“We should,” he says. “But no. We’ll camp here in the dwarves’ quarters until she’s better. Lafayette found a new route, so we have a little more time.”
“Good to hear.” She sounds relieved. “That’s very kind of you.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
“Wait one second, Gabriel.”
“What else do you need?”
“There are two deep red marks on her neck, and others on her chest. I don’t think these came from eating the apples.”
“What’s your point?”
“They look like kisses.” She lowers her voice. “Very passionate, primal kisses.”
“I have no idea how she got those…”
The next time I come to, I’m naked and sitting against the jagged edge of a warm spring. Although the air smells like fresh rain, the sun hangs alone and high in a cloudless sky.
Mint leaves and jasmine blooms are floating in the waters around me, and someone is running a brush through my hair.
“Try not to move too much, Belle.” Sola whispers into my ear. “You haven’t regained all of your strength yet.”
I open my mouth to speak, but my throat aches in pain.
“You shouldn’t try to talk either.” She wades in front of me, completely naked as well.
“Just use your head,” she says. “Do you remember anything about the past five days of traveling? After you were rescued?”
It’s been five days? I shake my head, and she shoots me a sympathetic look.
“Hmmm.” She presses a cloth against my shoulder. “You have to promise to listen to me from here on out, okay?”
I nod.
“You can only eat the green and yellow apples in the forest,” she says. “Never, ever trust the red.”
As if she can sense me trying to ask why, she presses a finger against my lips.
“It’s impossible to know which of the red ones are poisoned by the Evil Queen,” she says. “She’d take great pleasure in killing a pretty girl like you, so don’t give her the satisfaction. You would’ve died if Gabriel hadn’t sucked a good chunk of the poison out of your chest.”
He did what?
My eyes widen, and she laughs while trailing a hand down my neck. “I’m being facetious, Belle. I know he kissed you here.” She moves her hand above the swell of my right breast. “And here … Am I wrong about that?”
I nod, and she laughs again.
“Fair enough.” She wades behind me and picks up the brush, resuming the care of my tresses. Then she whispers, “For what it’s worth, he’s checked on you multiple times every day. I think he likes you…”
Enchanted No More
Gabriel
Something isn’t adding up…
No birds have sent word of any villagers searching for Isabelle or her father, and the trees’ whispering network has yet to confirm that anyone cares.
Usually, when I hold someone for a debt—no matter how small—the outrage over my retribution spreads like wildfire within hours.
Belle’s kidnapping is over a week old now, and the deafening silence surrounding it is more than concerning.
Is Mr. Arwyn really her father? Did she make that up?
The more I think about her, the more I wonder if she knows something darker about him and Isabelle. If she’s been a part of their plan to get away from me all along.
My mind can only wander so far, though. My conspiracy theories are incessantly interrupted with memories of her perfect and tempting mouth. Even though she “claims” she hated it.
“You made me waste my second kiss…”
“Please tell me that we’re leaving this godforsaken place in the morning,” someone complains outside my cabin window. “I’d even settle for a midnight departure through a storm at this point.”
“I’m hoping to hear the same,” another voice says. “The dwarves are nice, but they can’t build a ceiling for shit.”
“Or a decent bed either. Half my body hangs off the damn frame.”
I hold back a laugh and move toward the cabin’s back door, stepping outside.
When I’m sure no one is watching, I open my satchel and pull out my dreadful mirror. I’d planned not to use it—to show the old hag that I could handle the final leg of this journey and curse on my own—but my pride is costing me time.
Swallowing it, I hold it in front of my face.
The glass instantly sparkles and gleams, and the haggard woman’s face settles in its center.
“Well, well, well. Look who’s come crawling back to me…” She tosses her head back and cackles, revealing her revolting, toothless smile. “I was beginning to worry that you didn’t love me anymore.”
I resist the urge to stuff her back into the bag.
“Spare me your usual speech today,” I say. “I just need you to show me a few things.”
“Invenire puellam pulcherrimam et sapientissimam in tota terra.” She gives it to me anyway, sending familiar chills down my spine. “Et si te amare contigerit, te et omne tuum genus e tenebris tuis noctes liberabo.”
Before I can tell her what I want her to show me, Lafayette bursts through a thicket, stumbling to the ground.