Page 17 of Once Upon a Woven Wish
She balled her free fist.“You meanyoutake what you will.”
The stranger’s expression flattened.His eyes turned dark and dangerous.No longer were they hinted with amusement.“Every bargain cuts me too.Do you think I chose this?”
“Didn’t you?”
He emitted a humorous laugh.“You know nothing about this,” he waved toward the well, “or me.”
Serena stepped a little closer, the lantern light catching his face.The air between them tightened, his expression carved from stone.His eyes hard and sharp.His jaw clenched tight.
“Do you stay here all night, all day, next to the Well, waiting for some pitiful mortal to come along and make a wish?So you can bargain away some precious piece of them—”
“I do as I am commanded,” he snarled.
The words cracked like a whip and she jerked, as if struck.She shrank back, her heart skittering in her chest.
“You would be wise to return home, Serena Windriver, and never return.”
Her name on his tongue struck a nerve deep within her.“You know my name but I do not know yours.”
He pressed his lips together in a thin line.“It is no longer mine to give.”
She sucked in a breath.“What does that mean?”
He turned away, reaching for his gloves on the side of the well and pulling them on.It occurred to her, then, that he did not seem affected by the cold.Nor did his breath plume when he spoke.
“A name is a lock, and the tongue that speaks it is the key.”
She blinked, unsure what that meant.“I don’t understand.”
He huffed in annoyance.“I do not stay here, mortal, of my own free will.I cannot leave this place.This Well is my cage, and every wish my chain.”
“You’re…bound here?”
“Bound.Cursed.Use whatever word suits you.Go home, Serena,” he said, again.There was a weariness in his tone, as though fatigue pounded through him with her demanding questions.
“No,” she replied, determination and defiance pressing through her.“I want answers.Ineedanswers.Tell me—”
“There is nothing to tell,” he snapped.“Do you not understand?I pay, too.”
The words slammed into her.Her anger snagged on a sudden jolt of doubt.His tone indicated he was not interested in further argument.Fire flashed in his green-blue eyes.He clenched his jaw, the muscles ticking along the edge.
“I…wanted to know what I lost.”
Heat bloomed in her breast.A lump formed in her throat.Tears threatened.How could he be so cruel?How could he take what he wanted?
How could she let him?
“If you cannot name it, perhaps that’s the cruelest part of all.Do you truly want to know?”
She nodded.“Yes.Please!”
His eyes glinted in the glow of the lantern.“Then climb again.Wish again.And learn your fate.A fate that will unravel you, body, mind, and soul.”
She sucked in a breath.“But that will…ruin me.”
His jaw clenched.“No.You’ll ruin yourself.”He turned his back to her.“Now, go back to the village.Do not return here unless you wish to tempt your fate once more.”
The stranger, this wish giver, refused to look at her anymore.So she turned from him, clutching the lantern in her frozen hand as she started the long trek back home.Back down the mountain.Disappointment and frustration edged through her.
