The Jaded King

by Jovee Winters

I twisted my lips. Maybe it was time someone helped her home? She had been here many hours already.

  But, being the beauty of this realm, there was no shortage of men plying her with drink. I gnashed my teeth as an orange-haired arse, who probably had no hair on his balls yet, rushed the stage, thrusting yet another tankard of ale at her.

  The gentle touch of a hand on mine broke my concentration. Only then did I realize the white-knuckled grip I held on the tabletop. Glowering, I moved my hand to my lap.

  “Gerard, stare at her any harder, and she might catch on fire.”

  Snarling at my impertinent friend, I shook my head. “The irony reeks coming from you, chérie. At least Belle knows where my intentions lie. Does David even know you exist yet? Twenty years you’ve pined over that salaud.”

  I spat on the ground by my foot, angry every time I thought of that tow-headed bastard who’d made my friend’s life a living hell of tears and agony.

  Her bright blue eyes widened as she gasped, clutching at her soft, pretty white dress. “That was low, even from you.”

  I sighed, shoving twin fingers through my thick and unruly dark hair. “Forgive me. I am tired and an absolute brute tonight. You did not deserve my words.”

  Once, long ago, I’d fallen in love with Brigitte. I was five and she two. I’d sworn I would love her forever. And I had, until the day she’d looked upon David Charrier and never again looked back at me.

  I was eight. It was devastating. Of course, a few days later, I met Belle, and I fell in love again, truly for the last time.

  Truly.

  She was everything to me.

  My fealty to Belle hadn’t ever wavered since. And in this unrequited and painful love, Brigitte and I had bonded even deeper. We both knew the sting of it. But I was bound and determined to change it all today.

  For years, I’d been asking Belle to become mine. And for years, she’d turned me down, stating that I was a vagabond, penniless, and not serious enough for what she needed in a man.

  So I’d gone and joined the army. I’d risen in rank and saved nearly every bit of coin I’d ever made. I could now buy my Belle a respectable home. Nothing ostentatious or grandiose. Sadly, I would never reach that kind of wealth. I wasn’t what one would call terribly bright, even on the best of days, but I wasn’t a complete fool either.

  I was strong, and I had my looks. In that, at least, Belle and I were perfectly matched. Everyone in our hamlet expected us to wed eventually. We’d make beautiful children. It was fated for us. But more than that, I adored her with everything that was in me. I would treat her well, like the flower she was.

  Whatever Belle wanted, I would give to her. No matter how hard I had to work for it, I would always keep my love happy. Today, I’d finally returned after five years apart, and I could not believe how much prettier she was than the last time I’d seen her.

  Before I’d left, she’d worn her hair in long spiraling curls and had a bit of the child still in her plump cheeks. But there was nothing of that youth left. Belle had become a woman during my absence, full of breast and trim of waist. My blood heated imagining the moment I got to taste her strawberry lips again.

  I’d written her letters every day for five years. And though I’d received but one in return, I knew she loved me still. I knew she’d been faithful. Because she’d told me she would, and I trusted her.

  It was as simple as that.

  Her high-pitched squeal and giggle ran like ice picks through my head, bringing me back to the present, as yet another male, this time a rat-faced, pimply one, picked her up and twirled her about. My lip curled.

  Belle giggled again, this time leaning in to nuzzle the cheek of giant bear of a man with a great shaggy beard. I frowned harder. Heartburn slid up my throat, my chest ached, and I began to rub at it furiously.

  “Gerard, are you sure you’ve thought this through?” Brigitte’s words were patient and forbearing.

  I glanced at her from the corner of my eye. I would not admit to Bri that perhaps there was a kernel of doubt starting to blossom as I watched Belle’s antics up on that stage. Or that there was a knot in my gut that refused to loosen at the way she allowed all those males to touch her in such obviously intimate ways.

  Belle wagged her finger beneath their noses, physically pushing some of them back, which made me glad, except that there was a bit of flirtation in the movements. Was I seeing shadows where there were none?

  Bri’s reticence was rubbing off on me. Angry, I swiveled on my seat and stared down at her.

