I.
Once Upon a Time
Chapter One
She ran.
Until her legs were burning, her lungs were screaming, and her brain was bleeding. Then she kept on running some more. Flying out of her room, down the spiral steps— five at a time, seven if she jumped— through the courtyard, keeping to the shadows so the guards wouldn't spot her, then through the stone archway leading onto the grounds. Lili couldn't stop for fear of being found. Worse still, if she stopped, her mind might finally catch up to her and she'd turn back to the castle.
It hit her in the spur of the moment, the decision to run. Kneeling in front of the trunk at the foot of her bed, blanketed in shadows as she stared, she imagined opening it. Inside was her dowry, placed here before she'd even learnt to walk, just waiting for the day to come when it was required. Everything she would need for a life she didn't want. Wasn't that just her life now? Things she needed but nothing she truly wanted. What would it be like to get something she wanted? To be blessed with something she'd pined for. Listening to the waves rolling outside her window and hearing the poor tide cry under the thrall of the moon, Lili suddenly felt as if she were surrounded by water.
Deprived of air and squeezed from all sides.
Crushed.
Pummelled by the realisation that come morning a stranger would arrive and her life as she knew it would be over. Forced into a marriage where she would be nothing more than a puppet to be used for her husband's gain. Then she realised what she wanted more than anything else.
To run away.
So she bolted.
Swallowing shaky breaths, her run fumbled into a tiptoe as she arrived at the stables, saddling up her snow white horse as deftly as she could with trembling fingers. Those fingers jerked when she heard a gruff voice calling out from the open stable doors;
''O's there?'
A beat went by in painful silence as she scrambled for an answer, thinking of the only person she could. The only person that would be allowed in the stables this late at night. Putting on her deepest voice, doing her best to imitate him, she mumbled back.
'It's me… Adam!' God, she hoped she sounded like a man— something she never thought she'd wish. When the person at the doors didn't reply immediately, she knew she'd been made.
Not necessarily.
Not if they didn't make it back to the castle to tell on her.
Lili looked around, trying to make out anything she could use for a weapon in the dark stable. She wouldn't kill them, she reasoned. Just lightly maim and hopefully knock unconscious.
'A'right me boy!' They yelled back, footsteps crunching as they moved away from the doors. 'Jus' hurry in, is one of them dark moons of the her'tics. Don't wanna be caught out too long.'
'Yeah!' Lili called back just as gruffly, relief washing through her as she heard them retreat, leaving her alone again.
Though she couldn't relax entirely, not yet. She still had to get out of here and figure out where to go. She had a rough plan, not one of her own, but it would work all the same. Head to the docks, then find passage on one of the ships.
Tugging the reins, she led her horse down the path and into the forest, knowing the right direction despite the lack of light. She'd been down this route so many times and the realisation that this was the last time filled her with urgency instead of sadness. Clambering up into the saddle, Lili dashed through the trees. She rode into the darkness, unaware of what lay ahead but hoping it wasn't as grim as the fate she'd left behind.
He jolted awake as the carriage rolled over a crack in the road, and had to remind himself of where he was, who he was with, and just why the hell he'd chosen to be there
Chosen?
No, no, no. That implied there was a choice, and there definitely wasn't that. There was no choosing this.
No.
Due to reasons out of his control— weren't they all— Roman's usual waking view of scratchy blankets and a low ceiling, in his cramped bedroom situated well away from any civilisation, was not what he was welcomed to. Instead, it was his brother and their advisor sat opposite him, blurry figures sharpening the more he blinked.
He'd been forced by his father to act with Alden in ambassadorship to some far away Kingdom, and whatever the King demanded the King got. No matter how unfortunate for him. He practically salivated as he told them, a realm nicely situated near the sea which meant they were booming in trade from exotic places, and Roman's job was to show a united front between himself and his little brother.
Not that their relationship really mattered. This whole thing was just a ploy so that his brother could propose to the Princess. Their whole engagement had all but been guaranteed before they'd even set foot out of the castle. They'd go and stay for a while, the two would size each other up and, barring an act of God, leave with the promise of a bride for Alden.
Heaven forbid they get straight to the point. Instead, it meant wasting weeks in a foreign place until his brother finally worked up the guts, and he didn't have much to work with, to ask for her hand. Roman's opportunities to third wheel had grown immensely from the number he was comfortable with, that number being 0. Either that or he could spend the trip with Colter. But hanging with their advisor was a prospect that appealed to him as much as the plague did.
'She's born out of wedlock? How can she be the heir then?' Alden whispered to Colter, trying not to wake Roman. Too late.
Colter spared a wary eye as he spotted him coming round to consciousness
'She's not technically, sire.' Their advisor cleared his throat, enjoying Alden's ignorance far too much. 'Though she was conceived out of wedlock her parents married before birth so she could be crowned heir— shortly after her mother's death.' Colter tried not to smirk as he watched Alden nod along and inhale the information. The man loved having people hang on his every word.
