by Myles, Jill
Hope leaned forward through the window, waiting.
No tingle in her scalp.
She could go out at night. Perfect. Now she just needed to find that nearby village and ask the witch to help her.
With that in mind, Hope changed into her darkest, warmest dress. The night air was a little chilly.
She looked for a cloak and didn’t find one, so she tore the skirt off the ugliest dress and created a makeshift shawl with it, testing the fabric over her hair. For whatever reason, if she didn’t get back before the sun came up, she hoped that it would hold the worst of the sunlight off of her hair.
If not, well, everyone from three villages around would soon figure out what her curse was. She hoped these locals were rather open-minded, and not the medieval peasants who tended to burn women at the stake like they showed in movies.
With that thought in mind, Hope grabbed her dinner knife and tucked it into the belt of her dress.
Better safe than sorry.
She threw the rope ladder down and began to descend, her heart hammering in her throat. This was either a brilliant idea or a really stupid one. She didn’t know anything about this time or place. She didn’t even know where the village was.
Still, she wasn’t going to solve her curse by sitting in the tower, waiting for Walter to remember to bring her food. A lonely, unhappy pang twisted in her belly. Thoughtful, handsome Callum had abandoned her.
Descending the ladder was relatively easy, even if she was a little anxious about placing each foot.
She took her time and made it to the ground with a little hop, just as the sky grew black with night.
Hope looked around at her surroundings, and her throat tightened a little.
She was used to the darkness being covered with thousands of twinkling lights of nearby houses, used to growing up in the city where night was just a different collection of noises, and the dark was never truly dark.
This? This was pitch black and silent. It was creepy.
How had she never noticed this in her tower? She swallowed, feeling exposed and more than a little frightened, and examined the forest.
Trees surrounded her tower, but she didn’t see a path anywhere. An owl hooted somewhere in the darkness.
Well. She had to pick a way to go. She could walk for a time, and if she didn’t find the path, she’d simply walk in another direction, until she found one.
She considered the length of her scarf. She could tear small pieces off of it to leave herself a trail…
and then what? She wouldn’t be able to find them in the dark, and if the sun was coming up, it was already too late. With a sigh, she headed into the trees. This might be a bad idea, but she sure wasn’t going to find the village standing at the base of the tower.
Hope walked for a ways, her steps cautious. The little wimpy shoes that had been fine in the tower were worse than useless in the woods, and she winced every time she stepped on a branch or a pebble. Owls hooted overhead, and she clutched her knife close, staring at her surroundings with alarm. Not exactly nice and comforting, and the trees showed no signs of thinning out.
After she’d been walking for what felt like hours, the trees cleared and a small, heavily rutted and muddy road appeared. She pumped her fist in triumph, surging forward, only to step in something that smelled like horse poop.
Definitely a road, even if it was empty.
Hope scraped her slipper clean and turned on the road, looking in each direction.
One way would lead to the village and the other would clearly lead away from it. The question was which one? With a bit of eeny-meeny-miny-moe to make her decision, she picked a direction and headed that way.
She’d been walking for no more than ten minutes when the thunder of hooves and the jingle of a bridle sounded close by. Someone was tearing down this crappy road.
A wee lass out in the wild is fair game for any man. Remembering Callum’s words of warning, she scrambled to the side of the road and fell into the muddy bushes just as the horse charged past.
Before she could even catch her breath, she heard it neigh, and heard the hooves come to a halt.
The bridle jingled and then a gruff voice spoke, “Who’s there? Show yourself.” Oh, hell. She’d been spotted. The voice sounded familiar, but maybe it was the accent? She burrowed deeper into the bushes. Maybe if he couldn’t see her, he’d go on his way.
The horse paused a moment, then began to slowly walk toward her hiding spot. She couldn’t see the rider, only a shapeless hood covering his face. The sound of a sword leaving a scabbard filled the quiet woods, and the rough voice warned again, “I said, show yourself.” Well, crap.
She stood, shrugging the shawl over her long hair and hiding her face with it, and stepped out onto the road. The urge to raise her hands like this was a stick-up was strong, but she doubted that whoever this was would even know the gesture. “Hi. I was just heading for the village. I don’t suppose you can point me in that direction?”
The hood lowered, and she looked up in surprise at Callum’s face. “Hope?” he asked.
Her jaw dropped. “What are you doing here?”
He dismounted, dropping the horse’s reins and landing on the muddy road with a squelch of his boots.
Callum frowned as he strode over to her side. “Heading to see you. What are you doing out of the tower?”
She sidestepped him when he got close, giving him a wary look. “I was told you went home. That you left me here.”
He rolled his eyes. “Who told you that? The weasel Prince Walter?”
“Bingo.” She sighed and dropped her hands. “Okay, so I might have panicked. You didn’t go home?”
“I did,” he said, moving toward her again now that she had stopped retreating. “Prince Walter told me that he’d heard rumor of raiders attacking my land and stealing my sheep, so I went home. Only there’s no’ been a single attack.”
All signs were pointing toward Walter being the one to curse her. “Do you think he’s responsible for my hair?”
