#i see those wrists i see that swagger i see that gold chain i know in my heart your pronouns are he/they bitch dont play with me

[usercelestial]

i love season three of umbrella academy because there's a point where i think the show is like okay we have to make sparrow!ben different enough from umbrella!ben and the conclusion they came to was to make him just a little bit ✨ gay ✨

[vesperlionheart]

The Golden Bridle (1/2)

@ofhealinglove Hey, remember that selkie ask you wanted to see? I tried. It’s not selkies, but it is a MadaSaku and hopefully that’s good enough. 

Sakura knew what it felt like to snap a neck. Some would say she was intimately familiar with the technique after a dozen decades of living cursed. She knew the pressure and swiftness required to cut a life short. The fact that the creature between her hands was only two and half feet with ears longer than her face didn’t change a thing. She could snap a brownie’s neck just as fast as a man’s.

“You know who I am, don’t you?” she sighed easily.

“Down, down, down,” the dirty humanoid creature chanted, fear making his eyes color brightly.

“The bounty, friend. You’ve been running for the wrong gang too many years and now it’s time to pay up.” Sakura eased her thumbs up over the sides of the brownie’s face. Her smile turned cruel. “So, pay.”  

The chittering pitched higher as the creature panicked, but Sakura didn’t flinch. It scratched and flailed but she didn’t move. Her hold was iron for as long as it needed to be.

The brownie stopped fighting in her hands. A moment later the illusion he had been holding up melted away. Sakura grinned at the revealed secret passage, happy enough to drop the magical creature and let him scamper away.

Sakura let her hips swagger a bit as she skipped throat the ruined illusion, singing to herself. The room was familiar the way chain restaurants were familiar. Sakura had never been in that exact room before, but plenty of hoarding wizards had the same style when it came to decorating their treasure rooms.

Sakura picked her way through, recognizing some items for their magical importance, and others for their monetary value. Boots that traveled seven leagues, a short table that never ran out of food, a sack that held the calvary of a long dead kingdom…yes, she recognized a good number of the items.

“He’s terrible,” Sakura sighed aloud. “No wonder the bounty is so high. This stuff belongs to….” Sakura started to count off names in her head and frowned when she only came up with six. “Well, I know where most of it goes. Too bad only one person was willing to pay me for it.”

Not caring for the older collectors who had suffered theft and were unwilling to contract her to retrieve their stolen items, Sakura made her way through the mounds of loot until she found the diamond encrusted egg that hid the spirit of a wizard caught scrying on someone he shouldn’t have. The poor wizards’s wife was only too willing to fund anyone competent enough to retrieve her scatterbrained husband.

“And now to take something for myself,” Sakura mused aloud, pocketing the egg and staring out across the room for something interesting. It was a habit, to always pinch a little extra in case the employer renegade on payment. That hadn’t happened in years, but the ritual stuck.

Sakura came across a corner that reeked of abjuration magic.

“This is either terrible or wonderful,” Sakura breathed, cracking open a chest and reaching inside.

Her hand hit something soft and warm. She grabbed it tight and yanked it free, unfolding a gray seal skin that still smelled like the sea. A Selki’s pelt.

“Not worth much,” she huffed aloud, shouldering it to look again inside the chest.

She felt the cold touch of magic and yanked on what felt like a rope. A golden lead followed her hand out, but instead of attaching to a bridle, the lead unwound endlessly, indicating that the creature on the other end was miles away, doing the master’s bidding.

She took both the golden lead and the pelt, but also helped herself to a magic mirror that showed the past ‘through the eyes of the lowest among us.’ Sakura guessed by the etching of the rats on the back, what sort of vantage the mirror would offer.

With her bounty in toe, Sakura set off to collect her payment from a grieving wife and then deal with her own business. She was sure in time she’d be able to find the owner of the seal skin, but the easiest thing to do next would be to follow the golden lead and see where it ended.

So that’s what she did.

With the money from her recovery and the seal pelt both locked safely away, Sakura found the free time to follow the never ending lead as it took her from city to town, to village, to the dark moor of a fallen fae king. The muck came up to her ankles, but she walked on top of most of it, kicking her way through in her wet boots until the lead ended.

Sakura whistled low and snapped her wrist, sending a ripple down the length of gold until it smacked the side of the malnourished beast of burden. She had seen ponies and she had seen workhorses, but a Kelpie was neither of those things.

