Free Rumplestiltskin by Jenni James

life.”
    “A servant of the castle is all you have ever known?”
    “Most all of my memories revolve around serving the inhabitants of this castle, yes.”
    She pushed herself off the bed and walked over to him. “My! Look at all this food and the gold. You have done quite a bit.”
    He shook his head and snorted. “Not nearly an eighth of what I can do when you are helping.”
    She picked his hand up off the wheel and turned it over. “We do make an incredible force together, I must agree.” Her fingers lightly traced his worn palm. “How bad is it?”
    He shrugged. “I have felt worse.” He then flipped his hand within hers and captured her fingers for inspection. He winced as he tilted them from side to side. “Aubrynn, what will we do with you? You cannot work in such a state. They will be a bloody mess within an hour or so.”
    She shrugged and tried to mimic him. “I have had worse.”
    His eyes flew to hers. “Truthfully?”
    “No.”
    “Aubrynn. This is not right. Does the king know you have these and are incapable of doing all he asks? I think he should be told.”
    “He knows.”
    “You are certain?”
    She pulled her hand out of his and pointed to her finger. “Do you see this?”
    “The one that has popped, yes.”
    “It was a present from the king.”
    Rumple captured that finger and pulled it to his mouth, kissing the redness.
    She smiled as his grey-blue eyes caught hers over her hand. He really was completely adorable. Then she chuckled and whispered, “I have to relieve myself.”
    Rumple’s whole body froze for a moment and then he threw his head back and laughed. “Of course you do! Who would not need to?”
    “Um, so how does one go about doing so in the castle?”
    “How bad is it?”
    “Uh—pretty bad.”
    Rumple shook his head. The king is a fool. Clearly he had not thought of such things as taking care of her basic needs. “I could take you down the secret stairs to a room designed for relief, if you would like? Or I could fetch a bedpan for you and I will leave the room and you can just toss it out the window? Which would you prefer?”
    “Either, or. Something. Soon.” The idea of walking down all those stairs did not appeal, but neither did using a bedpan and tossing it out the window. Especially knowing he would be back again soon. But honestly, if something was not taken care of shortly, a lot more embarrassing things would happen than the use of a silly bedpan.
    Looking at her face and the way Aubrynn had begun to hop a bit, desperate times awaited. “How about we do this,” he answered, “we will use the stone to glide you down the stairs quickly and silently to where we need to go and then I will be sure to bring a bedpan up for future use. Yes?”
    “Um, fine. That will do. But could we hurry, please?”
    Standing, Rumple clutched the rock and, while concentrating, watched it glow. He wrapped one arm around her waist, holding her tightly next to him, and then grinned as they began to float off the ground. He concentrated on the door opening before them and then slid her down the long spiraling passageway. By the time they had gotten to the end, she was clinging to him for dear life. It was brilliant to feel her so close.
    He slowly opened the door and peeked out. As soon as the coast was clear, he rushed her to the back end of the castle, dodging down deserted old passageways the whole time. She gasped and clutched his shirt as the magic worked faster and they were transported quicker than he had ever experienced before. During the complete duration he concentrated solely on reaching the room unnoticed. The magic worked and kept them completely shielded from being seen.
    Rumple smiled. These rocks were definitely more useful than he had ever thought possible. “We are here!” he said as he lowered them both gently down.
    “That was quite possibly the most enchanting and fun thing I have ever done in my life!” she exclaimed. “I was terrified to squeal or