn’t stupid.
“You make a compelling argument, one I see I have no choice but to accept,” he said finally, his tone flat and blunt. “My gold means more to me than anything, and I refuse to let it be lost. You want to be queen? Very well. We are agreed. You will be my wife and my queen, and I will keep the gold you have spun for me.”
A long breath slowly escaped through my lips. Elation bubbled up in my heart. For the first time in my life, I was the maker of my own fate, and what a fate it was to be!
He studied me, his expression shifting, then said, “In truth, there would be no other noble bride who could bring such a dowry as the one you have spun for me. The more I think on it, this is actually a blessing.”
King Edward picked up a lock of my hair and held it to his face, inhaling the scent of the expensive rose and citrus oils still lingering in the strands. A flush of heat rolled through my veins as I realized the price I must pay for the life I desired.
“Exquisite,” he murmured, “I see now how great a shame it would have been to lock away something so uncommonly beautiful as yourself. Let it not be said that it is only riches that I seek, for I will appreciate all that is lovely and good. In fact, you might present an added benefit to this union you desire. I have yearned for an heir for quite some time, and with those wide hips of yours and hearty peasant stock, I think you should do the job nicely. No more noble stillborn weaklings for me.”
He placed his finger beneath my chin and brought my lips to meet his own. I should have been repulsed and full of righteous disgust as his lips brushed mine. But only triumph filled my heart. He was nothing but a prize I had won, just as I was his prize. He might have enjoyed the benefit of lust as well, but I was the one with the power. Even though after tonight I would never spin gold again, I would present the kingdom with the greatest treasure of all, one that would render my position
and future unassailable. I would give the kingdom an heir. My son would save me as no grown man ever would.
“Come,” he said, breaking our kiss, and so lost was I in my thoughts that I had almost forgotten I was being kissed. “Why don’t you rest before this final night of spinning? I dare say, if I am only to get one more night out of you, I need to make the most of it. Let’s see just how much gold you can spin with these lovely fingers of yours.”
Taking my hand and kissing each fingertip, he led me back up the stairs, calling servants to start bringing down as much straw as they could find. He wanted the spinning room filled to bursting.
A forest of dry twigs was all that separated me now from becoming queen. Only one more night with the stranger, and everything I wanted would come to pass.
The Third Day: Rumpelstiltskin
Tonight, everything rested on one word.
I lay on my back, listening to the rain grow louder. Flashes of lightning made the cracks in the plaster walls crawl. Even the timber of the building trembled in fear with each growl of the storm.
A clap of thunder reverberated throughout my body, awakening my need for the chaos Laila promised. I didn’t have to doubt for a moment the king would request more from her, and I was eager to see if the bitch would bite the hand that fed her straw.
I inhaled, searching the scents for the smallest trace of desperation. Thunder rumbled again, and I breathed in, inviting the grief of the entire kingdom to enter me, hunting for my prey. It would not be pleasant, but these things rarely were.
The air inside my lungs shifted, expanding until the threads of sounds that were trapped within it unwound and sang like the strings of a violin. At first it was one heartbeat, then two, then a thousand. Every beat full of wailing and crying, begging. The roar filled my ears with such intensity I feared my head would crack open like a fractured egg, the yolk of humanity’s sins and grief running out as viscous as it was vicious.
I persevered, searching through them for the one I desired.
Gradually the other sounds dissipated, leaving only one that caused a flush of heat to ripple across my skin. A singular and fluid thump. A heart, but not just any old lump of flesh. This heart was Laila’s.
The pulse grew more distinct, and I relished the beautiful fusion of anxiety and terror driving every beat.
Summoning myself towards that delicious sound, forms took shape around me. Pop! There appeared a spinning wheel. Pop! A pile of empty spools materialized beside a wall. Whoosh! The ceiling arched high over my head, and pillars burst through the stone floor, taking their place in the room that became more solid around me by the second.
I stood staring in utter astonishment, surrounded by the purest greed I’d ever witnessed. The previous two rooms were nothing matched to this. Sandcastles compared to great, proud towers. Straw rolled in avalanches across the treacherous landscape, like snow from the highest mountains come to crush all before it. Tonight, however, showed a man determined never to have want of gold again. If only he knew how each twig of straw I touched spun him tighter into the web of fate I wove.
Laila stood tall with a dress of red silk fanning like flames around her. This was no longer the whiny little peasant girl I first encountered. This was a woman with a spirit to be reckoned with.
I already congratulated myself on this triumph though she had spoken no words, as the king would not dress anyone in such a manner unless she was well worth the expense. Though I had created her for him, I couldn’t stop twisting my mouth at the thought of him running those grubby hands of his down something so fine. Laila was no more than a pawn, a throwaway piece, but she was my pawn. Yes, I had sacrificed her like any good strategist would to secure my larger game, yet this small victory for the king rankled me.
“How did it feel?” I asked smoothly, disciplining my thoughts back to the moment.
I enjoyed her start of surprise as she whirled around to face me. A delightful haughtiness emanated from her, though not enough to hide that delectable flame of desperation in her soul. I could sense it smoldering.
