Entangle (A Lure Novella)

  Chapter 3

  Tova had kissed me. She’d actually kissed me. I used to think about it sometimes, but I never thought it would actually happen. I wasn’t strong enough for her. But she kissed me! Of her own free will!

  I stayed in bed an extra few minutes the next morning, replaying it in my head. Mum had to shout at me to get my attention. “I’m up, I’m up.” She kept shouting for me to wake up and get going. “And I’m leaving. Bye!” I slid through the door without grabbing breakfast and the shouting cut off abruptly.

  My good mood was not lessened in the slightest. I practically bounced to the shop. Even Harold noticed. I could tell because he looked at me like I was insane all day. That’s similar to how he usually looks at me, especially when I try to tell stories, but I hadn’t done that today.

  I met up with Tova again that night. This time she slipped out of the house before her mother could pester her. She’d kept the sword with her even though it made me nervous that her parents could find it. She’d stashed it around the side of the house behind some planters. She grabbed it from there, and we went to our place in the field. She kissed me again that night. I still couldn’t believe it.

  There were a few weeks of bliss, and I savored every minute of them. I’m not sure if Tova told them or they figured it out on their own, but her parents found out about our relationship. They were thrilled. Tova seemed to think it was awkward, but I didn’t mind. Eventually she got over it, and we started openly acknowledging it. I could see her mother’s mind at work, already planning our engagement party and wedding. Again, I didn’t mind.

  I was having dinner with them one evening, and her mother was chattering away. “Oh, and the Dahl’s are having an engagement party for their son, Felix, and his fiancé—Hannah is her name—you do know them, right? Anyhow, you two should come! Oh, it will be delightful. Dancing and drinking and it’ll be wonderful for you to be friends with them. Both great families, the Dahls and Evans, and maybe they’ll even have some tips for you two when you get engaged. Oh, it’ll be so wonderful…” And on and on she went, so happy.

  I smiled at Tova across the table. She looked bored by her mother’s ramblings. “That does sound nice actually. We should go,” I said quietly. Not that I needed to because it didn’t even cause her mother to pause.

  “Really? I know Hannah. She works for the family next door to Bowens and every time I’ve said hello to her, she turns her nose up at me.” Tova rolled her eyes. “As if she’s better than me. She’s a lowly maid too.”

  “Maybe she won’t be so bad if we get to know her.” That was a lie. I knew Hannah and Felix too, and I already knew we’d hate them no matter how much we socialized with them. But still, I wanted to go. I wanted to show off this couple status any chance I got now. I couldn’t say that though. Tova stared at me like I was dim. “And if she is that bad, we’ll have new villain material for your battles.” I winked at her, and she snorted in laughter.

  “Alright, you and Mum win.”

  Her mother somehow heard that part. “Oh, lovely! I’ll let them know tomorrow. I’ll pick out something decent for you to wear, and Randolph, try to find something of your father’s perhaps?” And her rambling continued.

  It was the night before the party that things took a turn for the worse. It had started out normal enough, with Tova’s mother’s excited chatter. When dinner was finished we would normally go to our field (or ‘take a walk’ as her parents thought). But tonight, the meal had been so filling that I slouched in my chair sleepily. Even Tova, usually bursting with energy, slowed down and suggested calling it an early night.

  We were all settling deeper into our seats when a crash sounded outside the window. “Oh, what’s that racket?” Tova’s mother asked.

  “Would you like me to investigate?” I asked.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it, Randolph. Tomas will go.” Tova’s father perked up slightly when he was called upon. He got up and tiredly made his way over to the window.

  He opened it and sighed. “It’s only a gnome,” he said. They found their way into town from time to time. They weren’t much danger; they just liked to irritate fairies, usually by breaking their things. They’d get bored when no one reacted though. We all relaxed again, choosing to ignore it. But then Tova’s head shot up from where it was resting on the table. She looked at me wide eyed. I didn’t understand, so I met her gaze with a questioning one. “You know what? I don’t want a gnome to make more chores for us. I’ll go take care of it.”

  What? Why? It wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t want to ask though because I didn’t want to blow whatever she was up to. I didn’t know if I should follow her or stay, so I shifted in my seat strangely.

  “You don’t need to, honey,” her father said.

  “But I will. Then we won’t have to deal with this in the morning.”

  “If it bothers you that much, let me,” he countered.

  “No, no. I’ve got this.”

  “Tova—” Before he could finish, she was out the door, and he was following. I heard some banging and breaking pottery. “Tova,” he tried again.

