Rumplestiltskin (8 page)

As soon as he could, with another fresh round of supplies and water, he made his way up to the tower and knocked lightly upon the hidden door. When she did not answer, he peeked his head in and beheld the sleeping girl with the doubled mass of hay around her.

Quietly, he crept into the room and, sweeping off a small patch of ground, he began to artfully arrange the food on the blanket she was not using to welcome her when she awoke. Except she did not awake—not for at least two hours more.

Rumple had already begun to work on the straw by the time she had started to stir. It was a long process, but he was able to make some progress with one of the piles in that time. It was better than allowing it to sit there and precious minutes to pass.

She stirred and stretched before she heard the sound of the spindle spinning.

“Good morning, dear,” he called around the pebble in his mouth. He was still upon the seat and did not look up until the straw was completely through, then he removed the stone and asked, “How did you sleep?”

“Like a baby.” She grinned and stretched again, wiggling her toes. “And you are here.”

“I am here.”

How is it he is so wonderful? “Thank you.”

“I would not miss it for the world.”

She sat up, her eyes taking in the massive amount of straw. “Could he be any greedier?”

Rumple glanced over to the piles and sighed. “I am afraid not. At least in my experience I have never known any man to be quite like King Marcus, though his father did come pretty close.”

“Have you lived here long then?”

He nodded. “All my life.”

“A servant of the castle is all you have ever known?”

“Most all of my memories revolve around serving the inhabitants of this castle, yes.”

She pushed herself off the bed and walked over to him. “My! Look at all this food
and
the gold. You have done quite a bit.”

He shook his head and snorted. “Not nearly an eighth of what I can do when you are helping.”

She picked his hand up off the wheel and turned it over. “We do make an incredible force together, I must agree.” Her fingers lightly traced his worn palm. “How bad is it?”

He shrugged. “I have felt worse.” He then flipped his hand within hers and captured her fingers for inspection. He winced as he tilted them from side to side. “Aubrynn, what will we do with you? You cannot work in such a state. They will be a bloody mess within an hour or so.”

She shrugged and tried to mimic him. “I have had worse.”

His eyes flew to hers. “Truthfully?”

“No.”

“Aubrynn. This is not right. Does the king know you have these and are incapable of doing all he asks? I think he should be told.”

“He knows.”

“You are certain?”

She pulled her hand out of his and pointed to her finger. “Do you see this?”

“The one that has popped, yes.”

“It was a present from the king.”

Rumple captured that finger and pulled it to his mouth, kissing the redness.

She smiled as his grey-blue eyes caught hers over her hand. He really was completely adorable. Then she chuckled and whispered, “I have to relieve myself.”

Rumple’s whole body froze for a moment and then he threw his head back and laughed. “Of course you do! Who would not need to?”

“Um, so how does one go about doing so in the castle?”

“How bad is it?”

“Uh—pretty bad.”

Rumple shook his head. The king is a fool. Clearly he had not thought of such things as taking care of her basic needs. “I could take you down the secret stairs to a room designed for relief, if you would like? Or I could fetch a bedpan for you and I will leave the room and you can just toss it out the window? Which would you prefer?”

“Either, or. Something. Soon.” The idea of walking down all those stairs did not appeal, but neither did using a bedpan and tossing it out the window. Especially knowing he would be back again soon. But honestly, if something was not taken care of shortly, a lot more embarrassing things would happen than the use of a silly bedpan.

Looking at her face and the way Aubrynn had begun to hop a bit, desperate times awaited. “How about we do this,” he answered, “we will use the stone to glide you down the stairs quickly and silently to where we need to go and then I will be sure to bring a bedpan up for future use. Yes?”

“Um, fine. That will do. But could we hurry, please?”

Standing, Rumple clutched the rock and, while concentrating, watched it glow. He wrapped one arm around her waist, holding her tightly next to him, and then grinned as they began to float off the ground. He concentrated on the door opening before them and then slid her down the long spiraling passageway. By the time they had gotten to the end, she was clinging to him for dear life. It was brilliant to feel her so close.

