Rumple’s spell.
I couldn’t fool it any longer. Since I arrived, there had always been a part of me, a tiny part, that expected to go back to Rumple at some point. A part that never quite believed I’d been saved.
Tonight... tonight had changed all that. For a moment, I truly believed I could stay. That I would stay. Even if it was only subconsciously.
Apparently, that was enough to wake the spell, and it had come back with a vengeance.
“Mara, what’s wrong?” Blackthorn’s steps hurried toward me, his hands touching my shoulders.
“I...” I couldn’t speak. I could hardly breathe.
My eyes burned with tears. My hand tightened on the door handle until I feared my bones would break. The anchor in my middle pulled, shoving me against the door.
My time was up. Rumple would have me back even if it killed me.
I let out a shaky breath, closing my eyes before I let my hand turn the knob. The door opened an inch. Then slammed shut. Blackthorn’s hand above my head on the surface of it.
“Please, my love. Tell me what I did wrong.”
The pleading in Blackthorn’s voice made my heart break. I wanted more than anything to tell him what was wrong. To tell him about the contract I had with Rumple. About why I had to leave.
And yet I knew the spell wouldn’t let me. If I somehow escaped this place, he’d never know it wasn’t of my choosing and I’d just be another woman who broke his trust.
“Please...” I gasped through the pain. “Let me out.”
“Alright.” There was a pause. “Except you’re not dressed.”
Blackthorn put my arms through the sleeves of my dress, covering my form, before tightening the ties on the back. When I was properly covered, Blackthorn stepped back, removing his hand from the door.
My heart pounded in my chest. My mouth opened to tell him I didn’t want to go. Rumple’s spell didn’t give me the chance.
I ripped the door open. The pain in my middle lessened when I stopped fighting against it. It led me out of the bedroom and down the hallway. Feet pounded behind me. Holding my skirts, I glanced over my shoulder to find Blackthorn following at a short distance. His face cast in shadows I couldn’t make out his expression.
“I said I would let you out, I didn’t say I wouldn’t come with you.”
The hard edge of his voice made me wince. My footsteps stumbled on the carpet, and I barely caught myself before falling on my face.
I had nothing to say to his explanation. Rumple’s spell didn’t give me the chance to question it, yanking me down the hallway until I collapsed against the railing of the grand staircase.
“I wonder, do you know where you’re going?” Blackthorn’s voice followed after me. “Should I call for Fran? Perhaps, if you won’t talk to me, you’ll talk to her.”
I shook my head. “I can’t... please.”
My finger dug into the banister, my fingers shoving into the floor, trying to hold myself back.
Blackthorn stopped at my side, hovering but not touching me. “I usually enjoy your begging, but I cannot say I’m enjoying this.” His eyes took in every inch of me, from my white knuckles gripping the wooden banister to my hunched shoulders and tears-stained face.
My eyes peered up at him, pleading with him to understand even if I couldn’t get the words out. The pain swelled in my middle, vibrating out through my entire body until I could not hold it back any longer and screamed. The spell jerked me forward, throwing me down the stairs.
Blackthorn cried out my name.
My world toppled, my body hit each step harder than the last until something wrapped around my middle, pulling me to a stop. Bruised and dazed, my eyeballs wobbled in my head.
Vines gently held me suspended from the ground. My vision swam as a dark figure approached me.
A large hand cupped my face, the scent of Blackthorn filling my senses. “Please, tell me what I can do. You don’t have to hurt yourself to prove a point.”
I breathed raggedly, the coppery taste of blood filling my mouth when I licked my lips. I opened and closed my mouth, unable to get the words out.
