A Thief of Nightshade (19 page)

Explain this to me ... wait ... please tell me you aren’t referencing what happened to you as a child. You are, aren’t you?

Sweetheart, that’s it, isn’t it? You think you’re—”

“Damaged goods. Always have been.”

He held her against his chest with her head tucked beneath his chin. “You know how I said the lake was like a mirror? The only one that can be shattered and put back together?” He waited for her to nod before he continued, “We’re like that glass, Aubrey, both of us. Things happened and we feel torn apart by them, but we healed and got stronger. Actually, it’s more like that broken bone in your leg. Your bone is strongest where it broke. You’re not damaged goods. You’re my sweet, tender-hearted Aubrielle, and my whole world would be empty without you.” He tipped her face up. “Are you hearing me?”

She gave him a smile.

“That’s not quite the smile that I want to see, but it’ll do for now.” He squeezed her inner thigh, knowing full well it would make her squirm and, of course, smile wider. “There we go. Much better. Now do you want to hear what I was afraid of?”

“You, afraid of anything? Do tell.”

Jullian flipped her to her back and started pulling her jeans off. He didn’t start talking again until he had them halfway down her legs. “I have so little to offer you. No real name to speak of, no pedigree, no fortune. I wouldn’t want them again if they were granted to me anyway, but I was afraid that it would matter to you. How foolish I was to waste so much time worrying about the one thing you couldn’t care less about.”

She sat up and pulled her jeans the rest of the way off. “I remember you saying

something

to

Grant

about

understanding his privileged upbringing. I wish you’d asked me. I could have spared you the worry.”

“Sounds familiar.” He pushed her back onto the bed and unbuttoned the last button on her shirt. “If you would have asked me, I would have told you that ...

such a sour pout for such a sweet face,” he laughed, “won’t you at least let me finish before you argue with me?”

“Okay! Okay!” she squeaked as he tickled her again.

He

reached

beneath

her

and

unhooked her bra with one hand. “I would have told you that just one kiss, just one word sung from your lips, one tender glance, is all I’d want if I were a dying man with one final wish. Damaged goods?

No, Aubrey, you’re more than I could have ever imagined ... more than any man like me should be privileged to have in a

partner and a best friend. And I intend to spend the rest of my life proving it to you.” He bent to kiss the bare skin of her stomach.

Wrapped in a blanket, Aubrey padded barefoot to where Jullian sat on the porch.

“I was just going to close my eyes for a minute. I guess it was more like two.”

“The rest was well deserved.”

Jullian handed her a cup of coffee and put his arm across her shoulder once she was seated beside him, giving her his now-infamous grin upon finding that the thin blanket was all she was wearing.

“Actually, I heard somewhere that they’ve discovered clothing to be detrimental to your health. You really should consider doing without it altogether.” He looked back out to the lake. “At the very least for the rest of the weekend.”

“Oh? I think I can handle that.” She laughed, moaning a little when she took her first sip of coffee. “So good.” She still couldn’t take everything in, how good she truly felt. “This place ... I don’t have any words. How did you finish this in just one year?”

He kept his gaze at the water, a loosely restrained smirk giving the impression that as usual, he was keeping something from her. This time though, she wasn’t hurt by it. “Let’s just say my woodworking skills are a little on the enchanted side. I wish I’d finished it sooner, but some things in life are better done the long way. Do you like it?”

“Beyond words.” She caught sight of the windows again, the bright colors even more magnificent with full sunlight on them. “Faerie tales?” She rose to look at them closer, even more impressed that they were more than the mere blocks of color she’d initially thought.

Jullian stepped up behind her. “Rose Red, Snow White and the Bear Prince.

This one, you probably recognize.”

“Sleeping Beauty. And this one, Rapunzel?”

“Yes. Then, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, the Frog Prince,” Jullian said.

“I couldn’t leave out Hansel and Gretel, though it creeps me out.”

Aubrey scoffed. “Seriously?”

He studied it in silence before remarking quite sincerely, “I feel for anything that fears being served for dinner.”

“I suppose that would be terrifying.

What about this one? I don’t recognize it.”

It was a rather haunting image of a King upon his throne, his hands clutching a delicate silver crown. His head was upturned and blue tears streamed down his cheeks.

He wrapped his arms around her.

“Ah, the Goblin King. Curious story.

Sad.”

She was intrigued and leaned back on him. “Tell me more.”

“The version I heard is a tad watered down from the real thing, so I suppose I shouldn’t worry about you waking up from nightmares as well.” He scooped her into his arms, careful not to spill her coffee, and walked back to the bench. “You wake up from mine enough as it is.” He grinned, waiting on her to roll her eyes before continuing.

“High in the mountains was a kingdom we’ll call Seren, where a beautiful young princess lived with her father. They lived a peaceful, happy life, despite the sorrow of having lost her mother when she was just a babe. She was allowed to roam anywhere in the castle and even into the town itself, among the cobblestone streets and shops, but her father was very overprotective and she was never allowed to wander from the protection of the world of Man, for deep in the mountains behind Seren, lay Koldavere, the city of Goblins.”

