Dream Trysts: A Sleeping Beauty Story (Passion-Filled FairyTales Book 4) (14 page)

Rose stared, processing her mother’s words. She supposed that is how it should be, but she understood why Maurelle wouldn’t be happy at the prospect of Blissa marrying Edmund. Still, Maurelle’s actions afterwards were inexcusable.

Rose nodded to her mother. “You are right,” she said. “You should go. Find Hilly. I will try to climb, too, and I will seek out James and offer him the strength he needs.”

After Blissa had left, Rose had tried to do what her mother asked. She closed her eyes and imagined herself floating. Higher and higher, through the layers of dream, if that’s what you could call them. Her body felt light and her mind lifted. She was indeed rising, higher and higher, as if things were getting clearer, less murky. And then,
boom
. She stopped. It was as if she’d hit an invisible barrier. And no matter how much she closed her eyes and imagined that light, wafty feeling that had brought her this high, she rose no more. She was stuck, and she felt sure there would be no further ascension.

She scrunched up her face and looked around. It didn’t look any different from her dreamscape before. But it did feel different. The sun seemed dimmer, the air felt lighter. It was as if she were on the precipice. Perhaps she had arrived in the area where she was closest to normal sleep. The curse would prevent her from breaking through, but she had to be less entrenched in her enforced sleep.

This would be a good time to try to reach James. She missed him. She wanted to see him, and something told her now was a good time. In her mind, she saw James asleep in the woods, and felt him yearning for her.

She called out to him. James. And within a second, he appeared. It was so quick, it startled her. She took a step back. “James?”

He quirked his lips into a smile, grabbed her and pulled her to him. He wrapped himself around her, and she felt safe nestled in his biceps. “I was hoping,” he whispered, his breath tickling her ear. “Hoping you’d send for me. Dwennon said you might. He said …” he started, but trailed off as he suckled her neck. She felt herself quiver beneath his lips, as the heat from him filled her.

Despite how much she missed him, and despite how real he felt as he slid his fingers down her back and sprinkled kisses along her collarbone, she had to pull away. Her breathing heavy, she looked at him, looked him over from head to toe. His color was right, not too pale. His eyes glistened with his familiar spark. He looked strong, the way she remembered him at their first meeting.

“You seem alright,” she said. “How? You looked so awful when I last saw you.”

He chuckled, taking her hand and pulling her back to him. “I am fine now,” he said, pulling her down to the soft, pillowy grass. She worried that he wanted to sit. Was he still ill? Still fatigued by his enforced slumber?  But he felt strong when he wrapped his arms around her. Nestled in his biceps, she felt immune to harm. “Really, love. I am healthy, but if you must know, when I left you, I wasn’t well.  I almost died.”

Rose gasped and James pulled her tighter. “Don’t worry, love,” he said. “I was alright. Dwennon and his friend helped me.” James went on to his explain what happened, but Rose was sure he was using terms that put his ordeal in the best light. And when Rose was sufficiently calm, he told her, “Dwennon says I will need strength I can only get from you, to face Maurelle.”

Rose sighed and stroked his cheek. “Must you face her?”

“I must get to you,” he said, “so, yes, I must face her.”

She didn’t like the idea of it. She still held out hope for Maurelle, that she would somehow learn to forgive. It seemed so unlikely. She leaned forward and kissed his lips. “Then I will help make you strong.”

* * *

Eldred slept comfortably for the first time since Maurelle had bound him to her. He had been so addled with his own feelings for her that he hadn’t seen her for what she had become. He still saw her as the girl of two decades ago. Shy, kind, sometimes scared, and often wracked with sorrow. But the sorrow had grown into anger, and he hadn’t realized just how much it had changed her. Perhaps because it hadn’t changed her with him. Because, with him, she was so often the Maurelle of his memories. And it had been too easy to overlook the stories of the Maurelle she had become.

But now he could not overlook it. She had tasked him with murder. Only, he knew he would never commit that murder. And there was a certain peace in that. He also knew what fate held for Maurelle, and even though she’d done this to him, part of him felt sad at that fate.

