Jaw clenching, he licked his front teeth and then abruptly got to his feet. “We are done here today. You may return to the castle.”
“What? I’m—” And she wasn’t sure what she’d meant to say after that because before she knew it, the garden was gone and she was back in the breakfast room, staring around dazed and very confused.
But the shock of being transported against her will soon wore off, replaced instead by a violent, frothing desire to punch that man square in his nose.
“Argh!” She stomped her foot. How dare he treat her this way? Hot one second, cold the next. It didn’t take a genius to realize she’d touched on a very sensitive subject, but the least he could do was act like a mature adult about it.
“Damn you, imp!” she growled and grew even more incensed when the echoing beat of his laughter pulsed through every empty corner of the room. Spine stiff and straight, she managed to regain her bearings and marched from the dining hall back to her room.
Three months, that’s what she had left. Three months and then she’d be free to go home. She’d fail every bloody test and this would be little more than a nightmare she thought of on occasion, a tiny blip in the scope of her life. She could do this, surely.
Slamming her bedroom door, she muttered Dalia’s name.
Her dark friend—or at least the closest approximation to one she’d ever had—materialized instantly, hand on her ebony cheek. “Oh, miss, you done it now. I told ye to keep your distance from the master. He’s a vexing sort of man, he is.”
Dalia looked lovely today. She wasn’t dressed in her maid’s outfit, but rather a plain black day dress that fell to her knees. Wearing simple lace up shoes and socks, and with her hair flowing past her elbows, she looked much younger than the initial nineteen Shayera had pegged her for.
Slumping onto the bed, Shayera groaned. “You did and he is.” She sighed. “But it’s hard when I’m so lonely for company, and while you’re fantastic”—she gave her a slight smile—“you’re hardly ever around.”
“I’m sorry, miss, but I’ve chores to tend to besides seeing to you, otherwise I swear I’d be here more often.”
“No, no.” She held up a hand. “I understand, believe me. I’m not used to this life of frivolity myself. At home I worked and cleaned and cooked, but there’s nothing to do here to while away my time. Do you mate?”
Dalia blinked at her blunt words and slowly sat on the edge of the bed. “I… well…”
Hopping into a cross-legged position, Shayera shoved her wild bangs out of her eyes. “And by that I mean, are there children here? I love kids, and they love me. They, unlike adults, cannot be affected by my charms, and I very much enjoy playing with them. They at least are real. And that’s what I need, some realness in my life right now.”
Yanking at a blue velvet pillow, she crushed it to her chest to still the deep, lingering sadness welling in the pit of her stomach, a mix of loneliness and a quiet yearning to see her parents again. She’d thought there could be nothing worse than living in that hamlet, but if she had to put up with Rumpel’s constant mercurial moods for the next three months, there was a good possibility she’d go insane.
Her mother’s words of the grass not always being greener suddenly made so much more sense to her.
Fingers toying with the hem of her dress, Dalia shrugged. “There are children in fact, but master—”
Shayera’s elation turned to disgust in a flash. “Of course. They cannot come out to play unless he gives the orders, have I got it about right?”
Dalia’s face scrunched up. “I reckon so, miss.”
Tossing the pillow, Shayera jumped from the bed and began pacing. “Dalia, I’m going to go insane trapped in my room. It’s not as though I require much, but I at least had Briley before, and my parents. Here, I feel completely isolated.” She nibbled on her lip, damning the lump in her throat that was trying to work its way free.
Shayera wasn’t one who often gave into sentiment and emotion, life was what it was, but she’d never really understood the strength she’d derived from her family unit until it was no longer available to her. Clenching her fists by her sides, she whirled on the girl.
“What is there to do here that is fun? That I can do by myself?”
“Well…” Dalia licked her lips. “There are the gardens.”
Shayera snorted and Dalia frowned.
“You don’t need him around to shape them, miss. You only saw the thunder and lightning because that’s what you assumed should be, though why you should is a mystery to me.” She grinned. “Think of whatever you want and make it very clear, and the garden can be the most beautiful place in the castle.”
She’d thought it because on so many levels Rumpelstiltskin reminded her of a devil, it’d seemed appropriate.