Bluebeard’s Bride (Displaced Fairytales #7)

Chapter 1

Nadia came bolting through the crowd, terror in her eyes and hands clutching something so hard her knuckles had turned white.

“Thief!” a voice behind her thundered. “Stop that woman!”

Scales, what had she done now? Her long hair was tangled and dirty and I immediately suspected she’d been involved in some sort of scuffle before escaping.

“Quick! Hide me,” Nadia gasped. “They’re coming.”

“Again?” I hissed. I snatched her wrist and dragged her sideways into the thick crowd bustling around the market. Barkers called customers toward their stalls, their items positioned to catch the light and sparkle invitingly.

“Walk, don’t run,” I told her. “Slow your breathing.” With a cautious look over my shoulder, I pulled off my shawl and threw it around Nadia’s shoulders.

“They’ll still recognize me,” she fretted.

“What did you take?”

She opened her hand to reveal a perfectly circular, glittering amethyst.

“Shoals,” I cursed. “You’ll be in huge trouble.”

Guards had entered the market, the feathers on their helmets easily visible through the crowd. We’d never make it to the worship center in time, and my shawl haphazardly thrown around Nadia’s shoulders wouldn’t be nearly enough of a disguise.

“Give it to me,” I snapped at my sister. She handed over the gemstone and I turned to one of the shopkeepers. “I’ll give this to you right now if I can have that dress behind you and use your changing room.”

The shopkeeper’s eyes widened and he held out his hand for the jewel. “Deal.”

I shoved Nadia behind the changing curtain and threw the dress in after her.

“Tell me about your wares,” I told the shopkeeper, angling my body so any guards that came searching wouldn’t see the jewel.

“Fine stitches for even finer ladies,” he said, raising his voice so the other women nearby would hear. “Dresses that turn heads and steal hearts!”

“You have such beautiful craftsmanship,” I told him, placing my hand over his when he tried to hold the jewel up to the light, forcing his arm back down. “How long did it take to learn to make dresses like these?”

“You, there!” a deep voice rumbled behind me.

The shopkeeper and I both froze, but I didn’t turn around. The shopkeeper looked over my shoulder and cleared his throat. “May I help you?”

“We’re looking for a young woman who stole a jewel. About this tall with long brown hair. She was wearing a dirty blue dress. Have you seen her?”

The shopkeeper glanced fearfully at me, and I gave my head the tiniest shake from side to side. Please, please, please, I prayed. We’d made it this far.

“Yes,” the man said, and my insides seized. But then he continued, “She ran that way.” He pointed to the other side of the market. The guards hurried away and I was able to breathe again.

“Thank you,” I whispered once they had gone.

“Always glad to help my customers,” he said with a smile.

Right. More like he was always glad to help himself. At least the gemstone was his problem now. I ducked behind the privacy curtain and found Nadia finishing the last buttons on the dress.

“You aren’t finished yet,” I told her grimly, then pulled out my short knife, preparing to cut her hair short.

“Alia!” she shrieked, but I clapped my hand over her mouth.

“It’s too recognizable.”

“Then hide it under a scarf,” she said, wriggling away.

“Flames alive, Nadia, we don’t have time to argue. The guards are certain to come back.”

“Then let’s go. But you aren’t cutting my hair.”

Why did my sister have to be so difficult? I poked my head out then pulled Nadia back into the street.

“It would’ve made you less recognizable,” I told her in an undertone.

“It would’ve made me uglier,” she said. “I like my hair long.”

The guards were interrogating more shopkeepers several stalls down and questioning passersby, so I set my feet the opposite direction. Nadia kept acting like she was going to break into a run, and I kept my hand locked on her wrist.

“Walk,” I told her again. “They’ll notice if you run.”

“They’re looking for me,” she said, her voice tight and tense.

“They’re looking for abnormal behavior and a woman in a blue dress with long hair. You have a red dress and you should have had short hair if you had just listened to me.”

“I’m growing it out,” she muttered.

“You can grow it as long as you want in prison if you get caught,” I told her through gritted teeth. “Now stop and look at some merchandise.” I stopped to look at some small mirrors at a sorcerer’s booth before continuing on.

Nadia rolled her eyes and jerked her hand away. “I can walk by myself.”

“As long as you act natural. Now, what made you take a jewel like that? It would be too easily traceable. There’s no way you could sell that without people knowing it was stolen,” I scolded her.

“How many times have I told you that if you’re going to steal, only take a few coins or an item that isn’t unique? ”

“Sorry,” she grumbled. “That old codger looked rich enough that I didn’t think he’d notice. I just wanted to help us move up in the world.”

“I know. But you don’t need to. I have enough clients now that we don’t need to steal. You could get arrested.”

Nadia shot me a withering look. “You could get arrested for making and selling illegal potions on the black market.”

“I told you I sell health remedies,” I said evasively.

“I’m not a child anymore,” Nadia snapped. “You don’t have to pretend. I know what you’ve been doing. I’ll be of age next month—”

“Which is all the more reason that you should be extra careful,” I interrupted. “Adult prisons aren’t the same as juvenile detention centers. Now keep your head down.”

