Rescuing Rapunzel (26 page)

Eva’s face crumpled and she looked like she would throw herself on the ground and cry. I took a step back, Eva’s words resonating in my chest. Was Nick going to marry her? And then I came along, and now he had to marry me?

Would he do that? If he loved her, would he turn her away, out of duty?

In my heart, I knew he would. For he had done the very thing to me, before.

I shuddered, backing away from Eva and Corline, not wanting to believe it.

Corline glanced at me. “Go on. Leave. I have her.” She wrapped her arms around Eva and led her to the door. For a single instant, Eva turned her hateful glare on me, but she did not say anything as Corline took her outside.

I stared, waiting for the door to open and Eva to come inside, but she never did. Instead, I found myself leaning against a heavy door when Nick and his friends came out.

“What are you doing?” Nick asked me, his expression dark.

I shook my head. “I am just…I…”

“Did you go down there?” His question thundered in the hallway and I pressed a little harder against the door.

“Where?” I turned to look at the door behind me. “What is this?”

“That is the dungeon,” Penn answered, his voice soft. “You did not go down there, my lady, did you?”

“No, no, I…” I stepped away from it, staring at the hard lines. Unlike the other doors in the castle, this one was old and worn, lined with metal and sporting a thick lock. “This is the dungeon?”

Nick nodded.

I froze. “Moth…the woman who took me is down there?” A powerful ache tore through me, desire and revulsion in equal measure.

Kiki appeared in the hallway. “What are you doing out here? I thought I heard shouting.” She came to my side.

Nick put his hand on my arm. “You do not need to go down there.”

I looked into his blue eyes, a determination building inside me I could not explain. “But I do.”

He opened his mouth to counter me, but paused. Then he glanced at his two friends and some wordless communication passed between them. With curt nods, both men followed us as we entered the dungeon.

My pulse beat in my ears as we headed down the dark stairs. All conversation ceased until the only sounds were footfalls and the constant dripping of water.

As we went deeper, voices from below became apparent. It was not the same overall happy sounds otherwise heard in the castle. This was sadness, anger, frustration. It radiated off the walls, almost tangible as we walked. I wanted to squeeze my heart, hold it, because it felt like the joy was being sucked out of me with each step. I bit my lip, afraid to say anything.

Soon one particular voice became clear–the Duke von Gruenewald, bellowing for release. His demands for justice and cries of treason bounced off the stone and I winced with every outraged cry. I listened, but could not hear Gothel. Was it possible something had happened to her? Had she managed to escape? Or worse, had she…had she died?

I shivered, shocked that this thought could still cause me pain. I had a moment of cowardice, of wanting nothing more than to run, but I had come this far, I could not let fear persuade me away.

As we closed in on the voices, we came to a small area holding three guards, all of whom snapped to attention with the arrival of our party. Nick spoke to them, but I paid them little heed. Would Gothel have reasons for her actions? Would she be contrite? Defiant? Would she beg for release? What if she would not talk at all? This was probably my one chance to find meaning in all this.

I felt Kiki close behind, and she touched my shoulder as we entered the cell area. “You do not have to do this,” she whispered.

“Yes, I do. I truly do.”

Bryan and Penn stood behind her, arms crossed over their chests, looking ready to do battle instead of escorting me. The reason for their posture quickly revealed itself.

We rounded a corner and in the nearest cell was the Duke von Gruenewald. “How dare you, von Hohburg! How dare you take what is mine! As soon as His Majesty hears about this, your head will roll!”

“If I were you,” Penn said as he and Nick approached the cell, “I would be much more concerned about my own head, cousin.”

Gruenewald blasted a slew of profanities at Penn, causing me to gasp. “You have always wanted Gruenewald for yourself. I know you and your family plotted for years to get the province! You cannot have it. It is mine.”

I stepped behind Nick, who merely glanced at Penn.

“Must we wait for judgment? Can I not run him through right now?” Penn asked.

