Rapunzelle: an Everland Ever After Tale (14 page)

“But before Witcher could complete his plans, the girl disappeared, kidnapped by a man named John Gothel. The men I spoke with weren’t sure what Gothel’s plan was, taking the princess west, but they remembered Witcher’s intense rage when he found out. This Witcher apparently began his search, sending men and money west to look for Gothel, the man who betrayed him. And when he got word that Gothel had come to Everland, he followed. That’s the last anyone in New York heard from either of them.”

Dmitri turned on his heel, then, to face them. Zelle hated the way he looked, all cold and hard, but there was something there in his pale blue eyes, when they flicked towards her for a moment, that told her he wasn’t quite a stranger. Just mostly.

“Sir, when I asked you about Witcher and Gothel, you denied all knowledge.” Papa was facing the mantel again, one arm braced against it as if he couldn’t support his own weight. “But now I ask you, in front of your wife and the woman you’ve raised as your daughter: Are you John Gothel?”

Papa’s fingers curled around the mantel, and Mother slowly sat up. Zelle felt like she was losing her support, but knew,
knew
that Papa needed his wife at that moment.

“I used to be.”

“Oh, Jack.” Mother’s pity was barely a moan, but she stood in a swirl of skirts and crossed to him. Zelle watched Mother place her hand on Papa’s back, watched him lean into his wife’s touch, and knew that she’d never have that simple love and support the two shared.

Not now that she’d lost Dmitri.

…Who inhaled sharply to hear Papa’s confession. A confession which, this far into this tangled web, hardly mattered. But still, she would hear the rest of it.

“If you’re this Mr. Gothel, Papa, how did I end up here?” Her voice was raw with emotion, and Dmitri turned at the sound. But he didn’t look triumphant; no, he looked…sad. Pitying, almost.

Papa took a deep breath. “I worked for Witcher. In New York.”

“You were a criminal.” Dmitri’s tone was dry, as if he was just confirming rather than asking.

But Papa didn’t respond. Instead, his jaw clenched as he stared at the tall young man across the room. She didn’t know what either of them were thinking, but the air between them was charged with tension. Finally, Dmitri exhaled, and nodded slightly. “On my honor, none of this will leave this room.”

Papa seemed to thaw, and she watched him look away, meeting Mother’s eyes. The two of them gripped hands, fingers entwined, as if desperate for the support. Taking a deep breath, still looking deeply into his wife’s eyes, Papa said, “Yes, I was a criminal. The worst kind.”

Zelle gasped, and Mother’s eyes filled with tears, but Papa continued. “I was in charge of getting Zelle to...well, it doesn’t matter. I saw her, and knew that I couldn’t let Witcher hurt her any more. She was…” He turned then, and Zelle might’ve been able to maintain her calm façade, if not for the tears she saw in his eyes when he met hers. “She was so perfect, so
good
, I knew that I couldn’t let him have her.” Mother’s hand slipped into his, and he gripped it fiercely. “I took her, and came west, running from Witcher.
That’s
when I ceased to be John Gothel, and became Jack Carpenter. Gothel is dead.”

“So you weren’t trying to kidnap her from him?”

“Hell yes, I was trying to kidnap her from him. The man shouldn’t have been left in charge of a
dog.
” Papa’s voice dropped to a mumble. “I should know.”

“And Witcher? He came after you two?”

Papa slipped his arm around Mother then, and she laid her head on his shoulder. These were her
parents
. She knew them. She’d seen this love every day that she could remember, seen their steadfast loyalty and their support, and known that she wanted the same when she found a man. Oh yes, they might be revealing secrets she couldn’t imagine, but they were still her parents.

“Meri married me, and made me realize that we had to stop running. We had to make a good home for Zelle. Witcher found us in the spring, and told us that she was royalty, but her family was dead. So we knew that we could keep her, that no one was looking for her.” Zelle took a deep, shuddering breath at the same time as her father. It was surreal to think that he was talking about
her
, as a child. “Besides, she was
our
Princess by then. I wasn’t going to let her go, not to him, not to anyone.”

“I understand.” Dmitri inclined his head once more, and Zelle had to look down at her fingers, twined in her lap. Why did he still twist her heart with his nobility? Why did he still make her think impossible thoughts? “And as the son of her godparents, I should thank you for keeping her safe all of these years. But my honor, and my father’s honor, demands satisfaction. I would know where Witcher went.”

