Sunlight (9 page)

“He wants you, does he no’? Perhaps he’s stooped to witchery to have you.” Hope wrinkled her nose at the thought. “So you came back to see me?”

“I didn’t come back so I could spend more time at court, if that’s what you’re asking,” he said with a slow smile.

Her hands drifted across his shoulders and she sighed with pleasure when his moved to her hips, dragging her against him in an embrace. “I didn’t know what to think when you’d left me. Walter only came by once and he couldn’t even climb up my hair, so I left him down there.” Callum’s fingers brushed her cheek in a loving caress. “Has he been taking care of ye while I was gone? It killed me to leave just when we’ve begun to explore each other.” Heat surged through her body at his choice of words. Would that they were back in the tower right now, doing a bit of that exploring. “I missed you,” she said softly.

He leaned down and brushed a light kiss on her lips. “Come away with me. To my home in the highlands.

You can stay in my keep. I’ll keep you safe.”

Hope frowned and stepped out of his arms. “And what am I supposed to do? Stay indoors for the rest of my life? I can’t do that. I have to break the curse.”

She didn’t tell him that her ability to stay here with him was contingent upon breaking said curse.

She didn’t need to. A life trapped indoors was still no life. She’d spent the first twenty-four years of her life doing that, and she’d be damned if she spent the rest of it staring out a window and longing to feel the sunshine on her face.

No, she had to do this, and she couldn’t be distracted by a pretty face.

“I’m going to the village to see the witch,” she told him. “I think Walter’s the one that cursed me, and I need something to break the curse. I can’t go with you until I find it.”

“Hope, lass, be sensible–”

“I am,” she said firmly, stepping aside when he reached for her again. “I can’t live with this ludicrous curse, and I won’t leave until I’ve lifted it. I–I’ll understand if you leave and return to your clan again.”

She held her breath and lifted her chin, watching him, his features shadowed in the moonlight.

He cursed under his breath, and then strode toward her, leaning in close enough to kiss her one more time. “Ye’re daft if ye think I’m going to let you visit the witch alone,” he told her, and then kissed her hard. “We’re in this together.”

Hope leaned into his kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and stroking her tongue against his.

She licked at his mouth, the kiss frantic and full of desire. “We’ll see the witch and then we’ll go home and spend the rest of the evening together. In bed.”

“Then let us hurry,” he said, and grinned. “We can take my horse. Can ye ride?” She swallowed hard and stared up at the creature. “Only one way to find out.”

***

Mounting it was an ordeal that had involved Callum’s hands shoving at her bottom, and then she’d had to hold the beast steady so he could get on behind her. After that, she clung to the horse’s neck, terrified she’d fall off. All the movies made horseback riding look so glamorous and easy. It wasn’t–she felt like if she shifted the wrong way, she’d tumble to the ground.

Still, it did make things move quickly. With Callum’s arm locked tight around her waist, they made good time, and eventually she saw a few faint lights in the distance.

“Is that the village?”

“Aye. Let me do the talking when we arrive, lass. They’re likely to ask questions and you don’t have the answers they’ll seek.”

“Sounds good to me.” She was more than happy to let him lead in this instance.

The village itself did not look like much. More muddy, churned-up streets, and some little straw-covered houses that were nothing to write home about. She could hear more horses, and the soft murmur of voices in the distance. Callum dismounted but instructed her to stay on the horse, and he took the reins and led it through the dirty street, heading to the one building that had the lights on. A tavern of some sort, with a few people inside, the shutters thrown open. It looked dark and smoky and kind of gross.

A man stood at the door of the tavern, next to where a few horses were hitched, and Callum called out something to the man.

The man in the doorway crossed himself, spat, and pointed into the trees.

“I guess he knows where the witch is,” she said quietly.

“Aye,” Callum said, leading the horse in the direction the man had pointed.

They rode into the woods a short way and came across a small shack. Strange symbols were drawn on the walls with chalk, and dead animal bones littered the front yard. Hope shivered at the sight. At least, she hoped they were animal bones. If this woman was truly a witch, who knew?

