Rescuing Rapunzel (19 page)

I pressed the herbs against the hair and continued bandaging his gash. My hands shook, tears poured from my eyes, washing over the wound as I worked. They seeped into the first layer of the bandage and I had to tear strips from my own chemise to bandage him properly. Where the hair rested against the wound, it stuck out like a ball from his side.

Finally finished, I let out a sigh. I collapsed against his chest, letting his heart beat–already stronger and steadier–carry me into the dark.

“I hope you live, my love,” I whispered.

Chapter 28

Nick should have been dead. He should have died right there on the floor, just below Rapunzel’s bed–the lover who had not made it to her side.

Yet, obviously, he had not.

He was not going to be fighting a duel anytime soon, but he was alive.

His side ached and he could feel his pulse where the dagger had pierced him, but it was not hurting nearly as much as before.

A loud clatter made him jerk, and he snapped his eyes open. Rapunzel lay on his chest, the pre-dawn light spread over her pale face like a blessing. She was so beautiful. And so still.

His heart ached with regret. “Tressey,” he whispered. “I am so sorry I was not here sooner.”

He touched her cheek with his good hand, though every movement pained him. Her skin was yet warm and soft, and somehow that made everything worse.

He let out a sob. “I am sorry,” he whispered.

The noise came again and an arrow with three heads flew in the window. It immediately slid backward, the metal stabbing into the wall and hooking tight. He heard a holler from outside.

Nick could not move.

He did not want to disturb his Tressey.

Even in dea–

“What is that racket?” Rapunzel moaned, twisting her head and rubbing her fingers over her face.

“Rapunzel?” he whispered.

She turned her head to look at him. “Nick? You…You are…” She shoved herself off his chest but immediately paled and flopped heavily down again. He could not stop himself from groaning.

“Oh, I am sorry. I am sorry, Nick.” She rolled onto the stone floor. “My head still hurts,” she murmured, rubbing her temple.

A dangle of a braid hung around her face and the rest of her hair hung at her shoulders in uneven blond sticks, the ends flipping in all directions. He reached for his side and felt the soft bundle pressed against the dagger wound.

“Your hair.”

She nodded, keeping her head down. “I had to save you.”

“You did, Tressey. You did.”

She sighed, her body going limp against him.

A groan sounded outside and hands appeared on the window sill. Gathering Tressey to him, Nick felt around for something he could throw. He found a dagger and held it, ready to hurl it at Gruenewald or the witch. Nick’s angle was not ideal, but he was certainly going to try. He would not let them hurt Tressey again.

A head popped over the sill. Nick cocked his arm.

A man heaved himself into the room, his face obscured by the sun behind him.

“Nick!”

He froze. He knew that voice. “Penn?”

Penn leaned out the window. “He is here. Get help!”

Coming closer, Penn raised an eyebrow at Rapunzel sprawled over Nick then crossed his arms over his chest. “You are going to have to marry her now. I am a witness.”

“You cannot know how glad I am to see you,” Nick said. “What is that thing?” He gestured to the metal object that had been shot into the window.

“Bryan thought of it. It is attached to an arrow.”

Any other time, Nick would have been impressed with the idea, but not today. “Help me with her.”

Penn carefully stepped around the blood on the ground and lifted Rapunzel. “Is she wounded?”

“I do not think so.”

Penn laid Rapunzel on the bed. “She must like you,” he said, returning to Nick and looking over the wound in his side. “She bandaged you.” He touched the ball sticking from his wound. “What did she put in this?”

“Her hair.”

Penn raised an eyebrow.

“I will explain later.” Nick sighed, trying to force himself off the floor without success “We need to get out of here.”

“I am working on that.” Penn glanced out the window.

Bryan appeared as if summoned and climbed inside. He came straight to Nick and he and Penn carefully helped Nick to his feet.

“What have you been eating?” Bryan groaned.

Nick glared at him. “Just help me up.”

“My horse is not this heavy,” Penn muttered as they stood.

Nick cursed as he tried to get his balance and twisted, pulling on the wound. Sweat poured from his brow. He was in no shape for this. He did not want to think how they would all get down from the tower. He tried to keep his footing, but the pain would not abate.

He cursed again.

“Knock it off,” Penn muttered.

“Whiner,” Bryan added.

Nick spat curses at them as they hauled him upright. He wavered on his feet and they led him to the wall and propped him against it. He glanced at Tressey, who was still unconscious.

“How did you?” Nick panted as he pressed his sweat-soaked brow into the cool stone Just standing made his head swim.

“Bryan returned not long after you rode out, said he had tracked the witch to the tower. We gathered some men and followed.” Penn glanced out the window, signaling someone below.

“Your horse was here, but there was no sign of you. Then the witch and…” Bryan looked at Penn.

“My wonderful cousin and I had an altercation.”

Nick raised his eyebrow at Penn–which seemed the only part he could move without pain.

Bryan interceded. “Gruenewald is alive.”

“Barely,” Penn replied.

“And the witch?” Nick asked.

“Both are being taken to your castle for safekeeping,” Bryan replied. “For now.”

It would probably be good to stay out of the dungeons at Castle Hohburg until after the king passed down sentence. The king did not care for dukes murdering other dukes. He tended to strip titles for those kinds of aggressions. Rumor had it the king had been looking for an excuse to strip Gruenewald of
his
title for some time.

