Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Three Strands of Hair

I pressed my fingers to my lips in quiet disbelief of what I had done, what I had wanted to do to the elven prince. I had not expected him to kiss me, and when he did, I had been powerless to resist because I hadn’t wanted to. This whole time, I’d been afraid that he would eat me whole, and here I’d desperately wanted it.

It was a means to an end, I told myself. Anything to make myself feel better about the fact that I had willingly taken the prince’s cock into my mouth.

I could still taste him on my tongue.

I could still smell the warmth of his skin.

I could still feel the sharp tug of his hand in my hair.

And I would gladly take more.

Fuck me.

I knelt and plucked one dark hair after another from my floor until I had three long, black strands sitting in my palm. Carefully, I twisted them around my finger and knocked on the doors of my wardrobe. Unlike last time, it opened a crack, though I could not see who answered.

“I need a pouch…a small one to keep something safe,” I said.

The door shut quietly, and after a moment, the fae in the armoire produced a small square of fabric that closed with two golden ties. I took it, and before I could say anything, the door shut again. I slipped the hairs inside, pulling the strings tight, and shoved it between my breasts to keep it safe as I made my return to the selkie’s pond.

My journey was easier now that my feet were healed, though my mind wandered to Casamir and the intimacy we had shared, and the more I thought about it, the more I ached. A desperation took root in the bottom of my stomach, and by the time the pond came into view, my mind had conjured images of me and the elven prince locked together and writhing.

I had to get out of here before I did something I regretted.

A feeling of unease shivered down my spine, just as it had when I had visited before. My steps slowed and the feeling continued, raising the hair on the nape of my neck. I turned my head slowly, peering into the flora around me, but saw nothing of note.

It is probably fairies playing tricks on you.I thought of the selkie’s parting words, but my heart continued to race, and I felt an overwhelming sense of dread as I faced the pond.

“You’ve returned.”

The voice startled me, and I whipped around to face the selkie, who stood in his human form. He was naked, his burnished body on display. I let my eyes descend over his hard muscles, unnerved by his erection, but I was seeking his weakness, the sealskin, which was not near.

“Can you call for Wolf?” I asked.

The selkie took a step toward me, and I took one back.

“So you have succeeded? You have three hairs from the prince’s head?”

As he spoke, he continued his approach, as sly and stealthy as a jungle animal. I felt cornered as the back of my feet sank into the muddy bank of the pond.

His eyes narrowed on my neck. I did not know what he saw, but I could guess. Casamir had sucked my skin hard into his mouth.

“You bear his mark.”

I covered my skin where it was most sensitive and narrowed my eyes.

“I did not tell you about the three hairs,” I said.

And then the selkie launched himself at me. I barely had time to move before he crashed into me. I hit the water so hard, it stole my breath. As I sank beneath the surface, my chest was crushed under his weight. I struggled to be free even as my mouth filled with water and my lungs burned.

He held me down until I thought I would die and then dragged me to the surface.

“Where are they?” he demanded. Gripping me by my upper arms, he shook me. “Give them to me!”

I could not speak, too desperate for air.

The selkie dragged me up his rock at the center of his pond and held my legs down with his powerful thighs so I could not kick. I still fought, clawing at his hands, which drove into my pockets. When he did not find the hairs, he squeezed my breasts. I pulled his hair and jabbed at his eyes, but his hands clamped down on my wrists. Once he had them secure, he groped me and then ripped the bodice of my dress, smirking as he lifted the pouch.

“Foolish thing,” he said, and his fingers closed over the bag as he forced his mouth on mine.

“No!” I screamed. “Wolf! Casamir!”

“Shut up!” the selkie said, and he placed his large hand over my nose and mouth, pressing down until I could not breathe. I dragged my nails down his arms, and I knew that I broke skin because I could feel it beneath my nails. Yet he did not loosen his hold, and just when my vision began to blur, a shadow passed over us from above. In the next second, Wolf swooped down and began to claw at the selkie’s face with his feet and peck at his eyes with his sharp beak.

