Daughter of Night

Chapter 12

Mary's POV

I wrapped my cloak tighter around my neck as I was greeted with a blast of cool midnight air.

"This way." Thomas whispered, taking my hand and quickly leading me to the stables. The baskets we carried slightly rustled against our legs as we ran. It was dark, but I knew where I was going. I had broken into the palace many times. I could get anywhere in the castle blindfolded. I knew very well where the stables were, but decided not to say anything as we rounded a corner and ended up at the entrance. Thomas jiggled the door handle but it wouldn't budge. "Damn it." He whispered and ran his hand through his hair. "It's never locked."

"Calm down, I got it." I said as I pulled a hairpin out if my bodice. A few moments later the door was open. Thomas turned to look at me, his eyes wide. "What?" I gave him a friendly shove with my shoulder. "How do you think I managed to break into your treasury so many times?" I strutted through the door, not giving him a chance to come up with a response. "Which ones yours?" I asked scanning each horse for some indication of royal ownership. I stopped when I noticed two horses who's stables were especially decorated. One with lavender trimming around the door and another with navy blue trimming. "Let me guess," I started, pointing at the lavender door. "this one?" Thomas chuckled and walked over towards me.

"That's Anastasia's. Though I love my horse I was always just the slightest bit jealous of hers." He looked at the horse with admiration. I could see why, the horse was beautiful. The beast was blessed with a shiny, almost luminescent pearly-cream coat and long white mane.

"It suits her." I said approvingly and went over to look at Thomas's horse. It was also very beautiful. A mahogany coat and matching burgundy mane. "And this one definitely suits you." I turned to look at Thomas and he shrugged. "I think whoever chose these for you knew what they were doing." A dark shadow swept across Thomas's eyes before he cleared his throat and opened his horse's stable.

Once we got everything set and secured on the horse, we mounted and started towards the witch's home. Thomas said it was about a days ride, and the sun was already starting to peak over the horizon. Thankfully we got out of there before any of the workers had time to wake up and start their day. The wind whipped through my hair as we rode into the forest. I clutched onto Thomas's waist (as it was his turn to drive the horse), trying to absorb as much of his warmth as possible. I don't know how long we rode before we stopped, but based on the sun's position it must have been close to noon. I lifted my right leg onto the lowest branch of a nearby tree and stretched, sighing at the satisfying crack in my hip.

"So how long do you think it'll take us to get there?" I asked lowering my leg and cracking my spine.

"Not sure..." Thomas carefully skimmed the map his sister gave him, occasionally looking up at the forest in front of him. "If we keep going west then we should be there well before nightfall." I slowly walked over to him and took the map.

"Well then." I rolled up the map and put it in his bag. "We should have plenty of time." I ran my fingers through his hair. "You need to relax. I mean, yeah you just busted me out of jail and we're on our way to see a witch that will most likely kill us, but hey. We're alive...for now." I kissed his cheek before walking towards the food. His facial expression hadn't changed. "Now come and eat something, you look like you're about to pass out." He sighed and pulled himself up onto his legs with exaggerated effort. I sliced some bread and cheese into equal portions and handed him one, which he took with a grumbled "thank you", and slumped down on a nearby tree stump.

I cautiously walked over to him and sat on the stump next to him. After what felt like hours of silent chewing, I spoke up. "Thomas?" He didn't even look at me, he just grunted in my general direction. "Thomas?!" I said a little stronger.

"What?" He muttered glancing at me briefly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He sighed deeply and buried his face in his hands, rubbing his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Mary." His palms muffled his already soft voice. "Just incredibly stressed I suppose."

Another hour of silence.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked gently holding his bicep between my hands.

"It's just...I'm worried this is a hopeless cause. That witch cursed us for a reason, it's not like a little begging and pleading is gonna get her to change her mind." I gently caressed his arm, trying my best to soothe him. "And I'm worried about my sister. She's the one that gave me the idea, she could get into so much trouble."

"She's going to be fine. Your sisters a tough nut to crack, she'll throw them far off our trail." I squeezed his arm playfully.

"I hope you're right..."

"Hey Thomas..." He looked at me as I slowly cupped his face with one hand and tangled my fingers in his hair with the other. I rubbed my nose against his and pecked his bottom lip, then his top lip and went in for a full kiss. I kissed him deeply, sighing as I felt the tension in his neck melt away as though it had never existed. I pulled away after a while, pleased to see how dazed he looked. "Better?" I said smiling triumphantly.

"Ooohhh yeah." He shook his head and blinked a few times. "Where did you learn to kiss like that?" I laughed and shrugged.

"I don't know, just happens."

"Well it should happen more often..." I giggled and kissed his cheek.

"Glad you're feeling better." I took a look at the sun. It was about an hour and a half until nightfall. "We should get going, we only have an hour if we wanna make it there before dark."