The formality of the words sent a shiver through Zelle, like she was watching a duel being played out. A duel where Dmitri was one combatant, and who was the other? “Why?” She blurted out the question, and then winced when everyone’s attention shifted to her.

The smile on Dmitri’s lips was nothing like the one she’d fallen in love with. This one was cruel and twisted, and made her recoil. “So that I can kill him.”

“There’s no need.” Her father’s low declaration gained Dmitri’s attention, and the two men met each other’s eyes. “I killed him.”

Zelle’s gasp was loud enough to fill the room, but Mother hurried to override it. “You did not, Jack. I did.”

Mother? “
Mother?
” She had the right to be shocked. Her parents were
doctors
. They’d never hurt another soul in their lives. They
helped
people!

But Papa just shook his head, his lips half-curled on one side. “Meri didn’t kill him, not really.” Mother jabbed him in the side. “He came here, and we fought to protect Zelle, and there was an accident, and he died.”

“You are sure?” Did Dmitri sound eager, or disappointed?

“I’m sure.” Papa squeezed Mother. “We buried him in the woods behind our old cabin.” She remembered that cabin, outside of Everland. She remembered those woods.
Oh gosh
, she remembered playing in those woods as a child!

There was a long moment where no one spoke or moved. Zelle, for her part, was still trying to come to terms with everything that had been revealed in the last hour. To think that her worst worry for the evening had been if Papa could be civilized to Dmitri! But now, her parents weren’t really her parents, they’d
killed
a man to protect her—no wonder they were so obsessively over-protective!—and she was a
princess
? A
princess
? This sort of thing did
not
happen in real life, she was sure. Oh
gosh
, she was so overwrought she was thinking in
italics
, and that was a sure sign that her mental state was fragile.

A click, as Dmitri’s heels came together, and he bowed, low and formally. “If Witcher is dead at your hand, sir, then justice has been served. You have avenged my parents’ honor, and I can return to Russia knowing that their goddaughter, the Princess Wilhelmina Gertrude, is being raised well.”

Absolutely none of that pierced the muddle of shock surrounding Zelle’s emotions, except for one bit. “You’re leaving?” Hadn’t he said that before? “You’re going back to Russia?” She couldn’t help that she was wailing.

“Zelle—“

But Dmitri cut her father off when he crossed to her, and
clicked
—when had he become so formal, so much a stranger?—to a stop in front of her. Another bow, but he didn’t touch her. “I wish you the best things in life, Zelle Carpenter.”

Then he turned on his heel, nodded to Mother, and collected his hat and cane from the foyer. When she heard the front door close behind him, Zelle let the events of the evening catch up with her. More than her parents’ revelation, more than the realization Papa’s nickname for her had special meaning, more than anything that had happened, she could only focus on the fact that Dmitri had left her. He was going back to Russia. He’d never planned on staying, because she was his mission, and he’d completed it.

For the first time since the horrible meal had begun, Zelle Carpenter—Princess Wilhelmina Gertrude —burst into tears.

“Has she eaten anything?”

“Not enough. Poor thing.”

“Well, no wonder. She’s probably… I don’t know, Meri. To have her find out that way. About me. I didn’t want her to think badly…”

Her parents were whispering outside her door, but Zelle could still hear them. They weren’t very
good
at whispering. In fact, in her whole life, they’d never been very good at subterfuge, at keeping secrets from her.

She snorted into her pillow.

Or so she’d thought. Turned out, they’d been
very
good at keeping a very
big
secret from her, for basically her entire life.

“She still loves you, Jack. Don’t doubt that. You’re the only father she’s ever known.”

A pause, and then: “Maybe. But I’m worried.”

“Me too.”

“Have either of you tried
talking
to her?” A third voice. …Briar? What was she doing here?

“Well, of course we have—“

“Every time Meri brings her a meal—“

“But sometimes a girl just needs her friend.”

“That’s why I’m here.” The door latch clinked open, and Zelle heard Briar’s voice more clearly. “Zelle? Can I come in?”

Zelle’s face was still firmly ensconced in her pillow, but she managed a muffled, “Yes.” Then, picking her head up just enough to make sure there’d be no confusion in her words, she called out, “But tell my parents to go away.”

She could imagine Briar poking her head back into the hall. “She said go away. Sorry.”

“We heard, we heard. Come on, Meri.”

“Good luck, Briar.”

Silence, but then the latch
clicked
, and Zelle knew that she was alone with her best friend. Her best friend, who wasn’t going to let her mope around, and wasn’t going to leave until she heard the whole darn story.