The black water horse looked up at her through a shaggy tangle of even darker hair, with red eyes too dim to scare even children. Sakura could count his ribs for how far they stood out and it made her grimace. There were scars around his fetlocks, criss crossing all the way up to his knees. The scars made her gut roll.

Sakura hopped off the lip of a grass mound and began to wade through the shallow waters, too low to drown in. When she was close enough the Kelpie drew his head back and whined low. In spite of the torture, his eyes were back to burning red when he saw who she was.

“You’re not him,” he rumbled. His voice was ancient and echoed of a time before the fae fell pray to men’s magic. He was one of the old monsters, she guessed.

“I’m not, but I have his magic bridle because I’m more powerful and better looking. My name’s Sakura. Who are you?”

The dark horse glanced down at the gold lead coiled up in her hand and bowed his head, glaring up resentfully through his bangs. “I am Madara. What do you wish of me…master?”

Sakura made a sour face, scrunching up the skin around her mouth and nose. “Ew. No, none of that. Quit it, I’m not like that bastard. Just stay still for now and don’t try to eat me because it won’t go well for you if you try. Hang on…”

Sakura closed the distance between them and reached up for where the bridle latched together. There were two places she had to open, but once they were loose she pulled the rest down off his long face. The golden lead dissolved from the extinguished magic and Sakura cradled the rest of the bridle in both hands, holding it while the gold light of its enchantment dimmed.

“There,” Sakura breathed. “All better?”

The Kelpie had been painfully still since she first reached for his face, but even after dragging the bridle off he stayed like stone. The one eye she could see was blown wide, and the whites around the dancing red pupil made her think he was in shock.

Sakura brushed the hair of his face back, combing with her nails and dragging them through the muck that still clung to him. She tisked at the filth and snapped her wrist to fling it off her fingers.

“He really didn’t even try to take care of you, did he? I’m sure you’ll do better,” she said.

Sakura stepped back and threw the bridle over her shoulder. There were enough grassy patches to pick her way up the slope that lead back to the footpath she had followed. It had taken her the better part of a day to follow the lead, but she didn’t tire like other humans, so she didn’t mind it when she realized it would be past midnight before she saw the lights of man’s world.

“Wait!”

Sakura looked back and saw the Kelpie had finally moved.

“You, what do you want of me?” he asked, sounding almost frantic.

“Try not to eat any children I guess. Someone will come to kill you if you go back to drowning humans, but there is plenty to feed on in the fae wilds.” Sakura snapped her fingers and then made her hand into a gun shape that she wagged in his direction. She paired the gesture with a sloppy, lazy smile. “That’s just some free advice though.”

“You can’t command me anymore. Why are you telling me this?” He stomped a single hoof, still sounding agitated. There was frantic magic all around him too.

“I just told you, silly, its free advice not a command. I knew what I was doing when I took this off of you. I’m not stupid,” she scoffed.

His eyes were still wide. “Then why?”

Sakura didn’t like the way he watched her, so she turned around and started to head back. When she answered it was a shout over her shoulder. “I don’t like seeing things chained up. Don’t think too much about it.” She waved a hand up in the air, hoping he saw it. “Have a happy life!”

He didn’t follow her, though she heard him climb out of the mud pit and stamp around on the road behind her for a ways. Eventually he stopped before the moors could, and let her go through the mists that uncurled around dusk. It was nearly dawn by the time she made it back to the apartment and by then she was barely awake enough to shower and dress for bed.

She fell asleep just before dawn and slept until noon.

Hunger was what eventually drove her out of bed. With her refrigerator empty, she forced herself to dress and sniff out enough human money for a good meaty midday meal from her favorite pub down the street.

It was a dark day outside, but she didn’t mind the shade the way some others did. Before she could make it to the pub the rains rolled in and she ended up nearly drenched by the time she arrived.

“No umbrella?” the owner laughed at her, face red with cheer and ale.

“Who owns an umbrella?” Sakura snapped back, shedding her jacket and snapping most of the rain water from it before hanging it up by the door. “I was told you just needed to dodge the raindrops.”

“Then what happened to you little miss?” he laughed back, already pouring her a frothing stout to go along with her meal. There was bread ready for her to butter next to her usual seat at the bar.

