CHAPTER 15
Katy
K aty didn’t know when the sun had set. Nervous about that night and distressed by her meeting with Gunther, she had only managed a light doze after returning from the theater. She had been disoriented when a troop of servants brought in bales of straw and stacked them along the far side of the room. Having nothing else to do, she sat down at the spinning wheel and began to work.
It was much harder to work the straw than the wool or flax. She’d had to knock at the door to request a pitcher of water and a bowl so that she could soak it and soften it first. It was slow progress, and the yarn – if one could call it that – wrapping around the bobbin was made of normal, ordinary straw.
She wished she knew how much time had passed, but at the same time, she didn’t. It would do her no good to worry about whether or not he was coming. Either he would come, or he wouldn’t; that was all there was to it.
Her first bobbin was about halfway full when the pale golden straw wrapping around it began to change to a brighter, shining gold that reflected the light of the candle nearby. At the same time, Katy’s scalp began to prickle, and the shorter hairs around her face began to lift in response to the thick feeling in the air.
A relieved smile spread across her face despite the uncomfortable sensation. Without ceasing her work, she glanced over her shoulder and said, “Thank you for coming again. I thought you might not; I can’t imagine what else I have that I can give you.”
She caught a glimpse of a smirk from the red-haired stranger before she faced her work again. “You thought the same the first night. But you were mistaken.”
“I admit, I wouldn’t have guessed that my hair ribbon would be of use to you. Nor my bracelet,” she added, trying to keep the bitterness and sorrow out of her voice. She had been skeptical of his claim two nights ago when he first appeared, but she’d been desperate. Her jaw had dropped to the floor and the yarn had broken when it took on a metallic sheen on its way through the wheel.
“Ah, yes, you were more reluctant to part with that last night, weren’t you?” He dangled the item in question from his finger, and Katy restrained the urge to make a lunge for it. Catching it in his fist, he stuffed it back in his pocket. “But since you knew it would be worth it, you couldn’t withhold it, could you?”
She hated the taunting note in his voice, but she gritted her teeth and kept her eyes focused on the straw as it passed through her fingers, around the wheel, and onto the bobbin, changing to gold as it went. She didn’t have to like him or his attitude; as long as he helped her, she could put up with it. And it was only one more night. This one last night, and it would be over.
“But you do not need to worry,” he continued loftily. He walked around to stand in front of her so that they could converse easily while she continued to work. “No exchange is necessary tonight.”
“What?” Katy was so surprised, she almost stopped spinning. “Why not?”
The stranger’s lips spread in a wide grin. It wasn’t a pleasant grin, and she shuddered; something about it struck her as familiar. “Because, my dear girl, you already agreed to one.”
The pedal ceased as her mouth dropped open. “When? I don’t recall agreeing to anything but my hair ribbon and my bracelet.”
“No, you wouldn’t remember,” he laughed. The gleam in his green eyes made her lean away in discomfort. “Even if you could, it was almost ten years ago. You might have forgotten anyway.”
Just to give herself something else to look at, Katy forced herself to resume her spinning. “I first met you two nights ago,” she insisted. “And if I had met you ten years ago, why would I have promised you something for spinning straw into gold? Spinning wheels were outlawed in my village!”
“Oh, it wasn’t for spinning straw into gold.” The stranger folded his hands behind his back and sauntered toward the wall. “It was for helping you marry the prince. Which, incidentally, you will achieve once this straw is all gold.”
Katy rolled her eyes. “Now I know you’re making it up. Some girls may be more interested in a title than the man behind it, but I’ve dreamed of marrying for love my whole life; why would I make a deal to marry someone I’ve never met?”
He spun on his heel to face her, that unnerving grin still on his face. “Are you sure?”
Instead of answering, she scooped up another handful of moistened straw from the bowl at her feet. He certainly seemed sure, but did that matter? A liar could present his lie with confidence, but that wouldn’t make it true.
And she wouldn’t have made a deal for the prince. At one time, she may have hoped for an offer from the young noble, but they were friends. If he had not spent so much time with her, she would never have dreamt of it.
“Aren’t you going to ask what the price is?” he asked, his grin even wider now and his voice jeering.
“I suppose I should know what you claim it is,” she grumbled. “Just so I know if I should refuse to pay it.”
He clapped his hands together. “Ah, but that’s the beauty of it. You can only refuse to pay it by refusing to spin the straw into gold, and if you do that, your family will pay a different price, won’t they? And you can’t have that.”
“Just tell me,” she snapped.
“No need to get so worked up,” he scolded. “It’s only a small price, as I told you when I offered the deal.”
Katy glared up at him but didn’t stop her work.
After another few moments of grinning at her, he said, “All I ask is your firstborn child. You see? Nothing too costly.”