Well, most of it.

Zelle huffed, and sat up, not caring that she hadn’t bothered to change out of her nightgown, despite the fact that it was three o’clock in the afternoon. Judging from the way Briar’s nose wrinkled, Zelle looked like an idiot, sitting among her rumpled blankets, the forgotten lunch tray on the floor beside her. Still, Zelle did her best to pretend like she
wasn’t
playing the part of the witchy recluse in a traveling show. “What?”

Her innocent gaze did nothing to fool Briar, who grinned. “You look like a witchy recluse in a—“

“Oh, shut up!” Zelle tossed a pillow—the one she’d spent all yesterday crying into—at her friend, who batted it away with a laugh. Sometimes it was scary how much they thought alike.

Briar leaned down and unlaced her boots, stacking them beside the desk, and then sat in Zelle’s chair. She pulled her legs up under her, propped her elbows on her knees, rested her chin in her palms, and said, “So. What’s happening?”

With a groan, Zelle allowed herself to flop back down on the bed, legs splayed. “What
hasn’t
happened?” She stared at the beams over her bed, just like she’d done every day since they’d moved to this house, when she was five. “My parents, apparently, aren’t my parents.”

She stole a peek at Briar, whose brows were raised in interest. “Go on.”

“Well, that’s pretty major, don’t you think? It turns out that Papa
found
me when I was a baby, like a year and a half or two years. There wasn’t anyone left for me, so he just…made me his.”

No matter how much she loved Briar, she wasn’t going to tell her about
why
Papa had found her, or about the things he’d done before that point. Whatever his name used to be, Jack Carpenter was a good man, who’d put that all behind him. And she loved him enough to make sure everyone else continued to think highly of him.

“He took you?”

“Yes, but…” Zelle didn’t want to give too much away. “But some bad men…had me. I don’t know why. And Papa took me from them, and came out here to protect me from them.”

“And your mother obviously knows, right? That’s why they’ve both been so worried about you for so long. I mean, all parents worry, but yours had it down to an art form. They don’t even let you out of the house without a respectable escort half the time.”

Zelle snorted. “And you’re
such
a respectable escort.”

“I am.” Briar, who’d been chewing on one fingernail, took that moment to spit it across the room at Zelle, who dissolved into giggles.

It felt good to laugh. She hadn’t laughed since…gosh, since she’d loved Dmitri. When she loved Dmitri, everything about the world was bright and cheerful and now it was just…
whoops
, there she went again, with the tears.

Briar saw her mood swing, and sighed. “Alright. So your parents aren’t actually your parents. Big news, but we’ll come back to that. Do you know who your real parents are?”

She knew the answer to that. She’d known the answer to that question before Dmitri had stomped into her life with his mission, and she still knew the answer. “Yes. They’re downstairs right now, trying to decide if they want to listen at my door, like their typical, interfering selves.”

“No, I mean your—“

“They
are
my real parents.”

Briar sighed. “I know. I meant…you know.”

“Yeah.” Zelle sat up, tucking her feet under her nightgown, mirroring her best friend’s pose. “Promise you’re not going to…be weird about it?”

“I make no such promises, and you know it.”

“Apparently I’m a princess.”

Briar rolled her eyes. “Oh, come off it. I know that your father
treats
you like—“

“I mean it. I was kidnapped after my parents died, and…well, Papa saved me from those men, only he didn’t know who I really was, and…”

“A princess?” Briar’s question was flat, one dark brow raised skeptically. “A kidnapped princess? That stuff only happens—“

“—in fairy tales, I know. It’s ridiculous. But my parents’ story lined up with…with the other story.”

“Who was telling this story?”

Not liking the way Briar’s eyes had narrowed, picking up on the
one
part Zelle hadn’t been ready to talk about, she untangled her legs from her nightgown, and stomped across the floor to her wardrobe. She pulled the doors open and stuck her head inside, hoping it would seem like she couldn’t hear her best friend when she asked again, “
Who
, Zelle?”

Briar could be very patient, as Zelle knew. So, sighing, she pretended great interest in her hanging dresses. “
Who
, who?” She groaned under her breath, knowing she sounded like an owl.

“You sound like an owl. An idiot owl.” There was no hiding the exasperation in her friend’s voice. “
Who was telling the princess story
, Zelle?”

