Werewolf fairytales

Bying him

*Paisley*

That night I put Jonas to bed and then sat down in the nursery rocking chair, facing the door. If he doesn’t come by nine o’clock, I’ll try to find him. Nine o’clock came and went. Ten o’clock… eleven… Finally, the nursery door opens.

With one look at Theo’s face, I fly into his arms like a bird to its nest. Except this bird is in danger of being eaten alive, so perhaps that’s not a good analogy. His hands are rough, unsteady, and urgent, as if he already knows what I have to say. As if he guesses that this is to be my last night in the castle.

Yet it isn’t long before he pulls back. I would be angry if I couldn’t see raw lust fighting with regret in his eyes. “I’m no Rodney, taking a maiden in the stables,” he says, reminding himself as much as me.

If I’m to execute my plan, now is the moment.

“I’m no maiden,” I remind him. And: “I need you.”

Every inch of my body is aware of the coiled strength of his. The way he holds himself utterly still, not twitching or fidgeting.

“I wrote to my father,” I say.

He raises an eyebrow.

“I couldn’t allow him to worry about me any longer. It was thoughtless and unkind to give him such anxiety.” Jonas makes a snuffling sound in his cradle, like a baby piglet. “My father will take me home, of course.”

Theo makes a sudden movement but stills.

I swallow and look back up at him. “He will come to retrieve me, and take me home to Rodney. That’s what he must do, because I… I was fool enough to lie with Rodney in the stables.”

“Ah, Paisley,” Theo says. And then I’m enveloped by his arms.

“I know,” I say carefully, “that you would help me if you could.”

He holds me, warm and close.

“If I had, if I had slept with another man, perhaps Rodney would refuse to marry me.” It sounds absurd. I give up and start over. “If I…”

He interrupts me. “Paisley.”

“I know,” I say miserably. “I know you’re too much of a gentleman to do what I am asking.”

“You are only playing at being a nursemaid, Paisley. You will go home and be a she-wolf of quality again. But I have never had a gentleman’s rank. Servant or bastard… either one is ineligible to marry you.” His voice is fierce, as ferocious as a wolf in winter. “You ask the impossible.”

“I’m sorry! I should never have suggested it.” My words catch on a sob. “I didn’t think of it that way. It’s just that I thought that you…”

“You knew that I desired you and thought I might help you escape from an odious marriage. I cannot have this conversation with the young prince in the room,” Theo states. He walks across the room, bringing me with him, and opens the door to the corridor.

My heart is breaking. It has all gone wrong. I have insulted Theo. Of course, he couldn’t do as I asked. It’s as ridiculous as the idea that he should marry me. He’s the son of an actual king. I’m a fool… a stupid, naive fool from a small village, and I should have stayed there. Though if you look at it another way, he’s a servant, and I’m a she-wolf of quality. The outcome is obvious.

Besides, my idea is ridiculous, born of desperation. Obviously Theo would never, ever, sleep with an unmarried she-wolf of quality… even if I had begged him.

My cheeks are burning, as I follow Theo into the corridor and shut the door behind me.

But I come from strong stock, and I will not crumple. “I apologize for asking you to do something so insulting to your sense of honor,” I say, keeping my voice steady. And I even manage to summon up a wisp of a smile. “I know you are no debaucher of maidens.”

He does not return my smile. “My father was as much. My mother worked in the castle’s laundry. I cannot, ever, act as he did.”

I nod. “You are not like your father. And you mustn’t think twice about Rodney. I shall explain everything to my father, and I will make him understand.” I will not burden Theo with the truth: that my father will marry me to Rodney willy-nilly.

“I could kill Rodney, if you wish. Perhaps I should do it whether you wish me to or not.”

I blink and see that his eyes are entirely serious. I let out a muffled laugh. “No! Rodney is… Rodney is not terrible. I exaggerated the matter when I told you about him. I will tell my father that I don’t wish to marry Rodney, and that will be that.”

I hold out my hand. “I have heard that fine she-wolves in London shake hands.”

He looks down at my hand in the dim corridor. “Are you a fine she-wolf of quality?”

“No, but I wish I were, for your sake.”

“So you could buy me?”

My hand drops. “Buy you?”

“I’m pretty, in my own way,” he says neutrally. “She-wolves have indicated that they might be willing to support me in a grander fashion than does Gabriel.”

For a moment I don’t understand him, then a flash of rage goes through my body. “Now you have insulted me, as surely as I did you,” I snap. “I think this conversation has gone quite far enough.” I turn to open the door to the nursery.

His hand shoots out, holding the door shut.

“Theo,” I say, staring at his hand against the dark wood, “I must enter that nursery. I should pack. I am leaving tomorrow.”

I don’t feel him move, or sense a flash of his arms, nothing… and yet suddenly I’m spun around and find myself wrapped in his arms.

“I would let you buy me,” he says finally, his voice hoarse.

I manage a shaky smile. Then I take a deep breath and put my hands on his face, drawing his lips to mine.

“How much?” I whisper.

“I’ve been told I’m worth a fortune.” His voice has a bleak note.

“I haven’t much money.” My tongue steals out, runs along the seam of his lips, tastes that wildness that he conceals with his upright body, his unmoving face.

“There’s a special rate on... For you I’m going for a ha’penny,” he whispers against my lips.

This time I kiss him.