He slowly opened the door and peeked out. As soon as the coast was clear, he rushed her to the back end of the castle, dodging down deserted old passageways the whole time. She gasped and clutched his shirt as the magic worked faster and they were transported quicker than he had ever experienced before. During the complete duration he concentrated solely on reaching the room unnoticed. The magic worked and kept them completely shielded from being seen.

Rumple smiled. These rocks were definitely more useful than he had ever thought possible. “We are here!” he said as he lowered them both gently down.

“That was quite possibly the most enchanting and fun thing I have ever done in my life!” she exclaimed. “I was terrified to squeal or screech or anything, in case we were heard, but, oh, how I wished to do just that! We were flying. I cannot believe it, but we were truly flying!”

“Pretty glorious, is it not?” He pulled away from her happiness and pushed her gently toward the room. “If you walk inside you will see a large ledge and a hole. You may use it. There is also a towel and soap and water to wash yourself with after you are through.”

“Oh, goodness! This is a luxury indeed. How wonderful.”

He chuckled. “I will close the door to give you some privacy. Please hurry.”

Aubrynn returned to him rather quickly with the biggest smile upon her face. “Do you have any idea how marvelous you are? Just how simply perfectly superb it is to know another human being like you?”

He was leaning up against the wall. “It is because I can fly, is it not?”

“Well…” She grinned.

He pushed off from the wall and chuckled. “I knew it.” Holding his arm out, he waited.

Aubrynn giggled and stepped into that waiting arm. Her hands going around his shoulders and grabbing a handful of his shirt, her face just mere inches from his.

Rumple’s eyes explored her happy features a moment. What would it be like to wake up each morning to such pleasing looks before him? Such a contented glow and warmth about her he had rarely seen in anyone else. Tilly had come close, but she still did not have the spark that Aubrynn did. Gently, he leaned forward and tasted her lips again.

She moaned and held on tighter to his shirt.

For a moment he had completely forgotten where he was and that he was with the castle prisoner. But when sounds of the kitchens began to make way to his ears, he immediately pulled back. He knew several servants would pass this way shortly on their way up to the dining room. As swiftly as possible, he concentrated on the stone and lifting them up.

“Why did you stop?” she whispered near his ear.

Her voice triggered a series of shivers through his neck and shoulder. They hovered slightly before dipping. “Hush. You will make me lose concentration.”

“But I liked kissing you.”

“Shh!” He pulled them back up and they began to move forward, nearing the first of the passageways.

She grinned and lowered her voice, turning directly to the shell of his ear. “Can you kiss me as we fly?”

He nearly dropped them both that time. “Maiden!”

She chuckled and tucked her head into his shoulder. “I will behave now.”

Rumple’s silent laugh could be felt throughout his whole chest.

Could there be a more perfect man in the world?

Honestly?

Aubrynn giggled and snuggled closer as they flew back to her waiting room.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

IT WAS SEVERAL MINUTES after Rumplestiltskin and Aubrynn had eaten and while they were again preparing for another long night of spinning straw into gold that Rumple surprised Aubrynn, as she was placing another pile of straw next to the spindle, by capturing up her palm and wrapping a long narrow strip of fabric around it.

“Where did you acquire such a thing?” she asked, fascinated with how well he managed to wrap the strip around her hand and then each finger and back around her palm again.

“I tore it from one of the blankets.” He looped the loose end and tied it off, securing it to one of the other straps around her hand. Once done, he repeated the process again with her other fingers.

She inspected his handiwork all around and then smiled. “Thank you. I believe you may have saved me.”

Rumple grinned and leaned crookedly upon the spindle. “So, when you are queen will I be granted knight status?”

“If I am ever queen you will be given the grandest chamber in this house—mark my words!”

His smile fell. Slowly his eyes took in her every feature. If things were different, it would be he who would be marrying her soon. His heart began to thump quite strangely and hollowly within his chest.

