Free?
It said free.
What if this was someone who knew how to get me home? Someone who might be afraid to face the king and to talk to me in his presence? After all, his own servants acted terrified of him.
Slipping out of bed, I peeked behind the screen. The watery lights continued their eerie dance with the shadows, bouncing between the glass walls of the palace. The only real furnishings in the room were those brought in here for me today. A tall chest of drawers, a pile of dresses, and several trunks with stuff I hadn’t had a chance to look at yet.
The rest of the royal bedroom remained bare, save for the king’s large glass bed. With my vision obstructed by the moving shadows, I couldn’t tell if the king was in it.
Carefully lifting the hem of my long nightgown, I tiptoed across the glass floor toward the royal bed for a better look.
The king lay in it, the sight of him irresistibly beguiling. He slept on his back, with one arm folded under his head. The waves of his long hair spread around his head like a shimmering mist over the dark glass of his pillow.
His appearance remained ethereal, even more so when awashed by moonlight. Yet the pose he slept in, with his arm under his head, his right leg bent, and his pretty dick resting ever so casually on his thigh, made him look less of a king or a dream,and more of just a man—more approachable, more vulnerable, more real, and even...desirable.
With him sleeping like that, I could easily imagine a woman resting at his side, with her head on his shoulder and his arm wrapped around her.
What was it like to be with someone like him? Before the curse made it impossible to be with him at all?
Was he a fun, generous lover who made his partner forget about sleep for hours on end? Or was he just as abrupt and arrogant in bed as he was at the dining table?
“Come...free,” the voice called again, yanking my attention away from the sleeping king.
The voice didn’t appear to come from outside, I realized, but from inside the palace. Did the person calling me come in? Or had they always been here? What if the king wasn’t alone here? What if I wasn’t his only hostage?
Quietly, so as not to wake the king, I stepped out of the bedroom, crossed a corridor, then peered into the watery darkness of the great hall.
“Come with us...” the voice whispered, so close, it startled me.
I felt someone’s presence in here, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t see anyone.
“What do you want? How can you set me free?” I called into the shimmering darkness.
“Free, loved, cherished...Cooome...”the whisper trickled like water under the glass floor.
It came from everywhere at once and yet...its presence seemed to be stronger down somewhere, below the floor, in the dark depths of the ocean.
“Where are you?” I walked ahead cautiously, watching the ripples of water through the floor.
“Yessss, this way, human...” the voice urged.
The word “human” had grated on my nerves from the moment the king first used it. To me, there was a special kind of disdain in addressing a sentient being solely by their species, denying them any individuality. Now, the displeasure at hearing it weakened the relentless lure that kept tugging me forward.
The moment the pull eased, fear jolted me anew.
“Where are you?” I screamed out loud, stopping just a step away from a large pool in the hall.
The water in the pool splashed as if the palace went adrift into the ocean. A ripple ran in a spiral over the surface. The water rose, bubbling over the edge and spreading along the floor until its dark, glossy edge touched my bare feet.
“Welcome, welcome, little one...” the voice vibrated with eagerness and impatience. “I’ve been waiting for you. Come... Just one more step, child.”
But instead of taking that step forward, I shuffled back, uncertain. The water splashed around my feet irritably, as if water could feel irate. It acted like a living being, however, swirling around and splashing over my feet as if trying to push them into motion again.
“I’m not going anywhere until you show me your face,” I yelled at the dark void of the pool.
The next splash onto the glass brought a wave of muddy green. The color spread over the floor in thick tendrils. Like slimy tentacles, they undulated on the wet glass, reaching for my bare feet.
I screamed, jumping back. Slipping on the wet glass, I fell to my knees, then crawled back on all fours.