  “Are you determined to wound me tonight?”

  Her shoulders slumped. “You’re a bloody fool, Gerard, which is why I love you so much.”

  “Well, you had your chance with me and you ruined it.”

  “Mon Dieu!” She tossed up her hands in obvious agitation before glaring at me. “You do know how to irritate me still, you bloody, filthy, son of a baboon.”

  Rare was the day Brigitte swore. In fact, she’d just called me the most vile, filthy names she could think of.

  I snorted.

  Her lips twitched.

  And the anger that’d just been beating through me like a raving animal devolved into a spat of laughter that caused those around to look at us with shock and wariness.

  Tears rolled out of the corners of my eyes, and I knuckled them away. The tavern was extremely noisy, so there was no chance Belle would hear us laughing.

  Perhaps I shouldn’t surprise Belle this way, but I’d wanted to see her first, without her knowing I was here, to give me time to settle myself and work up my nerve to talk to her face to face again after five long, excruciating years apart.

  “Look, Bri,” I finally said once our mirth had settled, “I appreciate your concern. But I’ve been waiting for this day for what feels like an eternity. I’m done looking. Belle is the one for me.”

  She pursed her lips, and though I was sure she desperately wanted to warn me off again, she didn’t. Rolling her wrist, she fluttered her fingers as she said, “Then be my guest. I will be right here, should you need me.”

  My brows twitched, not at her offer of being the loving, consoling friend, but at her certainty that Belle would not want me. My nostrils flared, and inside, I waged a war with myself.

  I was the first to admit that I had a blind spot when it came to Belle. I always had. All she had to do was bat those pretty lashes of hers, and I was an addlepated fool ready to give her anything. And though Belle was a little tipsy tonight, I knew who she really was.

  She and I had been intimate together. Not only physically, but in a way that really mattered—spiritually, deeply. Peeling back the masks we were with others and exposing our true fears, our true thoughts to one another. There’d been nights when she’d opened her heart to me, had shown me the true girl behind the high-pitched laughter. Yes, she was pretty, bright, and at times, a little silly, but she was still young. She would outgrow it. She just needed someone by her side who loved her for who she really was, not who the world demanded she be.

  I knew the real Belle, the one who actually—horror of all horrors—liked to read in the privacy of her room. The one who laughed at my silly antics when it was just she and I together. The one who, at times, would look at me as though I were her whole world.

  Not to be vain, but I knew my worth. I knew that if I really wanted to, I could have almost any woman in the hamlet, save for Brigitte. But she was more of a sister to me now than anything else. Any woman would be proud to call me hers.

  But the only heart that mattered to me was Belle’s.

  The warmth of that truth spread through me like the sun’s rays. This was right—going to Belle, declaring myself to her, showing her that I’d done everything I’d set out to do to make her mine, to make her proud to call me hers.

  Screwing up my courage, I took one deep breath and got to shaky legs. The red coat of the royal army fit snug around my new, bulkier body. I’d put on a fair bit of mass in the past five years. I had noticed
the looks of unadulterated interest gleaming back at me from the eyes of females who’d never given me so much as a passing glance before.

  Heart banging like a drum in my chest, I fixed my gaze on the chestnut-haired beauty as I slowly wound through the maze of bodies toward her.

  When I was about halfway there, Belle stilled and looked up. And like magnets, our gazes locked. I knew my face blazed with love. I could feel the burn of it wash all through me.

  Those brown eyes I remembered so well looked the same as they always had—large and bright, with long, curling lashes that enchanted anyone who looked upon them.

  But even as my face blazed, hers remained stoic. And those eyes I’d written many a sonnet to in the privacy of my tent late at night now gazed upon me with something akin to wariness.

  My knees shook, but still I walked.

  The crowd of men who’d surrounded her parted at my passing. I was by far taller than any of them and outweighed even the biggest by several stone.

  I stopped within arm’s length of her. I smelled that familiar scent of cherry blossom. I’d never forgotten it, no matter where I’d been or who I’d fought. Smelling it now, I knew I was home.

