Page 9 of Rapunzel Unchained
“Only for a moment.” Zane sighed and pulled his glasses off, rubbing his eyes, the wariness in his face stark.
I hummed in agreement.
Zane settled down on the couch beside me. I pressed a hand to his shoulder, drawing him down until his head laid in my lap. Taking his glasses from him, I stroked my hand down his hair, indulging in the silky strands.
“How did you get out of the prison?” Zane asked, letting out a sigh with each stroke of my fingers.
“Eyes closed,” I murmured. Once his eyes were closed, I continued, “I didn’t break out of the prison, if that is what you are all thinking.”
“Did someone help you?” Zane's voice grew low on the edges of sleep.
I hummed. “Yes, but I won’t tell you who.”
“What?” Zane tried to push up out of my lap. I shoved him back down with a stern look before resuming my stroking.
“I won’t tell you, yet. Because I don’t know who might be listening and then where would I be? Back in that prison, likely, or worse.”
“We wouldn’t let anything happen to you,” Zane promised, then let out a long yawn, his eyes dipping closed again.
“I know,” I murmured, letting the back of my fingers slide down the side of his face. “I know you won’t...” A short snore came from Zane and I smiled down at him before looking away. “But you can’t protect me forever.”
The sounds of Zane sleeping filled my ears. My fingers busied themselves untangling his hair from his messy braid while my thoughts wandered. I needed to talk to Zane about how to control the queen and yet, with him here in my lap, so peaceful, I couldn’t bring myself to care enough to wake him.
I hadn’t sat there for more than twenty minutes or so before the door opened. Adam’s head poked in, searching for Zane at his desk.
"Zane, we need to talk about the wards...” His brow furrowed at Zane’s empty seat. For a moment, I thought he might leave without ever seeing me until Zane took that moment to snort and mumble in his sleep.
Mahogany colored eyes darted to the couch and widened as he took me and Zane in. I raised a finger to my lips, quieting him.
“He shouldn’t go so long without sleep. None of you should.” I looked pointedly at Adam. “Most of all Zane. It’s harder to control the thing inside of him when he’s exhausted.”
“And you would know?” Adam stepped further into the room, leaning against the edge of Zane’s desk.
I huffed a laugh, smiling slightly. “I wouldn’t begin to know what to do to control the queen. I’m being jerked around like a puppet on a string, and all I want to do is live.”
“Is that why you’re here?” Adam crossed his arms over his chest, peering down at me not with the judgement of someone interrogating me but concern of a friend.
My gaze returned to Zane, my fingers resuming their path. “I hoped Zane would give me some insight into what I could do to find... peace in myself. I don’t want to be this, Adam. Afraid of what she might do next. Who she might hurt.”
My eyes watered, meeting his gaze. “How can I protect you from myself?”
“Let us help you.” Adam stepped away from the desk, moving toward me like I was some skittish fowl seconds away from bolting. “We can talk to the council and put this all behind us.”
I snorted. “And are you saying this as Adam or as the Arch Mage? I trust the council members less than I trust the raging torrent inside of me to turn into a mewling kitten. They didn’t like or trust me when they thought I was nothing more than a dirty human. What do you think they will do now, knowing what I can do? Whatshecan do?”
Adam opened his mouth, but I stopped him.
“She hates mages, Adam. All of them. She wants them to die screaming.”
He jolted to a stop in front of me. “Do you know why?”
“Does it matter why?” I scoffed, lifting my face to the ceiling. “She feels wronged by them and, from what I’ve seen, I don’t blame her. What the mages do to the humans is wrong, Adam. Don’t you see that?”
Adam knelt before me. “Yes, I know. Change is a treacherous mistress to introduce and even harder when those in power would rather court the whores they are used to. But I want to know, Eva.” His hand sat on top of the one stroking Zane’s hair. “Do you hate us?”
The fire inside of me burned at the sight of Adam. The Arch Mage knelt before me within touching distance, killing distance. The hand under Adam’s curled into a fist.
Panic gripped me. I didn’t want to hurt Adam, but the queen did. She didn’t like that he was the face of the mages. The king, as one would say. If she killed him, then she could take his place.
