VII

Keep Out! (Part Two)

"NO!" Rumpelstiltskin rushed forward, his heart pounding a thunderous tattoo against his ribs. How could this have happened?! She was already caught in the web of magic emanating from the orb. He snatched it from her hands and tossed it onto the table, uncaring if the damn thing shattered. His only concern was to see what damage the cursed thing had done to his little maid.

Belle shook her head, the pounding in her temples causing a low groan to escape her. "Master?"

"Shh, be still, dearie," he murmured distractedly as he examined her hand. Her delicate ivory flesh was blackened and withered, her smooth skin resembling a piece of charred wood.

Tears welled up in her lovely eyes as she looked down where her hand was clasped gently in his. "W-What … happened to m-me?" she whimpered.

"Don't fret. It will only make it worse."

"How can it be worse than this!?" she wailed.

Rumpelstiltskin fought the panic coursing through him at an alarming rate. It wouldn't do for her to see the concern he held for her. "Believe me, dearie, things can always get worse. This is why I forbade you to come up here. There are things in this room too dangerous for the likes of you," he snapped.

She flinched at his tone. She'd been expecting his anger, but she hadn't realized how much it would hurt. "I'm sorry." Her lip trembled as tears continued to trek silently over her ashen cheeks. "I f-feel so weak. C-Can you fix it?"

The mage lifted her in his arms and carried her to a dark corner where a small couch occupied the space. "I can." His eyes narrowed. "I should leave you like this, you meddlesome girl. Teach you a lesson," he said, though his voice lacked any real heat. "But I won't."

Belle shot him a tremulous smile. "Thank you, Master." Her eyes sought out the little glowing orb on the worktable. "What was that, if I might ask? It looks like a marble."

His magic emitted a soft violet glow as he trailed his fingers from the tips of her fingers all the way up to her shoulder. "Even the most innocent objects can be dangerous, little maid. Never take anything at face value," he warned. "That orb has the power to drain the life force from you. If you'd held it any longer, it would have stolen you away, leaving nothing but a withered husk."

She gasped. "Why would you have something like that here in your castle?"

The mage shrugged, leaving her for a moment to retrieve a restorative cream from the glass cabinet. "I took it from a wily wizard who had no idea what he held in his possession. His price for the deal I made with him. I wanted to study it before I sent it down to the vault."

Belle watched as he knelt on the rug beside the couch and scooped out a generous dollop of the gooey substance from the jar. It was cold as he smoothed it over her withered hand, what looked like ice crystals twinkling up at her. "The vault?"

"Yes. Deep in the Forbidden Forest is the Dark One's Vault. It is where I store the darkest objects I happen across, things too unpredictable to be left lying around."

She arched a brow at him, wondering what had made him so chatty when usually he was so tight-lipped. Had her little accident frightened him? Knowing her cantankerous master, he'd probably been scared to lose his investment. She gestured to the cream with her free hand. "What is this stuff? It's cold."

"It's a good sign you can even feel it," he mumbled, concentrating on his task. He was having a devil of a time focusing when his fingers were deftly smoothing the cream over her skin. "This cream is one of my own invention. It will restore beauty and youth to the skin. Quite popular with George's vain queen. Now tell me what you were doing up here when you were told never to enter this room unless you were accompanied by me."

Belle's teeth sank into her lower lip as she averted her gaze. "Afternoon tea. You never joined me in the hall and I thought you might have just lost track of time. So, I came looking for you. I didn't want you to think I was shirking my duties."

"Tea!" he sputtered, gripping her upper arms and yanking her forward, his face inches from hers. "You could have died, you foolish girl!"

Her eyes widened as she was once more hostage to his rage, shivering slightly as his hands smoothed over the creamy flesh beneath her sleeves. "I'm sorry. I truly didn't mean to upset you."

"My rules are in place to protect you. After all, should you die, I'll have to search for another caretaker, and there aren't many girls out there as accommodating as you."

Gods! What was he doing? She was slowly going to drive him to madness with her warm smiles and soft eyes. Even now she was looking at him with amusement rather than disdain. Any other woman would be wailing over her injury, proclaiming him a brute, and blaming him for her accident. He dropped his hands from her slender arms and fled to the cabinet, retrieving bandages from within.

He was calmer as he returned to her side and began to wrap the clean white cloth about her hand. "You're going to have to wear these for several days until the cream has time to do its work. I'll need to brew a potion … to help restore your strength."

Rumpelstiltskin gaped at her as he felt her fingers brush softly against the hair which had fallen over his eyes. "Thank you … for saving me, Rumpel," she whispered, the sound of his abbreviated name falling so easily from her tongue like a physical caress. "I promise to make it up to you."

"Just try to stay out of trouble, dearie," he growled, shaking off her touch. "Good help is so hard to find."

A/N: Again, thank you Ethereal_Wishes for this prompt. I hope you enjoyed it, darling! The next one will be a bit lighter and fluffier. Who couldn't stand a little fluff, right? Thank you all for reading! Reviews are love :D