Steph’s face fell with hurt and confusion. Penelope marshalled her spiralling thoughts, wanting to explain, yet unsure of how. Or if she even should.
For a fleeting, uncertain moment, she considered keeping the truth to herself. After all, she hadn’t even told the Sisters about that night in the woods.
But then a deep guilt took root, gnawing at her gut. Could she truly allow herself to lie by omission while Steph was standing here apologising for doing the very same?
Yet... Could she trust him with this secret of hers? Could he, would he, hurt her if he knew what darkness she was capable of? If he knew of the violent precipice she had almost fallen from only a few nights prior?
Here she was, in the home of Grimwood royalty, surrounded by Grimwood Rangers, away from the Sisters, who didn’t know where she was, away from her parents, who seemed not to care... about to share a secret that would put her immutably at odds with Steph’s own closest family.
Suddenly, Penelope felt extremely foolish.
She stared up into Steph’s stricken face, and understood with sudden clarity exactly how he had felt during those days after he had been poisoned.
Penelope swallowed back a panicked giggle at the irony. She sighed as the last wisp of lingering resentment faded, leaving only a cold and hollow dread as she made her decision.
Whatever might come, she wanted Steph to know the truth. She wanted him to understand what it was that had so irrevocably changed her own resolutions.
“There is something I must tell you... Something happened in the woods the other night. Something that, well, changed me. I feel I owe it to tell you the truth... but I fear you will turn against me if I do.”
Steph’s brow knitted in concern, then offered a sad smile, his eyes alight with wry understanding.
“Penelope, I swear to you, whatever you tell me, I couldn’t possibly turn against you.”
Though Steph’s eyes shone with sincerity, Penelope’s shoulders stiffened as she looked around the room, dim and empty but for the waves of soft light rolling from the large crystal sphere.
“Penelope...” Steph’s voice was low and gentle. “Penelope, I promise. Whatever it is you wish to tell me, I will not turn against you... I promise, I will never harm you...”
Penelope drew in a sharp breath and met his eyes. In them lay a deep, knowing kindness, and Penelope made the choice to trust him.
“My whole life,” she began, nervously twirling the stem of her honeybelle, “I’ve dreamed of finding love, of finding my place, in this society.” Penelope gestured to the curtain, beyond which the sound of music had quieted. “I wanted nothing more than to prove to everyone, to my parents, to all those who shunned me and—and sneered at me, that I belong here.”
Penelope frowned down at her hands.
“I’ve read every book on etiquette that was ever given to me. I’ve always been so diligent in my crafts and my learning. I thought, if I could just look and act the part of princess, I’d be prepared. It would be... I would be... enough.”
Penelope quirked her lip in sorrow. Steph hummed in empathy, but otherwise remained quiet as she gathered her thoughts. “I’ve been so naive. After all that’s happened in the past few weeks... Everything feels so much bigger than myself. Bigger than I fear I’ll ever be truly prepared for.” Penelope deliberated for a moment. “You said you spoke with Marmalade..?”
Steph nodded, frowning at the change in topic. “She mentioned that an entourage of escort might be welcomed, though... I wasn’t so sure myself.” Steph smiled, shy and uncertain.
“Oh...” Penelope ducked her head sheepishly. “Yes. I really did appreciate that. Thank you.”
Steph’s smile widened, though his eyes betrayed his confusion, and Penelope hastened to continue.
“Did Marmalade tell you about how she found me the other night... in the Darkwood?”
Steph shook his head. “She told me that you were angry, and hurt. And rightfully so... What happened in the woods?” Steph’s eyes widened as he moved closer. “Were you hurt?”
“No! No... not quite...” Penelope sighed. “The night before last, I woke from a bad dream, and I just felt so alone in everything. It felt as though my simple life, my simple dreams, had all been turned inside out. That I no longer had any choice in my own life, nor even any choice left that might see my dreams come to reality...”
Penelope squeezed her eyes shut before glancing at the light shining between the curtains.
“My parents have plans for me, that much is perfectly clear... Yet I don’t know what they are. The Sisters... they’ve been so overwrought this past month, I haven’t wanted to burden them further with all my worries. I’ve been working so hard each day on the gowns, and I haven’t been sleeping very well, and I didn’t know who else I could truly trust...”