Eldred found his dream self in Maurelle’s bed chamber again. Today, she lay there dressed in a more revealing outfit now. It was a skimpy thing that was bright red and lacy. It barely covered her, and a few days ago, he might not have been able to hold control over himself. He would have rushed to her, hands flying to her body, removing it, so that he could touch her, suckle her, make love to her. Only now, there was a bitter taste in his mouth as he remembered giving himself wholly to her as she used it against him.

“What do you want, Maurelle?”

She frowned, the hurt washing over her face. Her expression reminded him of her when she was younger, and part of him hated being the one to put that look on her face. “I want you,” she said, slightly recovered. She stood and walked over to him, as he had arrived at the edge of the room and had no desire to get closer to her. When she neared him, he took a step back. She pursed her lips and sighed.

“I’m sorry,” she said, finally. “I don’t want you to hate me.” She took a step toward him, and he didn’t move. She smiled, reached out and stroked his cheek. “I want what we had last night. I want us to be together.”

“Then release me,” he said.

She stared at him, swallowed. “I will,” she said.

He felt a surge of hope, and smiled. “You mean it?”

She nodded. “Once the boy is dead, I will release you from your vow.”

The hope coursing through him turned to anger and he could feel a shiver of rage run through him. “No,” he said. “If you don’t release me now, then you will die. The human will kill you. I have seen it.”

Maurelle took a step back, squinting cruelly at him. “What do you mean? How do you know? You cannot see the humans in your visions.”

“I have seen your future, Maurelle, not the humans,” he insisted, though he knew that wasn’t entirely true. He couldn’t see human futures, but James was changing. Eldred swallowed, and then spoke. “Persisting means death for you. Don’t persist. You can let me go, let the princess Briar Rose go, and live your life.”

Maurelle sneered. “A happy life with you?” she whined, mimicking his tone from earlier.

He shook his head. “No,” he said. “That path is closed to you as well. I cannot forgive what you have done to me. But you can live. You can, if you let go of your anger, even be happy.”

She pointed a finger at him and leaned in, eyebrows raised. “So, you want me to give up my kingdom, you, and everything else, for what?”

“Your life,” he said.

“What life? Everything important will be gone.”

He shook his head. “You won’t be gone. You will be here, and maybe even your family will forgive you. If you release her daughter, with time, Blissa may welcome you back into her life. She never wanted you gone, and—”

“Silence,” Maurelle said, covering her ears. “Don’t speak her name to me. Don’t speak of these ridiculous things. I don’t want their forgiveness. And I will not give them everything.”

Eldred nodded silently. He knew as much. And perhaps he should have lied to her. Perhaps he should have told her that he could be with her, even after everything. Only he knew it wasn’t true. Hers was a betrayal that was unforgivable. He could forgive anything short of what she had done, which was to enslave him to her will.

“If you do not plan to release me from my vow, then there is nothing else we have to say to each other.”

Maurelle shook her head. “I want you to do it tonight.”

Eldred shook his head. “I can’t,” he said,

“I command it, so you will.”

Eldred scoffed, and then nodded. “I can do it tonight,” he said, through gritted teeth. “But I will die if I do it tonight. I have foreseen it. Tonight is dangerous for me, and even though you should wish to take your chances with death, if I must strike—and you insist I must— I prefer to wait until tomorrow, when he sends the king’s servant back to the castle.”

All the color had drained from Maurelle’s face. “You’ve foreseen your death?”

“You know that all seers know when their own death is near, Maurelle,” he said, managing to keep his voice even, though he felt a certain terror within him at the prospect of his own demise. Everyone knew life was finite, but fairies could live up to two hundred years. Realizing his life would be so short was a cruelty. But knowing how he would die, that his death would save others, was a small measure of comfort.

“And if you wait until tomorrow,” Maurelle asked, kneading one hand with the other, her eyebrows squished in concern. “You’ll live?”

“Does the answer matter to you, Maurelle? If I say to you that I will die if you ask this of me, would you still ask it of me?”

“No, I wouldn’t,” she said, the words coming out quick and unequivocal. “I’d find another way to kill him. I wouldn’t hurt you, Eldred. I would never hurt you like that.”

