A Fairy Tale for Big Girls – 32. chapter FINAL

“Fine,” Lili began as they descended the stairs, “handle what you need to. I’ll find my uncle.”

She turned and had taken only one step when Mark caught her by the shoulder and drew her back to him. She tilted her head and lifted a brow. Mark stopped himself, let his commanding look soften into contrition, and released her.

“I will need time to grow used to this.”

“To my being free and able to go where I want?” she smiled.

He nodded.

“Do you still fear I might run?” she asked gently.

“I am not certain I ever will stop,” he admitted, a little helplessly.

She reached for his face and stroked it lightly.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you too,” he replied, then watched with displeasure as she turned and left. He kept looking after her for another moment, then walked the other way.

A few hours later, just as Lili returned from the chamber where she had left her uncle to rest, Martin called to her from the top of the stairs.

“Lili? Would you come with me, please?”

She nodded and went up. Martin had already turned and was walking toward the royal bedchamber.

“What is happening?” she asked, a little unsettled by his strangely odd manner. Following him, she noticed a change at the end of the corridor. Guards no longer stood before the guest chamber.

“Mark asked me to have you wait for him in the room,” Martin said, opening the door. He smiled at her, though somehow nervously.

“Why?”

Something was wrong.

“Um.” He stepped into the room himself. From the corridor, she saw him reach the table and begin pouring wine from the carafe into a single cup. As he did, Lili’s gaze fell on a key in the lock on the outside of the door, where it had never been before. Martin turned and held the goblet out to her.

“I don’t know,” he lied miserably, watching her gaze move from the lock to him.

He froze, his pupils widening. Lili laid her hand on the key.

“What is happening?”

“Lili,” he breathed, taking a step toward her.

“Stop,” she snapped, pulling the door partly closed. It was clear Martin had no chance of crossing the distance between them before she could slam it and lock it.

“Please,” he said, looking desperate. “Just do what Mark wants.”

“What is happening?!” she shouted louder. When Martin still hesitated, she smiled dangerously.

“Do you want to wait for him here alone?”

“Don’t do this,” he said, shaking his head.

She pulled the door even farther closed.

“Fine!” he cried. When she took half a step back into the room, he said, “There must have been more of Philip’s men at large than we thought. I don’t know. In short, they are in the guest chamber now. And they have Mark.”

Lili opened her mouth in shock and held her breath.

“Stay in the room. I’ll handle it,” Martin pleaded.

Trying to recover, Lili said quietly, “Philip wants me.”

“Which is exactly why you must remain safe.”

“Which is exactly why I will go.”

“Are you out of your mind?! Mark will hang me if anything happens to you!”

“If anything happens to him, I will hang you.”

“Wonderful! The two of you can toss a coin!” he shouted angrily. He saw Lili consider it and rolled his eyes.

“Then at least let me go with you.”

“So you can double cross me somewhere?”

“I will not. I will obey every order. I swear.”

She hesitated.

“I know you are my future queen,” he urged.

“If Mark survives,” she added. But then her shoulders sagged and she entered the room.

“All right.”

She sat on the bed. Martin set down the goblet he still held.

“How many soldiers are there?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe just a few.”

“Philip wants me,” she repeated. “So we must offer him exactly that.”

Martin grimaced in disagreement but said nothing. Lili thought for another moment, then lifted her head sharply.

“I am a stranger here,” she began slowly, with an increasingly sly smile. Martin narrowed his eyes, tilted his head slightly, and waited with curiosity.

“Philip likely does not know about me and Mark,” she continued. “Then it would make sense that you would rather sacrifice me than your king.”

Martin was not yet certain where this thought was headed, but he already sensed he would like it. And he was right. The more Lili talked and explained the plan, the more he smiled.

“Yes, I see a few weak points,” Lili admitted as she handed Martin the crossbow and turned her back to him, “but a little luck is enough for it to work.”

Martin took the weapon and tucked it behind the waistband of her dress.

“If I can ask one thing, hit that bastard exactly where you mean to. Everyone will thank you,” he attempted in a humorous tone, then frowned when the weapon’s weight dragged too heavily on the delicate fabric of the lady’s gown and the crossbow fell back into his hands.

A few moments later, she laughed a little nervously when, standing in front of her, he declared, “It shows. You are very small!”

Standing before the door of the guest chamber, she checked the soldiers pressed against the wall. She gave Martin a frightened look. He smiled encouragingly. She straightened, lifted her head, drew a deep breath, and opened the door.

Philip’s gaze pierced her at once, followed immediately by a malicious smile. She took only one small step and stopped practically in the doorway, sweeping the room with her eyes. Philip sat in an armchair beneath the window, two soldiers around him. Two more held Mark in the far corner. He looked calm until he saw her.