The selkie screamed as blood dripped down his face, and he dropped the pouch he had stolen from me. I raced to snatch it up and slipped off the rock, wading through the water as fast as I could.

“Drink, creature, drink!” Wolf commanded, but I could already feel myself growing smaller and smaller and the pond larger and larger. The bigger it grew, the farther away from shore I was and the more exhausted I became. And just when I thought I could go no farther, the raven swept me from the pond with his taloned feet.

I shook uncontrollably as a numbness took hold inside me. I felt nothing, not even the wind on my face.

“Are you all right, creature?” Wolf asked, but I did not answer because I didn’t know what to say. I was not all right, but I had a purpose and I needed to see that through. I was too close to freedom.

I kept my eyes closed the entire flight, and when Wolf landed, he set me gently on the cold, glass surface of the same clearing and landed nearby. I rose dizzily into a sitting position, watching him.

“Why did you save me?” I asked.

“Because you will marry the prince,” said Wolf. “And when you do, I shall be a wolf once more.”

The selkie had said something similar. I had not believed him then and I did not believe Wolf now, but I said nothing as I stood, untying the pouch and pulling out Casamir’s dark hair. It was wet and stuck to my fingers, but I managed to count each strand to ensure all three were there.

“Mountains,” I said. “I have brought you three strands of hair from the head of the Prince of Thorns.”

After I spoke, the world seemed to go still and silent, the pressure of it pushing against my ears. Then the ground beneath me groaned and a hole opened up at my feet.

“Feed me, mortal.”

“You promise to give me the prince’s true name?” I asked.

The hole grew bigger, touching the tips of my toes, and I jumped back to keep from falling in.

“Feed me, mortal!”

My chest tightened, but I obeyed. I thought I had been careful in the way I’d worded my bargain with the mountains, but I could not remember the exact wording. Still, we had made a bargain, and I had no reason to believe the mountains would not honor it. I let Casamir’s hair drop into the darkness below, and the hole closed with a snap, but then the ground began to shake. It was different from before—not the grumble of a voice but a tremor of anger.

“You think you can trick me, mortal?” the mountains roared in my head, making my ears ring. I fell to my knees and pressed my palms flat against them.

“It’s not a trick!” I seethed. “The hair came from his head!”

“Liar!” the mountains bellowed. “Only one hair came from his head. The others did not, and now you must pay for your deceit!”

A smaller hole opened up before me, and the hands that were pressed against my ears were suddenly flush against the surface of the Glass Mountains.

“Only your flesh will suffice,” said the mountains, and as they spoke, my ring finger dropped into the opening of the mountain against my will. Just as before when it closed to swallow the hair, it closed to swallow my finger, slicing through skin and bone.

The pain was sudden and sharp, stealing my breath for only a beat before a scream tore from somewhere deep in my throat. I ripped my hand away and cradled it in the other, blood dripping through my fingers and striking the ground.

I looked at Wolf, who still watched nearby.

“Come, Lady Thing,” he said and nothing more.

My face was hot with shame, made worse with the knowledge that someone had witnessed my failure. My eyes fell to my hand, and I wrapped it in the skirt of my dress before rising to my feet. The raven was gracious and bowed low so I could mount his back. While he flew, I did my best to keep the emotions mixing in my chest at a distance, but they raged, threatening and volatile.

When we were within view of the pond, I knew I was in trouble because Casamir waited at the edge of the water. He was a dark and foreboding figure, haloed in black thorns and shadow. In one hand, he held the selkie’s sealskin. In the other, he held the selkie’s severed head.

Wolf croaked, circling once before landing on the bank near Casamir’s feet. I tipped my head up at him, a giant from where I stood, and slid off Wolf’s back. As I took a drink from the pond and grew, the raven bowed to the prince, but Casamir did not seem at all concerned with the raven. His eyes did not move from mine.

“How did you know?” I asked after I had grown tall.

“You called and I came,” he said.

Neither of us spoke for a moment, and then all of a sudden, I rested my head against his chest and burst into tears.