“How did what feel?” she asked.
“Bringing a king to his knees, of course!” I chuckled as I walked over to her. “Or was it your knees you fell to in order to get that regal gown of yours?”
With exquisite delicacy, I picked a minute piece of straw from the neckline of her gown, my fingers never once coming in contact with her skin. She shuddered though her eyes burned.
“I did no such thing,” she said, then tossed her head back proudly. “I had no need to do any such thing.
“Of course you didn’t. So you took my advice?”
She stared at me and then a dark, deep smile slowly curved her lips, causing her entire face to shine with a beautiful malice. She took my breath away, and I was lost in admiration for this newly born monster standing before me.
“Tell me, what did you decide to make your puppet do?” I asked, shaking off the spell of her smile.
Pure satisfaction glowed on her features as she walked to the spinning wheel and gave it a good whirl.
“I told him I would only spin for one more night, and after, he will make me his queen.”
I grabbed the wheel and abruptly stopped it from spinning. Seeing her touch the wheel felt as if she was touching me in some deeply invasive, intimate way. It was wrong. I was the one who controlled the wheel, who made it turn, not her. Yet, the vicious giggle that fell from her lips made me want to both hear it again and silence it—preferably with my own lips.
“You are quite the vixen!” I said, moving so close to her I felt the heat of her hate. “Then, all that needs to be done is for me to spin this entire room into gold so you can grasp that devilish dream in your hot fingers. By now you know how this works. What do you intend to pay me to claim this great victory of yours?”
The flame in her soul burned hotter. She tried to spin the wheel again, but I was quicker and slapped my hand down to stop it. I tutted indignantly. No matter how clever my girl was, a novice may not teach the master.
“Once I am queen I can offer you payment in any form you wish. Land, wealth, titles. Name it and it will be yours.”
“What use would I have with those?” I asked.
“I don’t understand! You only wanted a necklace and a bit of worthless silver before. What I’m offering is far more valuable than anything I’ve given you yet.”
I chuckled. A pawn playing a queen is still just a pawn. Every move she made would be dictated by me until I said otherwise.
Her desperation raged now like an inferno, consuming her soul, and for the first time, I felt a frisson of danger. Fire was a mindless element, but it destroyed all the more because of it. I reminded myself that even a pawn can become a queen when played right, and then, she will be commanded by none. Laila would be a burning queen.
“I already spin straw into gold, so I have no need of money or jewels,” I explained patiently, as if to a particularly stupid child. “I don’t wish for a title. The aristocracy is quite dull. All that yammering about bloodlines and ancestors. It’s enough to put me to sleep just thinking about it. No, my dear miller’s daughter, you will have to be much more creative in thinking up a reward for me. I suggest you think on your feet, as the night is moving on and time waits for no one.” Except me, but now was not the time to go into that.
She stared at me, her lips pursed in a quivering moue. “I’ve come too far to lose everything now.”
“That is hardly my problem.”
“You made it your problem when you saved me that first night!”
“Not at all. That was a one-time business transaction. I never offer anything on a subscription basis.”
I could see in her eyes she was but half-a-heartbeat from slapping me. I closed the distance between us, using my height to tower over her. She glared back at me, and I saw in the dark depths of her eyes a glint of obsidian, forged in the fires of her desperation, glass made steel from hate and need. I wanted to kiss her eyes.
>
No! I did not. She spoke as I struggled to contain my wayward thoughts.
“You think I am a fool,” she said. “But, I know that you would not be here if I did not yet have something you wanted. So, cease to play the fool yourself and tell me!”
She panted in her rage, her stays straining with each deep breath, lifting her breasts almost obscenely, as if to taunt me.
“The night,” she said, imitating my tone perfectly, “is moving on, and time waits for no one.”
I was undone by her taunting, tragic smile.
I slid my hand over her left breast, sliding my fingers under the clinging neckline of her gown to grasp her and center my palm on her heartbeat.
Hungering for her flesh and despair, I gave in and opened the floodgates to sensation. Pain. Passion. Pleasure. Perjury. Pleading. Each beat of her heart screamed at me, blasting my self back like the heat of the furnace. I fought to stay within her, pushing with all my strength, locking my lust and my need into her like talons into tissue. Ah, there it was. Pride. Dear old Pride rose up within her soul and fought me off like a she-lion, tearing my claws from her, no matter the injury to herself.
Yet, of all the things that made me need her in that moment, it was Pride that aroused me the most. Pride was prickly and capricious, yet curiously forthright. With Pride, Laila became fierce, knocking my hand off her breast.
It was my pride, or perhaps my own despair, that had me grasping her face and attacking her lips with mine. She bit me, and I bit back. She snarled and grabbed my hair, yanking hard. I slammed her into the wall of straw. She dug her nails into my jaw, suddenly pulling me toward her instead of pushing away. I seized her hips and ground myself into her.
“Is this what you want?” she panted as I sucked at the pulse point of her throat, as if I could draw the venom of Pride from her. “I’ll give it to you if this is your price!”
Blackness closed in on me.
Spin: A Fairy Tale Retelling (Spindlewind Trilogy Book One) Page 6