“You will lose your rank, too,” Nick replied.

“And then even I would be higher than you,” Bryan said.

“Could not have that, Bryan.” Penn narrowed his eyes at the duke behind the bars. “When judgment comes, know I will be there.”

“To steal what was never rightfully yours,” the duke countered.

“No, it was never meant to be yours,” Penn replied.

More curses came from him then the duke narrowed his gaze on me. “And if you think, whore, you will walk away from this unharmed, think again. She will cut your eyes out and eat them in a stew!”

I reached for Nick, sickened by what the duke had said, but also because I felt, rather than saw, Nick move forward, along with Penn.

Before I could stop him, Nick had the duke’s throat.

“If you ever threaten my betrothed again, I shall cut off your head myself and damn the consequences,” Nick snarled in his face.

“She is only yours by luck, von Hohburg. Were you a day later, she would have been mine. Mine to bind with those fabulous, rich ells of hair, and have my way with.”

Nick moved slightly to the right, and Penn’s fist made contact with the duke’s face. The duke went flying backward into the cell, all arms and legs as he landed against the back wall.

Kiki snagged my arm, pulling me around a corner, where the cells were quieter. The men still quarreled with Gruenewald, but I could not make out what they said. Considering their tones, I was grateful.

“Gruenewald is a cruel, corrupt monster,” Kiki said. “I hope the king strips his titles and gives them to Penn.”

I could not say I doubted Kiki’s assessment. Why would Gothel want me attached to such a man? “What did Penn mean, Gruenewald was not meant to be duke?”

Kiki shrugged. “That is one of those conversations adults do not have in front of children.”

I raised my eyebrow to her. “I doubt that stopped you.”

She smiled, brightening the dungeon corridor, and I was happy to see some semblance of joy in the dark. “Already you know me very well. To put it simply, Penn’s father should have been Duke von Gruenewald, but the title was passed to Orbert’s father, Penn’s uncle, when Orbert was a child.”

“Why?”

“War. They thought Penn’s father was dead. He had been gone for twelve years, maybe fifteen, I cannot be sure, and assumed dead. Since Orbert’s dad stayed, married and had Orbert, the title was passed to him. When Penn’s father returned, with a wife and infant Penn, the uncle refused to give up the title. To keep the peace, Penn’s father took an Earldom, which passed to Penn when he died.”

“It does not seem as though peace was kept.”

“It was, barely. Gruenewald hated the Eisenburgs, certain they would try to reclaim the title, or some such nonsense. They would have the right, of course, to contest it but the Eisenburgs never did. They were content with their lands.” Kiki leaned closer and whispered, “Rumors claim scandal surrounded Penn’s mother and that is why they did not contest anything. Supposedly, they figured they were better off taking what they could and living in relative peace, than trying to challenge it.”

Footsteps came our way and Bryan joined us. His hair hung in his face and he brushed a few loose strands away.

Next to me, Kiki went stiff. “What are you doing?”

Bryan shrugged. “Letting them beat Gruenewald.”

I stepped toward him, to go after Nick. “Should you not be stopping them?”

Bryan shook his head. “No… No witnesses, my lady.” He tugged at his ear, his gaze darting away from me.

I balked, putting my hand on his arm. “Surely, they would not!”

He jumped at the contact and stepped away from me. “Let us find the witch so we may get out of here. The stench is beginning to bother me.” His pace increased as he headed deeper into the corridor.

Kiki matched his pace. “How can you tell? You smell like your own sewage hole.” Kiki pinched her nose.

“Is that so?” Bryan asked, wrapping his arm around Kiki. She let out a shriek and darted from him. Bryan smirked.

Kiki’s skirts swished in the cell and the tap of the dripping water made my hands clench. I heard nothing of Nick and Penn, nor Gruenewald, and I wondered if they really were beating the nasty duke.

Surely they were not.