“I didn’t see the point in it, since I figured I was coming here to get sloshed anyway.”

Someone at the far end of the bar raised his stein and laughed, saluting her before staining his beard with froth. The pub owner chuckled and dipped away to prepare her chicken the way she liked it.

Sakura leaned back and tore through the bread, knowing it wouldn’t be enough to fill her, but loving the taste of it all the same. There was a television mounted up in the back with football reruns playing. It was still exciting enough to entertain a few of the regulars.

Sakura did a sweep of the room, noting only a few new faces. Most everyone else was a regular. Some seemed to live at The Angel’s Trumpet Pub and Meals.

One of the faces belonged to someone she had never seen before, and that was rare because Sakura was just paranoid enough to spend whole days watching the world through pub windows until she was sure she had memorized enough of the township to tell locals apart from interlopers. Sakura drank deep and then called for a second once her first mug ran dry.

Her plates of food came out, one after the other, and she ate through the first one before she noticed the staring of the stranger. Yamato was working behind the counter so she waved him down and then asked him for a pale ale to be served at the stranger’s table. If he knew who it came from she’d risk an encounter. If he didn’t…well, it wasn’t like she was worried or anything.

She was halfway through her second plate and fourth drink when he settled into the seat beside her. Sakura drank deep and then reached for another roll before sliding the empty basket down to Yamato’s end to fill up again. She tore open the biscuit with her teeth and watched the dark stranger.

He was taller than her, like most men were, with wild black hair barely braided back. His eyes were just as dark as the rest of him and his clothes were timeless trousers and a loose white shirt rolled up his forearms enough to expose the criss crossing scars.

“Oh, you,” Sakura breathed, feeling some of the lingering tension ease out. “Human you. Hey, nice look.”

Madara inclined his head and the picked up the ale, gesturing to it before taking a long pull. When he set it back down half of it was gone.

Sakura whistled low.

“What’s brought you out into the people places?” Sakura teased. She bit off another chunk of her roll. “I thought you’d be eager to see the wilds. There’s nothing keeping you back is there?”

She asked it like a question but it really wasn’t a question. The enchantment was null and void, but Madara had been a prisoner for so long, he probably forgot what it felt like to be free.

“I am considering it. I had some other matters of business to attend to and a few questions I was hoping you could answer,” Madara said, watching her.

Sakura finished her last roll and reached for her drink. “Sure. What can I do for you?”

“The magician you took the bridle from. He….?”

Sakura made a gesture with her finger under her throat and then winked. “You won’t have to worry about him. It’s just his hold out minions who are a pain in the ass. You not worried about them, are ya?”

Madara shook his head slowly.

“What else can I help you with?”

“The bridle, how did you come to possess it?” Madara asked.

“It wasn’t doing him any good where it was. I was looking for something else but after I found it I picked up a few other trinkets for myself and I have….issues? Yeah, I guess you could call them issues. No yeah, I have issues with binding magic like yours so I picked up the bridle when I found it and then just followed it to you.”

“Why?”

Sakura made a face like she didn’t understand the question, so Madara leaned forward and asked again.

“Why did you bother to free me?”

“Why not?”

He blinked, pulling back to see her better. Sakura skipped over the fork and picked at the chicken with her fingers and tore through it the same way she tore through her bread, not caring if he saw her make a mess.

“You are an odd human,” he finally concluded.

“I’ve been called worse.”

“You know I am dangerous. You would say I am a monster, no?”

Sakura rolled her eyes, wiping her mouth with the back of her wrist as she leaned back on her stool. “Sure, yeah, I guess I can agree with that. Your kind has been known to eat kids, on occasion, but that’s rare, from what I know. You prefer animal to human, yes? Can’t blame you for that. I’d be a hypocrite,” Sakura laughed and held up what was left of her chicken.

“You still risked it. What if I had been a terrible creature locked away with good reason? Would you still have freed me as you did?”

Madara was still watching her and his voice made her want to bed down and sleep, it was so soft and smooth. She knew it wasn’t intentional. She had listened to enough thralls and fought off enough mind altering enchantments to know when she was being manipulated. Madara’s voice was just pleasant and there wasn’t anything more to it than that.

“Madara.”

