“Weeks of travel have been hard on my skin.”
“No, I mean why would you go back out there? Why do you keep making yourself miserable when there’s no benefit to you?”
“I told you: keeping my wife healthy is a benefit.”
“You could have insisted on sleeping in here. I wouldn’t have stopped you. I don’t think I could have.”
The darkness was apparently making her bold.
Kai was silent for a long time before he answered. “You’re my wife, Eliza, no matter how unconventionally it came about. That means it’s my job to protect you.”
“You sleep outside because you’re afraid you might harm me?”
“No, I sleep outside because you set a clear boundary and I will respect that. Your emotional well-being is just as important as the physical, and I want you to know that you’re safe with me.”
That’s likely what Mother thought as well. They’re pretty words, and so far he’s upheld them. But what will happen when the novelty of being married has worn off? When we reach his home, and he realizes just how unfit I am to be a housewife?
His next words were gentle. “Not all men are like your father, Eliza.”
“Oh? What is yours like, then?”
She grimaced as soon as the question was out of her mouth. Here she was again, giving in to the same strange urge for connection that she had felt at Norva’s home. She wrestled with the foreign emotion, shoving it down and slamming the icy door.
No. Why is this happening? There should be no feelings. No feelings, no pain.
“He died around eight years ago, actually.” She could hear the sadness that was still present in Kai’s voice. “But if I can be half as wise and caring as he was, I will be content. Even if I’m not, though, I need you to know something.” His hand suddenly found hers in the darkness.
“What’s that?”
“Iam not like your father.”
No. No feelings.Lizzie said the words firmly to herself.The curse cannot be broken.
But she didn’t pull her hand away.
Managing the pottery stall was actually much more successful than Lizzie had expected. The first day brought a steady stream of customers, most out of curiosity to see who the newcomer was than for any real need. For once, her education translated directly into a marketable skill, and she found a sense of satisfaction in being able to confidently and competently manage the small till.
After being assured of her ability, Peters had left her alone while he kept himself busy in his workshop. Kai was in and out, carrying buckets of wet clay from the river and adding them to the stockpile that Peters kept behind his shop. He grew dirtier and dirtier as the day wore on. By the time the shadows started to lengthen and Peters dismissed them for the night, Kai was completely covered in mud, and his beard resembled the snow-frosted fir branches of Norditch.
He slept by the fire again that night, and for the first time, Lizzie thought the small tent felt lonely.
The customers were just as steady the next few days, though Lizzie soon discovered it had less to do with general curiosity as she had first thought, and more to do with her specifically. Word spread that Peters’ new assistant looked very much like the youngest princess of Nedra, and soon Lizzie was finding herself the subject of unabashed staring and ogling. She was grateful for the curse that allowed her to stare back, unaffected.
The sun was just at its highest point on her third day, and Lizzie had just finished counting change into a customer’s hand when a shout from nearby drew their attention. A braying donkey careened through the crowd, kicking and spinning as it went. She realized just in time that it was headed straight for the pottery stall and was able to jump out of the way before the whole thing came crashing down. The sound of ceramics shattering on the ground was deafening, and, combined with the general chaos that the out-of-control animal had caused, Lizzie didn’t see her kidnappers coming.
Rough hands seized her from behind, clamping around her shoulders and over her mouth when she tried to scream.
“Might as well grab the till, while we’re at it.” The voice behind her was raspy, though not quite low enough to be a man’s.
Lizzie’s survival instincts kicked in, and she started struggling. She alternated digging her heels into the ground and kicked backwards at her captor’s legs while trying to twist away, but nothing she did seemed to be effective. She was dragged backwards into the forest where a rickety old coach and a large wagon were waiting on the road.
The kidnapper holding her let go and spun her around forcefully. “Let me get a look at you.”
She found herself looking up into the face of a woman who was easily taller than Kai and just as broad. She wore a strange knit hat on her head. The sides came down past her ears, and the yarn on either side had been brought forward and knit andbraided together in such a way as to resemble a long beard hanging from her chin.
Whistles sounded from the crowd of similarly garbed kidnappers. “She sure looks like the princess,” one of them said.
“And I’m sure she’ll fetch a princess’s ransom.” The broad woman rubbed her hands together with glee. “Tie her up and throw her in the wagon.”