“Lili, get out of there!” he roared at once, panic in his voice. He tried to spring up, but the men held him down.

“I knew that foolish need of yours to save every person in the world would win,” Philip said loudly and rose. Lili turned her gaze to him but said nothing.

“Lili, leave now!” Mark shouted and began to fight the strong men violently. He tried to free himself so fiercely that for a moment he managed to tear himself out of their grip, but immediately a heavy blow knocked him to his knees. Sharpened spearheads pressed into the skin of his neck from both sides so hard they barely missed breaking the flesh, stopping any further movement. But not his words.

“Lili, you saw what I can do to a woman. Go away!” he threatened viciously. He was willing to promise anything, if only she would leave for safety.

With a stone expression on her face, she turned back to Philip.

“You have me here. Release the king, and I will go with you.”

“No!” Mark’s helpless cry of despair rang in her ears. Philip grinned smugly.

“Lili, please,” Mark pleaded. “I am begging you!”

She looked back at him. He looked unbelievably tormented.

“Please,” he repeated. “For everything in this world, don’t do this.”

But Lili did not yield.

“Release him,” she told Philip. “I will stay.”

After that sentence, Martin rushed into the room. Before anyone could react, he grabbed Lili around the shoulders and pressed a knife to her neck.

Mark watched this foolish move in confusion, and then everything blurred into swift images. Martin releasing Lili in defeat. Soldiers hauling Mark to his feet and shoving him into the corner of the room. Martin crossing to him with his head lowered, then stopping not beside him, but in front of him. In one second, Martin tearing the cloak from his shoulders, and when Mark saw the crossbow at his belt, reaching for it at once. In the next second, Martin putting Lili behind his back and aiming his own crossbow at the man by the window. Allied soldiers pouring into the room. Martin felling one man. Mark firing at Philip.

In the breakfast hall, there was perfect calm. Only the three of them sat at the table. Calm. Free. Now and then, someone took a sip of wine. Now and then, Mark stroked Lili. Sometimes there were thoughtful pauses, and sometimes a sentence fell or laughter rang out.

“There is one thing I keep thinking about,” Mark began. Lili slipped her hand from his, and he continued.

“I understand that you predicted how Philip would respond to the staged attack on Lili,” he said, looking at Martin. “You only needed to get you, armed, close to me. But why did you not enter the room together from the start?”

“You must ask your beloved,” Martin replied. “I had to swear I would obey her orders, or I could have waited this whole thing out locked in your room.”

Mark grinned in amusement.

“I understand why you two get along,” Martin added sourly. “Both of you are a pain in the ass to negotiate with!”

Mark smiled even wider. He felt love move through him and turned to Lili. To his surprise, he found that she was no longer sitting beside him but standing beyond the corner of the table. He furrowed his brow.

“Lili?”

“Um.” She laid a finger on the white tablecloth and lightly traced the edge of the table, very slowly moving away from Mark. “If we had both gone in at once, you would have known immediately that I was not actually planning any exchange of myself for you. You would have been certain Martin would never allow me to do something like that because of you.”

“Yes, I would have been calmer,” Mark agreed hesitantly.

“Mm hmm,” Lili nodded. She tried and failed to hide her smile by biting her lower lip and kept backing farther away from Mark.

He thought for only a second, and when he understood, his mouth fell slightly open. He found the words only after drawing a breath.

“And you would have lost the chance to enjoy the sight of me desperately begging you for everything in this world and promising anything!”

Lili tried to look guilty, but she did not manage it even a little. She only kept backing away, increasing the distance between herself and Mark, who rose hesitantly but threateningly. He rounded the table, searching for words.

“You know,” he began, matching her slow retreat with his own approach, “there were many times when I was terribly tempted to promise that you would never receive a spanking from me.”

His look pierced her, and her breathing quickened.

“I am very glad I did not.”

Lili swallowed hard. Mark lowered his voice.

“When I catch you, I will make you beg for mercy for hours.”

Lili smiled wickedly and lifted her chin.

“If you catch me before the western tower. If I get there first, it will be the other way around. And the guards are not playing,” she laid down the challenge.

He looked at her, smiling, letting himself be overtaken by love, happiness, and the beginning of arousal.

“Agreed!”

He waited two seconds and lunged. Lili spun, squealed, and ran, the hem of her skirt slipping through his fingers. Catching his balance cost him a moment and gave Lili a small head start, but then he ran too.

Martin leaned back comfortably, lifted his glass of wine to eye level, and studied it against the light.

“You will not beg your way to mercy!” Mark’s voice echoed from the corridors, happiness impossible to miss in it. Lili’s laughter rang off the stone walls and seemed to fill the whole castle.

“What is happening here?” a maid asked, passing by with a basket full of clean linen.

Still studying the glass, Martin answered dryly,

“Their Majesties are playing.”