“He wants you, does he no’? Perhaps he’s stooped to witchery to have you.” Hope wrinkled her nose at the thought. “So you came back to see me?”
“I didn’t come back so I could spend more time at court, if that’s what you’re asking,” he said with a slow smile.
Her hands drifted across his shoulders and she sighed with pleasure when his moved to her hips, dragging her against him in an embrace. “I didn’t know what to think when you’d left me. Walter only came by once and he couldn’t even climb up my hair, so I left him down there.” Callum’s fingers brushed her cheek in a loving caress. “Has he been taking care of ye while I was gone? It killed me to leave just when we’ve begun to explore each other.” Heat surged through her body at his choice of words. Would that they were back in the tower right now, doing a bit of that exploring. “I missed you,” she said softly.
He leaned down and brushed a light kiss on her lips. “Come away with me. To my home in the highlands.
You can stay in my keep. I’ll keep you safe.”
Hope frowned and stepped out of his arms. “And what am I supposed to do? Stay indoors for the rest of my life? I can’t do that. I have to break the curse.”
She didn’t tell him that her ability to stay here with him was contingent upon breaking said curse.
She didn’t need to. A life trapped indoors was still no life. She’d spent the first twenty-four years of her life doing that, and she’d be damned if she spent the rest of it staring out a window and longing to feel the sunshine on her face.
No, she had to do this, and she couldn’t be distracted by a pretty face.
“I’m going to the village to see the witch,” she told him. “I think Walter’s the one that cursed me, and I need something to break the curse. I can’t go with you until I find it.”
“Hope, lass, be sensible–”
“I am,” she said firmly, stepping aside when he reached for her again. “I can’t live wi
th this ludicrous curse, and I won’t leave until I’ve lifted it. I–I’ll understand if you leave and return to your clan again.”
She held her breath and lifted her chin, watching him, his features shadowed in the moonlight.
He cursed under his breath, and then strode toward her, leaning in close enough to kiss her one more time. “Ye’re daft if ye think I’m going to let you visit the witch alone,” he told her, and then kissed her hard. “We’re in this together.”
Hope leaned into his kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and stroking her tongue against his.
She licked at his mouth, the kiss frantic and full of desire. “We’ll see the witch and then we’ll go home and spend the rest of the evening together. In bed.”
“Then let us hurry,” he said, and grinned. “We can take my horse. Can ye ride?” She swallowed hard and stared up at the creature. “Only one way to find out.”
***
It turned out that she could not, in fact, ride a horse.
Mounting it was an ordeal that had involved Callum’s hands shoving at her bottom, and then she’d had to hold the beast steady so he could get on behind her. After that, she clung to the horse’s neck, terrified she’d fall off. All the movies made horseback riding look so glamorous and easy. It wasn’t–she felt like if she shifted the wrong way, she’d tumble to the ground.
Still, it did make things move quickly. With Callum’s arm locked tight around her waist, they made good time, and eventually she saw a few faint lights in the distance.
“Is that the village?”
“Aye. Let me do the talking when we arrive, lass. They’re likely to ask questions and you don’t have the answers they’ll seek.”
“Sounds good to me.” She was more than happy to let him lead in this instance.
The village itself did not look like much. More muddy, churned-up streets, and some little straw-covered houses that were nothing to write home about. She could hear more horses, and the soft murmur of voices in the distance. Callum dismounted but instructed her to stay on the horse, and he took the reins and led it through the dirty street, heading to the one building that had the lights on. A tavern of some sort, with a few people inside, the shutters thrown open. It looked dark and smoky and kind of gross.
A man stood at the door of the tavern, next to where a few horses were hitched, and Callum called out something to the man.
The man in the doorway crossed himself, spat, and pointed into the trees.
“I guess he knows where the witch is,” she said quietly.
“Aye,” Callum said, leading the horse in the direction the man had pointed.
They rode into the woods a short way and came across a small shack. Strange symbols were drawn on the walls with chalk, and dead animal bones littered the front yard. Hope shivered at the sight. At least, she hoped they were animal bones. If this woman was truly a witch, who knew?
“No smoke in the chimney,” Callum commented. “She’s likely no’ here.” Hope eyed the chimney herself, and then sighed in frustration. “Seriously? That sucks. What do we do now?”
Callum moved to the door and bent to pick up a long, narrow tube of white. He glanced over at her, then held it up. It was tied with a dirty, dingy ribbon. “Are ye sure you weren’t expected?” Maybe Muffin knew the witch. “I don’t know. Can I see that?” He held the tube up to her and she felt it.
There was something hard in the middle, wrapped in parchment. She unrolled it and a candle fell onto her lap. The note itself was written in a strange scrawl that she couldn’t make out.
“Can you read this?”
He studied the note for a moment and then gave her an uneasy look before reading on. “To find the truth of your curse, use this candle. It will only light in the presence of the one who cursed you.”
Hope clutched the candle to her chest. “It’s a start, at least.”
“It’s a candle. I don’t see how it’s no’ going to light if you hold a flame to it.”
“You have to believe.”
