Escaping Midnight (Stand Alone Tales Book 8) Read online

  She smiled. “And no two berries grow on the same branch in the same place year after year. Each one is unique.”

  “And so each day that we have together will be unique.”

  She nodded and squeezed his hand. She pursed her lips and looked at her shoes. “So, the humans’ minds are blurred out, right? They don’t remember the last few days?”

  He grunted. “That is the way it works. They might have fleeting memories but nothing specific. The knowledge of your presence here is safe.”

  “That wasn’t what I had in mind. I simply want to lightly chastise them for their treatment of me, but I need your help.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  She rolled over in his arms and explained what she wanted him to do. First, she needed her ragged clothing.

  Adua got back to the manor before dawn. The elves had carried the ladies in and set them in their beds with a sack of gems for their efforts over the last few days.

  The elves bowed, and she nodded as they went to return the rest of the ladies to their respective homes.

  Adua cleaned and swept, made breakfast, and took care of the animals before heading out to forage with a swing in her step. The screaming and shouting from the house made her smile. Apparently, they didn’t like a cold breakfast.

  She went to visit her mother’s tree and shared her little revenge plan. The tree shivered, and giggling was in the leaves. Adua pressed her forehead to the trunk. “I love you, but did you have to throw in the ears? Ledock goes after them without hesitation.”

  There was a lot more shivering and laughter in the tree.

  After she had spent time with her mother, she headed back to the manor, just in time for the royal arrival.

  The knock at the door was normally hers to answer, but her stepmother pushed her aside and hissed, “Get back in the kitchen.”

  Adua nodded and retreated. She listened to the conversation that she had orchestrated, and she chortled when the sisters were trying to wedge their feet into the shoe that the king had altered. It might be her mother’s design, but they were still originally his boots. He controlled them.

  “Are there any other ladies in this household?” He said it somewhat impatiently.

  Her stepmother said, “No?”

  “What about the virgin who got the invitation to the ball? She was a member of your household.”

  The stepmother choked. “The virgin? How do you know about her?”

  Booted footsteps approached the kitchen, and she was sitting on the table, swinging her legs. Ledock smiled. “There you are.”

  He held out the glass shoe and smiled. “Perhaps you are the woman I danced with?”

  Her stepmother and sisters crammed into the doorway and watched as he removed the elven boot that she was wearing. He slipped the shoe on her foot, and it fit as if made for her, which it had been.

  Her stepmother screamed, and the girls sobbed. Adua ignored them and looked at Ledock. She pulled out her second glass shoe, and he slipped the boot off and the glass shoe on.

  She smiled. “I might have been the woman that you danced with.”

  He stepped forward and pinned her against the table. “I think you were the woman I fucked.”

  She blushed and clamped her hand over his mouth. “That is inexcusable language with a child in the room.”

  He pried her hand off, leaned in, and whispered his version of the events of the last few days graphically.

  She blushed. “Oh, yeah. That was definitely me.”

  He grinned and picked her up. She grabbed that morning’s boots on the way. She was not the kind to waste footwear.

  She whispered to him, “Make sure we get the books.”

  He nodded and gave the order to one of the men with them. He carried her to his horse, set her on the saddle, and then he slid in behind her.

  She snickered. “This is familiar.”

  He kissed her and shut her up.

  The horse wheeled and pivoted, bolting for the enchanted forest. As the hooves thundered, Ledock asked her, “Was it good for you?”

  She laughed and squirmed up so that she was close to his face. “Yes, thank you. I think they are still screaming.”

  He chuckled and turned her to face him, her thighs over his. “Speaking of screaming...”

  She wrapped her hands over his shoulders as he moved her skirt up and out of the way, “Aren’t we returning to the castle?”

  He smiled. “Eventually.”

  He opened his trousers, pulled her up against him, and licked and sucked at her ear. She squirmed and shrieked as her nerves were overloaded, and he kept up with it as he slid into her.

  The ride home took a long, long time.

  * * * *

  Ten months later...

  Adua watched Dahlia with the baby. Limhara was healthy, had golden hair, and the rich blue eyes of a baby. She was perfect.

  “So, Grandma, how sensitive are Nerom’s ears.”

  Dahlia looked up from her new great-granddaughter. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I can make him cum with my tongue.”

  Adua narrowed her eyes. “I knew it.”

  Dahlia looked at her. “Knew what?”

  “That they didn’t get less sensitive over time. Ledock lies about stuff like that.”

  She was smug. “That is why I got these.”

  Adua picked up a box from the gifts that had flooded in from the castle and town. She opened it and removed the set, placing one over each ear.

  Dahlia gasped. “Those are beautiful. What are they?”

  Adua grimaced. “Chastity belts for my ears. The hook goes over my ear, and the filigree reduces outside influences.” She tapped it with her finger and sighed in relief. “That’s better.”

  Dahlia snickered. “How long do you think that the king will let you leave those on?”

  Adua smiled. “As long as I want. At this point, I am just keeping stray breezes from getting my attention.”

  She paused. “Is the ear thing common?”

  Dahlia shook her head. “No. Out of all the elves I have met, only two have had that particular condition. It is delightfully rare.”

  Adua muttered, “Not rare enough.”

  Ledock and Nerom returned, servants walked behind them, bringing tea and a meal. Adua sat up and took the baby while Dahlia got her a plate and Nerom poured the tea.

  Ledock sat next to her and looked at their daughter. “Hello, princess.”

  Adua blinked. “Good grief, I never thought that she would end up with a title.”

  Ledock looked at her and paused. “What is on your ears?”

  “Armor. I am keeping my hair from arousing me.”

  He looked at her and smiled. “It looks lovely. Who made it?”

  “A jeweler in town. He did a tracing and worked from there.” She smiled.

  “He touched you?”

  “No. He pressed the paper to my ear and drew around it. No contact. I thought you would be perturbed by it, so I kept it to myself.” She didn’t mention who had helped her. He was still getting over someone touching his precious ears.

  He sighed. “I could have helped you.”

  “For the last ten months, every time I have asked you for assistance, you have simply chuckled and gone on to molest my ears. If we are going to be together for a suitably long period, I don’t want to be insane because of neurological overload.” She grimaced.

  He actually blushed slightly. “Ah, you really have been reading through my library.”

  She smiled, and the baby cooed. “And she is going to read as much of it as she wants, except for those manuals you keep on the third shelf. I will explain those to her at an appropriate time.”

  He grinned. “I will move them to a higher shelf and have our jeweler make you something less human-made. Just let me know how they are working.”

  “Well, I can no longer feel the breeze from the open window, so they are functioning well.”

 
; “First, shoes, and now, ear protection. You do require a bit of custom work.”

  She laughed and looked at their baby and the pointy little ears. “Of course. I was one of a kind.”

  “Was?”

  She lifted their daughter and handed her to him. “I was. Now we are the continuation of a legacy because Nerom and Dahlia got laid.”

  Her grandparents paused, and then, they laughed while Adua accepted tea and a small plate. It wasn’t an ideal ending to their story, but it was a fascinating start for Limhara’s.

  Author’s Note

  That takes care of Cinderella.

  For the next and last of these Stand-Alone Tales (for now, until another manic episode), I will tackle Beauty and the Beast. She’s wounded and honourably discharged from duty, and he is the guardian of his people’s future, watching the worlds around him and collecting beautiful things to better understand the place of the Others in the universe.

  Should be fun.

  Thanks for reading,

  Viola Grace

  About the Author

  Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.

  An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around, and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavors to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.

  In real life, she is now engaged in beekeeping, and her adventures can be found on the YouTube channel, Mystery Bees Apiary. Just look for the cartoon kittens.