The “yarn” broke.
Katy shot to her feet, stumbling a little as she backed away over her seat. Flabbergasted, her mouth flopped soundlessly for at least a full minute. “You cannot be serious!” she finally exclaimed. “Why in the heavens would I have agreed to that? Why would anyone agree to that?”
The stranger shrugged. “Perhaps you were too ambitious for your own good. Perhaps you thought I would never make good on it. What do I care? All that matters is that you made the deal.”
She backed away from him, her heart pounding. “I don’t believe you. I would never agree to a deal like that!”
“Believe me or don’t.” He stalked toward her. “The truth is always true, whether you believe it or not.”
“I don’t accept this deal,” Katy gasped, trying not to let her feelings of shock and panic overwhelm her. “Something else. I’ll give you something else. What do you want?”
The stranger shook a finger at her. “That’s not the way this works. You already agreed to the price for helping you marry the prince; spinning this final night fulfills my side of the bargain. It doesn’t matter if you refuse tonight or not. If you spin the straw, you win the prince, and your firstborn is mine. If you don’t spin the straw, then you don’t win the prince, and then...” He trailed off, allowing her to fill in the rest of the sentence herself.
And then, her father’s debt would still be owed to the king. Her family would be tossed out with no place to live and no means to earn a living.
They would be ruined.
Her mind raced, trying to find a different solution. She couldn’t believe she would have made such a rash deal, eleven years old or not. This man had no reason to tell her the truth.
“And don’t think that the prince can free you from it,” he continued, his grin widening. “Magical bargains can’t be escaped that easily. You could tell him if you want, but…how do you think King Steffan would react to that?”
Her breaths were coming faster and shallower as she backed herself into a corner of the room just as the stranger had backed her into a metaphorical one. There had to be a way out. There had to be a way to save her family without succumbing to the stranger’s mad deal.
Tilting her head to the side, she reviewed the stranger’s words. “According to the deal, I must actually marry him for the bargain to be complete?”
The stranger narrowed his eyes at her and crossed his arms. “Yes. My side is only met once you have married the prince with my significant help. But your family will suffer if you don’t.”
It wasn’t much, but it was a chance. She had to take it, to buy herself time to find a solution, if nothing else.
Without saying another word, lest she accidentally agree to something worse, she stomped back to the spinning wheel, settled herself on the seat, and began spinning once more.
She could see the stranger out of the corner of her eye as he sauntered past to lean against the wall in front of her.
“I knew you were a clever girl,” he smirked. “Clever and practical; the best kind for this sort of thing.”
Katy bent her head so that she could no longer see him and focused on spinning as fast as she could. For about an hour, she stayed silent as her thoughts spun along with the wheel, trying to think up arguments for why the king should release her from marrying the prince. She could tell him about the consequences, but the king would not take kindly to her trading his future grandchild for her family. If she was lucky, he would only throw her out and send his steward for the principal.
After a while, she decided to gather information. She couldn’t find a loophole unless she knew what she was up against.
“So, magic,” she began as casually as she could. “It must be nice to be able to do whatever you want. Even changing one substance to another.”
The stranger snorted from his position just inside her candle’s reach. “I can’t do whatever I want. Magic has rules.”
“Really? Like what?”
She could see him studying her. “I can’t turn the bales into gold. It’s only because you’re already changing its form, after a fashion.”
“Could you turn me to gold?” She really hoped he couldn’t.
“No,” he replied after a moment. “Not without more power than I’m willing to use.”
How comforting.
Falling back into silence, Katy considered her next question. “Why do you want my child” didn’t seem like the best way to learn what she wanted, nor did “How do I stop you from taking my baby”.
He seemed like the type to enjoy bragging about himself. Maybe she could work with that.
“You must be pretty good at magic,” she said. The flattering tone sounded flat to her ears; hopefully, he wouldn’t notice. “To be able to turn straw into gold.”
“It’s taken much study,” he replied smugly. “Most magic-users can’t. Most can only use their primary type of magic, even after training.”
“Primary?” Katy prompted. She didn’t have to fake her curiosity. Up until two nights ago, she hadn’t believed magic existed. She knew nothing about it.
“All magic-users have a natural affinity for one of the four types, and most can use a second without additional training,” he replied carelessly, waving a hand. “It is only the truly skilled who, with much dedication, can learn to manipulate a third, let alone a fourth.”
“How many can you use?”
He grinned. Katy never knew a grin could be so terrible until she’d met him. “All four. Naturally.”
