Fayette led Torsten further through the woods.  “Sorry.  I’m the one who made the mistake.  That was house ten.  It’s a house where you take someone so they’ll be murdered by the house.  I was supposed to take you to house eleven where we had identical spaces and would each be safe in our own space.”

“So you’re thinking…” Torsten said, flexing the fingers he’d broken to see if they were really fixed after Fayette healed them.  “You’re thinking that we can just go to the next house and I’ll trust you enough to go in and fall asleep after all the arrows and throwing stars?”

She huffed impatiently.  “I told you I was wrong.”

“Is that the first time you’ve ever done that?  Told someone you were wrong?” he taunted.  “You’re expecting that to be enough of an apology that we can just start over in a new house with two halves?”

“I’ll go in the left side if that helps you feel more comfortable,” she offered and he could tell she was feeling quite magnanimous doing so.

He stopped her from taking another step forward.  “That’s not going to work.  How am I supposed to believe that the right side of a different enchanted house will keep me safe?  That house almost killed me.  I believe you.  It was a mistake, but how do I know you won’t make another mistake with another house?”

She let him hold her in place.  She stood panting, unsure how to answer him.

“What if it had killed me?  Were you just going to send another bird to my father requesting another son?” he pressed.

The look on Fayette’s face was one of indescribable horror.  She thought furiously as she collected herself.  Finally, she let go of him and crossed her arms.  “What would you like me to do?”

“There’s only one thing to do,” he said patiently.  “You whip out that marriage agreement and we both sign it here and now.”

The look of horror did not diminish.  “I’m not ready.”

“Look, you can’t take me to another enchanted house,” Torsten said clearly.  “At this point, you have to sign the agreement and take me home with you.  I know I’ll be safe in your library town.  My uncle is still there, isn’t he?”

She looked down with a pained expression on her face.  “If we go back now… It’s only been one day.  Everyone will think I’m… easy,” she whispered.

He lowered his head to hear her better.  “What was that?”

“Easy,” she said again, not saying it any louder.

“One more time,” she said, putting his ear beside her mouth.

“Easy,” she said sadly.  “Everyone will think you seduced me instantly and I don’t want them to think that.”

Torsten blinked.  Then that meant the time they were spending alone in the house was not about control.  At least, it wasn’t about controlling him.  Fayette had been trying to control herself.  

Torsten felt relief wash over him.  

“How can they be sure you didn’t seduce me?” he suggested playfully.

“Either one is just as bad,” she cried.  “I don’t want them to think that I was so eager that I got you to sign the agreement on the first night.”

His copper eyes peered into her violet ones.  “Which would be worse, telling them that you led me into a house that tried to kill me, and it almost did, or that you found me irresistible on the first night?  I think the second one makes perfect sense.”

His question made her put a hand to her mouth in horror.  “Ugh!” she groaned.  “If we leave that house the way it is, it won’t matter what we tell them.  They’ll know what happened.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but they’ll know eventually and it will be just as embarrassing in twenty years as it is today.”

“I’m sure you’ll feel better about it in twenty years,” he said with a scoff.

She glared at him and he suddenly realized that she was an elf and in her long life, she’d probably been humiliated by things twenty years ago and the burning feeling still hadn’t eased.  

“Can we fix the house?” he asked.

Fayette slumped her elfin princess shoulders.  “I could fix the enchantments, but I couldn’t rebuild it by myself, but if you helped me, I might be able to make it close to what it was like before.”

“I’ll make you a deal,” he said, aware he had limited options.  “If you sign that document and let me sleep on the right side of that house, I’ll do the rebuild for you.”

She looked him in the eye, then down the length of his body, and then back to his eyes.

“You said we had all the time we needed,” he reminded her.  “And if we stay there, no one will think you were so drawn to me that you signed the agreement on the second day.”

Torsten liked the way he worded that.  It put a little of the responsibility of her deep crimson blushes on her. 

She looked him over again, her lips pouting and her control slipping.  “And you wouldn’t tell anyone that was what we did?”

“No.  I wouldn’t tell,” he said with a humble smile on his face.  He crossed his heart with his thumb.  “Besides, as you said before, there’s no way back.”

The look on her face was rather helpless, like things had spun wildly out of her control, and she was powerless to bring them back into line without his help.  So he put his arms around her and drew her in for their first kiss.   

As first kisses went, it was a wild success.  She tasted like new leaves opening and the salt on his lips from his long night of exertion made for a taste neither of them had experienced before.  They separated briefly before going for a second round so delicious it was a shame it was not served on a plate.  

However, people cannot stand in the woods kissing endlessly. Fayette materialized the agreement and signed it.  Torsten signed it.

Then he swept her up in his arms like the princess she was and carried her back through the forest, back through the archway, across the yard of broken blades, and into the right side of the house.  

Torsten remembered to kick the front door shut.  Even though they were completely alone, he didn’t know if any of those wiggly little knives would get in if he left the door open.

The Extra Tail in the Fairy Tale

The ax was the happiest tool that had ever been in a work yard.  Every day it was picked up and moved to a different place, so it saw lots of different things.

It saw the elf princess disenchant thousands of sharp pieces of metal and order them into piles like soldiers on the battlefield.

It saw Torsten lift her off her feet and swing her in the air like a bird that couldn’t quite take flight.  

It saw Fayette repair the wood by returning the broken planks into whole pieces.

Then it saw Fayette and Torsten take a bath where they couldn’t stop giggling and splashing each other.

It saw Torsten learn to chop trees and shape wood into planks with the help of the ax.  

It saw Fayette fork peach pie into Torsten’s mouth and the moment of glee on the plate’s face when everything was eaten.

It saw Torsten turn into a builder, who put a house together, all the time rigging it with knives and arrows like he was threading a crossbow.  

It saw the lights of their bedroom stay on all night as if the two of them were far too busy to sleep.

And when the house was up and the last enchantment was put into place, the ax was lifted off the ground and hooked in its place in Torsten’s belt.  They were going to the library village and lovers would not leave the ax behind.  

But even still, no matter how happy the ax was, it was not as happy as Torsten and Fayette.

THE END