Wicked Ugly Bad (A Kinda Fairytale) (27 page)

Letty
made a sound of extreme annoyance.  “Of course, it’s all about
you.
”

Marrok
arched a brow.  “You think I’m being conceited, because I don’t want my wife
sleeping with another man?”

“I
think you’re an
asshole
, because you’re being an asshole.”  Scarlett
corrected.  “I mean talk about a double standard!  Am I supposed to believe
you’ve kept yourself as virginal as a unicorn all this time?”  She didn’t even
want to imagine the number of women he’d slept with.  It would be like counting
all the stars in the sky.  “You’ve probably been with every evil beauty queen
in the Four Kingdoms.”

“I
didn’t care about them, though.  No one else has
ever
meant anything to
me.  Not the way Charming apparently does to you.”

“So,
in your world, random hook-ups with
many
people is better than having
meaningful relationships with very few?”

“Yes.”

“That
makes no sense, at all!”

“I’ve
slept with other people.”  He dropped his eyes.  “Sometimes because I wanted to
and sometimes, especially when I was younger, because I was forced to.”

Her
brows drew together at that admission, although it sadly didn’t surprise her. 
Anyone who looked like Marrok would be prey for the monsters of this world,
when he wasn’t strong enough to defend himself.  Nobody would’ve stepped in to
help a wolf or any Bad folk being abused.

Why
wasn’t there a place where they could be safe?

“If
you want, I will postpone the Cinderella thing to help you hunt down and kill
anyone who’s ever hurt you.”  She said quietly.  “I swear it.”

His
gaze flicked back up to hers and she still saw uncertainty there.  “I just want
you to understand that I have been with other people, but I have never loved
anyone but you, Letty.”

Scarlett
felt her lips part in astonishment.

“Maybe
you’re not ready to feel that way about me, yet.”  He continued, his eyes
intent.  “I can accept that.  But, it bothers me --
a lot
-- that you
would feel that way about someone
else.
”

She
had a sudden flash of Marrok telling her that he loved some other woman.  That
he wanted someone else for his bride.  Just the idea of it had Letty wincing.

She
felt very… attached to this man.

“Just
tell me the truth.”  He continued intently.  “Do you love Charming?”

Scarlett
very slowly shook her head.

Marrok
sagged forward in relief.  “You’re sure you don’t love him?”  He pressed like he
still wasn’t completely sure.  “Really?”

“Really. 
He’s just a friend.”

“I
don’t see you having garden sex with ‘just a friend.’”

What
could she tell him that wouldn’t be a lie?  “Well, that was an odd night.”

He
studied her and she could see his mind working.  The man was so damn clever.  “So…
on this ‘odd night,’ Charming had sex in the garden?”

“Yes. 
He did.  I swear.”

“With
you
or with someone else?”

She
faltered, her mind racing.  Damn it!  Why was he making this so hard?

Marrok’s
eyes gleamed with satisfaction when she couldn’t come up with a quick evasion. 
“See I
knew
something was off about that story.  You were acting too
sketchy about it.  If it really had been you he slept with, you would’ve been
screaming out the placement of his moles to prove Cinderella was a fake.”  He
made a considering face.  “Overall, I’m impressed with how well you kept up the
story, though.  You can be kinda devious, Red.  For a Good Folk.”

She
appreciated his support of her Badness, but the last thing she needed was him
digging into the night of the ball.  “Just give me back my shoe.”

Marrok
wasn’t going to let it go.  “So, Charming slept with Cinderella.  That must
have been quite a disappointment for you.”  He didn’t sound particularly
sympathetic.  “Tell me how it happened.  Did she drug him or is he just an
idiot?  Please say idiot.  I have a bet with your grandma.”

Scarlett
lips pressed together, refusing to answer him.

He
gave the shoe another perilous waggle above the hardwood floor.  “Bear in mind,
I’m pissed over your lying and holding your glass slipper hostage.”

“I
haven’t lied to you!”