Holding in her sigh, Katy berated herself. As if her father’s mouth when drinking wasn’t bad enough, she had to entangle herself with a powerful magic-user with no scruples. She couldn’t possibly stumble across one less skilled or willing to help out of kindness. “What are—”
“I’m not conducting a magic class,” he said abruptly, scowling. “If you’re going to spin, spin.”
Drat. He hadn’t given her anything useful.
Blocking him out, she returned her focus to the wheel. Even with the curious enhancement of his magic that allowed her to spin more quickly, it was going to take the whole night to finish. Because she was going to finish, no matter what the stranger had planned for her afterward.
She desperately hoped she wouldn’t regret it.
~
Katy stumbled down the hall next to her guide, struggling to keep her eyes open. It felt like she had barely watched the last bit of straw turn to gold when the knock came at her door. After staying up for three nights in a row, she was starting to feel it. Not the best state when preparing to face the king, but he hadn’t given her the choice.
Thoughts of the stranger’s claims filled her head. Her only consolation was that she had never met the prince. Regardless of what the stranger said, she was certain that even in her rashest moment, she would never have agreed to any deal, let alone one relinquishing her own child , to marry someone she didn’t know. She had never been interested in rank. And if the stranger was lying, his “magical bargain” couldn’t force her to give up her child.
She wrapped her cousin’s cloak tighter as she trudged through the throne room doors. The exercise of walking there had warmed her up a little, but she was still cold.
King Steffan and Queen Carina were already on their thrones this time, making her wonder if it was later than she had realized. A bit of daylight streaming through the tall windows supported the notion. Behind and to one side of the king’s throne stood a short, rotund man with limp, brown hair that brushed his shoulders.
For one moment, Katy was terrified that the prince had deigned to appear at last. Not because he was unhandsome – although he was – but because his grey eyes felt menacing as he fixed them upon her. The only thing worse than marrying a stranger and turning her first child over to a madman would be discovering her husband-to-be was cruel. Despite the king’s behavior, she’d held onto a tiny hope that his son would prove to be a better man.
Then her weary brain caught up and noticed that the man was at least the same age as the king, if not older .
It didn’t prove anything regarding Prince Axel’s character, but at least this man wasn’t him.
“Well?” the king demanded. He sat tall on his throne with a stern expression. “Have you spun the straw into gold?”
“I have, Your Majesty,” she replied with a curtsy. It should have been deeper, but she swayed on her feet as it was.
The king directed a questioning look at her companion. The guard gave a sharp nod. “It is as she says, Your Majesty.”
“I hope you’re satisfied,” King Steffan growled in an undertone to the man behind his chair. The man rubbed his hands together and hunched his shoulders, but Katy thought the action smacked more of eagerness than nerves.
“It was unforeseen, certainly, Your Majesty,” the man replied in oily tones. “But is it undesirable to have a daughter-in-law who can spin gold?”
“She can’t continue,” the king snapped. “It would upset the economy of the entire continent.”
The other man crept forward a step, still rubbing his hands. “But that does not change her value, certainly?”
Turning away from him, the king settled his chin on his right fist and glared at Katy. “Congratulations,” he ground out. “You succeeded.”
“Thank you.” She bowed her head and dipped in another curtsy. “May I speak?”
He rolled his left hand in a motion that she took to mean, “Go ahead.”
She cleared her throat and fought the urge to wring her hands, holding them still at her sides instead. “I am glad that gentleman brought up the gold I have spun for you. It must have enriched your treasury significantly; could it not be considered payment for my father’s debts?”
“What?” He straightened on his throne.
Hoping to come across as humble rather than ungrateful, she bobbed her head again. “As I have mentioned before, I do not wish to marry your son; I am…not worthy of such an honor. However, I did not spin so that my family could lose everything after all. Would you be willing to accept the gold for my father’s debts and let me go home?”
The king scowled at her. The queen, Katy noticed, sat up a little straighter, lips curving upward and eyes brightening. Perhaps she would have two allies. She might yet escape the stranger’s price.
“No,” he said at last, eyes flicking toward the man behind him. Katy felt her mouth turn down in a frown. “The arrangement was that you, Katrin of Flussendorf, would marry the prince if you spun the gold. I will not go back on it.”
“But I don’t want to!” she protested. Waving an arm at the dais, she added, “And clearly the prince doesn’t want to marry me, either, since he still hasn’t seen fit to meet me.”
“On the contrary.”
Katy jumped when a smooth baritone spoke behind her, nearing as the speaker continued. How had she missed his footfalls in this resonant space? More importantly, she thought, corralling her lumbering mental pathways, his voice sounded familiar. But why would he be—
“While I confess to being of the same mind as the young lady as recently as two minutes ago, now that I see her, I find that I cannot wish for anything other than our union. And I can only hope that she will feel the same now that I have remedied my error and presented myself before her at last.”