Into the Woods Read Free

coming faster, “I watched you grow from a shy, skittish colt to a rightfully proud woman, fiery and poised to take responsibility for your people. I was there when all others grew distant, jealous of your skills. I didn’t expect to grow fond of you. Have I not been a gentleman? Have I not bent to your every whim?”
    Green eyes deep with misery met his. “You have. Because you’re caught in my circle.”
    “I would regardless!” he said violently, then looked to the darkening sky as if seeking words, though what he was going to say he’d said to untold others. This time, though, he meant them. “Ceri, you are so rare, and you don’t even know it. You are so beyond anyone here because of what I’ve shared with you. The man who waits for you . . . He cannot meet your intellectual needs. When I hear your summons, my heart leaps, and I come directly, a willing slave.”
    “I know.”
    It was a faint affirmation, and Algaliarept’s pulse raced. This was it. This was the way to her downfall. She didn’t desire her husband. “And now you’ll abandon me,” he whispered.
    “No,” she protested, but they both knew tradition dictated otherwise.
    “You’re going to wed,” he stated, and she shook her head, desperate as her tiny feet tapped the flagstones, coming closer in her need to deny it.
    “That I’m wed doesn’t mean I won’t summon you. Our talks can continue.”
    Feigning dejection, he turned his back on her, all but oblivious to the manicured gardens going dark and damp. “You will abandon me,” he said, chin high as he probed the circle to find it still perfect. Though he was a demon and could crush an army with a single word, such was the strength of a summons that a simple circle could bind him. He had to upset her enough such that she would make a mistake and he could break it. Until then, nothing but sound and air could get through.
    Taking a ragged breath, he dropped his head, his hands still laced behind him. “You will begin with all good intentions,” he said, his voice flat. “But you’ll summon me into underground rooms where no one can see, and our time together once open and celebrated will become brief snatches circled by guilt instead of precious stones. Soon you will call me less and less, shame dictating that your heart be ruled over by your head, your responsibilities.” He took a breath, turning his tone thin. “Let me go. I can’t bear seeing what we shared abandoned bit by bit. Make of my heart a clean death.”
    The clatter of the gravel sliding beneath her shoes sparked through him like lightning, and he grit his teeth to hide his anticipation. One tiny stone, knocked out of place, would do it. “I would not do that,” she protested as she faced him, a gray shadow against the dark vegetation.
    Refusing to meet her gaze because he knew it would hurt her, he looked at the moon, seeing a few lone butterflies daring the dark to find a mate. Crickets chirped as the music from the castle dissolved into polite applause. “Marry him if you will,” he said stoically. “I’ll forever come if you call, but I’ll be but a broken shadow. You can command my body, but you cannot command my heart.” He looked at her now, finding she was clutching a golden card to her chest, hiding it. “Do you love him?” he asked bluntly, already knowing the answer in her frantic expression.
    She said nothing as torchlight shined upon her tears.
    “Does he make your heart beat fast?” Algaliarept demanded, a shudder running through him when her eyes closed in pain. “Can he make you laugh? Has he ever brought new thoughts to you, as I have? I’ve never touched you, but I’ve seen you tremble in desire . . . for me.”
    He nudged at the circle with a booted toe, jerking back at the zing of power. Though her face wore her anguish, her circle still held strong, even when her chest heaved, and her grip on her dress dropped, leaving creases in the otherwise perfect fall of fabric.
    “Don’t