Four: The Tower

No one had time to stop me or follow me. I ran out to the stable and found Maximus. I didn't bother with a saddle as I leaped up onto his back and grabbed his loose mane. I kicked into his sides and he took off at a run. I barely heard the shouts of protests from the servants and guards over the worry and sound of hooves on stone.

The path was the same one I took when I'd escaped from the prison only a month or so ago. Memories from that day rose, making me swallow hard. Rapunzel tied and gagged. Rapunzel's face over mine as I felt the life leaving me. I shook my head to rid myself of the memories but one remained. Rapunzel crying after I told her she was my dream.

At the base of the tower I threw myself off of the horse and ran to the side where we had come out after a few days. The doorway was still there. I ran up the steps and found that the entryway to Rapunzel's old home was sealed again with the floor tile. I sighed in relief before shoving against the floor tile and throwing it away from the stairwell I was in.

"Rapunzel?" I called as I climbed up.

"Eugene?" Rapunzel answered softly. She was curled up in a ball next to the clay pot that she'd hid the satchel in the first time we met. She was in her nightgown with a thick blanket wrapped around her. Her face was pale except for a feverish red high in her cheeks. I ran over to her and fell to my knees beside her, pulling her into my arms.

"Why are you here?" I asked, relieved that she had been able to find her way back here.

"I'm dying, Eugene." She whispered into my chest. The relief I'd had went up in flames. My heart was pounding. I hoped she couldn't feel it. "This hasn't happened before."

"What hasn't happened before?" I asked, stroking her hair. The smell hit me then. Vomit filled the pot that was next to her. "Are you sick?"

"I've never been sick before." She said, moving the pot away from herself with her foot. Suddenly she pushed me away from her and curled up in her blanket.

"What's wrong?" I asked, not moving.

"If I'm dying like this, you will too."

"Like what? What's happening?" I couldn't go back to comfort her for the look of fear in her eyes told me she thought whatever she had was catching.

"I don't know! My insides won't stay inside." She gestured to the pot of vomit. "I'm exhausted! It stopped and hasn't come back and Mother said that only happens when you get older and die."

"What stopped?" My heart dropped. A blush rose in Rapunzel's cheeks and she shook her head. "What stopped?" I asked again.

"The blood." She glanced down.

"I think you're not dying." I said gently. Her eyes met mine, pleading for answers and help. "And I can't catch it." I didn't know how to explain this to her. This was something her mother should have told her. The difference was that Rapunzel was never meant to meet another person let alone fall in love.

"What?" Rapunzel wiped a few tears from her face and sat up a little.

"You might be pregnant." I said bluntly.

"I don't know what that means." Rapunzel groaned, frustrated and looked away from me self consciously. Had her mother really taught her nothing? I cleared my throat and proceeded to tell her everything I knew about reproduction and by the time I had finished, her hands were over her stomach as she stared downward with an unreadable expression.

"Can I help you up to your bed now?" I asked gently. She looked up at me and nodded. I stood up and scooped her up into my arms. She leaned her head against my shoulder.

"Our." She said.

"What?" I tried to look down at her face.

"You said it was my bed. Isn't it our bed now?" She asked. I could hear the smile in her voice. I couldn't help myself but to let out a small relieved laugh. She laughed too.

"Wait, stay," Rapunzel sat up out of a dead sleep. I stopped in the doorway of our bedroom looking back at her.

"I'm just going to clean out the pot and bring it back." I promised. She eased herself back onto her pillows. "I'll be right back up." She nodded and let me leave. I walked down the staircase. The bottom step wiggled every time I stepped onto it. I ignored it as I picked up the puke bowl and walked down the hidden stairs of the tower and out onto the grass.

Maximus grazed nearby, content to be free outside and near us. Walked to the edge of the stone walls that hid the tower and dug a small hole, pouring the puke into it and covering it back up before going to the stream to rinse the bowl out.

"Are you staying?" I asked Maximus. The horse regarded me and took a step closer to the tower as if in answer. "Alright, then." I nodded and walked back up into the tower. Rapunzel was sitting in the window when I came back.