Myth and Magic by Radclyffe

Author:Radclyffe [Radclyffe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626392823
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2014-12-01T05:00:00+00:00

*

They rode throughout the day and the long night that followed.

They rode until the space between Ivy’s legs chafed from rubbing against the back of the stranger’s saddle.

They rode through farms and villages, until dirt roads turned to cobblestone and the clacking of the horse’s hooves quickened the beating of her heart.

They rode together, but Ivy schemed alone.

She cooed questions into the stranger’s ear, the way Milli soothed a chicken meant for the ax and afterward, when he tossed his answers into the wind where they floated back to her, she plucked as many details as possible.

“My name is Lord Kerberos,” he told her. “It was I who restored order to the kingdom in the days after the curse when only chaos reigned. Those silly people in the village with their petty disputes? They would have sent the kingdom into civil war, so I, a simple apothecary with a modest shop, took it on myself to listen to their grievances and pass fair judgment. Not six months later they begged me to officially stand in the king’s stead and look after all his matters.” Lord Kerberos patted the fat purse that swung inches from Ivy’s outstretched fingers. “I like to think I have been worthy.”

She liked to think of a day when she would be a lady at court, worthy of her girl. But even Ivy, a simple servant girl, knew that thinking a thing didn’t make it so.

“It’s just a temporary post. Mine until the princess wakes, and with her, King Alexander,” Lord Kerberos said.

In the distance Ivy saw the castle’s spire rising high above the rest of the city. Her stomach clenched to think of her girl lying inside the tower, a thick layer of dust gathering on her lashes, her lips, her long golden braid into which Ivy had woven each strand of their forbidden love. The horse leapt with joy at seeing his home. Lord Kerberos’s money pouch, freed from his belt by fingers practiced at lacing bodices, slipped through her hand and plunged toward the ground. Ivy snatched it midair and held it tight, as tight as she held her dream to run away with her girl to a place where they could simply be two girls in love. Surely, such a place existed somewhere.

A crowd had gathered in anticipation of Lord Kerberos’s arrival. The people peered at Ivy, their curious glances and voices pelting her like stones.

“Is she the one? That girl what rides behind Lord Kerberos?” A man with white flour in his hair spoke, a baker from the look of him.

“Are you dazed, man? She’s naught but a chambermaid!” Another man, his apron splattered with blood, glared at Ivy. She cringed to think of him with a butcher knife.

“Why else would Lord Kerberos bring her to the wall?” The baker waved a hand toward the hedge of thorns.

“I don’t know, but it’s going to take more than a chambermaid to part—”

The butcher fell silent, as did the rest of the crowd, when long ribbons of gray and white streaked above the castle.

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