“Young girls are never obedient. You can tell this—” Aubrey started.

“Are you telling this story or am I?”

Jullian asked.

“Sorry,” she laughed. “Go on.”

“But, like any young girl would, she grew tired of her gilded cage and one day, when all the people of her father’s kingdom were busy getting ready for the spring festival, the princess snuck away from her handmaiden and went down the mountain to the forest. There, for a little while, she found solace in the serenity, but as the day grew long, so did the shadows of the trees and all the creatures that dwelled in the darker places of the wood.

The young princess was having such fun that she lost all track of time and suddenly found herself lost with nothing but the twinkling stars above her and the vague outline of the mountain to guide her home.

“Now, the passage back to Seren lies at the east base of the mountains but it is very hard to see in the daylight, let alone the depths of night and so she missed it entirely and took a dreadfully wrong turn that led her past the hidden gates to Koldavere and right to the entrance of the Goblin Keep. There, like living shadows, the goblins took her, leaving her for quite some time in a damp and frightening cell at the underground prison. But all is not lost, for our princess was a very smart young woman indeed and she knew that whoever requested an audience with the Goblin King must have their wish granted, lest they be someone of importance or a foreign visitor carrying gifts. Goblins are, you see, very resourceful beings, finding their talents in the art of metal-working and made their livelihood not just through their mining but also by selling their wares and occasionally some poor passerby would be snatched up and eaten only for the Goblins to find out later that the visitor bore a message of great worth.

“So after not eating or drinking anything for two days, the princess made her request and, as was custom, was taken to the King’s throne room. The doors were opened to reveal the oddest room the princess had ever seen, filled with beautiful sculptures made by the Goblin King’s own hands; crude replicas of those in his former life, for he was very lonely indeed.

“The King, weary from his long day and hungry himself, had just had his table set for supper when she arrived. He grumbled and cursed and even spat, angry for the interruption, but the moment he looked into the mirror that rested atop his fireplace and saw her in its reflection, he was immediately overcome with an emotion he’d never known before and it brought tears to his eyes. Without looking at her he asked, ‘Have you come to take me to the afterlife?’

“She

walked

into

the

room,

marveling at the figures. ‘No,’ she said, ‘I have been taken as your prisoner, but I bear a message of great importance. You must release me at once or I will never tell you.’

“The King rose and came around his throne and the princess gasped, for he wasn’t a Goblin at all, but a young man, not very much older than she was. ‘What message do you bear that cannot wait? I will not let you go, but name anything else that you desire and it shall be given to you.’

“The princess was disheartened by the King’s response, but was determined not to let him get the best of her. She was terribly hungry so she asked to eat supper with him. The King was delighted and that evening they dined together. He inquired as to her manner of arrival and all about her father’s kingdom and she happily told him, regaling him with tales of her antics in the castle and how she’d driven her nursemaids mad when she was a child.

But by the end of the meal, she grew sad and knew that her father would be broken-hearted to find her missing, so she excused herself without saying goodnight to the King and demanded the guards take her back to the prison.

“The next evening, the King waited but the princess did not ask to see him, nor did she the next night or the next, until finally the King asked the guards to bring her to him.

“When they did, he saw that the she did not eat or drink anything that he had sent to her, nor had she put on the pretty dress he’d had stolen for her from her father’s kingdom. ‘My sweet princess, why won’t you eat or drink anything?

Surely you hunger and thirst?’

“She did not respond, but walked around the room instead, sweeping her fingers across the metal sculptures. This displeased him, but not wanting her to leave, he walked around the room with her, winding through the statues like a game of hide and seek. After a few moments, his playful mood caught on and he lured her into a great game of chase; hiding from her one moment and trying to find her the next. After a while, the princess began to feel quite dizzy and weak and gave no fight when she was found. This worried the King and he pleaded with her to eat something.

“‘I will not eat until I may see my father and tell him that I am all right, for I know in his grief he is neither eating nor drinking.’

“The King thought about this, but wasn’t willing to lose her. ‘I will let you write a message to him, so long as you don’t tell him where you are. I will have it taken to your father so that he will not worry. If I do this, then will you eat and drink something?’

“The princess wanted more than just a letter sent to her father, but she feared for his heart and so she wrote the letter, and as she promised the King, she both ate and drank when she was through.

“The next evening, when the princess again did not ask to see him, he went down to the prison himself and spoke to her. ‘You are freezing down here. I have had a room prepared for you, but you will not take it. I have brought you dresses from your father’s kingdom, yet you stay in wet rags. You tell me that you are not cold, but you are shivering.’

“She looked up at him from where she sat, her knees hugged to her chest. ‘I will not leave this awful cell until I may see my father and tell him that I am all right, for I know in his grief he is not at rest.’

“The

King

grew

angry

then,

frustrated with her for not seeing how generous he had been, and stormed out of the prison. He told the guards to douse the lights and leave her in the worst cell for the night.