Forty

 

Vasco and Bianca were married that day, so the king could return home safely with his daughters. His guards kept a close watch on the traitorous steward, as if they thought his corpse might spring back to life again, and stuck him in a cart alongside the barrel of poisoned wine.

The girls huddled together in a second cart, barely saying a word, aside from a listless farewell to Bianca as their own cart rattled off down the road.

Leaving Bianca alone with her husband. A man she suddenly didn't know what to say to.

"Oh, good. I caught you before you dragged him off to bed," an elderly voice cackled.

Kun. Of all the things to say...Bianca felt her face grow red.

Vasco curled an arm around Bianca's waist and bowed to the old woman. "So you have heard our news, then. I couldn't have done this alone, and I will be forever grateful. You will be welcome in my home whenever you wish. Without your help – "

Kun laughed. "Without my help? You mean her help." She pointed a wrinkled finger at Bianca. "The invisibility cloak was her doing. She wanted answers, and she knew you stood a better chance of getting them than she could. After a few days of watching you work, she was itching to be your prize."

"My...prize?" Vasco stared at Bianca, before understanding dawned on his face. "So you truly did want to marry me? Not out of pity, or duty?" His eyes held so much hope.

No matter how brightly her face burned, Bianca forced herself to tell him the truth. "Every day you worked on Kun's house, I watched, invisible," she confessed. "Until one day when you were outside, I asked Kun to send you up to the palace to solve the mystery. I cast the spell on your cloak that rendered you invisible. I hoped that if I helped you, you might choose me." She frowned. "I had no idea that Kun didn't tell you that part of the reward."

Kun cackled. "It would have distracted him. Thinking about his house and which girl he wanted for his wife. That's what killed the others. Distracted by a pretty girl who brings him a cup of wine, sending him dreaming of all the things he might do to her when they are married..." She flashed a gummy grin. "Oh, but I forgot. You two are married, and ready to do something about those dreams, I am sure. But humour an old lady for a moment. I have something to show you." She led them through the house to the room where the girls had once slept, now home to their discarded finery that would have to be sent up to the capital after them.

The trapdoor creaked open, moving without anyone touching the lever that normally worked the mechanism.

"How did you..." Bianca began, but Kun waved her into silence, beckoning them to follow her down the steps. Swallowing, Bianca did as she was bidden. It was daylight now, and there were no raven princes to attack or attempt to seduce her, but she couldn't suppress the thought that last night, she'd almost...

Vasco's arms wrapped reassuringly around her waist as if he could read her thoughts. "Don't you worry at all. If those accursed birds come anywhere near us again, I will pepper them so full of arrows, they'll look like they've grown a second set of feathers. I might not be accustomed to owning lands and being the lord responsible for them, but I have plenty of experience in defending them. I promised to keep you safe, Bianca, and I will."

She relaxed into his embrace, for she believed every word. And it felt good to be in his arms, his hard body pressed against hers, his breath on her neck...she wanted to turn around, take him back up the steps and do all the things married women did to the husband they loved. Maybe even let him do some things to her, too.

"I don't have all day!" Kun said. "You have all night to get naked, and the rest of your lives to work out what to do with each other. Can't an old lady ask for a few minutes of your time?"

Red-faced once more, Bianca continued down the steps with Vasco not far behind.

Kun led them down the path to the lake. Bianca didn't feel self-conscious at all as she grabbed Vasco's hand. After last night, she never wanted to walk this way alone. He squeezed her fingers gently and limped on at her side.

They reached the spot where Vasco had tripped that first night, almost giving himself away, and Kun stopped.

"This is it," she muttered, biting down on her lip. She waved her hands, an intense look of concentration on her face as she stared at the pile of rocks.

To Bianca's surprise, the topmost boulder rolled down, settling to the side of the road. The pile that had stretched higher than Bianca's head now arranged themselves in a rough ring. Around them, a small stream of water trickled, which had been hidden by the rocks before. As she watched, one of the tall, narrow stones toppled over, forming a natural drawbridge across the stream into the small fort.

Kun settled on a rock by the side of the path, a satisfied look on her face. "Go in and see."

When Bianca hesitated, Vasco stepped forward. A heartbeat later, she followed. Inside the stone circle was a pool, which was rapidly filling with water. Water that sent up wisps of mist or steam. Magic, surely.

"It's a hot spring," Kun said. "The earth has spots like this around, and if I'd left it alone, this one might have built enough pressure to blow some of the rocks off one day. Maybe not this week, but when your children take over the estate. Or their children. If you ever get around to having any."

"I have heard of places like this," Vasco said slowly. "They say the hot water works miracles. Healing old wounds, taking away stiffness and pain..."

"Yes," Kun said. "It relaxes you, too. Consider it a wedding present to the two of you." She bit her lip again. "Which reminds me...seeing as that new cloak was really a gift from your new bride, I still owe you a bonus for the service you did me." She bent over before Vasco and made a mysterious gesture with her hand beside his injured leg.

Vasco gave a cry of pain and Bianca's heart leapt into her throat. "What did you do to him?" Bianca demanded.

Kun turned her hand palm-up. Nestled among the wrinkles was a barbed arrowhead, glistening with blood. Vasco's blood, judging by the way he clutched at his knee. "I am no healer, for my talents lie with the earth. Yet what is metal but the bones of earth? Without the arrowhead buried in your knee, your body should heal itself. You may lose that limp and have no need to lean on your lady, as you do now."

Vasco straightened. He stayed that way for barely a moment before Bianca managed to get under his shoulder to take some of his weight off his injured leg again. "I am his support as much as he is mine," Bianca declared.

"A little pain wouldn't stop me from protecting my princess," Vasco added, gazing into Bianca's eyes.

It seemed she stood with him in the underwater ballroom again, drawn to one another like moths to the same flame. Yet Vasco's eyes seemed to burn when he gazed her at her, in a way that kindled a strange heat in Bianca's chest.

"Vasco," she breathed, reaching a hand up to his cheek.

He pulled her hard against him, and kissed her. The fire in her heart blazed, shooting down to curl at her toes. It could burn her to cinders, and she wouldn't care, as long as Vasco didn't stop kissing her.

Several minutes later, Kun's coughing became too alarming to ignore, and they broke off their kiss to stare at the old woman.

"Now, I have other things to take care of." Kun straightened, and it seemed to Bianca that she stood taller all of a sudden. Her hair darkened, too, so that instead of white with strands of black, her hair now looked as sleek as a raven's wing. When she turned around, Bianca barely recognised her. Why, Kun looked younger than her own mother – not much older than Bianca herself. This strange, young Kun laughed, her voice rich and full, without any of the tremors of old age. "Did you truly think me just some weak witch, girl, like your queen? I am an enchantress, gifted in elemental magic, though my affinity has always been with the earth. At the queen's request, for she is my god daughter, for good or ill, I kept those princes prisoner here. I fed them those foolish enough to fall under their spell, or the spell of greed, in the case of those silly boys who saw an easy way to win a wife and property. But they have flown, and my vigil is ended. So, while I thank you for your kind invitation, I will not accept your hospitality at this time. I am needed elsewhere. Perhaps we will meet again, far into the future. My best wishes for your health and happiness, both of you, because I think you two truly have a good chance of living happily ever after."

With that, she traced a fiery circle in the air, stepped through it, and vanished.