Chapter 26
Excruciating pain ripped through me. I screamed. My body yanked out of bed as if connected by some unseen cord. I fell to the ground, hands and knees smacking hard on the floor. My dress around my waist, the cool air of the bedroom not even registering through the gut-wrenching pain.
“Mara!” Blackthorn’s concerned voice only just broke through the pounding of my heart in my ears. Hands touched my shoulders briefly before something shoved me onto my feet. The pain blinded me until I smacked into the bedroom door, my body trembling, hands grappling at the door handle.
Rumple’s spell.
I couldn’t fool it any longer. Since I arrived, there had always been a part of me, a tiny part, that expected to go back to Rumple at some point. A part that never quite believed I’d been saved.
Tonight... tonight had changed all that. For a moment, I truly believed I could stay. That I would stay. Even if it was only subconsciously.
Apparently, that was enough to wake the spell, and it had come back with a vengeance.
“Mara, what’s wrong?” Blackthorn’s steps hurried toward me, his hands touching my shoulders.
“I...” I couldn’t speak. I could hardly breathe.
My eyes burned with tears. My hand tightened on the door handle until I feared my bones would break. The anchor in my middle pulled, shoving me against the door.
My time was up. Rumple would have me back even if it killed me.
I let out a shaky breath, closing my eyes before I let my hand turn the knob. The door opened an inch. Then slammed shut. Blackthorn’s hand above my head on the surface of it.
“Please, my love. Tell me what I did wrong.”
The pleading in Blackthorn’s voice made my heart break. I wanted more than anything to tell him what was wrong. To tell him about the contract I had with Rumple. About why I had to leave.
And yet I knew the spell wouldn’t let me. If I somehow escaped this place, he’d never know it wasn’t of my choosing and I’d just be another woman who broke his trust.
“Please...” I gasped through the pain. “Let me out.”
“Alright.” There was a pause. “Except you’re not dressed.”
Blackthorn put my arms through the sleeves of my dress, covering my form, before tightening the ties on the back. When I was properly covered, Blackthorn stepped back, removing his hand from the door.
My heart pounded in my chest. My mouth opened to tell him I didn’t want to go. Rumple’s spell didn’t give me the chance.
I ripped the door open. The pain in my middle lessened when I stopped fighting against it.
It led me out of the bedroom and down the hallway.
Feet pounded behind me. Holding my skirts, I glanced over my shoulder to find Blackthorn following at a short distance.
His face cast in shadows I couldn’t make out his expression.
“I said I would let you out, I didn’t say I wouldn’t come with you.”
The hard edge of his voice made me wince. My footsteps stumbled on the carpet, and I barely caught myself before falling on my face.
I had nothing to say to his explanation. Rumple’s spell didn’t give me the chance to question it, yanking me down the hallway until I collapsed against the railing of the grand staircase.
“I wonder, do you know where you’re going?” Blackthorn’s voice followed after me. “Should I call for Fran? Perhaps, if you won’t talk to me, you’ll talk to her.”
I shook my head. “I can’t... please.”
My finger dug into the banister, my fingers shoving into the floor, trying to hold myself back.
Blackthorn stopped at my side, hovering but not touching me. “I usually enjoy your begging, but I cannot say I’m enjoying this.” His eyes took in every inch of me, from my white knuckles gripping the wooden banister to my hunched shoulders and tears-stained face.
My eyes peered up at him, pleading with him to understand even if I couldn’t get the words out. The pain swelled in my middle, vibrating out through my entire body until I could not hold it back any longer and screamed. The spell jerked me forward, throwing me down the stairs.
Blackthorn cried out my name.
My world toppled, my body hit each step harder than the last until something wrapped around my middle, pulling me to a stop. Bruised and dazed, my eyeballs wobbled in my head.
Vines gently held me suspended from the ground. My vision swam as a dark figure approached me.
A large hand cupped my face, the scent of Blackthorn filling my senses. “Please, tell me what I can do. You don’t have to hurt yourself to prove a point.”
I breathed raggedly, the coppery taste of blood filling my mouth when I licked my lips. I opened and closed my mouth, unable to get the words out.
“Master?” Fran’s voice echoed in the open area. She gasped and raced up the stairs. “Mistress? What? What happened?”
My eyes rolled toward the sound of her voice. My mouth opened, but before I could get a word out, that leash on my middle yanked on me, pulling my body against the vines that held me. I screamed, feeling like I was being ripped in half.
