Captive (A Rapunzel Retelling) Book 4 of the Fairytale Book Series

Chapter Five

Two days ago, when he left the tower, Adam knew he'd botched things up with Zipporah. It was the first time they'd conversed in almost a decade and what had he done? First, he nearly scared her to death and almost got himself stabbed with a kitchen knife. Then, told her that everyone, including her parents, thought her dead, and that her childhood tutor might be a deceitful kidnapper.
Of course, he only had been thinking of her, letting her know about what was going on in the outside world and that her situation with Gertrude was not what it seemed, but in the end, the only thing he'd accomplished was getting her upset. Now she may not even let him come back.

How could I have been such a dunce? He groaned as he led Dick away from the tower and through the overgrown forest.

Adam and Dick pushed through the forest—every so often Dick's rump rammed into Adam's side. Normally, Adam would be annoyed, but right then, he barely noticed. He was thinking too much about Zipporah.

Zipporah.

After all these years, he'd found her. He'd never thought that he, a simple stable master, would be the one to find the princess. He certainly hadn't expected to find her at the top of that tower and at the end of that long braid of golden hair.
Then again, he probably should have since she was the only one he'd ever known with hair that went well-past her waist.
He thought back to the event of him entering the tower and Zipporah screaming then holding a knife to his throat. It made him chuckle a little. She was so quick to pin him against the wall, her emerald eyes flashing with warning as she stared him down, her little nose scrunching up the way it did when she was displeased.

He chuckled again.

He should have known immediately that it was Zipporah—her feisty spirit was always one of her most recognizable features.

As was her beauty.

While he and Dick were exiting the edge of the forest and re-entering the castle courtyard, Adam was trying to remember the details of the now-much-older princess's features. The way her eyes sparkled like emeralds, and specked with pearls of light. How her skin was as pale as silk, and looked just as smooth. The way her lovely face was sculpted with prominent cheekbones and full lips, and her hair was like a long waterfall of shining gold.

Time had been very kind to her indeed.

His heart stirred in his chest, but he knew it should not. He shook his head and sighed. He should not be thinking about Zipporah this way. First, she was a princess and high above his station in life, and second...she was not very happy with him right now.

The next two days passed rather slowly for Adam. It was gloomy and rainy, so he spent much of the time cooped up in the stable repairing leaks in the roof with the other stable hands, or grooming the horses in their stalls. During that time, he thought about returning to Zipporah's tower. The princess obviously had no idea she was being held as a prisoner, nor did she really know the woman who was keeping her that way. At the same time, however, she seemed content there, living by herself. Perhaps she was so accustomed to that life she didn't want to go back home. Well, if that was the case, there was at least one thing he could do for her—he could apologize for his brash behavior.

So the following day, when the rain finally stopped, he walked on foot back to the tower to visit Zipporah, hoping above all hope that she wasn't too cross with him. He also hoped he'd be back in time for work before anyone missed him. Much to his surprise, when he arrived at the base of the tower she'd let her hair down to him almost immediately.
Once he was in the tower, apologies were exchanged between the two of them, and then Zipporah explained her suspicions about Gertrude.