  The sounds, sights, and faces of those surrounding us faded into the background until all that was left was her.

  I reached a hand out to her.

  She blinked, and that face that had starred in my dreams more times than I could count suddenly split into a wide smile that seemed forced, causing her eyes to narrow and lines to form deep grooves around her plump lips.

  “Gerard. When did you come home?” Her words were rushed and seemed to be filled with an edge of irritation.

  My brows wrinkled tight. Realizing she’d still not taken my hand, I slowly lowered it. Had I made a mistake? Had I been wrong all along?

  Behind me, I could swear I felt Brigitte’s eyes burning like a brand between my shoulder blades. I tugged at my suddenly too-stiff collar.

  “I... I...” I cleared my throat. I wasn’t a spineless boy of nine any longer. I was a man now and would damn well act like one. “Only just.”

  “Ah.” She sniffed and patted at the front of her immaculate dress. “Indeed. Well, it’s good to see you.”

  “Is it?”

  My heart rattled the bars of its cage. Bloody hell, this wasn’t going the way I’d hoped. What was this nightmare I’d stumbled into?

  A flash of annoyance blazed through her eyes so quickly that I doubted whether I’d ever seen it at all. But then she was swatting at my chest, and I flexed the muscle beneath her touch involuntarily, wanting, I guess, to please her.

  At that, she paused and squeezed just a little before letting out a tiny sigh. “La. You silly boy, of course I am. My, what a man you’ve become, Gerard Caron.”

  My name purred from her lips, and instantly, all my doubts fled. Suddenly, heat and fire filled me, made me feel hot and excited and desperate to touch her more intimately, familiarly, as I’d once used to.

  I wrapped my hand around the one she had placed on my chest. A pink blush traveled up her long swan’s neck as she smirked up at me.

  Unable to keep my announcement from her even a second longer, I blurted it out. “I’ve done it, Belle. I’ve done all you asked. Saved every last penny, every farthing I was given. We can wed now. You can be my bride.”

  She gasped, trembling so violently that I felt it even through the tips of her fingers. Yanking her hand away from me, she stomped her tiny foot and clenched her fists.

  “You know how I feel about public displays, Gerard. Shame on you.”

  My nostrils flared, as she twirled on her heel in a flash of ribbons and curls, intending to walk away from me. I was aware of the laughing faces surrounding us. Scowling, I ignored the baboons and chased after her, grabbing hold of her by the elbow and twisting her back around.

  For a little thing, she was all fire and could be as fast as the devil when she had a mind to be.

  Battering my chest with ineffectual little punches, she screamed, “Release me!”

  Scalded by the heat of her temper, I let her go so swiftly that she nearly fell. I held up my hands in a placating gesture. She bristled like a cornered, prickly little thing.

  “Belle?”

  She lifted her chin. “You know how I feel about that, Gerard. Now is neither the time nor the place.”

  I scowled. “What the bloody hell are you talking about? Are you not happy to see me? I’ve been gone five long—”

  She sucked in a sharp breath as a sheen of tears gathered in her eyes. “You were not the only one to suffer!” She pounded at her chest. “You were gone. I was alone. You left me all alone. Every day was a torment.”

  Terrible thoughts crossed my mind. One damn letter—that was all she’d ever had time to write. I’d only left because she’d given me an ultimatum. And for someone as miserable as she claimed to be, she’d looked positively glowing just moments ago.

  But I swallowed the words that, once said, could never be unsaid, and took a deep breath. Belle looked calmer now. She was brushing at her gown with jerky angry movements, but at least I didn’t sense an intent to bolt. I gestured toward a darkened corner of the tavern.

  Giving me an imperious nod, she followed me toward it. This was progress, at least. My beauty had always been slightly temperamental. But then, she’d always had life harder than most. Her drunkard of a father forced her to cook and clean and toil for him day and night. The only time she could get away was when he was so far gone on drink he couldn’t force her to stay.

  Raised in extreme poverty, Belle had told me years ago that whoever she finally consented to marry would have to be sure she never wanted for anything.

