Page 26 of The Wand of Lore

Gwenneth tilted her head at him. “I didn’t know you cared.”

Marvin blushed as he shrugged. “I don’t really. That’s just what I hear in my travels.”

“It’s not bad to care, or to have thoughts and opinions. Here I was just thinking you were an empty-headed stooge of the crown, ready to follow any orders.” She gestured to Greyson’s dead body lying face down in the dirt. “I guess you’re more than that. We should bury him, which means there is no way we will reach Gorenth today. We’ll have plenty of time for me to check on your legs, and you can finally tell me exactly why the king of Innsbrook wants you dead.”

“He’s an ass, that’s why,” Marvin said with a scowl, but obeyed and sat on the grass. “We can stay, but we’ll have to keep an eye out for the goblins that got away. They aren’t likely to attack in such few numbers without a human giving the order, but they can be a bit unpredictable.”

“I’d put up a protection spell, but I’m depleted. I’m going to sleep very well tonight, which means you’ll have to be on watch by default. Pull your pant leg up and let’s have a look at your cursed skin while I’m still awake to look.” The black had extended so that the skin was mottled and dead all the way up past his knees.

“Have you noticed that every time you’re angry, the curse seems to grow? Think about it: after Greyson first kidnappedme, after he encountered you in town, and just now, the curse always grew. Try controlling your anger, Marvin, just for another few days, to see if it helps.”

“I’d hardly call that a pattern. What about every other time I’m mad, which is always?” Marvin growled, then looked at the grass beneath him.

Gwenneth shrugged. “It’s just a theory. I could be wrong. But regardless, you would do well to keep your cool as we approach the castle. I have a feeling that things will get more intense, not less, as we get closer.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, so softly Gwenneth almost missed it.

“Hmmm?” she asked as she waved her wand over his cursed skin.

“I’m sorry, Gwenneth,” he mumbled. “I should have killed Greyson the first opportunity I had. Instead, I took a chance with you and put you in danger, just because I was afraid of him.”

She sat on the ground next to him and took his hand in hers. “It’s okay to be scared, and it is never wrong to err on the side of mercy.”

“What I have been keeping from you is that he raised me like a father, or rather unlike a father, I guess, because my own couldn’t stand me. I spent most of my boyhood under Greyson’s tutelage. He was a cruel master and had no qualms about doling out the occasional beating—or more than occasional; then on other days, he cared about me more than anyone else in the world, at least in our home. He taught me to read and write, and helped me to understand geopolitics and the ways of the court, when nobody else bothered. But his moods changed like the weather, and he’d become dark and tempestuous and downright mean. He’d fall into fits of rage and yell at me without ever telling me the reason. Still, I tried so hard to please him and couldn’t understand why I always failed at making him happy. I was just a boy, too young to understand he was always goingto be terrible, no matter how hard I worked at my studies.” Marvin’s voice was tight and strangled, and his fingers shredded the grass beneath him.

“You didn’t deserve that, Marvin.” She touched his arm softly but kept her gaze steady.

“I worked so hard to win his approval. It wasn’t just my studies, either; it was my lack of talent in the sparring ring, and my disinterest in adhering to the rules of court. The older I got, the more irregular his moods became and the worse the beatings, which only made me try harder, until one day he beat me so badly that I had a head injury. For weeks, I couldn’t remember things that had happened the same day, and they eventually had to call for a healer. That was when I realized that I had to leave or one day die at his hand. Still, I lingered, hoping against hope that I could be good enough to change him. But after that, I couldn’t ignore that staying was a death sentence, and I despised myself for not leaving sooner. One day, when I was sixteen years old, he withheld food from me for three straight days for no reason, and I got up and walked out the door and never looked back. Nobody came for me. Nobody wept, and I thought I was rid of them for good until, one day, I started receiving scrolls with threats and directions. Go to Mendonville, address the dispute between the peasants. Stop by Liepor and ensure taxes are collected. Investigate a plague outbreak in Loews Hollow. Greyson kept tabs on me, but he left me in peace for most of these long years.”

Silence fell, and Gwenneth let it linger over them for a moment, fighting her own simmering anger that anyone would treat a child so poorly.

Her face must have been contorted because Marvin winced as he looked at her. “Sorry to put all that on you. I haven’t ever told anyone about Greyson before, but I guess once you’vebeen abducted by someone, you deserve to know just how awful he really was.”

“No, I’m glad you told me. You didn’t deserve to be treated like that—nobody does, especially not children. Adults should protect children, and yours failed you.”

“Logically, I know you’re right, but when I think of Greyson, I’m just that little boy again trying to impress him. I know it’s weird, but he’s the closest thing to family I ever had, and I’m going to miss him.”

“That’s so sad.”

“Thanks for listening. I’ve never told anyone about the way I grew up.” He wiped a tear off his cheek, and Gwenneth was struck by how attractive he was when he was vulnerable like that. It suited him better than his cold, cavalier act, although she clearly hadn’t found that too unattractive either. She shook her head, annoyed with herself for her inner monolog and losing focus. Sure, sex with him had been great, but that didn’t mean she had to think about doing it again right away. After all, it had been a spontaneous and regrettable act of passion.

“I’m here for you,” she said, hoping her attraction wasn’t glaringly obvious in his distress. Their eyes connected, and a jolt of electricity passed between them. Gwenneth fought an urge to push him to the ground and take him right there. Instead, she smiled at him and he peered back, pain lining the sides of his eyes.

“Come on,” said Gwenneth. “Let’s move away from his body. It’s too gruesome, and even you don’t deserve to have to stare at it right now.” She grabbed his hand and led him away, back to their camp. When they arrived, Gwenneth started to pull away, but he was holding her hand tightly, so she turned back toward him. His eyes still had a hurt, haunted look in them, but there was something else too. They were glazed over with an unmistakable look of desire, and Gwenneth exhaled, mentallythanking the goddesses that at least the feeling was reciprocated, even if they couldn’t act on it. “So,” she said, hoping to distract herself, “who will you be now that you are free? What will you do?”

“I hadn’t thought of it like that. Am I truly free?”

“I’d say you are. That man back there will never hurt you again.”

Marvin nodded and shifted his weight, shortening the distance between them. “And I can be anyone? Do anything?”

A shiver went up Gwenneth’s spine. “Yeah, anything you want.”

“I want to be the kind of man who is good enough for you,” he confessed.

She let out a short laugh. “I like you all right.” It was true and it wasn’t true simultaneously. He was an arrogant jerk who had threatened the one person she cared more about than anyone in the world, and she could never forgive him for that. But there was something more to him—the way he cared for Sir Henry, the time he had helped the orphan boy back in Aldersbridge, and the tenderness he had shown her along the way. She had never met anyone quite like him before. The men in her village were mostly nice and respectable by any measure. They cared for their families, treated their mothers with respect, and helped their neighbors when they were in need. But they were the same people who were prone to superstition, who glared at Gwenneth and Nayla when times were hard, never missing an opportunity to let them know they were unwelcome. The village was full of men who would tip their hats to her one day, but burn her at the stake the next. Marvin was colder and ruder than anybody she had ever met before, but in his own way, he had a kindness that was deeper.

Gwenneth leaned in, stroked his face, then cupped it in her hands and kissed him softly, gently, on the lips. “I like youjust fine.” He returned the kiss tenderly, and Gwenneth wrapped her arms around him.

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