“You
let me think you had sex with Charming.  How is that not a lie?”

“It’s
none of your business who I had sex with, before we even met!”

“I
know
that, so why did you lie about it?”

Scarlett
studied him.  “You’re not going to break that shoe.”  She finally decided.

He
gave the glass slipper a taunting toss in the air.  Scarlett’s heart went up
and down with its assent and fall.  Marrok easily caught it and smirked at
her.  “Are you really willing to bet on me not smashing this thing?”

“Yeah,
I am.”  She kept her gaze on his.  “Because, you know that shoe is important to
me.  If you’re my True Love, you’re programmed not do anything that would hurt
me.”

Marrok
hesitated, staring at her.

She
arched a brow at him.

“Fuck.” 
He didn’t look happy about it, but he stopped threatening shoe-murder.  He set
the glass slipper on a round side table and made an irritated face.  “Feeling
pretty smug, aren’t you?”

“A
little bit.  It’s your own fault, though.  If I believe you love me, then I also
believe you’re going to do right by me.”  She shrugged, because it was all very
clear.  “And I believe you love me.”

“Fuck.” 
He muttered again.  “I shouldn’t have told you that.”

“I
don’t think you had to tell me.”  Once he said it, she’d realized she’d already
known.  “You lifted my sister out of that library window before you saved
yourself.  You shielded me from bullets with your own body.  You smile at me
differently than you do everyone else.”  She edged closer to him.  “I don’t
think you’re gentle with many people, but you’re always gentle with me.”

“I
don’t know how to be gentle.”  He scoffed.

“Yes,
you do.”

Had
Marrok ever let himself be this vulnerable with anyone else before?  He’d told
her he loved her, and he wanted her, and about his past.  He gave up his silly
shoe kidnapping because she asked him to.  She could look into his eyes and
read his thoughts.  The Big Bad Wolf had just given her everything she’d need
if she wanted to break his heart.

Luckily,
that wasn’t what she wanted, at all.

Marrok
looked up at her as she stopped in front of the chair.  “So, I should let you
go off and marry that prince, then?”  He demanded.  “Even though you don’t love
him and he slept with Cinderella, and you’re supposed to be mine?  Is that what
someone gentle would do?  Because all
I
want to do is kill that asshole.”

“Let’s
just say, if I was insisting on marrying Charming, I think you could talk me
out of it without slaughtering the groom.”

“What
do you mean, ‘
if’
you were insisting on marrying him?  You mean you’re
not
insisting on marrying him?”

Risky
or not, Scarlett knew what was going to do.  “No.”  She said simply.

“No?!” 
He repeated at a roar.  “That’s all you’re going to say?  Just
no?
”

She
shrugged.  “Just no.”

“That
quick you’re done with the idea of being a princess?”  He demanded skeptically.

“It’s
not quick, so much as it’s… complicated.”

“Complicated,
huh?  Well, why don’t you just break it down for me in small words, then?”

Scarlett
braced herself.  He took a chance on her and now she’d take one on him.  “I’m
trusting you, Marrok.”

Marrok
frowned.  “What the hell is that supposed…?”  He stopped abruptly as she sat
down on his lap.  “Christ,” he groaned, “if you’re trusting me not to touch
you, I’m about to let you down.”  His gaze dipped to the gap in her robe like
he just couldn’t help himself.  “Are you completely naked under there?”

She
sent him a grin, feeling how aroused he was.  “Completely.”

“If
this is a distraction, it’s a pretty damn effective one.”  He fiddled with her
belt.

She
batted his hands away.  “You’re the one doing the distracting, not me.”  She
reached over to grab the glass slipper and shoved it into his palm.  “Here.” 
She shifted sideways so she could rest her bare foot on the armrest of the
chair.  “Put it on me.”

His
amusement faded.  “I don’t want to.”  He tried to hand the shoe back to her. 
“I don’t want to see you wear that.”

“Use
your eyes, then.  Do you think that little hunk of glass is going to fit my
size nines?