More guards were coming toward us. We moved to the side, heads bowed respectfully and let them pass.

“Almost there,” I murmured. “Once we’re out of the square, we can make it to the worship center. Father Eldridge will be—”

“Halt right there!” The barked order came from behind us.

“Don’t turn,” I told Nadia, and I pivoted with a wide-eyed, na?ve expression on my face that shifted to horror when I saw the dress shopkeeper pointing at us.

“They’re the ones you want!”

Nadia didn’t hesitate to bolt. Immediately, guards followed, tackling her within seconds. She fought against them, but to no avail. She was no match for them. They pulled her to her feet and a man with a dark, bushy beard approached her.

“Let her go!” I said, starting to run to her, but another guard caught me from behind. “Nadia!”

“Rahil, is that the woman?” The guard holding Nadia had addressed the bearded man.

Rahil…I knew that name. My eyes widened as dread stole over me. I’d heard rumors about Rahil, a fantastically wealthy man who had an unexplained trail of vanished wives, including one of my former clients.

“Yes. It looks like she changed her dress, but it’s her,” he said, running a finger down her face. “She has a scar on her cheek in the same place.”

Nadia jerked her head away and kicked the guard nearest her.

“She stole the dress from me,” the shopkeeper said promptly.

“We bought that dress!” I shouted at him.

“Bought it with this, you mean.” The shopkeeper lifted the gemstone up and it twinkled innocently in the sunlight. “I’m returning it to its proper owner.”

“And I thank you for your integrity,” Rahil told him.

“You shall be rewarded.” He kept a firm grasp on Nadia as he dug out a fistful of gold coins from his pocket.

I couldn’t help my jaw from dropping. No wonder Nadia had assumed that he was rich enough not to miss a few jewels. If only she knew the rest of his story.

The greedy shopkeeper leapt forward to take the gold and exchange it for the jewel. “Many thanks for your generosity,” he said, bowing over and over before vanishing into the crowd.

“There’s some paperwork needed to press charges,” the guard told Rahil.

Rahil held up a finger. “One moment,” he said, turning to face Nadia. “You stole from me, but I’m a forgiving man. In fact, I have a proposal for you.”

“What?” Nadia said nervously, leaning away from him.

“Marriage in exchange for not pressing charges.”

Nadia’s mouth fell open in horror, and the horrific stories I’d heard of his other wives went rattling around in my head until I thought I would explode.

“You can’t!” I burst out. “She isn’t even of age yet.”

Rahil frowned. “Ah, that does present a slight problem.” He tilted his head, considering Nadia. “I suppose I’ll have to press charges after all.”

“We can send her to an adult prison even if she is underage,” one of the guards said.

“It wasn’t her! It was me. I stole it,” I blurted out. The whine of panic in my head wouldn’t go away. I had to protect Nadia. I couldn’t let her go to prison.

Rahil shifted his gaze to me. “Oh, really?”

The guards laughed. “Don’t let her fool you, Rahil. These two are street rats who’ve lived in the gutters most of their lives. The older one has been in plenty of trouble before. They deserve what’s coming to them.”

An odd expression settled on Rahil’s face. “What will happen to them?”

“Prison, likely for many years. It’ll be good to get them off the streets.”

“Wait,” Rahil said, holding up a finger. His eyes were darting back and forth between me and Nadia. “If I don’t press charges, what would happen?”

“The younger one would still serve a minimum of a month for resisting arrest. I’d have to look up the former charges against her sister—”

Rahil pressed a gold coin into the guard’s hand. “Shame those records were lost.”

The guard grinned and tapped a finger to the side of his nose. “Such a pity.”

“What is the maximum penalty this one could be assigned if I press charges?” Rahil asked, looking back at Nadia.

The guard shrugged. “Probably a minimum of five years or up to ten years, depending on the value of the item she stole from you.”

“Definitively ten years, then,” Rahil said, then turned to me. “Do you want to keep her out of prison long-term?”

I clenched my jaw and slowly nodded.

“Then I’ll make the same offer to you. Marry me and I’ll drop the charges against her.”

My vision narrowed so I could only see Nadia’s panicked face.

“When would this wedding take place?” I asked.

“Tomorrow, first thing in the morning.”

“Fine.” It didn’t matter if the rumors were true and the man was a murderer. The only thing that mattered was that my sister was in danger and I had an opportunity to save her. I would agree to anything if it would make them release Nadia. Then she and I could disappear tonight and never return.

“Take them both into custody, then,” Rahil said, and the arms of the guards tightened around me.

“No! I agreed! Let us go!” I shouted.

“I’m sure you can understand I need to keep you in custody until you hold up your end of the bargain. And she will have to remain in prison for a month for resisting arrest.”

The guards began to drag both of us away, Nadia toward prison and me toward the courthouse.

“I’ll get you out, Nadia!” I shouted after her. “I promise!”