“I think you will be a most obliging queen with your godmother’s life always in the balance,” Count Alain said. “Almost as obliging as she was, letting herself be chained up for your sake.”
“Quite a strategy, to leverage love against itself,” said Lord Ortolan.
True love.
That was the cruel turn of phrase Maleficent had come up with as Stefan begged for her to remove the curse on Aurora. It was the thing she’d thought of as impossible.
But now, even as it bound her and Aurora, it still felt like a miracle that there was such a thing.
True love.
Love between people who took care of each other.
She’d been wrong to try to convince Aurora to protect her heart to the exclusion of all else. There was nothing wrong with Aurora’s willfulness or her sweet nature. There was nothing wrong with Aurora’s trying to see the best in people. There was nothing wrong with her generous heart. Those were all the things Maleficent had always loved about her. And if Maleficent had to spend her whole life locked in darkness and iron knowing that Aurora was free, it would have been worth it.
But she would not spend her life in darkness and iron knowing that Aurora was also in chains.
Chapter 31
Lord Ortolan approached Count Alain and Aurora. “Come now, you’ve held the girl like that long enough. Her arms must be in agony. And there’s no danger. The faerie is locked up, and there’s nowhere for our little queen to go. Be chivalrous to your bride.”
Alain eased his grip, and Aurora pulled away from him. Stumbling, she fell to her knees, humiliated and hurting.
“I am going to perform the ceremony marrying you and Count Alain before we leave the cave. I hope you understand that this is a formality,” Lord Ortolan said. “It doesn’t matter if you consent or not, but it would be better for all of us if we observe the proprieties.”
Aurora wanted to spit in his face, but she knew that she had to wait for the right opportunity to get away from them.
Count Alain smiled at her. “You are very angry with me now, but I think we will grow used to each other. I am not so much of a monster when you get to know me.”
She knew him well enough, she thought. She certainly knew he was a monster.
Count Alain guided her to stand to one side of Lord Ortolan, then stepped back a few paces.
Lord Ortolan cleared his throat.
Before he could get a sentence out, Phillip stepped out of the shadows. He was carrying a sword.
“Apologies,” he said. “I didn’t mean to take so long. First I had to sneak into the guardhouse and find a blade. Then I had to wait until Alain let you go. What a lot of dull speeches you’ve endured!”
Despite the horror of the situation, Aurora laughed.
“Oh, and the mouse,” Phillip went on completely nonsensically. “I had to find a safe place for the mouse.”
Count Alain’s hand went to his own sword hilt.
“I thought I told you to leave,” said Maleficent, although she didn’t sound particularly displeased.
“As a prince,” said Phillip, his gaze on Count Alain, “I practically have a duty to defy the commands of a foreign power.”
Count Alain sneered, circling Phillip. “You ought to have run when you had the chance. You’re, at most, a dilettante at the art of swordplay. But my family mines iron. Steel is my birthright. I am going to enjoy this.”
“Embarrassing to you if I so much as get a hit in, then,” said Phillip, moving into a fighting stance, holding his sword in front of him, the blade tipped slightly forward.
Alain matched him.
Lord Ortolan moved toward Aurora. “My dear, this is useless—”
She punched him in the mouth. She’d never hit anyone before, and it hurt her knuckles. But she had the satisfaction of seeing him stagger back, utterly shocked. He pressed a hand to the corner of his mouth, which looked a little red. One of his teeth must have cut the inside of it.
She felt a bit shocked, too, but it didn’t stop her from prying the key out of his other hand.
Phillip and Alain traded blows back and forth, striking and parrying with a terrifying intensity, their blades whistling through the air. They looked evenly matched.
But as Phillip turned, she saw that blood soaked his side. Looking closer, she saw a binding of ripped cloth around his waist. A wound he’d already had, then. A wound he’d reopened.
No matter how good he was with a blade, he wasn’t going to be able to fight for long like that.
Aurora ran to Maleficent’s side and slid the key into the lock of her manacles. As the iron slid off her pale wrists, two bands of blistered red skin showed.
“Don’t worry about me, beastie,” Maleficent said with a smile, but Aurora couldn’t help noticing how slowly she moved.
The iron chain, with manacles on each side, was heavy in Aurora’s hand. She looked at Count Alain.
Phillip lost his footing. It was just a small stumble, perhaps from his boot hitting a rock, but it was enough for Alain to strike, shoving his sword into Phillip’s wound. Phillip pivoted out of the way before the blade could sink into his side, but even the graze of the tip made him gasp in pain. He brought up his sword just in time to parry a blow that would have run through his heart.
Holding on to one manacle, Aurora swung the other at Alain’s back. It hit him hard, sending him sprawling onto the floor of the mine. Phillip turned his blade, the point at Alain’s throat.
Lord Ortolan walked forward but stopped at a fierce look from Maleficent. Aurora went to him and held out the manacles, her heart racing. “Give me your hands,” she said.
The old man looked mutinous.
“Step to it.” There was a new voice. Diaval walked into the cave and nodded to Aurora, rolling his shoulders. “Yes, it’s me, finally with thumbs and a tongue fit for speaking. As soon as Maleficent had her hands free, I started hopping around the entrance, hoping she’d see me. Better late than never, Diaval is here to help.”
“I should have broken your neck when I had the chance,” Count Alain said to Phillip, ignoring the new arrival.
“You’re a fool,” Phillip returned, looking down at him. “You had wealth. You had influence. You had the ear of a queen. And because you could not see what you had, you will have nothing.”
Aurora noticed that Phillip looked very pale, almost like he had in her dream. There was even a touch of blue to his lips.
“I played the same game you’re playing,” Alain spat at him. “Just because you played it better, that’s no reason to sneer at it.” With those words, he pushed aside Phillip’s blade and lifted his own to strike.
Aurora screamed. There was no way Phillip would react in time.
“Into a bug.” Maleficent waved her hand, and in a wild rush of glittering gold magic, Alain was no longer there. In his place was a large black centipede. His sword fell with a clang beside it.
Phillip lifted Alain’s blade from the ground, squinting at the centipede. “He’s going to be difficult to catch if he crawls up on the ceiling,” he said, then sagged to the floor. The blood from his wound had soaked all the way to his boot.
“Phillip!” Aurora shouted.
“Oh, no, don’t worry about me,” he said faintly. “I’ll have a little lie-down and then be fine—”
“Don’t be more of a fool than usual,” Maleficent told him. “We need to rebind your side. Diaval, go find me some yarrow, the crumblier the better.”
“Yes, mistress. No need, by the by, to thank me for bringing Aurora to your rescue,” he said. “No need for me to have freed myself and thought of nothing but coming back here, flying through the night and day. No, no need to thank me at all.”