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“Fetch the waste bucket,” Aaron snapped at the guard as he emerged from the cell, his attention fixed on the woman’s face and the small flutter of her eyelids. She was definitely breathing and wasn’t too desperately thin. Hopefully there was nothing wrong with her that a bath, food, and care couldn’t mend.
Aaron waited until he heard the guard grunt as he bent over to pick up the bucket and then kicked the cell door shut.
“I trust a few days in there will teach you to take better care of those in your charge.” Aaron shot the guard a cold look before turning to leave, not surprised to hear whimpering coming from behind him.
The biggest bullies were always the first to break. But the sound made him wonder how long the beauty in his arms had wept before she succumbed to such a hard sleep that her eyes remained closed as he carried her out of the dungeon, up into the light.
It was a question that had no satisfactory answer.
CHAPTER THREE
Calliope
Calliope drifted in and out of a beautiful dream, her mind so far gone that every imagined wonder seemed heartbreakingly real.
She could feel the soft hands of the women who bathed her, taste the soup they spooned between her lips, and caught glimpses of kind female faces in the moments when a soft breeze touched her face, making her lift heavy eyelids, only to close them once more as she was lured back to sleep by the blissful softness beneath her.
She’d never felt a bed so soft in all her life. It was hard to believe even her vivid imagination could create something so lovely.
Once or twice, in the hours or days in which she drifted, she awoke screaming, battling the voices in her mind, but there was always some imaginary friend there to soothe her. And eventually there was a woman with crushed herbs to place beneath her tongue. Calliope opened her mouth to accept the paste, which smelled similar to the mixture she used at home.
But as she settled back onto the riot of imaginary pillows, she caught the dark eyes of the man who stood behind the healer and shivered.
It was the king, looking at her as if he cared for nothing more than her well-being and safety.
Calliope squeezed her eyes shut again, willing herself to sink into a sleep too deep for dreams. Her fantasies had been easier to believe before royalty made an appearance. Now there was no doubt that every comfort she felt was a lie created by her mind to ease her terror.
Even as I go to sleep on these soft sheets, in the real world rats could be nibbling my toes.
With that warm and fuzzy thought, Calliope fell back into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Aaron
Aaron didn’t know what possessed him to do it.
Maybe it was simply frustration with waiting for her to wake up and stay awake. In three days, her eyes hadn’t remained open for more than a few minutes at a time.
Meanwhile, no word came from his brother and Aaron had been forced to admit that Johann would not be emerging from the enchanted castle under his own power, which meant it was up to Aaron to find a way to free the young prince. The fairy in his arms would be invaluable to that effort.
She was, after all, Calliope La Fae, the fairy made famous for the curse she bestowed upon Rosamund Beauvielle at the princess’s sixteenth birthday party. Some said the curse was a deliberate and spiteful act. Others insisted it was a tragic mistake and what comes of letting a child too young to work magic cast an un-returnable fairy’s gift.
Whatever the truth behind the tale, no one would know how to outwit the spell better than the one who had cast it. That was reason enough for him to try to rouse Calliope at any costs.
But was it reason enough to justify bringing her to his private baths, even if he did plan to take her into the water in her thick robe?
“Calliope,” he whispered as he came to a stop by the couch near the bathing pool. “Calliope, wake up. It’s time to return to the land of the living.”
She murmured something unintelligible in her sleep and shifted in his arms, snuggling closer to him with a smile, but her eyes remained closed. Aaron’s chest grew tight, as it had every time he was within fifty feet of this woman, but this time his body responded in other ways as well.
He lay Calliope gently down on the couch, cursing himself.
The nurse had said that sometimes floating in a warm bath helped rouse patients like Calliope, that the simulation of the weightless world of the womb allowed their minds and bodies to reset and reconnect. He’d offered to take the girl himself—knowing it would be easier for him to carry her to the baths than either of the female nurses—but now that they were here…
He wanted to do more than hold her as she floated in the water. He hadn’t been this hard in years and all she’d done was rub her cheek against his chest.
“God help me.” Aaron managed a tight laugh at his own expense, but decided it would be best not to touch Calliope again until he had his body under control.
He stood and walked toward the bath, leaving Calliope sleeping on the couch. He pulled off his shirt and slipped out of his loose-fitting pants quickl