She called his name to get his attention. When she spoke his name aloud the Kelpie sat up straighter in his seat and went rigid. She thought it reminded her of how work dogs stood at attention when their masters called. Something in her stomach rolled unpleasantly when she thought how long the abjuration magic must of lasted. There was nobility in his beautiful features. She didn’t doubt Orochimaru spent decades breaking him.

“Look, the guy I stole your bridle from was a horrible guy. He was…one of the worst humans I have ever had the misfortune of running across. I’ve known plenty of bad guys, and he was one of the worst. There’s nothing good that comes from shackles and slavery. Even if you had been the world’s worst monster, I would have wanted to free you, even if just to kill you. It’s just who I am. It’s my epic flaw, if you will,” she laughed. “If I’m free to do as I please, I’d free you again, no questions asked.”

“But…why?”

His eyes were full of questions, but they all hinged on that single word.

Sakura drained what was left of her drink and reached into her pockets for the thick wad of bills. She counted out enough to be generous for both her portion and Madara’s.

“Look, it’s just who I am, friend. Don’t think too much about it.”

Sakura threw the bills down and grabbed what was left of her chicken to swallow whole, bones and all. Her eyes gleamed bright for a moment more before she exhaled comfortably. Madara turned in his seat to watch her as she headed towards the door. She waved her hand up in the air behind her. “Have a happy life.”

She didn’t know if he would be at the Angel’s Trumpet if she went back, but Sakura didn’t risk it for the next week as she ran back and forth, paying favor for favor as she tried to hunt down new treasures and clues.

Orochimaru had plenty of spawns that were still slithering out from the cracks left in his grave, and as strong as Sakura was, she wasn’t eager to wrestle with any of them. She heard that she had pissed off some of them, and they were even more of a headache to deal with when pissed off.

But eventually the days passed, one after the other. And then the weeks passed. Sakura forgot about the kelpie and remember her hunger.

It was raining again when she stepped in and slapped her jacket in mid air, freeing it from excess rainwater. She left it on the hook by the door and waved to Yamato at the bar, taking her usual seat.

Sakura scanned the room for new and old faces, but only recognized all she saw.  

“Looking for someone you missed?”

Sakura cradled her head in her hand, leaning over the counter. Yamato offered her a basket of bread to pick out of, but Sakura took the entire basket from his hands.

“You’re too observant for your own good,” she grumbled.

“The trees have eyes,” Yamato laughed, wiggling his fingers in her direction while backing up to return to the kitchens.

“Go live in a forest, green man!” Sakura hollered. She bit into her bread and then swallowed. “And bring me a beer while you’re at it.”

Yamato reemerged a moment later with a plate for someone else, but got her drink from the tap before she could complain a second time. Before she could have the first sip, Yamato tugged it back out of her reach and leaned in.

“What?” Sakura growled, feeling more irritated than usual. She had stayed away too long, she missed her comfort food and was cranky for it. Freedom had spoiled her.

“Tell me I’m your favorite wood kin,” Yamato teased, holding her drink just out of reach.

“And why would I do something like that?”

“Because it’s true.” Yamato’s grin was suspicious.

“Doesn’t mean I’d admit it. I’d break Hashirama’s heart.”

Sakura grabbed for her drink but Yamato was persistent. One of the drunk regulars lifted his head out of his arms long enough to whistle at them before his head fell back. A couple more men laughed but for the most part Yamato’s antics went ignored.

“You’ve been terrible. If someone asked me what ungrateful looked like I’d show them a picture of you. On top of being a hold out you’re also unfaithful. Weren’t we supposed to be bosom buddies?”

Sakura curled her lip in annoyance. “I swear, I think I might have to decapitate you again if you don’t give me my drink.”

“I’d just grow it back,” Yamato teased, knowing that he could survive losing his head the way all Green Men and wood kin could.

“It’s still hurt like a bitch though, so hand the drink over. I’m hangry.”

Yamato relented and let her have her drink before pushing off the counter. “Fine, be that way. I gave you a chance, just remember that. The cook will bring you your food, not me.”

Sakura flipped him the bird and Yamato saw it, but he just smiled wide at her in a way that made her stomach lurch. He was a tricky bastard. What was he planning?

“If your food sucks I’ll never come back here,” Sakura hollered down the bar.

Yamato laughed. “As if you could.”

