Ravishing Rapunzel (Passion-Filled Fairy Tales, #6)(6)

“Oh, stop it, Gothel,” Giselle said. “She found a friend. That’s a good thing.”

With that, her mother’s eyes dimmed, returning to their normal hue, but her face was still tight, and Rapunzel worried what her mother would say once her aunt left.

“It sounds like you’ve had a delightful day,” Giselle said. Then she leaned down toward the bowl, her nostrils flaring as she inhaled. “This vegetable stew smells delicious.”

Rapunzel nodded and glanced at her mother, who hadn’t moved from her spot at the door. “I can add some of mother’s onion to yours if you like, Auntie.”

Giselle shook her head and said she’d be fine with how it was prepared. With that, the three women ate dinner and chatted of their days. Giselle told stories of the quaint country town she lived in, where she was a shopkeeper. She sold books and other trinkets.

Giselle stayed a full day more. Rapunzel was worried that with Giselle gone, her mother would yell at her about the boy, but her mother left for the day again, not mentioning the boy.

Rapunzel decided to venture out again. Her mother had, surprisingly, forgotten to lock Rapunzel in. Usually when she disappeared for days, she would use a magical enchantment to lock the doors so Rapunzel couldn’t leave the cottage. But today she didn’t. Today, Rapunzel could open the door.

She decided to go back to the field and see if Bradyn was there once more. When she arrived, he wasn’t. She felt a pang of sadness, but decided to stay a bit and scout for butterflies. There were lots this time of year, and her goal was to find the most colorful one that happened by.

After a couple of hours, Rapunzel was preparing to return home when she heard a rustling from the other side of the woods. She turned in time to see Bradyn step into the clearing.

“You’re back,” he said, smiling as he ran toward her. “You didn't come yesterday, and I almost didn’t come today. But I thought I’d try one more time.”

She smiled as he arrived in front of her, a little winded from his run. “I’m glad you tried again,” she admitted, a slight blush on her cheeks.

“So am I,” he said. “Would you like to play?”

She scrunched up her face. “Play what?”

“A game, like tag or ring around the roses.” He looked around. “Don’t suppose we have enough for ring around the roses, though.”

The games he suggested sounded odd to her. “I’ve never played them. How do they work?”

With that, Bradyn went about telling her how to play those games, plus a couple of more. The games sounded intriguing enough, and they played a few. Even with the game playing, the running, the interaction with Bradyn, Rapunzel felt good. No chills, shakes, vomiting, or anything remotely like the fits she used to have. She wondered if maybe this was a safe place and Bradyn a safe person, one who didn’t cause her to become ill.

“Rapunzel,” Bradyn said, his tone sharp.

She realized she’d been deep in thought and this hadn’t been the first time he’d called her name.

“You alright?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Just started thinking.”

“About what?”

She sat down in the grass, feeling a touch of fatigue after all the tag. “Just about my illness.”

“Yes, what is it called?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, looking down at her hands in her lap. “My mother never gave a name to it. But she says it gets worse when we’re in the bigger villages, too near to people. The air there gets bad, and I start to get terribly ill. So we stay away from the most people and villages. Which mother says is just as well, because people are cruel.”

He reached out and touched her right hand. She turned to him. “Not all people are cruel,” he said, a sincerity in his eyes that made her believe.

That’s when she heard it. A rustle in the distance, and then a sharp, harsh, call of “Rapunzel!” Her mother had come back early and found her not at home.

Her eyes widened as the panic took hold. She looked Bradyn in the eye and said, “Run away, quickly.” He looked confused, as if he might speak to ask a question or argue. They didn’t have time for that. “My mother mustn’t find you here. Run.”

Bradyn seemed to sense something in her tone or her eyes, and needed no further insistence. He jumped up and sprinted towards the wooded area where he’d entered the clearing. That side was the direct opposite of the one her mother’s voice was coming from. Once he’d gotten into the woods, Rapunzel called back. “Mother, I’m here.”

Soon, her mother was in the clearing, but instead of the angry glare Rapunzel was expecting, her mother’s face swam with fright and concern. “Oh, dear child,” she said. “What are you doing out here? You’ll get deathly ill.”

“I just wanted to see more butterflies, mother,” Rapunzel said.

Her mother put an arm around Rapunzel and started leading her home. “We need to take you home so you can rest.”

“Mother I’m fine,” Rapunzel said. “I have been out for a couple of hours and I’m not ill.”

Her mother shook her head. “My love, if only every bad thing we did told us while we were in the process of doing it, we’d all be better,” she said, patting Rapunzel’s shoulder. “Too often, our foolish actions only show their consequences the next day.”