He smiled painfully, and shook his head. “But you would hurt me like this, hurt me by making me a slave to your commands?”

“They trust you, and I trust you. I want someone I trust with them,” she said, her voice softer, pleading, as if she thought she could make him understand. “I just want your help.”

He nodded. “I will do what you want tomorrow, if it pleases you to wait a day and avoid my demise tonight.”

Maurelle stared at him, her eyes starting to moisten. “I would never hurt you, Eldred,” she said, wiping a tear away. “I’m sorry I have, and once it’s done, you’ll be rid of me. I hope you can forgive me.”

Eldred sighed and breathed out, knowing what he had to do. He took a step toward Maurelle, and wrapped his arms around her. “I know that you’re sorry in your own way, Maurelle, but doing this means we can’t be together. I forgive you for what you’ve done so far. However, for the things you are about to do, I can only ask that you reconsider. There is love in the hearts of many for you. If you let it in, you’ll do well.”

He felt her exhale into his chest with that phrase and knew his words had fallen on deaf ears. Though perhaps one more warning of the future would sway her. “Before I go, I want to remind you about the Sacred Pool.”

Maurelle pulled away from him and watched his face with concern. “Why do you speak to me about the Sacred Pool?”

“I know you’ve sought more power there. Just remember that the Sacred Pool can bestow powers to others, too, when powers are taken for unjust reasons.”

She closed her eyes, shook her head. “That’s …” she started, her voice high and shrill. “But it wouldn’t. I’ve not taken powers to invade another kingdom. That is the injustice that the scrolls talk about.”

“The scrolls of wisdom offer guidance,” Eldred said, his tone even. “They remind us that the Pool wants a world of balance. If you continue to take powers, the Sacred Pool might bestow a power on him.”

“On a human?”

“It is the human you seek to destroy without just reason.”

“My reason is just,” she said, with little conviction.

“You forget our history, Maurelle. Or perhaps you never learned it well. Seers are taught the importance of history. If you do not understand the past, you cannot possibly understand the future, understand the signs of what is to come. You cannot see and help your king or queen understand the merits of the vision. So let me explain: our powers come from the Sacred Pool, and fairy bodies are uniquely designed to handle them, but certain powers are bestowed upon humans from time to time. They are often powers of the mind: levitation, foresight, telepathy, and sometimes flight. The greater the human’s need, the greater the human’s power.”

Maurelle bit her lower lip and stroked her chin. “And you think the Sacred Pool would help him?”

Eldred shrugged. He knew it would help him. His visions of the prince’s future had been clear, which meant the prince would gain a fairy power. Yet he didn’t want Maurelle to know it with certainty. “The Sacred Pool only offers powers to those it thinks is capable of handling them and to those people who can keep our world in balance.”

Maurelle shook her head, and gave a mild shiver. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “I’d have enough power to face the boy, but I won’t have to. You will take care of him tomorrow night.”

“And afterward, I won’t speak with you again,” he said. “You know that, and you’re fine with that?”

She swallowed. “Of course I’m not fine with it,” she said, frowning. “But that is the choice you make. If it were up to me, you would never leave my side.”

“But it has been up to you. For so long, you have had the choice to have me at your side in every way, and instead you rebuffed it because of your hatred of humans. And now you shackle me because of your hatred of one human in particular. You could choose to forgive King Errol and move on. He is long dead and his heirs are no more responsible for his actions than you are for your mother’s. You could choose to give yourself peace, and you could choose to release me.”

She stared at him with wavering eyes, with an expression that yearned to accept what he said, to do what he asked. “I will release you,” she said softly, and for a moment his heart soared. But it came crashing down again when she finished with, “As soon as you have done what I asked, you won’t be bound to me.”

He nodded. He closed his eyes and waited. He was ready to be released from her dream, released from her presence. Only, she didn’t do it. He stood there waiting, hoping she would cast him away. Minutes passed, his legs felt tired, and his eyes yearned to open. Finally, he did. She was standing inches from him, and she leaned and kissed his cheek.