Sakura tore into a new roll and then drank deep from her beer. She and Yamato had known each other too long and been through too much to get along so well, but at the same time there were few who understood Sakura as well as Yamato, who had been a child broken by Orochimaru’s mad schemes. She hadn’t been the victim of another human, but she understood Yamato better than most.

Which is why her stomach refused to settle.

“Maybe I should just chop off a leg this time,” Sakura muttered to herself. She tilted her glass back and the empty bottom greeter her. She set it down when she heard her dinner on the counter, excitement building as the aroma hit her.

But it wasn’t the food she noticed first.

“Oh, it’s you!” she exclaimed, leaning back. His memory came to her mind a second later. “Madara, right?”

The newly freed Kelpie was wearing a chief’s uniform and had his hair braided back more neatly than the last time she remembered seeing him.

He spoke with an easy smile. “You remembered my name, Sakura.”

“Hang on, something is more important right now,” Sakura exclaimed.

He went still to watch her as Sakura tugged her steak closer to stab at it with her fork and knife. She cut a piece away, watching him wearily as she chewed. A second later her serious expression melted into a smile and she nodded.  

“Okay, now we can talk. You made a good steak, I don’t have to hate you.”

His eyes seemed to twinkle as the corners creased along with his smile. “That would have been unfortunate. I might have lost my job here if I couldn’t prepare a decent steak.”

“It’s more than just decent. You’re not in any danger,” Sakura said before taking another forkful. “So what are you doing here, other than making decent steak?”

“Apparently one needs money in order to afford goods and services in this world.”

“Sucks, man,” Sakura sighed. “But aside from that, what are you still doing on this side? You could cross over to the fae wilds, can’t you? That place is pretty desolate, you wouldn’t have to worry too much about if you went all natural over there.”

“But you live here,” he said. “In this world.”

Sakura nodded. “Yeah,I do, but this is where most humans live. I’m a badass, but I’m not anything extra special when it comes to species.”

Madara nodded along, watching her while she ate. “I realized that pretty early on. I was curious why you would encourage me to travel to the fae realms. You didn’t seem the type to enjoy trapping into realms not suited to your kind.”  

He couldn’t have known about her past, so she chose not to bristle at the suggestion.  

“I avoid the fae places almost enterally if I can help it,” she laughed. “I’ve spent enough lifetimes over there to grow sick of it, trust me. Plus, the food and drink are incomparable. Have you had much human food yet? It has real taste!”

Madara offered to take her glass for a refill and she happily passed it off for him. He spoke while operating the tap. “I’ve enjoyed much of what I’ve tried so far. I don’t think it will be hard to adapt to life here. You enjoy this pub, don’t you?”

“I love it. I’ve been coming here for years. You’re lucky to have a job in such a fun place. If Yamato ever gives you too much trouble tell me and I’ll throttle him for ya.”

Her words made him laugh as he handed her drink back over. Sakura accepted it with a nod of thanks and a salute before tipping it back to wash her throat. She wondered if he would be heading back into the kitchens soon, or if he was on break, since he didn’t look like he had any intention of leaving.

“He’s been nothing but amicable,” Madara assured her, referring to Yamato.

“Well, at least he’s nice to one of us!” Sakura hollered. From across the room Yamato hear her and looked up. His smile was wide and far too devious for her liking. She flipped him off again and then took another drink. “The cheep bastard is just a right asshole to me most of the time.”

“I was under the impression that Yamato thought highly of you. He shared with me some stories about how you know each other. You were very helpful in liberating him and his kind at one point.”

Sakura blinked before it occurred to her that Madara and Yamato shared a common enemy. Madara had been trapped by the golden bridle found in Orochimaru’s belonging, while Yamato had been the result of a direct experiment involving humans and wood kin magic. Both men must have been able to bond over their hatred of Orochimaru.

“I hope he didn’t tell you too many stories about me,” Sakura groaned. “He must have bored you.”

“No, I asked specifically for more information on the human that saved me and he didn’t ask for anything in return. You just left and I thought I could work here and wait until you came back, but that was many days ago now.”

Sakura took a bread roll and used it to wipe up what was left of her meat’s juices. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you still had questions for me. I guess I could have been more helpful if you really do plan on living in the human’s realm.”