  “I’m fine. I can handle this. Go back inside with Mum.” I heard him sigh, probably deciding she was in fact fine and about to leave her to whatever it was she was doing. But then the gnome screeched. She must have made it mad.

  Tova grunted, and the gnome shouted at her in its odd language. Her mother and I ran to the window. Luckily, the gnome was running away. Tova was holding her sword. That must have been why she went out there. She didn’t want the creature to damage it.

  I glanced over at her mother, expecting her to share my relief that it hadn’t gotten out of hand. But she looked furious. Her eyes flicked between Tova and the sword and the neighbors next door that could see them through their window. As if he could feel his wife’s anger, her father took her by the arm and pulled her into the house. Her mother shut the curtains on the window and faced Tova. She gestured to the sword. “What is the meaning of this?”

  “It’s a wooden sword,” Tova deadpanned.

  “Why do you have it?”

  Tova only looked at her mother defiantly. She didn’t tell her that I gave it to her or that we went out almost every night so she could practice. She didn’t implicate me, but her mother got it anyway. “Your father and I thought you’d finally come to your senses. We thought you were out being courted like a good girl, not doing this again.”

  I jumped to her defense. “That’s not a lie. We are together, and I do love her.”

  They didn’t listen. “Mum, what is so bad about this?”

  “What’s bad is that it’s unladylike! You need to grow out of this phase of pretending to fight and acting like a boy! You need to become a respectable woman!”

  “Why?! What if this isn’t a phase? And what if I don’t become your idea of a respectable woman? I like being this way!”

  “It’s unacceptable, Tova! You’ll never fit into society this way!”

  “I don’t care about fitting into society! I don’t want to be a maid for the rest of my life!”

  “That’s your lot, Tova! Why can’t you accept that?! There are many worse things to be stuck as!”

  “But I won’t be! I refuse! I’ll be what I want to be!” And with that she stormed out.

  I was about to follow her when her mother grasped my shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to overhear that, dear,” she said completely calmly as if she hadn’t just been screaming at her daughter.

  “Uh…” I thought she’d be mad at me too, since I’d given her the sword in the first place.

  “Could you try talking some sense into her?”

  “Um…”

  “Surely you understand. You have a normal job, and it’s great”—she really thought that?—“and she’ll listen to you. You can convince her to leave this silliness in the past.” I still didn’t respond. “I just want my daughter to have a normal, happy life.”

  She led me to the door. I didn’t have time to
protest before I was pushed outside. I looked at the closed door and sighed. I found Tova in our usual place. In her anger, she was thrusting the sword harder and faster than I’d ever seen. I approached slowly to avoid being impaled.

  She stopped abruptly at the sight of me. I opened my mouth but nothing came out because I still hadn’t figured out what to say. “Don’t tell me to stop, Randolph,” she said, pointing the tip of the sword at my heart.

  Footsteps came up behind me, and Tova’s gaze momentarily left me to take in the newcomer. It was one of the neighbors from next door. A man, I think his name was Florian. He stopped at my side and looked at Tova, who glared at him, daring him to say something. “Your skills are quite impressive for one with no formal training,” he said.

  My eyebrows shot up. Tova’s did too, all the way up her forehead. She sputtered for a second. His words were not something she’d prepared for.

  “Have you considered joining the guard?” he asked.

  “The guard?” Tova responded.

  “You know, the guard, the fae who protect the city.”

  Obviously, we both knew what the guard was. We just hadn’t expected this. “Women can do that?” Tova asked in amazement.

  “Yes. It’s not common, but women are allowed. My partner is a woman. Rasa, you may not have seen her since we work almost exclusively in the castle.”

  Tova and I were both dumbfounded. When she failed to say anything after a minute, he said, “Here, let me give you some pointers. We’ll see if you’d fit in.”

  The moon had nearly made a full arc across the sky by the time they finished. He taught her how to keep her form better and a few new ways to strike.

  I sat back and watched it. I wasn’t as impressed with Tova’s skill as I was riveted by the change in emotion I saw in her. She went from being furious to uncertain to joyful by the end of the night. She wore one of her rare smiles.

  The guard left us, seeming pleased with the night’s outcome, and Tova came to stand before me. She was starting to look uncertain again, still expecting me to try to talk her over to her mother’s side. Her mother told me she wanted to Tova to have a happy life. Well, I did too. But I knew a ‘normal’ life would never get her that. This though…fighting, protecting, being a guard…that could.

  Tova stood taller and met my gaze straight on. “I’m joining the guard.”

  “Good.” I smiled at her. Her relief was instant, and she pulled me in for a kiss.

  ***