'So, she's a fancy bastard.' Roman opened his eyes fully as he spoke. 'Don't worry I'm allowed to say that. Solidarity.' He sat forward, popping open the camel skin of water, and ignored Alden's look of outrage as he took a swig to drown out the metallic taste of sleep. 'Say it how you will, but she's heir to the throne by the skin of her teeth. She has to marry you. We need this Kingdom on our side. Trade with a port-side Kingdom would mean bags of money.' Money he would never see. But father made it clear, if he ever wanted to be let out of the Kingdom again then this had to go smoothly.
Roman hid his grimace with a practiced blank look.
'Yes thank you, brother, I'm well aware of that.' There was no familial love in the way Alden spat brother. Vein on his forehead bulging, he sighed, 'Why do you think I'm learning facts about her in the middle of the night.' To prove his point, he drew back the carriage curtain to show the pitch-black view racing by outside.
'That's the other thing.' Roman re-stuffed the cork and dropped the pouch back in its place. 'Stop learning facts about her in the middle of the night. I'm trying to sleep.' He pulled the cushion out from behind his back and moulded himself a better position to rest in. Laying his head down, he settled his breathing into a comfortable pattern.
Which lasted all of two minutes.
Alden and Colter's resumed murmuring, coupled with the pressing need to pee, resulted in him pounding on the roof of the coach. A signal for them to stop in the middle of nowhere so he could get out.
Hit by the cold night air, he let out a sigh as the carriage door slammed shut behind him. At any particular time of night if he was awoken as rudely as he was just now then he would be angry. Add in the fact that he'd been forced onto this trip, he was fuming. Tonight he was sufficiently pissed off enough to venture deeper into the woods than he needed to go and dare the things in the night to challenge him. Hunting something would cheer him up. Maybe if he was lucky, something might kill him and then he wouldn't have to suffer through this visit.
Stumbling up the bank until he found stable footing, he was finally awake enough to notice the eerily pink rays around him. Looking up, he stopped to admire the red moon. Wasn't it normally white?
'Huh.' Was all the sleepy admiration he could muster aloud, rubbing his eyes as he stared before continuing onward— it wasn't as if the colour of the moon made any difference to his life.
He stepped through the trees, avoiding the shards of rose moonlight bleeding in and beaming through the darkness. In hope and good sense, one hand stayed on his dagger all the while. Only for it to remain undisturbed throughout the whole excursion.
Not even a rabbit.
So he decided to take the long way back to the awaiting carriage. Sauntering optimistically as he imagined something attacking the convoy and conveniently murdering Alden. But the longer he walked the quieter things became. Disappointed with the serenity of his surroundings, that was until Roman noticed the dripping object in the distance. Dead leaves crunched beneath his feet as he moved towards the silhouette, submerged in luminescence falling through the branches it was hung from.
Mesmerised, he moved closer.
It was a freshly skinned fox dangling from the tree, leaking dark droplets onto crudely carved symbols in the mud below. Instinctively he followed them with his feet, stepping around the circle and reaching a finger out to poke the corpse.
But before he could satisfy his curiosity someone cried out.
'Stop, don't touch it!'
Roman tightened his hand around the dagger, stepping out of the moonlight he shared with the sacrifice, head turning in the direction of the voice. The source of the warning was sitting up on a horse.
How did he not hear it?
'Why's that?' He asked, moving closer to the hooded figure's stallion. Holding their gaze, the whites of their eyes were what he focused on, as his fingers snuck onto their reins.
'It's a sacrifice for the spirits' they replied— She replied. A woman's voice muffled by the scarf over the bottom of her face. A hood covered most of her hair, but a few dark curls spilled out to frame the wide stare that assessed him. 'For the blood moon.' She added, glancing up at the sky. As if it excused the fact that the occult practice she described was outlawed.
If his research proved correct, then this Kingdom was slightly lax in their persecution of witchcraft. They still had some witches around. It came with the territory; they were so close to the sea. All those strangers and foreign objects, coming in from every corner of the world, were bound to make a person more open minded. Especially when they were so valuable.
'Are they dangerous?' Roman kept his tone light, doing his best not to scare her. It was in his best interest to keep talking to her. Anything to delay going back.
'It depends.' She said, sounding unsure of herself. 'Do you intend to hurt me?' She indicated to his grip on her horse.
In a calculated gesture of goodwill, he let go.
'I mean you no harm,' hands up as he took the smallest step back. 'I'm just... curious. I've never seen witchcraft like this up close.' The last time he'd see something like this was when his father ordered him to oversee the trial of an entire village accused of practising magic. But he never really got a chance to observe it or ask any questions as everything went up in flames.
'Me neither.' She lied right back. It had to be a lie. How else could she know so much about this?
'You're good. Nearly convincing. But when you lie there's a little murmur in your voice. It's a very silky voice other than that.' He baited.
'I'm not lying.' She tried harder to mask it. 'And my voice is rich, not silky.'
'Agree to disagree.' Roman kept his hands loosely at his side, fingers twitching. 'Which means you're either out here because you're a witch or because you consort with witches. That's a crime the last time I checked.' Predictably, the stranger grabbed for the reins only to grasp air as he quickly yanked them out of reach. 'Don't worry. I'm not a witch hunter' he reassured. 'Like I said, I'm just curious. Plus, I like to be right.'