“Well, this is where you live,” Madara said, sounding like it was the most obvious thing in the world to comment on. He pat at something at his waist and then reached into the pocket of his pants. “But it was good that you stayed away so long, I think, since this took a while to earn.”

“Oh?” Sakura was puzzled by what Madara seemed to be implying. In the far corner Yamato was wiping down at table while watching them. He wasn’t even trying to be subtle and it irked her.

“Here, this is for you,” Madara said, setting a small velvet box on the counter.

Sakura wiped her hands on her jeans under the bar, frowning at the box. It looked familiar but she couldn’t tell from where. It wouldn’t be the first time a freed or rescued creature thanked her with a token, but the box was weirding her out.

When she glanced up at Madara he seemed too transfixed on her every movement, watching her with midnight black eyes that sparkled like something from a distant midnight.

Sakura reached for the box and cracked it open. It unfolded to show off a pretty gold band with a diamond in the center. It made her stomach flip when she recognized it.

“Madara, this is an engagement ring,” she chuckled nervously. Yamato was in the back, watching with the widest smile imaginable. “This is too much.”

“I thought it would be appropriate to do things according to human customs as well, since you are also human.” Madara’s smile spread and the twinkling of his eyes was almost boyish. “I didn’t know that there was such a thing until Yamato told me.”  

Sakura didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or scream, but she knew her neck was itchy and her face was hot as the handsome kelpie creature watched her with an intensity that was all too recognizable. “But Madara, this is-this isn’t appropriate for a thank you. This is something you get for someone you want to marry.”

“I know that now. I had been wondering why you didn’t come back and I worried it was something I had missed, but Yamato explained all the customs to me. They’re a little different from Kelpi custom, but you don’t have to worry about those anymore. You already gave me my freedom so there’s nothing else to do.”

Sakura could drink any old man under the table, but after only two beers she was starting to feel the room spin.

“Madara…do you think we’re married?”

“Almost,” he breathed, blushing only slightly. “But I hope the human customs won’t take much longer.”

Sakura leaned back in her seat, away from the bar and the box with the ring. Madara didn’t look away and the intensity of his stare was making her feel like the room was the deck of a ship in a storm. Everything rocked and he was still too handsome to look at.

“I thought that was-I didn’t think you guys did that anymore. Only the really old fashioned selkies would-would still do ‘event’ marriages. Is this normal for kelpie?”

“It’s quite common. Potential spouses would try to bind their love or catch their potential mate, only to ‘free’ them from their singleness. I’ll admit my freeing was a little unorthodox, but I couldn’t have been happier with my match. I don’t want anyone else but you. I’me dedicated to only you!”

Madara reached across the bar and grabbed for her hands, securing her wrists first and sliding down until her hands were trapped in his. He pulled her closer and kissed her knuckles.

“Madara…” Sakura couldn’t find her voice.

“Don’t worry, love, I promise you we can take it slow until the wedding, but I’m so happy you chose me.” He angled his face so that he stared up at her through his heavy lashes. A few stray bangs fell out from the braid, framing his face. He seemed impossibly beautiful and she couldn’t help but panic as he loomed closer, shadowing her with the blush still high on his cheeks. He kissed her fingers again before breathing over them. “Don’t expect me to hold back from now on.”

Madara looked so lovestruck and in that moment all of Yamato’s evil grinning in the background made sense.

[supremeuppityone]

“Why don’t you just take your broomstick and shove it?”

Klaroween Bingo prompt: “Why don’t you just take your broomstick and shove it?”

           Caroline had escaped the noose before. No reason to think she couldn’t do it again. All witches led two lives — the false life in which the face they showed the world was a mask, carefully crafted to protect them from the ignorant masses, and then their true life, the one in which they dance between realms and conjure their hearts’ deepest desire.

           When Magistrate Niklaus first accused Caroline of witchcraft, she’d barely begun to grasp the depths of her power. She’d easily convinced the council of elders that her crimes were nothing more than an innocent, childish fascination. 

           But that was before she’d opened the portal. It had been mostly through luck, but from the moment she saw the swirling, dizzying vortex of demons and felt that immense surge of power, she knew it was fate. The pull of that realm called to her, and she found herself leaving this world to wander the cursed hellscape more and more, and her absence hadn’t gone unnoticed in the village. Especially by Magistrate Niklaus.