Steph winced, shamefaced, and Penelope reached forward to squeeze his fingers. She steadied herself with a deep breath.
“The Darkwood called to me at my lowest moment. I was angry and hurt. And confused. I felt so adrift, so powerless. I just wanted to stop being at the mercy of so many others’... hidden intentions.
“The Darkwood... it promised me this power, to free me from manipulation,” Penelope scoffed at herself, “and I almost lost myself to it...”
“Lost yourself..? What do you mean?” Steph’s gaze was sharp, worry etched into the lines of his brow.
Penelope hesitated a moment before resolving herself. She could no longer live the dream he offered, however much she ached for it. Not if she intended to stand against all that his family were doing in the Darkwood.
Penelope clenched her teeth at the cruelty of it. That she should find her fairy tale after a lifetime of wishing, and it was still beyond her grasp.
Her lip trembled but her voice remained steady.
“The woods, the Darkwood, wanted to claim me as a... a champion of sorts. To fight against those who have been destroying her. Stealing away her creatures, her children, violating them—”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Penelope broke off, her teeth itching as they sharpened, her vision blurring with tears of remembered wrath. Even now, even here, she could feel the tick of the forest’s heartbeat, thrumming just beneath her own.
Steph’s eyes were round as the flowers of her dress grew creeping vines. His breath hitched as he took a step back.
Penelope swallowed down the copper taste of violence and the vines retreated. “Sorry... I’m sorry.” Power hummed in her blood, and she felt shame at the thrill of it.
“Penelope...”
Penelope felt him step closer, cautious, yet deliberate. She looked up at him.
“Penelope, it’s alright... I trust you.” Steph’s gaze was earnest and unafraid. Penelope held her breath until the urge to collapse into tears passed.
“Marmalade found me in the Darkwood,” she continued, voice hushed and hoarse. “She brought me back to my senses. I don’t want to be the Darkwood’s creature. I don’t want to, yet again, be at the mercy of a will beyond my own.”
Penelope traced a gloved finger over the fragile golden petals of her honeybelle, her heart cracking.
“But I do want to protect the forest, the Darkwood. I will. That’s what I choose.”
She forced herself to meet Steph’s eyes, her gaze unwavering as she swallowed past the painful lump in her throat. She braced herself to sever whatever dream they might have come share, had their paths been different.
“I can’t turn a blind eye, Steph. I won’t stand by and do nothing while Grimwood’s Rangers, while your brother, ravage my home.”
Steph sucked in a breath, his face twisting with pain.
“So much of me wishes I could just go back into the woods, away from all of this,” Penelope waved her hand around them, “and live a life of simple freedoms, roaming the forest and stitching scarves for market. I took so much for granted...”
Penelope drew a halting breath. “But I can’t. Not when my home is being brutalised.”
Steph’s eyes widened in anguished realisation as he took another step back. Penelope watched his face contort with grief as her heart grew heavier in her chest.
“You... wish to stand against Grimwood? For what they...” Steph shook his head, clenching his jaw. “For what we are doing to the Darkwood?”
Steph’s eyes were dark, unreadable. A chasm yawned between them in that moment. Penelope’s breath became shallow, silent tears cresting her cheeks as her chest burned with regret.
Yet her mind was clear. Her purpose was clear. Mustering all her conviction, Penelope nodded.
“Yes.”
Steph’s eyes welled with tears, but they did not fall.
“Well... then... I suppose I have no choice...”
Penelope curled her hands into fists, her flowers thorny and fluttering, afraid for his next words.
“...but to stand with you.”
Penelope drew in a sharp breath, certain she had misheard.
“Stand with..? But... I...” Penelope floundered. “Why?”
“You are right, Penelope. I don’t agree with what my brother and his Rangers have been doing in the woods. It’s the reason Ethan and I have been fighting, actually...”
Steph stepped closer, though he eyed Penelope’s gown warily. She grimaced and compelled herself to draw slow breaths until the blossoms stilled.