Well, gosh, there was no getting around answering. So, head still among her mostly-purple gowns—she unapologetically loved purple—Zelle muttered something that
could
have been “Dmitri”, but sounded more like “Dmm-mmm-m.”

“
Dmitri
! I knew it!” And then Briar gasped. “Oh! Wasn’t he here in Everland looking for two men?
Two men and a little girl
?” Her voice rose to a squeak, and Zelle worried for the glass in the opened window. “Was that it, Zelle? Was that why he was here?
To find you
? You’re the little girl? He’s a duke! You’re a
princess
?”

Sighing, Zelle backed out of the armoire, a simple gown thrown over one arm. “You promised not to get weird about it.”

“I made no such promise.” Briar had untucked herself from the chair, and was practically bouncing now. “I can’t believe it.”

“Me neither.”

“Tell me everything. Absolutely everything!”

“Why are you so excited about this? This is
my
messed up life.”

“Because this
is
your life, and nothing like this happens in real life. Least of all in Everland.”

“Are you sure?” She was thinking about Helga, claiming to be her godmother.
Godmother
,
ha
. She had enough godmothers, between Helga and Dmitri’s moth— No. She wasn’t going to think about him. “It seems to me that Everland is exactly the sort of place where nonsense happens.”

Briar waved away her objections. “Fine. Real-life princesses and heroic princes happen all the time around here. You misunderstood. I’m not excited about that. I’m ecstatic that you’re finally getting dressed.” She wrinkled her nose again theatrically. “Have you been wearing that nightgown for a week?”

“Almost.” Zelle’s voice was muffled when she pulled the gown off over her head, but then gratefully stepped into the fresh chemise Briar held.

“Annnnd? Princess story. Now, Zelle.”

So Zelle told her best friend everything that Dmitri had told them, while Briar helped her dress and feel a little normal again. She managed not to choke on his name—more than twice, anyhow—and Briar managed to only interrupt when it was
really
warranted. Her best friend liked a good story as much as Zelle, and this was probably the best gossip to hit Everland in…well,
ever
. At least, that’s what Briar declared, until Zelle made her promise not to make too big a deal over it.

“What? No. You’re a
princess
, Zelle.” Zelle sat down at her desk, and looked at herself in the little mirror hanging from the wallpaper. She made a face at herself, not liking how wan and
depressed
she looked. “But I’ll bet you’d rather be a duchess, huh?”

Shocked, Zelle met Briar’s eyes in the mirror, and then looked away guiltily. Was it that obvious?

“It’s obvious.”

Zelle groaned, sometimes hating how her friend could understand her. “I don’t want…”

“You love him, Zelle. Or at least…” Briar picked up the long braid that trailed to the floor. “You loved him last week. Last time we talked.”

“He left.”

“Well, Max told Hank, who told Rojita, who told Micah, who told me that the two of them were thinking about some sort of partnership. Did you know that?” Zelle hadn’t known about it, but it hardly mattered. “He said that Dmitri had to go back to Russia to organize some details about the whole—“

“No.” Zelle met her friend’s eyes. “He left. For good.” Briar began to scoff, but Zelle was firm. “He was in Everland to find the lost princess, to satisfy his stupid honor, and now that he has, he left. He told me so.”

There wasn’t anything for Briar to say, except: “I don’t think his honor is stupid.”

Neither spoke, until Zelle let out the breath she’d been holding. “It isn’t. He isn’t. It’s just that…”

Briar lifted the braid, untied the end, and began to unweave the plait. “Tell me.”

“I was
so sure
that I loved him. And I thought that there was a good chance he loved me, or maybe could love me.”

“And?”

“And then it turned out that he was just in town for…for this. For his honor, for fulfilling his father’s quest.”

“Yeah, but you knew that.” Briar had reached the top of the braid now, and shook all of the heavy blonde strands out to lay down Zelle’s back and pool on the floor. “From the beginning, I mean. You knew that’s why he was in town.”

“But it didn’t have anything to do with me!” When Briar picked up the pearl-handled brush Mother had given Zelle as a twelfth birthday gift, the blond girl closed her eyes on a sigh and tilted her head forward, to allow her friend better access. “He was just in town, and I was just…just a girl.”

“Who fell in love with him.”

“I’m not sorry.”

“You shouldn’t be.” Briar’s strokes were long and even, and as soothing as Mother’s. “But my point is that he didn’t lie to you. You knew why he was here.”

“And I fell in love with him, not realizing that he’d be gone when he finished his mission.”