“No smoke in the chimney,” Callum commented. “She’s likely no’ here.” Hope eyed the chimney herself, and then sighed in frustration. “Seriously? That sucks. What do we do now?”

Callum moved to the door and bent to pick up a long, narrow tube of white. He glanced over at her, then held it up. It was tied with a dirty, dingy ribbon. “Are ye sure you weren’t expected?” Maybe Muffin knew the witch. “I don’t know. Can I see that?” He held the tube up to her and she felt it.

There was something hard in the middle, wrapped in parchment. She unrolled it and a candle fell onto her lap. The note itself was written in a strange scrawl that she couldn’t make out.

“Can you read this?”

He studied the note for a moment and then gave her an uneasy look before reading on. “To find the truth of your curse, use this candle. It will only light in the presence of the one who cursed you.”

Hope clutched the candle to her chest. “It’s a start, at least.”

“It’s a candle. I don’t see how it’s no’ going to light if you hold a flame to it.”

“You have to believe.”

“Now you sound like one o’ them,” he told her gruffly, gesturing at the distant village. “Let’s go back to the tower for now. You can test out your candle there.” He mounted behind her and they rode off through the village, Hope clutching the candle to her chest.

Now all they had to do was wait for Walter to return and confront him. Then she could prove it was really him who had cursed her…

And then what?

Hope was drowsing against Callum’s broad chest when he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“We’re here, lass. Hurry and wake.”

“Mmm?” She rubbed her eyes and stared at their surroundings blearily.

“Hurry,” he said again. “The sun is coming up fast.”

That got her moving. Hope slid off of the horse in a rush and tumbled to the ground with a thwack of her backside. She winced and then scrambled to her feet, ignoring the muddy, clinging hem of her skirt.

“The ladder!”

“Go up first,” he said. “I’ll follow behind you.”

She began to climb, but she was tired from the long evening and her steps seemed impossibly slow.

By the time she was close to the top, her scalp started to tingle with warning. She’d barely tumbled in to the window before it had begun to surge down her back, and she hastily grabbed handfuls of the mess, dragging it into the tower and out of the sunlight.

“Close one,” she called out with a laugh, shoving the wild mane of hair out of her eyes.

“Indeed,” said a peevish voice behind her.

Hope gasped. She turned and stared at a frowning Prince Walter. “My prince! You’re here.”

“Yes, and you weren’t.” He cocked his head and studied her for a long moment. “Nice to see that you found a ladder.”

A hot flush crossed Hope’s face. “I did, actually–”

Callum climbed into the tower room a second later, and Walter’s narrow-eyed gaze fixed on him.

Callum stiffened, then immediately swept into a bow. “My liege.” Oops. Was she supposed to bow, too? Hope grabbed her skirts and dropped into a curtsy, just in case.

Walter crossed his arms over his chest. “I sent you home, didn’t I? I should have guessed that you’d come back here. Care to explain what’s going on?”

Callum was silent, a scowl darkening his face. He was trapped–if he admitted to anything, the prince would have his head.

“I seduced him,” Hope blurted. “He showed up here last night and I seduced him to get him to help me.” Walter shook his head slowly, looking peeved and disappointed. “I wanted to marry you, Rapunzel. We were waiting for my father’s permission. I sent this oaf away because you kept giving him these long looks. I see now it’s too late. I thought you wanted to marry me. You did, not so long ago.” He’d guessed that she and Callum were together? That must have been why he’d sent Callum home. As for what had changed, well…she wasn’t the same girl. Literally.

Poor Walter. He sounded so disappointed. Lord, now she felt like an awful person.

Hope scuffed her dirty shoe on the floor. “Well, I sort of had a change of heart. I’m sorry.” He sighed. “You should have said something earlier. I’ve been haranguing my father the king for nothing at all, it seems.” He gave her a curious look. “If you two are running off together, why are you coming back?”

Hope plucked the magic candle out of her belt and held it behind her carefully. “I want you to lift my curse.”

“What are you talking about?”

She brandished the candle and moved forward. “I said, I want you to lift my curse. I know you cursed me, and I have proof.” She lifted the candle toward him.

It remained unlit.

Hope frowned, shook it a little, and then stepped closer to Walter.