'You know that's not a great habit to have.'
'Oh really? I think you're wrong.' He stroked the horse's mane, watching it became pliant under his touch.
'What a surprise.' The stranger muttered under her breath, feeling betrayed by her own beast. 'If I've answered all your questions can I go?'
Roman scoffed at that. 'What answers? I'm still waiting to find out if a blood moon is dangerous.'
'It's not like the name is a dead giveaway or anything.' She mumbled. Roman peeked beneath her hood to see her long lashes flicker as she rolled her eyes. 'It's not dangerous.' She finally sighed. 'It just means there's something coming.'
'Something…?
'Something.' She snapped with finality.
'An answer that vague and correct, it must be magic.' Roman tittered.
'All it needs is a hollow promise and it'd be politics.' Her voice was strangely lighter this time.
He barked out a chuckle, surprising himself. 'Was that a joke? It was a good joke. Your life is in potential danger and you're joking?'
'If I knew my life was in danger then I would have performed a whole skit.' She snorted, unimpressed by his threat.
He smiled at that. It wasn't the forced smile that accompanied him everywhere, or the enthralling smirk he wore for charming purposes; it was a smile. Rare and fleeting, appearing only in times he was genuinely, happily startled. Catching it across his lips, he buried it.
'Why aren't you more scared?' Asked with tenderness he hadn't expected, true curiosity laced his words.
She raked her gaze over him, and he felt naked under the glare. Then settling her eyes back on his she replied, 'Why should I be? You're not real.'
Frowning, he clapped his chest with his free hand and comically patted himself down. 'I think I am. I've checked all my body parts and they're still here. Well not all, but I'm willing to suspend checking there for the sake of decorum.'
'Keep talking, I know what you are.' She huffed, words muffled. The wind flapped through her cloak as she and the horse stood barrier to the breeze
'A devilishly handsome man, with wit to spare and charm coming out of every orifice?' He embellished, then frowned. 'No— actually I take that last part back, it didn't sound right.'
As the breeze picked up the horse struggled in his grip, he tightened the hold the more restless it became. Finally she spoke, letting him in on her thoughts.
'Lilu.'
'Bless you.'
'No, Lilu. The demon.' She clarified, almost exasperated.
'You think I'm a demon?' He smiled again. The crane of his neck and his hulky whisper kept her on edge as she looked down into his face. 'I'm flattered.'
'It explains what you're doing out here in the middle of the night, reaching for sacrifices left only for the devil.' She baited back.
Ensnared by her logic and unwilling to tell her the truth, he turned the inquisition around. 'Aren't you also out here in the middle of the night? The only difference between us is that you're screaming at people reaching for sacrifices. Maybe they were left for you and you don't feel like sharing. Downright greedy if you ask me.'
Her expression gave nothing away, but softly she answered. 'I'm running,' with such sadness he knew it was the truth.
'Why are you running?' He probed, clearing his throat as if it would dislodge the compassion in his tone.
'Because there's someone chasing me.' She confessed.
'Who's chasing you?' Brows knitting, a strange feeling clamped in his chest.
'Keep me here any longer and you'll find out.' She looked back into the dark forest behind her, hearing ghostly hooves heading this way. Feeling someone getting close enough to take her back and deliver her to a destiny she must not want.
All this he read from the bitter whites of her eyes.
'If they catch you, I'll protect you,' he declared, words tumbling from his mouth before he could think about them. 'Just tell me your name.' Begged the prince, requesting a pauper's price.
'I tell you my name,' she whispered, he leaned closer to hear her 'and you're damned if they catch you too.'
'Madam, don't you know?' he replied, a slow smirk creasing his cheeks, ears burning as her gaze swallowed him up close. 'I'm the devil himself, I'll damn them right back.'
The scarf covering her mouth twitched as her cheeks rose higher, a smile hidden underneath the fabric.
'I changed my mind. You're not the devil, sir.'
'Then what am I?'
Those cheeks dropped but the smile lingered in her eyes. 'Distracted.'
Her heavy boot collided with the underside of his chin, shoving his brain violently against his skull— sending him stumbling back and corrupting his vision.
Stuck watching the frantically spinning forest until it relaxed and was still, he only just managed to catch the back of her horse retreating into the distance, cloak billowing behind her.
The warmth in his chest suddenly burnt, heat flaring up to his cheeks. Before he knew what he was doing he reached for his dagger, throwing it. A neigh in the darkness, he'd hit his target but the horse didn't stop. It didn't matter, he got what he wanted.
She looked back.
Eyes locked on his, getting smaller the farther she went, until eventually they were engulfed by the dark night and she disappeared completely.
Roman wanted so badly to go after her, to follow the sound of hooves. But Colter's whining call through the thickets broke his daze. The hunt would have to be discontinued.
He trudged back to the carriage, rubbing his bruised chin, in a better mood than before.
A/N:
Hi folks! I got tired of always talking about my original story and how I'm trying to get it published so I thought I'd share the first chapter with you guys. Feel free to tell me it's crap just phrase it nicely because I'm sensitive.