Nick brushed the ball-bandage over his wound. He winced, and glanced at his two friends.

The king had a reason now.

Chapter 29

I floated around the tower.

“Hang on,” someone said.

“…stairs...” That sounded like Nick.

Nick.

Nick curled on the floor. A black pool of blood spreading beneath him. Barely breathing.

There was a bump and I opened my eyes. A man leaned over me. “I have you, my lady. Never fear.”

I returned to the dark, and the knife. The rage in Gothel’s eyes as she struck.

“…her down on the seat…”

There was something soft beneath me. The sensation of movement. Something warm and heavy over my body.

In the blackness behind my eyes, the thin man leaned over me and licked my face. “You taste so sweet, Rapunzel,” he whispered. “Now I finally get my chance to devour you.”

I struck out, and someone caught my arm. I heard Nick’s voice. “It is all right, Tressey. I am here.”

But he was not. He was not here.
 

He was curled on the floor.
 

Lying in a lake of black blood.
 

Dying.

“Nick!” I screamed. I bolted upright, my chest heaving. My eyes were open, but I could not see anything. Everything was so dark…

“Tressey.”

I jumped when a hand touched mine.

“I am here, Tressey, I am here.”

“Nick.” I turned my head and the darkness evaporated, revealing Nick, leaning over and lighting a candle. He smiled at me from a chair next to the bed.

Leaning forward, he stroked my brow and reached for a cup on the table near the bed. He brought it to my lips and the water was cool and smooth going down my throat.

I let out a sigh. My throat felt immensely better.

“How are you feeling, Tressey?” Nick asked

“Better.” My head did not seem to be aching as badly, though I had not tried moving.

“I should hope so,” he said with a smile. “You have been asleep these three days past.”

“Three days? But how?” I tried to rise, but Nick put his hand on my shoulder.

“Easy now,” he said. “Do not try to move too much. You have been through a lot.”

This was not my tower. It was a large space with more than one window, where cool air blew through. The sky was dark, and I could not see much beyond the little bit of moonlight coming in, and the candle Nick had burning in the room. “Where am I?”

“Castle Hohburg. My home. We have been caring for you.”

“Thank you,” I said.

He smiled. “No thanks are required, my Tressey.” He touched my hand. “You saved my life.”

“And you mine,” I replied.

In the faint moonlight, I watched Nick, hoping I was not dreaming again. He moved through the room very gracefully, refilling my cup, and I realized the bandage I had made was gone. “Your wound. Are you healed?”

Nick handed me the water. “I am healing.” He twisted to the side, raising his shirt. “The wound is almost closed.” His finger grazed the cut which had been laced through with stitching to close the wound, though it hardly looked necessary. The puckered skin seemed nearly sealed.

“The patch helped?”

He nodded. “I do not know what magic your hair holds, but it has healed my wound as though it were a mere scratch. The healer here at the castle insisted on stitches, but in another day she will remove them. You truly did save my life, and I will forever be in your debt.”

I blushed, looking at the blanket. “You have removed me from the tower. I could never repay you for–” Gothel’s image appeared in my mind, dagger in hand. “Gothel! What about Gothel? Where is she?”

Nick took my hand. “It is all right, Tressey.” He clutched my fingers. “Madame Gothel is detained in a cell, until the king or one of his representatives arrives to determine her sentence.”

“When will that be?”

“Sadly, I am not privy to the king’s plans.” He smiled. “There is no way to know when, or if, he will come. He might merely send the grand duke to deal with the situation.”

I bit my lip, and stared at the pattern our fingers made, pushed together, as though the mere skin had the ability to answer my questions, solve this mystery.

Yet I knew the fingers did not hold the answers. I started to reach for my braids before I remembered they were gone and let my hand fall.
 

I could not wait for the king.

“I want to see her,” I said.

Nick sighed. “When you are ready, I will take you, but I do not think it wise. What could you have to gain from it?”

I nodded, reaching down and fiddling with the blanket over my lap. “If I know why, maybe the nightmares will go away.”

He scooted his chair next to the bed, and he put an arm around me. “I am here. The nightmares do not stand a chance.”

I smiled at him and curled into his arm. “I hope you are right.”

“I know I am.”

Chapter 30

“Arse, woman, that hurt!” Bryan cried as Nick walked into the dining room.

Nick’s hopes of breaking his fast in peace ended with the sight that greeted him. His best friend sat at the table, a bowl of porridge dripping down his face.

Nick had hoped he would have a quiet morning, considering it was so early. No such luck. At least the little girls were not up.

“Watch your mouth, Count!” Kiki glared at Bryan with her hands on her hips

Nick could not help smiling, though he had to admit good humor came easily to him this morning. Rapunzel was awake. After three endless days of helplessness and anxiety, she was finally awake. Nick had been by her bed, day and night, since they had arrived. He had even convinced Alda, the maid who was helping look after Rapunzel, to let him sleep on the floor next to the bed.

Propriety be damned, he was staying close to her.

By the look of the scene in front of him, propriety had vacated this room as well.

“Kiki,” Nick chastised, though he could not hide a smirk. Obviously, his parents had not come down to break their fast yet, or no one would be sitting at the table with porridge on their head.

“Good morning, hero,” Penn said, raising a cup to him.

“Good morning,” Nick said, grinning, not letting Penn’s jab bother him today. He should be used to it after all–the man had been doing it since they had returned