Marrok
blinked.  His gaze went from her toes… to the shoe… and then back, again.

Scarlett
waited.

“Why,
Red… what big feet you have.”  He finally said.

“Just
what every girl longs to hear.”

Marrok
seemed thrilled, though.  More confident now, he tried to wedge the tiny shoe
onto her foot, smiling in delight when it didn’t fit.

She
rolled her eyes.  “Ouch.”  She deadpanned.

“Sorry. 
I just…”  He sounded dazed.  “Letty, this isn’t your shoe.”

“Of
course it’s not.”  She didn’t understand why it had taken him so long to figure
this out.  “I couldn’t be Charming’s destined princess
and
your True
Love, could I?”

“No.” 
He whispered.

“So,
if you’re right and I’m yours…”  She let her voice trail off and gave a “duh”
sort of hand gesture.

“I
am
right.”  His palm came up to caress the side of her face.  “You’re mine. 
You’re a crazy fucking lunatic, but you’re all mine.”  His forehead leaned
forward to rest against hers, like he just wanted to get closer to her.  “Did
you enjoy tormenting me with the idea of you and Charming or is there some
semi-logical reason you didn’t tell me this sooner?  Because I’ve been going
out of my mind and you know it.”

“I
know.  I’m sorry.”

“It
was cruel.  And not fun-cruel, but actually
mean
-cruel and you’re never
mean.  Why did you lie to me?”

Scarlett
swallowed.  She really was betting on The Big Bad Wolf.

“I’m
trusting you,” she repeated, “with something really precious to me.”

“You
can
trust me.  I am on your side and no one else’s.  Always.”

She
sighed and just… told him the truth.  “The shoe’s not mine or Cindy’s.  It’s
Drusilla’s.”

“Your
sister?  Charming and
Dru?
”

She
nodded and leaned against his chest.  It was a relief to finally tell someone. 
“Her feet are positively tiny.  I’m telling you.”  She let out a long breath.  “Seriously,
Drusilla is so beaten down. 
Everyone
would be coming after her if they
knew the truth and she couldn’t handle that.  So I lied and said I was the
destined princess to keep her safe.”

“Wait,”
Marrok still wasn’t convinced, “
Drusilla
is Charming’s True Love?”

“Yes. 
I think Dru must’ve known for a while, actually.”

“Bad
folk always know.”  He sounded baffled.  “How in the hell did it happen?”

Letty
shrugged.  “The night of the ball, we were all in costumes, all trying on the
glass slipper in the throne room.  But not Dru.”  She shook her head.  “She
just waited.  When Charming went out into the garden to be alone and brood
about the fact that no one at the party fit the shoe, she followed him.  That’s
when she tried on the glass slipper and it fit.  Later, Dru told me they had
sex and were happy.  Everything
should
have been fine.”

“Except
it wasn’t.”

“Cindy
did something.  Some kind of spell or…
something
.  She completely hexed
Charming, so he forgot what happened, and she passed herself off as his True
Love.  Dru came running to me, sobbing, just after it happened.  I was in Charming’s
office, checking my email.  She still had the shoe on.”

“So
you took it.”

“The
glass slipper is the only thing that can blow Cindy’s cover.”  Scarlett
gestured to it.  “I knew that.  I had about two seconds to think of something
to keep it out of her hands.  So, I shoved it in a box, wrote my grandmother’s
address on it, and dropped it in a bin of outgoing mail.”

“You
mailed
it?”

“It
was the only thing I could think to do!  I wrapped it in newspaper, first. 
Anyway, when the rats came barging in to arrest us a few minutes later, they didn’t
notice.  They dragged Dru and me away, but the glass slipper was shipped out of
the palace the next morning.”

“You’re
legit
awesome
at plans, you know that?”

She
smiled at him.  “The glass slipper will prove Dru is the princess.”  Letty’s
lips pressed together.  “Cindy
knows
I’m going to use it to ruin her. 
She will hunt me down and kill me if that’s what it takes to get it back.”