Marissa Holsteins's Arc

Chapter 7 of 10

By dusk Marissa and Angelica reached an empty barn. It stood far from the castle, with wide stalls and a rusted milking setup along one wall. Marissa pushed the door shut and dropped a beam across it. Her legs still shook from the long run. She had no milk left, no plan, and two enemies hunting her. But the barn was quiet, and for the first time all day, no one chased them. Angelica set her sword against the wall. She pulled off her steel gloves and flexed her fingers. "We're safe here tonight," she said. "They can't track us in the dark." She crossed the floor and took Marissa's hand. "You carried me through a stone wall. Stop shaking. Look at me." Marissa looked. In the castle they had hidden every glance and lie about their bond. Here no king watched. No witch listened. Angelica stepped close, her red hair loose around her shoulders. She smiled the way she never dared in front of guards. "No more pretending," she said. "Just us." Marissa laughed for the first time in days. Someone had left an old dance pole bolted to a beam in the corner, painted bright and strange. Angelica grabbed it and spun, boots clicking on the wood. "Come here, farm girl," she teased. Marissa followed. They fell together onto a pile of clean hay, and the fear washed out of her. Angelica kissed her slow. Their hands found each other in the dark. For one whole night, the milk and the king and the throne did not matter. Only warmth mattered, and skin, and the steady beat of two hearts that finally stopped hiding. Morning light came through the barn slats. Marissa woke first, tangled in Angelica's arms, calm at last. Then she saw it. Along the far wall stood the rusted milking rig she had ignored the night before. And beside it, three fat cows chewed hay in the stalls. This was a working dairy farm, abandoned but whole. Her heart pounded. She sat up fast. "Angelica, wake up." Marissa shook her shoulder. "Look. This place makes milk." Angelica blinked and rose on one elbow. Marissa pointed at the cows, then at herself. "My milk grew me huge. But what if I could make more? Not spend it running. Grow it here, batch after batch, until I have enough to face the king on my own terms." Angelica sat all the way up. Her smile faded into something serious. "You mean feed the king his milk," she said slowly. "The thing he crossed a kingdom for. Give it to him yourself." "On my terms," Marissa said. "Not his cage. Not the witch's hands. Mine." She stood and walked to the rig. The gears were stiff but they turned. She had lost everything in the escape. Now she had found a farm, and a way to make it all back. The night of hiding was over. The work started today.