Awakening Beauty (16 page)

He owed Vee that much at least. But as he lay there holding Aurora while her breathing deepened and her small body grew heavier draped over his, Joel wondered if he’d been telling himself for too long that he “owed” Vee. Yes, she’d once helped further his career, but did that mean he must be beholden to her for the rest of his life?

The more he thought about their relationship, the more he realized she’d shaped it to her will every step of the way, so subtly manipulating him he’d hardly been aware of it. Not to say he hadn’t made plenty of bold business choices on his own, but whenever Vee had had a really strong opinion about something, he’d listened and usually deferred to her. It was because she offered sound, practical advice that advanced both their interests. But it was also because he’d subconsciously felt indebted to her.

It was time to sever his relationship with Vee at last. Perhaps they could remain friends at a distance, polite acquaintances who occasionally kept in touch, but nothing beyond that. He was on a new course now, the route he’d half believed he’d never take. Wife—for he had no doubt Aurora wouldn’t remain a girlfriend for long—family and home. Hell, maybe he’d finally get a real house and even that dog he’d always kind of wanted.

The big, black bird perched on the window ledge, peering through the glass with eyes as red as the fiery coals of rage that burned inside her. She wanted to crash through the glass, explode into the room and demolish the lovers who curled so smug and stupid in their bed. Foolish mortals seemed to have completely forgotten how dangerous she was. Her attacking vines and her fire were eclipsed in their tiny brains by worries about their inane love life. She wished she could confront them right now where they lay: sup on the girl’s essence, kill her and then make her idiot lover forget she had ever existed.

But the time was not yet right. Only a little longer and then she would have the necessary strength to make Princess Aurora suffer torment so great that a sleep of a mere thousand years would seem like a blessing rather than a curse.

Chapter Twelve

As Aurora stepped out of the shiny black car that Joel had rented for the evening—a limo, he called it—she felt as if she’d finally arrived at the ball she’d been meant to attend so many years ago. She was dressed in as royal a gown as she’d ever worn as a princess and stood beside the most handsome prince imaginable. Only her parents were missing from this scene. And of course she would’ve been surrounded by people she knew in a palace both beloved and stifling.

When she’d first awakened from her long sleep, it had felt like only a few hours had passed. The shock of discovering her world had disappeared was overwhelming. But soon the memories of her past life had begun to fade, as if they had indeed happened to a girl long, long ago. Maybe that blurring was part of the same fairy magic that had put her to sleep. If so, it seemed a bit of kindness at odds with the cruel joke of stealing her life away.

Ah, but she had a new life now. Aurora hugged Joel’s arm and looked up at his profile, chiseled and masculine, but with soft lips that begged for a kiss. She licked her own lips.

He glanced down at her, blue eyes twinkling. “Stop it,” he whispered. “I can hear your thoughts. You are a naughty, insatiable girl.”

Lights exploded like stars in Aurora’s vision as people with boxes in their hands pointed them at the couple. She frowned, blinked and shielded her eyes.

“It’s all right,” Joel said. “They’re taking our picture, making likenesses of us to put in the newspaper. Vee always invites the media to her events, and they always come. Just smile and look beautiful. That’s easy for you.”

Together they strolled down a red carpet, separated from the crowd on either side by thick, velvet-covered ropes strung between short poles. Aurora did as Joel bid; she waved her hand and bestowed a smile on the people on one side of the carpet, then the other. She’d had a lifetime’s worth of practice waving from balconies, paths and doorways to cheering townsfolk and peasants who visited the castle on special days—just to see her, according to her doting parents. And she’d graciously accepted many a bow or a curtsy from noblemen and women.

Just as then, she seemed to attract more than her share of attention. As she and Joel neared the front door of the grand house, she became aware of a rush of cameramen and women to this end, all pointing and flashing their lights at her and Joel—and this despite the arrival of other guests behind them.

“Who’s your date, Joel?” one of the crowd called out.

Someone else cried, “Joel, does your lovely lady have a name? National TV viewers want to know!”

“Why do they want to know that?” Aurora asked, baffled.

“Because you’re beautiful and they’ve never seen you before. People still love a romance.” He gave a quick grin, as though acknowledging that though he’d meant to be cynical, he spoke in the surprised tone of a man making a new discovery.