           Magistrate Niklaus’ interest in her was nothing short of vexing, and had he been less of an arrogant, insufferable man who always lorded his powerful position within the community over the villagers, she might have been intrigued. The heat of his gaze sparked something within her, and though he seldom smiled, whenever he did those smiles always seemed directed at her, with just a hint of flirtation in his dimples. But she refused to allow him to coax her into a handfasting that would serve to clip her wings and keep her subservient. No matter how pretty his words may be.

           Caroline had been so anxious to return to the demonic portal and feel that burst of power electrify her being once more that she failed to take the necessary precautions and Magistrate Niklaus had seen everything. The shock on his handsome face quickly was replaced by an unreadable expression, and he’d hauled her to the jail near the edge of the village without a word. At first, she’d assumed the council of elders would question her as they did before, possibly engage in a bit of torture to try to break her, but instead, she’d been left alone to plot her escape.

           Should she turn into a begging, crying mess to garner a sympathetic ear or use her power to sway her accuser to release her? Before she’d decided on the best strategy, the door creaked open, Magistrate Niklaus approaching her with his usual confident swagger. “What an unexpected mess you’ve landed in, Mistress Forbes,” he told her in a tone of amusement which set her teeth on edge.

           Because he already harbored an inconvenient affection for her, Caroline decided to employ her powers to persuade him of her innocence. “You know in your heart I’ve been falsely accused. Nothing would please you further than to set me free and restore my good name,” she told him softly, her power threading through her words as she gave him a gentle smile.

           Gray eyes seemed to cloud in confusion as he blinked at her, and for one golden, triumphant moment, she believed it had worked and she would walk out of jail at any moment. Then, his lips turned up in amusement, tossing back his dirty blonde curls as he laughed heartily at her while she scowled at him. “I’ve never met a witch whose power and charm were found in equal measure, Mistress Forbes.” Clasping his hands behind his back, he added teasingly, “Tell me, love, did you use your influence upon the elder Master Lockwood? He’s normally quite disagreeable when it comes to his wares, and yet he agreed to craft a very fine set of shoes for your mare without charging a single shilling.”

           Forgetting herself, she burst out, “Why didn’t that work on you?” At his impassive expression, she realized he had no intention of answering her question until she answered his. With an irritated noise of displeasure, she finally replied, “That old married letch is nearly thrice my age and when my plow horse threw a shoe, he had the audacity to offer a dismissal of payment if I pledged to help him keep his forge burning hot.” Rolling her eyes, she snorted in disgust, “A new set of horse shoes was the least that despicable man could gift me after having to endure his offensive proposition. He’s fortunate I kept my temper and didn’t influence him into giving me ownership of one of his parcels of land.”

           With a small chuckle, Magistrate Niklaus acknowledged, “I admire that fire you have, sweetheart. It’s what drew me to you and my interest has only grown with this pleasant discovery of who you are. Of what you are.” He knelt beside her, his long black cloak sweeping the stone floor as he grasped her shackled hands in his as he told her, “And you’ll find your powers won’t work on me — at least not the way you assume they would.”

           “What do you mean,” Caroline asked him suspiciously, yanking back her hands with a harsh clanking of her chains.

           Smirking at her, the steel in his familiar gray eyes suddenly was replaced with red and gold flames as he answered, “You’ve been a frequent traveler in my homeland; surely you recognize one of my kind by now?”

           Gasping in surprise, she said, “You’re a demon? How did you hide yourself all this time?”

           “Well, part demon and part witch,” Magistrate Niklaus amended, tapping the metal that bound her wrists in a teasing manner, telling her, “And yet you kept insisting we had nothing in common, sweetheart. Such a vexing thing you are.”

           Bristling at his mockery, Caroline asked sharply, “What do you want from me, Magistrate Niklaus?”

           “Everything, of course. But first, I wish for you to free my family who were cursed into that hellscape.” At her scoff, he narrowed his eyes, his tone a bit more threatening as he told her, “You don’t wish for me to mark you as an enemy, love. A single word from me and the council of elders would see you hang for your crimes.”

           Scrambling to her feet, she glared down at him, hissing, “Why don’t you just take your broomstick and shove it?”

           He leisurely took his time standing, a knowing smirk on his face as his arrogant tone echoed in the small cell. “I always enjoy spirited negotiations, Mistress Forbes.”