“Now you sound like one o’ them,” he told her gruffly, gesturing at the distant village. “Let’s go back to the tower for now. You can test out your candle there.” He mounted behind her and they rode off through the village, Hope clutching the candle to her chest.
Now all they had to do was wait for Walter to return and confront him. Then she could prove it was really him who had cursed her…
And then what?
Chapter Five
Hope was drowsing against Callum’s broad chest when he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“We’re here, lass. Hurry and wake.”
“Mmm?” She rubbed her eyes and stared at their surroundings blearily.
“Hurry,” he said again. “The sun is coming up fast.”
That got her moving. Hope slid off of the horse in a rush and tumbled to the ground with a thwack of her backside. She winced and then scrambled to her feet, ignoring the muddy, clinging hem of her skirt.
“The ladder!”
“Go up first,” he said. “I’ll follow behind you.”
She began to climb, but she was tired from the long evening and her steps seemed impossibly slow.
By the time she was close to the top, her scalp started to tingle with warning. She’d barely tumbled in to the window before it had begun to surge down her back, and she hastily grabbed handfuls of the mess, dragging it into the tower and out of the sunlight.
“Close one,” she called out with a laugh, shoving the wild mane of hair out of her eyes.
“Indeed,” said a peevish voice behind her.
Hope gasped. She turned and stared at a frowning Prince Walter. “My prince! You’re here.”
“Yes, and you weren’t.” He cocked his head and studied her for a long moment. “Nice to see that you found a ladder.”
A hot flush crossed Hope’s face. “I did, actually–”
Callum climbed into the tower room a second later, and Walter’s narrow-eyed gaze fixed on him.
Callum stiffened, then immediately swept into a bow. “My liege.” Oops. Was she supposed to bow, too? Hope grabbed her skirts and dropped into a curtsy, just in case.
Walter crossed his arms over his chest. “I sent you home, didn’t I? I should have guessed that you’d come back here. Care to explain what’s going on?”
Callum was silent, a scowl darkening his face. He was trapped–if he admitted to anything, the prince would have his head.
“I seduced him,” Hope blurted. “He showed up here last night and I seduced him to get him to help me.” Walter shook his head slowly, looking peeved and disappointed. “I wanted to marry you, Rapunzel. We were waiting for my father’s permission. I sent this oaf away because you kept giving him these long looks. I see now it’s too late. I thought you wanted to marry me. You did, not so long ago.” He’d guessed that she and Callum were together? That must have been why he’d sent Callum home. As for what had changed, well…she wasn’t the same girl. Literally.
Poor Walter. He sounded so disappointed. Lord, now she felt like an awful person.
Hope scuffed her dirty shoe on the floor. “Well, I sort of had a change of heart. I’m sorry.” He sighed. “You should have said something earlier. I’ve been haranguing my father the king for nothing at all, it seems.” He gave her a curious look. “If you two are running off together, why are you coming back?”
Hope plucked the magic candle out of her belt and held it behind her carefully. “I want you to lift my curse.”
“What are you talking about?”
She brandished the candle and moved forward. “I said, I want you to lift my curse. I know you cursed me, and I have proof.” She lifted the candle toward him.
It remained unlit.
Hope frowned, shook it a little, and then stepped closer to Walter.
He pushed it aside with one hand and stared at her like she’d grown a second head.
“I didn’t curse you.”
“You
’re the only one who could have,” she protested. “Who else would want me in this tower?” He snorted. “I found you in this tower. We spoke one day and started to talk. I don’t know how you got here, or why your hair grows like it does.”
Her brows furrowed. “Then you didn’t curse me?”
“No.” He gave her a cold look. “Why do you have a candle?”
“No reason,” she said meekly and tucked it into her belt. “I don’t understand.”
“That makes two of us. I don’t understand any of this,” he said with a limp wave. “You could have married a prince and instead you’re sleeping with this poor fool. And I do mean poor.” She bit her lip, swallowing her retort. She was pretty sure one didn’t get to lip off to the prince, even in a quasi-fairy tale.
Callum dropped to a knee again. “I request permission to marry her, my liege. We have fallen in love.” Hope’s breath caught in her throat. Fallen in love? Was he in love with her? Did she love him?
She wasn’t sure, but she was pretty sure that she was definitely somewhere in the realm of infatuated, and likely heading toward in love.
“I’m not going to give you my blessing,” Walter snapped. “I don’t care what the two of you do, just as long as I don’t see either of your faces at court for a very, very long time. Understand me?”
“Understood.”
Hope gave another awkward curtsy.
Prince Walter pushed past the two of them. “Good riddance to both of you.” She watched him climb down clumsily, biting her lip the entire time. Callum was silent, leaning over the tower window and watching until the prince had ridden away.
After a few long minutes passed, Callum turned to her and exhaled. “That went better than I thought.”
“It did?”
“He could have asked for our heads for treason. A wee bit o’ exile from court is more of a reward, lass.” He grinned. “This means we can marry after all.”
“I can’t marry until my curse is lifted, Callum.” Hope shook the useless candle at him. “Which is going to be impossible if we can’t find out who cursed me. This thing isn’t working. What if she lied to us and it’s just a regular candle?”