“Oh, dear.” Fran breathed out. “We’ve run out of time.”
“What?” Blackthorn turned his head to her. “What are you talking about?”
“Let her go,” Fran snapped, pulling at the vines around me.
“What? She’s hurting herself.”
“And you’re hurting her by keeping her here.” Fran touched the side of my face, sadness on her face. “I’m sorry I couldn’t find a way to help you. For not being able to break—” she choked on the word, spitting out instead, “your chicken.”
I huffed a laugh at the spell’s improv, then winced as it tugged me once more.
Blackthorn loomed at her side, his eyes bouncing between us. “I demand you tell me what’s going on, right now.”
“If I could...” Fran swallowed, shaking her head. “I cannot. You must let her go.”
Blackthorn peered between us once more before his vines slowly unwrapped around me, placing my feet on the floor. My knees buckled, and Blackthorn’s hands caught me before I fell. I shook in his embrace, my head lifting until I could meet his gaze.
“I’m...” I licked my lips, sucking in a breath, “I’m sorry.”
His brows furrowed, hand cupping my face. “I wish you would talk to me.”
My mouth opened once more to try to explain — to tell him, something, anything — but the spell didn’t let me. It yanked me from his arms, my hands finding the banister before it could throw me down the stairs again, each footstep more painful than the last until I reached the bottom of the stairs.
Fran and Blackthorn were close on my heels.
“There’s nowhere else to go,” he reminded me, watching me carefully.
I breathed heavily, staring at the large double doors keeping me inside the castle. If I was lucky, the spell would know I couldn’t go any further, even if I wanted to. And yet I could still feel the tug in my middle, demanding me to go forward.
“Rumple,” I gasped, fighting the pull. “I belong to Rumple.”
Blackthorn growled. “Not anymore, you don’t. Why won’t you believe me? I won’t let him hurt you.”
“I know.” I gave him a weak smile, before I doubled over in pain.
Fran reached for me. I waved her off. She spun on Blackthorn. “Open the doors.”
“I can’t.” He stared at her, a befuddled expression on his face. “You know why.”
As if listening to him, the spell threw me forward, my hands slapping on the wood of the doors. I winced, my body growing weaker against the pull of the magic. My hand found the handle of the door, tugging on it though I knew it wouldn’t open.
“What is she doing?” Blackthorn’s voice called behind me.
I squeezed my eyes shut, knowing that the magic was not going to let me go. Not this time.
“You have to open the door, master. You must,” Fran implored, panic filling her voice.
“I won’t. It’s not safe out there,” Blackthorn barked.
“Please,” I whimpered, pulling at the door handle again. Even though the door wasn’t budging, the spell was determined to get me through it one way or another.
My body slammed against the door. Pain radiated through my shoulder, the door far stronger than anything my body could produce. Still, the spell yanked at me. It threw me against the door again and again until my arm was numb and my face bloody.
“Stop. Please, stop.” Blackthorn’s hands grabbed my shoulders, holding me to him. “I’ll open the door. Just stop hurting yourself.” He held me tightly against his chest, hand stroking my hair. “Fran, get her some shoes. She can’t very well leave bare foot.”
My throat bobbed, swallowing as I lifted my head. “I don’t want to go.”
Blackthorn brushed my hair from my face. “Then don’t. Stay here... with me.”
I smiled sadly up at him. “If only I’d met you when I first came to Candiopolis... before...” I coughed and leaned my forehead against his chest.
“Rumple?” Blackthorn answered for me. His body stiffened against me, his arms holding me tight. He cursed and shook with anger. “I’m a daft fool. I should have figured it out sooner.” He drew back and lifted my chin, his thumb brushing tears and blood from my cheek.
“You tried to tell me...” he mourned, despair in his eyes, “if I hadn’t been so caught up in... fuck... I don’t know how I’ll ever make this up to you. If only I’d listened, if only...”
“No,” I gasped, gripping at his shirt still rumpled from our love making. “I couldn’t... you didn’t know...”
“Rumpelstiltskin did this to you,” Blackthorn sneered as Fran approached with my shoes. “If returning you to him will save you, then I will, but don’t think that means I’ll let him keep you.” He lifted his hand behind me and pulled on the door, which creaked open behind us with ease.
“You’re mine, and I won’t let anyone take you away.”