Aubrynn took a step closer. “What? What is it?” Her cloth-covered hands reached up and held his arms. “What have I said to bring such a look upon your face?”

He shook his head slightly to chase the silliness away. “’Tis nothing.”

She tugged on his sleeves, her eyes searching his. “Falsehoods do not become you, my dear. Have I said or done something that has triggered such an awful memory to show itself upon your features? Rumplestiltskin, I promise, whatever it is—whatever I have said—I did not mean to harm you further than you have obviously been harmed. You, you of all the people in the world do not deserve such treatment from me; especially after all you have done—”

“Hush.” He placed a finger upon her soft lips to silence her. “You have done nothing wrong. It is life that has intruded upon my thoughts, nothing more.” His thumb gently brushed against her bottom lip.

“Kiss me,” she said against his hand.

He chuckled. “You are intent on surprising me at every turn, are you not?” His fingers spayed across her jaw as his thumb continued to caress her mouth.

“Rumplestiltskin, kiss me now, you fool.”

His serious eyes met hers. “I am a fool. I am fool for wanting to be here the longer I am with you. I imagine soon, I shall never want to leave you.”

“What?” Confusion marred her sweet features. “Will you leave me soon? Please do not leave me. What would I do without you?”

“Shh…” He brought his mouth down to capture hers, kissing her tenderly. “I would never leave you. Can you not see I am completely bound to you? Just as this magic has woven and transformed straw into gold, so has your heart woven and transformed mine to forever be changed and bound to yours.”

She inhaled swiftly and pulled back, her lips forming a perfect O of astonishment. “No one has ever said words such as this to me.”

“No?”

“No. No one has ever thought to do so.”

“Well, that is a shame.”

“Rumple why would you say them?”

He glanced over her features again and smiled ruefully. “Because they are true.”

Her breathing began to come in great gasps as she tried to process all he was telling to her. “But they cannot be. Not wholly.”

“And why is that?”

“Because, because…” She looked down at her dirty dress and held it out to him. “Well, look at me! I am just a girl who lives in the village. And you are a servant of the
castle
!”

Rumple laughed and glanced down at himself. “Have you not noticed that I am not much to look at, my dear?” he asked, amazed she seemed to disregard his stilted body altogether.

“Why? What do you mean?” She seemed genuinely confused.

“Aubrynn, sweetheart, I am a crippled man who has been cursed to remain this way forever. No beautiful young woman in her right mind would wish to come within three feet of me.”

“Yet, you cannot keep me away.” She grinned and stepped toward him.

He foolishly wrapped an arm around her. “And why is that?” His own heart pausing to hear her response.

“Because I do not see what you see. I cannot. Your true self has shone too brightly despite your crippled casing. You are simply too marvelous, too good to be considered anything that resembles a curse.” She cuddled up closer to his chest and wrapped her arms around his bowed back.

Rumple let out a long-awaited sigh at her answer, a great feeling of warmth settled over his heart, kissing it and then slowly winding its way through his limbs all the way to the tip of his hair. His whole being filled with the glorious enchantment of her words. Never had he believed a woman such as she would enter into his life—never did he even dream it would be possible. He tried desperately to make her see reason—to make them both see reason, though he was too delightfully warm to say much more than, “But, it will not last. This goodness you feel that I am.”

“Of course it will,” she mumbled into his shirt.

He tried again. “But what occurs when this is all over. What happens when all the straw is spun into gold—then what?”

“Then my father lives and the king is happy and does not try to hurt us.”

“What else, darling?”

She pulled just far enough away to look at him. “There is more?”

“Yes. Think. What else happens?” Just knowing she did not fully grasp what was coming in her future made him even more entranced by her. What female would not jump at the chance of becoming queen? To wear such costly apparel and live in such a richly way? And yet, she did not see it. It was not even a part of her thought process. But he must make her see. She must prepare herself for her future—a future without him. “Once the gold is all created and the king comes to claim his prize—what happens then?”

Aubrynn gasped. Her eyes locked with his. She shook her head, not willing to accept her fate. “No.”