Strike at Midnight(51)

“That was weird,” Rapunzel said, and I dragged my eyes away from the direction where Briar had stormed off.

“You can say that again.”

“So you potentially have a witch for hire,” she said, and my stomach rumbled. Where is the damn food?

“That’s one thing off the list, at least,” I said, then I thought of the gowns and let out a moan. “Just the clothes and hair potion to sort tomorrow and we’ll be ready to go.”

Rapunzel laughed. “What color will you be turning your hair?” she asked, and I rolled my eyes.

“Back to blonde,” I replied, and my eyes lit up when a serving wench came up to us with our food in hand.

“You know what they say,” Rapunzel said as she waited for her chicken broth crap to be put in front of her. “Blonde ladies do have more fun.”

“I’m not there to have fun,” I said, sensing the conversation going off into the prince direction again. “And I’m not a lady.” I shoved a piece of steak into my mouth so I wouldn’t have to converse with her anymore, then spat it back out again. It was freaking hot.

“Yes,” she said, picking up a napkin and shaking it out to place it across her lap. “I can see that.”





*



Rapunzel said goodbye and made her way off before the curse blinked her back to the tower for the evening.

It was a nice night for a walk as dusk hit, but I made haste in getting back home.

Not only had Briar’s words and behavior freaked me out a bit, but I was tired and not looking forward to getting up early to receive her pending message.

What the hell had she meant that she owed the witch and the witch owed her? And what was all that drama about not trusting her?

The shivers had left me with a cold, oppressive feeling, and my doubts amplified about taking a witch into the castle. It made me want to call it off and to let Sir Raymond know that we weren’t going to attend the ball. But I couldn’t do it. If any of this was going to get us closer to finding the duke, then we had to go through with it regardless of Briar Rose’s warning.

It was little reassurance that Briar was the one who was putting her forward for the job after her words of doom, but I supposed it would be better to take a seasoned witch in who could actually pull this off. I just needed to make sure she stayed out of the prince’s way and got in and out of the dungeons to do the task as quickly as possible. Sir Raymond could make the arrangements for the witch to leave the castle once the job was done, and then I wouldn’t have to worry about looking over my shoulder every five minutes while we were there. Just the thought of it made me feel better.

When I walked into Melodies, I saw Marcel looking at me from the bar. “Here she is, my love-struck girl,” he said with a smile on his face.

“Oh, piss off," I said, and walked over to him. “Give me a whiskey before I go upstairs, and lay off with the shit.”

“I wasn’t going to give you any,” he said, getting my order for me. “I just thought it was sweet to see you look at him like the pretty little princess that you are.” He said the “pretty little princess” part in a squeaky voice and I wanted to smack him in the face. However, I refrained from doing so as he put the whiskey before me.

“Don’t be a prick,” I said as I picked up the drink. “I almost got him killed, rescued him, end of story.”

Marcel’s face turned serious all of a sudden as he leaned on the bar. His face wasn’t far from mine.

“Don’t get hurt,” he said with a quiet intensity, and I was taken aback for a second.

“What the hell are you going on about?” I asked, and I quickly took a sip of my drink. I didn’t like where this was going.

“I saw the way you looked at him, and I’ve never seen you behave like that with a guy before.”

“Like what?” I snapped, knocking back the rest of the drink. I didn’t need another interrogation.

“Like he was your absolute world.”

If he hadn’t been so worried when he said those words, I think I would have seriously considered smashing the glass over his head. What the hell is it with everyone?

“Don’t be so stupid.”

“He’s a prince, you’re a renegade hunter,” he said as he leaned back and grabbed a rag to wipe the bar. “You’re going to get hurt.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Marcel,” I said, but I knew I would have said exactly the same if the situation had been reversed. Wasn’t that the crux of the problem anyway? Fear of getting hurt?

He would never hear such words leave my lips, but I couldn’t berate the guy over his observation. He was only saying it because he cared, and I couldn’t begrudge him that. “I’m not going to get hurt because nothing is going to happen. I know where I stand.”

“You sure about that?”

There was no answer I could give him because I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t even sure what he was asking what I was sure about. It was all so confusing.

“Rella!” Melody said as she came bouncing in from the door that led to our quarters. “You’ve had a parcel delivered, and it’s been killing me not to open it. Come on.” She waved me to follow her back up the stairs, and I rolled my eyes.

“How long has she been like this?” I dared to ask, and he gave me a careful smile.