He pushed it aside with one hand and stared at her like she’d grown a second head.

“I didn’t curse you.”

“You’re the only one who could have,” she protested. “Who else would want me in this tower?” He snorted. “I found you in this tower. We spoke one day and started to talk. I don’t know how you got here, or why your hair grows like it does.”

Her brows furrowed. “Then you didn’t curse me?”

“No.” He gave her a cold look. “Why do you have a candle?”

“No reason,” she said meekly and tucked it into her belt. “I don’t understand.”

“That makes two of us. I don’t understand any of this,” he said with a limp wave. “You could have married a prince and instead you’re sleeping with this poor fool. And I do mean poor.” She bit her lip, swallowing her retort. She was pretty sure one didn’t get to lip off to the prince, even in a quasi-fairy tale.

Callum dropped to a knee again. “I request permission to marry her, my liege. We have fallen in love.” Hope’s breath caught in her throat. Fallen in love? Was he in love with her? Did she love him?

She wasn’t sure, but she was pretty sure that she was definitely somewhere in the realm of infatuated, and likely heading toward in love.

“I’m not going to give you my blessing,” Walter snapped. “I don’t care what the two of you do, just as long as I don’t see either of your faces at court for a very, very long time. Understand me?”

“Understood.”

Hope gave another awkward curtsy.

Prince Walter pushed past the two of them. “Good riddance to both of you.” She watched him climb down clumsily, biting her lip the entire time. Callum was silent, leaning over the tower window and watching until the prince had ridden away.

After a few long minutes passed, Callum turned to her and exhaled. “That went better than I thought.”

“It did?”

“He could have asked for our heads for treason. A wee bit o’ exile from court is more of a reward, lass.” He grinned. “This means we can marry after all.”

“I can’t marry until my curse is lifted, Callum.” Hope shook the useless candle at him. “Which is going to be impossible if we can’t find out who cursed me. This thing isn’t working. What if she lied to us and it’s just a regular candle?”

“One way to find out,” Callum said, and moved to her small fireplace. He built a small fire as she watched, and then dipped the wick of the candle into the flame.

Nothing. It didn’t light. It didn’t even flicker.

“Well, something about it is enchanted,” Callum said thoughtfully.

“Maybe we did it wrong,” Hope said. “We should go back to the witch and see if there’s something we have to do to trigger it.”

“We can go back to see her tomorrow,” Callum said, taking the candle from her hands and setting it down atop the fireplace mantle. His hands slid around her waist. “For now, I want you to say ye’ll marry me, Hope.”

She stared up at him thoughtfully. “Did you mean what you said about falling in love?”

“It’s a bit early for things yet,” he said with a grin, “but I think I could be there very soon, aye.”

“I think I could too,” she confessed softly, and reached up to rub her fingers over the unshaven stubble on his cheek. “But I can’t live a life trapped.”

“We’ll see the witch tonight,” he promised her. “Until then, we’ll simply have to wait until the daylight is gone.”

She licked her lips and gave him a sultry look under her lashes. “However shall we pass the time?”

“I can think of a few things,” he said, pulling her against him so she could feel the hard press of his cock against her belly.

“But first,” she said, grabbing her overlong, bizarre hair that spilled on the ground. “Can you…can you cut this for me?”

Callum cupped her cheek and tilted her face back to look up at him. “I’ve been thinking about you in my arms, all night.”

“Me too.”

“And you between my legs, writhing under me. In my bed. As my wife. I want all these things.” Her breathing was shallow with excitement. “I want those things too, Callum.” His gaze was serious as he studied her upturned face. “Do ye truly, lass? Or do ye regret the moments you spent in my arms instead of the prince’s? Ye could have had riches with him. An easy life.” Hope shook her head.

“I’ve spent the past week trying to figure out how to turn him down nicely. Ever since I met you, you’re the only one I’ve wanted.”

Callum’s gaze hardened. “Ye turned down the prince for a poor laird.” His thumb skated over her lower lip. “This is madness.”

She bit the tip of his thumb suggestively. “Then let’s be crazy together.” His hand moved to her hair, tangling in the thick, ridiculous length of it.