It only seemed a few steps before I was in Gothel’s presence. A stark contrast to Gruenewald, she sat on the bench, head lowered, a cloak wrapped around her, looking weak and innocent with her head tilted slightly to the side, her toes bent toward each other.

“Gothel.”

She did not move.

“Madame Vevika Gothel,” I said.

For several long breaths she sat perfectly still. Then, slowly, she brought her head up.

Gothel’s gaze met mine and I stifled a gasp. It seemed she had aged a dozen years since the day in the tower. Her eyes were filmy and surrounded by wrinkles, her mouth crosshatched all around with lines. Yet there was a wildness to her and she looked far from beaten. Determination filled her marred face, and it sent shivers through my body. Gothel scared me more than Gruenewald’s yelling.

“Speak, child. I know you can.” Her contempt radiated through her crackling words.

“You stole me from my family.” Saying the words was enough to release the storm of emotions that had started building when Nick first told me of Gothel’s treachery. How she had stolen me from the life, the world, the station I should have grown up with. I hated her for it.

“You were mine before you were theirs.”

Duchess von Stroebel had carried me. Had birthed me. No one disputed it. How could I belong to her before…

“The teas,” I whispered, staring at her. The teas she had forced Duchess von Stroebel to drink during her pregnancy. Teas made specifically for the baby.

“Immortality cannot simply be plucked, child. It has to be created. Tended. Nurtured until it blooms.”

Revulsion mixed with the rage, and my hands began to shake. I was a spell. Nothing more. I took a step closer to the cell’s bars. “You grew me, like a herb.”

“No. I grew your hair. You were merely a by-product. A cyst on my creation. It took me years to master the formula, decades of trials to find a way to combine all the elements so they created perfect immortality.”

I shook my head. Confusion now fluttered in the rage. “But my hair only has healing properties.”

“Your hair was golden immortality. Yes, it healed, in small doses. But it also rejuvenated the body and healed ailing minds. It was my most powerful creation and it would have made me richer than even the king.” She turned a bony finger toward Bryan. “At least it would have,” she snarled at Bryan, “until you burned it.”

I turned to Bryan. “You burned my hair?”

I had not considered what had happened to my hair after leaving the tower. I assumed it had been kept and I would get it back. What I would do with it, I was not sure, but I never contemplated it being destroyed. Loss hit me in the gut. Despite Gothel’s words, the hair could heal and losing it seemed so unfair.

Bryan did not seem to realize the importance of the loss. “It was an accident. I thought it was hay in the wagon.”

“An accident you will pay for with your life,” the witch spat.

Bryan rolled his eyes. “Ohh, a death threat. Never had one of those before.”

Kiki tugged on his arm, whispering for him to be quiet, and tried in vain to pull him away.

“Foolish,” she snarled back at him. “You understand nothing. You see only what you wish to see. The world before you means nothing. You might as well be a frog, sitting in a pond, targeting with your tongue instead of your arrow.”

Bryan pulled out of Kiki’s arms. “Then do it, witch. Make me a frog,” he said, looking much larger than he had just a moment before.

Gothel glared at him, whispering under her breath.

“Gothel, stop this!” I said. Yet Gothel kept her eyes locked on his. “Mother!”

She would not break her chant.

I reached into the cell and shoved her shoulder, finally breaking her concentration.

Gothel stumbled backward. Eyes burning, she stared at me. “You cannot stop what is inevitable.”

“I am free of you, am I not?”

Letting out an animalistic scream, Gothel charged, reaching for me. I froze, a scream poised in my throat. Someone grabbed me from behind, flinging me away even as Bryan stepped between me and Gothel.

Bryan cursed, jerking his arm away from the bars. “You crazy old witch.”

She pulled her hand back, her fingernails red with his blood. Nick and Penn rounded the corner, both sweaty and panting. I flung myself into Nick’s arms, not asking what he had been doing, not wanting to know. All I wanted was his comfort, his protection.