Aurora laughed and, as she put her foot on the first step, she called back over her shoulder, “Aurora! My name is Aurora!” A hundred flashes seemed to go off at once, blinding her, and she had to depend on Joel to guide her into the house.

In some amusement, he murmured, “They’ll love you now! Almost as much as I do.”

Still in a dizzying haze of lights and slightly smug happiness, Aurora rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. Since it was a warm summer evening, they had no coats to give up to the army of servants who lined the entrance hall and the stairs up that they climbed in the wake of a middle-aged couple.

“This is almost like the old days,” Aurora murmured. “Vee lives a little like a queen, does she not?”

“She likes her luxuries,” Joel acknowledged. “On the other hand, all these people don’t work for her all the time! She’s hired them for tonight just to make her party go smoothly.”

Nonsense, it’s to impress her guests.
But Aurora kept that unkind thought to herself. She chose to be magnanimous in victory, and had every intention of showing Vee nothing but civility. In fact, she could almost feel sorry for the other woman, losing Joel so completely. However, she refused to feel guilty. Marriage with Vee would have been disastrous for Joel, locking him into the cold, soulless world he so badly needed to break out of for his own happiness, even for his own sanity. She, Aurora, would bring him happiness, and in return, she was receiving it.

Vee stood just inside the large drawing room to greet her guests. Resplendent in a sparkling black evening gown with trailing black gauze flowing from her hair and one shoulder, she looked chic and sophisticated as she exchanged quick words with the man whose hand she still held. Her back was to Aurora, so she had an excellent view of the woman’s swan-like neck, her perfect coiffure, and the jet drop earrings that dangled from her ears.

Aurora couldn’t help drawing in her breath, no longer with fear of a rival, but with amazement that she’d won Joel from so stunning and talented a woman as Vee undoubtedly was. Joel’s fingers curled ’round hers, as if to reassure her, and she loved him even more for that. She cast him a quick, loving smile just as the eager man in front finally released Vee’s hand and she was able to turn to the middle-aged couple ahead of Joel and Aurora.

Only it wasn’t Vee.

Aurora stared. Blood sang in her ears so loudly that she was afraid she’d faint, and she gripped Joel’s hand like a vise. It was as if Vee had put on—no, taken off—a mask and the jolt of recognition nearly overwhelmed Aurora. Memory, the pain of fear and loss rushed on her so fast that it was a moment before she could actually put a name to the being behind the mask.

Valborga.

Aurora couldn’t breathe, not even when the middle-aged couple moved on with only brief greetings of “Happy Birthday, darling!” and Vee turned to Joel, reaching for him with the talons of a witch.

Terror for him broke through Aurora’s paralysis at last and she lunged forward to get between him and Valborga. At the last moment, the evil enchantress shifted her attention from Joel to Aurora and her eyes widened almost imperceptibly before they darkened like night.

“Aurora, always so affectionate,” she gushed, seizing her hands. But the words she projected into Aurora’s head were more honest.

So, you finally know me. I can’t make up my mind whether you’re slow-witted or lucky. What gave me away, in the end?

“Love,” Aurora whispered. Her limbs had grown heavy, her head was spinning. Terrified she was being sent back into the sleep from which Joel had awakened her, she hung on, trying to turn her head to see Joel.

You make no sense
, Valborga said coldly.
But then, you never did.

Her arms closed around Aurora like steel. Aloud, Vee said anxiously, “Joel, I think she’s going to faint. Let me take her to lie down for a moment.”

“I’ll take her,” Joel said at once, sounding alarmed.

“No, no, you stay here and look after the party—this is women’s stuff. I’ll only be a moment and then I’ll send her back to you.”

Over Valborga’s shoulder, Aurora could see him now but hazily. The sleep was coming again. It was taking her from him. She dug her nails so hard into Valborga’s arms that the woman let out a hiss. But it seemed Aurora couldn’t stop herself being led away, almost carried from the room.

Once outside the drawing room—they must have left by a different door because they weren’t at the top of the staircase but in a little passage—Valborga dragged her along with greater speed and no pretense of gentleness. Aurora didn’t care. Whatever sleep-spell she’d been fighting seemed to have lifted. Perhaps Valborga used it only to get her away from Joel.