“I confronted him about what we saw in the woods. I promise you, Penelope, I truly didn’t know... Ethan had never told me what he did on his missions in the deep forest. He refuses still to tell me anything about it, about his purpose. He just scolded me like a child for gallivanting about in the Darkwood, playing games I don’t understand.”
Steph’s face twisted. “He’s right, I don’t understand. But I do know that whatever was happening in those woods was just... Wrong. It felt wrong... I don’t know what Ethan’s trying to do. He won’t trust me.” Steph’s brow furrowed as he blinked away new tears.
“He’s been hiding so much... Ethan and Father both.” Steph broke off, his mouth pressed into a bitter line as he brushed a stray tear from his cheek.
“I accused them... well, I said that whatever they’re doing must be truly awful if they won’t even tell me about it. But Ethan said he was just trying to protect me, protect us all. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so upset...”
Steph chewed his lip, his face torn between betrayal and regret.
“I don’t know what to believe, Penelope. I hate thinking the worst of my brother... Whatever it is he is trying to do... if it really is for protection—there has to be a different way to do it.”
Steph turned to Penelope, his eyes desperate and questioning as though she might hold the answers. Penelope wished she had answers to give. Nonetheless, her chest warmed with tentative hope even as her heart broke for Steph’s pain.
“I’ve seen you in those woods, Penelope. I’ve seen the way you move through them, the way no Ranger I’ve ever seen can. The forest trusts you. You pleaded with the forest for my life, and it listened to you.” Steph’s eyes were bright with awe as he looked at her.
“If we work together... If we stand together, Penelope... maybe we can find another way to gain whatever protection Ethan is seeking. If we could just show my brother what’s possible, make him understand that the forest doesn’t have to be an enemy, then maybe...”
Penelope nodded vigorously, her heart racing with a rush of hope. She recalled Marmalade’s lesson about the forest’s spirits. About balance and reciprocity.
“Maybe whatever magic they are taking from the woods... Perhaps there is another way to find it. Peacefully,” she finished.
“Yes,” Steph breathed. He stepped forward then, entwining their fingers as he traced the stem of her honeybelle with his thumb.
“Are we being too naive, Steph? To think that your brother, the Rangers, the King, would listen to us? When we don’t even know what exactly they seek?” Penelope stepped forward, tilting her head to meet his gaze.
“Perhaps...” Steph huffed. “I want to say that I’ll make them listen, but the truth is... I don’t know. I feel like I don’t know who my brother is.” Steph’s lips trembled with misery before he pressed them into a line. He peered down at her, eyes serious and bright with conviction. “But I do believe it’s worth trying. Together.”
“Together,” Penelope whispered, hopeful tears gathering on her lashes.
Steph brushed them away before taking the honeybelle from Penelope’s grasp and tucking it behind her ear, the mirror of his own.
He closed the distance between them and cupped Penelope’s cheek. Tilting her chin, he leaned closer, his breath ghosting across her lips. Penelope closed her eyes, surging forward to press their lips together, a gentle kiss that Penelope craved to deepen.
Heart bursting with desperate affection, Penelope ran her fingers through Steph’s curls as his hands encircled her waist. She slanted her head to better fit their lips together, melting into Steph’s warmth and the giddy joy of her own choice made.
They drew back for air, tension thick and burning between them. Steph’s gaze was dark, intense with desire and resolution, tears drying on his cheeks. Penelope pressed gentle lips to the corner of his mouth and tasted salt.
Penelope had forgotten the world around them, forgotten the shifting lights and the murmur of the court far below, until the sound of conch horns filled the hall. Penelope and Steph flinched back, though their arms remained circled around each other.
As the horns continued to blare, the crystal sphere in the middle of the room began to pulse, its pearly light dimming to a deep, midnight amaranth.
“What—?” Penelope began as Steph pulled her closer against him in alarm, twisting to shield her from the livid glow.
The mist within the crystal orb began to writhe, blooming like ink spilled in water, as the chains overhead began to rattle.
The sound of horns died, replaced by a deep, resonant voice. The words were muffled by the heavy drapes. With a shared glance, they crept forward to listen.