Chapter 13 #2
“That’s what I thought,” he replied, sounding self-satisfied as if he already knew that he had won. He had.
Regardless of whether he had won or not, Ashley couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed at the self-satisfied way that he leaned back, looking her up and down, no doubt in her mind that he was reading her like a book.
He wished she’d answered his question, she could read it on his face.
But if she didn’t answer, he wasn’t going to either.
That look said he wasn’t about to let her win. It was annoying.
But just when she thought the conversation was at a standstill, Jack sprung up and looked over his shoulder, gesturing for her to follow him.
“Oh, come on, if you’re really that desperate for answers, follow me.
If you want those answers?” He asked, and Ashley knew he was right.
She knew there would probably be a consequence for following him, but she didn’t care now.
All she could do at that moment was walk behind him, her eyes hastily looking over the maze before she followed the man down a trail through the woods.
Dense vegetation crowded the pathway that led from the edge of the Opal Castle’s green backyard into the crowded forest that sat behind it, making it almost impossible for one to navigate along the path if they were unfamiliar with it.
Ashley stumbled more than once, but each time Jack caught her.
Her heart would flutter and she’d feel the blood rushing to her skin, but there was no point to her attraction.
Not if her brother planned to go ahead with his plans to marry her off.
And not if she planned to escape. She didn’t want to take the chance on telling him any of her plans. He’d just tell her brother.
The longer Jack walked, the deeper into the forest he took her, the more certain she became that the secrets he was about to show her must be whoppers.
Eventually, the pathway narrowed and the trees began to crowd in around them.
A chill ran up her spine when she realized how dark it was there.
Jack could kill her and nobody would know anything about it.
Just as she was about to turn and run back towards the light, certain that she was about to meet her death, the overhanging canopy cleared and she saw a brightly lit cottage.
Lights shone from the windows and white smoke plumed from the chimney.
Ashley grinned, loving the cottage that should only exist in fairy tales.
It was the sort of place that Hansel and Gretel likely walked into.
It could even be the same one that they had gotten eaten in.
Either that or it was the home of an old witch in the woods.
Ashley wasn’t exactly certain. She thought it looked friendly and made her want to step towards it.
She knew that the most dangerous things in life were often enticing.
Like Jack over there, waiting for her to stop gaping at the place.
Far too many dangerous things masqueraded as the most appealing things in the world.
Which means she should have turned on her heels and run away.
But then she watched Jack continue walking down the path with the sort of confidence that made her want to follow him.
He was a natural-born leader, after all, and Ashley couldn’t deny that she had been far more than enticed by the man.
Despite her better judgment, she trailed behind him, anxiously looking in every direction as she walked near him.
She figured that the closer she stayed to him, the better off she was.
A small part of her couldn’t help but shudder as they stepped onto the pathway right outside of the cottage, the front door growing closer and closer, and the silver knocker that sat upon it catching Ashley’s eye.
A dragon’s head with opal inlaid eyes was far too ornate and just a little bit disturbing for a reason Ashley couldn’t quite name.
But there was something about the gentle look on Jack’s face as he looked back at her that made Ashley want to continue onward.
She watched as he reached for the knocker and tried not to flinch as the harsh metal knocker hit the wood.
A second passed. Her eyes met Jack’s. She noted the dark shade of them and felt like she was falling down an endless hole whenever she looked in them. Her breath caught.
The door in front of them opened and Ashley turned, her heart racing for a different reason. A woman appeared.
Not an old woman, as Ashley had expected lived in the cottage.
She was nothing like the fairy tale witches of old.
No, she was very young and quite beautiful, with beautiful red hair and the sort of green eyes that would make just about anyone stop and stare at her.
Ashley couldn’t help the way that she gasped.
Nor could she help the way that she recoiled.
The witch let out a happy laugh, diving forward to pull Jack Tracey into her arms with a subtle smooch on his cheek that had Ashley averting her eyes and wishing she hadn’t come to begin with.
But, in seconds, the witch’s hands were off of Jack Tracey, and they were on Ashley.
“She’s here,” the witch proclaimed, looking at Ashley with a wonder that made Ashley feel far too shy.
“You promised me that you would bring her, and you actually did it. It’s a miracle, Jack,” the witch proclaimed, emphasizing a little bit too harshly just how unreliable she found Jack to be.
Though that emphasis made Ashley feel like she could look the woman in the eye.
She was now lost in those startling green eyes.
The moment the woman pulled away from her, Ashley couldn’t help but feel a little dazed.
Something about this woman was different, far different than any other woman than Ashley had met before.
Ashley thought she was far more beautiful than any witch from the fairy tales she grew up with.
Her bright red lips reminded Ashley of the jazz age, and something about the way that her light green eyes shone through the darkness made Ashley feel captivated by her, like the woman had cast a spell on her, and she was already bewitched.
Far worse was the fact that, when she smiled, Ashley found herself wanting to smile as well, her whole spirit seeming to lift up with the woman.
“Ashley,” the woman said, but Ashley was too dazed to ask how the woman knew her name, or who she was at all, for that matter.
Instead, Ashley smiled at her, feeling more at peace as she acknowledged the woman.
“You must come in,” the woman said, and Ashley could only nod, her feet moving of their own accord into the cottage, her eyes still following the woman.
But before she could fully enter the cottage, Jack Tracey wedged himself in between the woman and the door, an apologetic smile painted across his features as he did so.
“Afraid we don’t have the time, Jasmine,” Jack said with the slightest of shrugs, playing it off as if it was merely a misfortune of some kind, though there was an insistence in the way that he wedged himself between the two.
“In a matter of moments, her brother will realize that she is gone, and he will send the other servants looking for her. I’m trying to avoid that. ”
The moment that Ashley’s brother was brought up, whatever spell the witch had cast faded away.
Ashley saw something in her features darkened.
It made Ashley feel like jerking back from her, pulling her wrist out of her hand and taking the steps necessary to put some distance between her and the witch.
There was something very wrong with the way that she reacted at that moment.
Ashley felt uncomfortable at that moment, especially when the witch said her brother’s name.
“Valys,” the witch spit out, making little to no effort to hide the scorn in her voice as she said the king’s name, her whole demeanor seeming to become more rigid at the thought of him.
Again, Ashley sensed a darkness in this woman that she tried to hide.
“And how is the king on this day?” The witch asked, her voice cold and unfeeling, almost like she didn’t care how the king was.
Jack cleared up any confusion that Ashley might have had at that moment, making clear exactly what was going on with a laugh as he shrugged the woman’s statement off with a simple move with his shoulders.
“Your ex is doing well,” Jack replied, much to Ashley’s surprise. “He’s recently found himself in love with a new woman, though I suppose you already know that because you’ve been spying on him.”
The woman only sighed, making little effort to deny what he had said. It was clear at that moment that Jack had bested her.
“It is not my fault that I have fallen in love with a callous and cruel king,” Jasmine said, and again, Ashley found herself wincing, a small part of her wanting nothing more than to defend her brother at that moment.
The woman must have realized that because she turned towards Ashley with a self-deprecating smile.
“You are kind to your brother,” she said, with an air of joy, almost as if Ashley was doing the world a favor by doing that. At the same time, she used her words like a knife. “You will regret that in time.”
Ashley did not doubt that whatever reason Jasmine had for saying that, it was a good one because she seemed peaceful otherwise. This woman’s opinion of her brother couldn’t be trusted. After all, jilted women didn’t exactly make their exes sound like heroes.
Even if those jilted women looked like an other-worldly Stevie Nicks. One that was decked to the nines in 70s attire, right down to the scarf around her shoulders.