Page 48 of A Foster Fling
***This is a dark FF/MF forbidden retelling of The Brothers Grimm tale Rapunzel. Triggers are non-con/dub-con, forbidden relations***
Prologue
The sky is a crystal blue, the clouds like white wisps floating across the cerulean surface, and the trees move with blurring speed in my peripherals. The carriage rocks under my back, and the horse’s hooves hit the earth like pounding drums.
I’ve been rescued.
Or have I?
My hands are bound in front of me, my ankles tied tightly together, and my hair—the long, tangled strands—fly out around me, like taunting tentacles. They’re the reason I’m in this mess, and she’ll never let me go as long as I have them.
“She’ll find us,” I yell out to him, his frantic gaze meeting mine over his shoulder. Then his body molds to his horse as he pushes it harder. “She’ll always find me.”
“No, I killed her.”
“She can’t be killed.” I roll my eyes. “Not as long as her essence is alive.”
“What essence?” he curses as a wayward branch hits his shoulder.
“Me... It means me. She can’t die if I’m alive.”
“That can’t be true,” he huffs. “I would know if I killed her or not, trust me. I saved you.”
“Fool,” I mutter as I close my eyes. “There’s no saving me.”
Part One
It’s hard to see the stars from the top of the tower, unless I stick my head out and crane it a bit to the left. There’s a break in the dense canopy of the trees, and I can sometimes catch a glimpse of a constellation or a shooting star at night.
This has been my home for as long as I can remember and I live alone, for the most part. My foster mother comes to visit once a week to provide provisions and to brush my hair, her favorite pastime. Otherwise, I am alone here.
Two years ago, when I turned sixteen, Pearl moved out of the tower, and back to her estate in the woods. She spent sixteen years with me, I couldn’t ask her for more. This tower is for my protection, but it’s also my prison.
My veins house an ancient blood, one filled with magic, and because of it, I’m cursed. I was abandoned as a child on the steps of Pearl’s estate, and she was kind enough to raise me, even after she discovered the burden. She’s been kind and gentle, and all she ever asks of me is to never cut my hair.
And to never leave the tower.
If I step foot outside these stone walls, I will be hunted, and my body used for the essence it beholds. So I stay here, thankful to be alive, and thankful for Pearl’s protection. She’s powerful in her own right, and so beautiful that it makes my heart squeeze inside my chest whenever I see her.
The long, blonde hair, near white, and shining with luminescence. Her mismatched eyes, one brown and the other blue, just add to her allure, and her laugh. The huskiness of it does things to me. It’s hard to explain because she’s like a mother to me, but at the same time, I know we don’t share blood.
It’s unnatural for two women to fall in love, at least that’s what the anatomy books teach me. A man and woman are needed to procreate, a woman and another woman cannot. But I can’t help the way I feel.
Especially when she’s brushing my hair and humming a tune, one that strikes a chord deep down inside my stomach. It feels like she’s pulling something out of me, and when she’s done, I’m always so relaxed and drained of energy.
“Zel!” I sit up quickly, dropping the book I’m reading to the ground. “Zelinda, come open the door for your mother!”
The sound of her voice has my heart picking up and my body moving to her command before my mind has registered the words. I get to the enormous iron door and pull back all the locks and deadbolts. She pushes her way inside, and the scent of apples immediately assaults my senses.
“Hello, Mother,” I say quietly as her eyes rove over me from head to toe.
“I brought you apples,” she says, a slow smile climbing along her plush, pink lips.
The apples she grows in her orchard are my favorite, and she says I have been fond of them from the moment I could chew.
Her brows crash together in the center as she looks at the large bun holding up my knee-length honey-colored hair on top of my head.
“Zelinda,” she purrs. “Let down your hair.”