Wrenching herself free of Valborga’s hold, she demanded, “Why are you here? What is it you want?”

“You,” Valborga said irritably, continuing to march along the passageway. “Why could you not just have slept another measly two weeks?”

She didn’t seem to care whether or not Aurora followed. Aurora glanced back at the closed drawing-room door, then back to Valborga, who waited at another doorway, almost tapping her foot with impatience.

The need to be with Joel almost overwhelmed her, but now that she could think and focus again, she knew she needed to find out exactly what Valborga was up to. Fleeing would only postpone the inevitable and she refused to spend the rest of her life, or Joel’s, running. Besides, she was fairly sure Valborga would have locked the drawing-room door, either physically or magically. She doubted anyone inside would hear her knocking or shouting.

Straightening her shoulders with decision, Aurora strode toward Vee, who bowed her into the room beyond with blatant irony.

“Come into my boudoir, Highness. Be my honored guest once more.”

Ignoring, that, Aurora merely brushed past her and, before Vee had even entered behind her, demanded, “What difference would it have made if I’d slept another two weeks?”

“The spell would have been lifted, and I’d have been able to deal with you away from prying eyes in that great mausoleum of a castle. Joel need never have met you and I wouldn’t have to go to the trouble of wiping his memory clear of you. You were always bloody annoying. Wait here.”

“
Wait here
?” Aurora all but exploded. “Is that likely?
Wait here
while you go back to the party and wipe Joel’s mind of the only happiness he’s ever known? Oh, no. I want to know what’s going on!”

Valborga laughed. “Yes, it was curiosity that pricked your finger last time too, wasn’t it? Only my blasted sisters kept me away from you then, mitigated what spells I had already cast on you all, so that you didn’t die but slept the spell away.”

As if she saw how her words were hurting, Valborga let her hand fall away from the door handle and turned fully back to Aurora.

“You…” Aurora whispered. “I knew it was you, of course. But why did they just leave me there on the floor? Why did no one so much as put me into a bed?”

“Because they forgot you ever existed. As soon as they left it, they forgot the castle ever existed either. Yes, my doing. My sisters couldn’t stop that, though they prevented my gaining anything from it, damn them. They shut me out with a powerful protective spell, and I’ve had to wait another thousand years for this opportunity, a thousand years of boredom, Aurora. I owe you for that too.”

“The good fairies disabled you,” Aurora guessed. “Took away your magic so you couldn’t harm anyone else.”

“But they couldn’t bring themselves to have me killed. Their weakness, my opportunity. And this time, there will be no mistakes. This time, you die and
I
get the prince and the power to rule the world.”

Laughing at her own wit, Valborga reached again for the handle.

“I don’t understand,” Aurora objected. “Why should you get your magic back now?”

“Because the thousand years of my sisters’ spell is up. This is the thousandth anniversary of your aborted betrothal party, the day you pricked your finger and went to sleep. The thousandth anniversary of the day they took almost all my magic, leaving me weak and helpless, little better than a mortal in this stupid world. Why…”

“Where are they now?” Aurora interrupted.

Valborga blinked. “Where are what?”

“Your sisters.”

Something flashed in Valborga’s eye, a gleam of malevolence, a hatred deeper than any she’d yet revealed.

“Who cares?” she said and went out.

It happened so fast, Aurora didn’t even have time to blink. Somewhere, even as she leapt futilely to stop the door closing, she registered that Valborga shouldn’t be able to move so quickly. It was impossible, and yet Aurora threw herself at an already closed and locked door.

To be on the safe side, Valborga hurled a quick spell over her shoulder to protect the lock. Though she could feel her strength returning almost by the minute, she didn’t need a particularly powerful or long-lasting enchantment to confine Aurora. She just needed to keep her away from Joel until she was ready. She couldn’t have the little idiot prattling to Joel about his Vee being the wicked fairy who’d put her to sleep for a thousand years. She couldn’t be sure Joel would dismiss the tale as nonsense. After all, he seemed to have bought into the rest of it. He’d been quite clear that Aurora wasn’t mad, and even their little chat in the bar hadn’t weaned him off his passion for the wretched girl.