  I could give her that life, now. No, she’d never have all the jewels of the world, but she’d have a nice home, food on the table, and clothes on her back. I could give her the things that really mattered. I could give her joy.

  She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “Well?”

  My pet needed to be cosseted. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a charm of a wolf I’d found in a marketplace some months ago. The charm was hammered silver and gold, with a ruby for its eye. Belle loved wolves. True, it had cost me four months worth of wages, but it’d been worth it when I’d imagined her reaction.

  She gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. “For me?”

  The obvious look of joy flooded my body with warmth. Unlatching the chain, I held it up to her. “May I?”

  Squealing, she twirled on her heel and slid her hair off her neck. I slipped the necklace on, sucking in a shaky breath at the feel of her rose-petal-soft skin beneath my fingertips, gliding my hand gently across her nape and feeling electrified by it.

  She trembled. “Oh, Gerard. It’s lovely.”

  Holding on to the pendant, she slowly turned and smiled up at me.

  “You like it?”

  She shrugged, but continued to pet the charm.

  “I can give you more just like it. Anything you want.”

  She frowned, finally dropping the charm and looking up at me. “Gerard, I’m... I’m...”

  Feeling as though someone had just struck my temple with a large rock, I gave my head a slight shake. “Wha—”

  “Gerard Caron.” A man with an impossibly deep voice called my name, breaking through my stupor.

  I looked up at him with a shocked and confused expression. The male was impossibly tall, with silvery-blond hair caught up in a ponytail, devilish brows that peaked at the center, and a slashing, cruel curl of lips. Instinctually, I shuddered at the rage that emanated from him.

  Belle, on the other hand did no such thing. “And who are you?”

  Gaze bouncing to hers, I snarled at the sudden brightening of her eyes and the come-hither smile on her lips.

  But Belle’s charms did not work on the stranger. He literally snapped his jaws at her. Then the stranger turned back to me. He seemed familiar to me somehow, but I wasn’t sure how. I’m sure I could never
have forgotten meeting him. And yet... I narrowed my eyes.

  “My name is Rumpelstiltskin. I’ve been looking for you nigh on a month, Caron. Now, you will come with me!”

  His hand was suddenly and violently curled into the collar of my jacket, and from one second to the next, I was whisked away, traveling through a whirling, stomach-churning tunnel of starlight.

  “You will make this right, or so help me, I will raze Kingdom to its knees,” he snapped.

  Those were the last words I remembered before I unceremoniously and rather ingloriously, succumbed to the nausea.

  Chapter 2

  Gerard

  I looked up at the sky. It looked the same as my sky back home—blue, with faint wispy curls of clouds dotting it. I sniffed. The wind even smelled familiar, somewhat. There was the scent of flowers and fried foodstuffs, but there was another smell, too, one I was unfamiliar with—something acrid and bitter, burnt, quite unpleasant to the nostrils. I rubbed at my nose.

  But that was where any similarity to Kingdom ended. There were large, metallic birds gliding along the black stretch of road, some of them roaring and purring, though far too fat to get up off the ground. The most disturbing part was the transparent eyes that displayed its victims within, many of whom looked perfectly bored or content to have become that bird’s lunch.

  We stood on a grassy knoll, hidden behind a copse of trees that had thick wires sprouting out of it but no branches or limbs any longer. The buildings in this place, too, were alien. Not a single one had a thatched roof or stone frame. They looked built of weak timber and crumbling bricks.

  The jarring sound of a bird honking angrily at another bird caused me to grimace and back up on my heels.

  “Merde,” I grunted, as a bird belched black gas in my direction, causing me to choke on a cough as I tried to clear the stench of it from my head. Waving my hand madly back and forth, eyes tearing up, I looked at the blond devil beside me. “Where have you brought me, demon?”

  Rumpelstiltskin, looking nowhere near as fazed as I, dusted off the hem of his spotless white cuffs and smirked. “How do you know this isn’t Kingdom proper? Maybe a side of it you’ve never seen before, solider boy?”