Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 4) (19 page)

She sighed loudly into the empty room,
“Kill Teague.”

Constance waited a moment before responding.
“I’m glad you’ve come to accept that. This is why the shoes took you to that
time and place. You can gain his trust and kill him before it’s too late.”

The shoes started to flash again,
signaling another time jump.

“Oh no! It’s about to happen again,” Mina
called out in fear. Mina turned the volume back up and set the phone on the
seat beside her. She stood up.

“Mina?” Mei’s voice sounded unsure and
her voice filled the room over the speaker phone. “If you do this, you may
never meet me in the future. Because there will be no need for Godmothers.”

“Oh, Mei,” Mina started to cry.

“I’m not saying this to dissuade you.”
Her voice was shaky with emotion, “I just wanted to say that I have come to
love you dearly, like my own daughter. And I’ll miss knowing you.”

“I love you too, Mei,” Mina sobbed.

“Mina,” Constance’s self-assured voice
called to her.

“Yes.”

“Do whatever you have to do to survive.
Do you understand?”

“I do,” Mina answered, wiping her tears
with the back of her hand. She moved to the middle of the room, leaving the
cell phone on the chair.

“And, Mina, one more thing,” Constance’s
voice sounded.

“Yes?” The shoes were flickering wildly,
sending beams of light all over the room.

“You make us proud to call ourselves
Godmothers.”

“Thank you, Con—” The ball of light
surrounded her and she was cut off.

Chapter 21

This time she was prepared for the
aftereffects of the time travel—the chill that ran through her body and
the tingling sensation of pins and needles.

But she was sorely unprepared for the
band of giants that immediately surrounded her upon her arrival. Their crested
metal helmets and large thumping clubs created an intimidating and menacing picture.

“I got her,” the closest giant bellowed,
lunging for her. He swung out his hand as if to try and pick her up by her
feet.

Mina tried to run but couldn’t get her
limbs to work. She tripped over the hem of her dress and fell into a pile of
leaves. It looked to be mid-afternoon, if she had to hazard a guess.

“Careful! You’re scarin’ it.” A giant of
slightly less stature than the other piped up. The giants backed up and Mina
was left alone to struggle and get her legs to support her.

The leaves clung to her feathered dress
and sticks and twigs were entangled in her long brown hair. She must look
strange to them. The giants weren’t as frightening as long as they weren’t
trying to kill her, and apparently they weren’t…at least not yet.

“What do you want?” Mina asked when she
was able to stand without wincing and walk a couple feet unaided.

The first giant—the one who’d tried
to catch her— seemed the least pleased with taking it easy on her. He had
rough gray-colored skin, dead eyes, and a very large chin.

The smaller giant with sunspots
splattered across his nose appeared to be the talkative one of the group.
“We’ve been sitting out here for hours, waiting for you.”

“For me? Why are you waiting for me?”
Surely that wasn’t right.

“Captain Plaith said to escort you to the
palace,” he answered. They had to be mistaken. If it truly was her they’d been
waiting for, the passage of time must flow differently on the Fae plane—what
was minutes in her realm had been hours in the Fae.

The giants closed in on her and forced
her to walk among them as they marched through the woods.

Wedged in the middle of the pack, she had
no choice but to follow their lead. They walked for a quarter mile before they
came to a road. Pulled off to the side was a white carriage, drawn by four
large mice. Mina wondered who the carriage was waiting for, when a giant opened
the door and motioned for her to get inside.

She picked up her skirt and put one foot
on the step. A large hand shoved her roughly from behind and she landed fast
face first in a velvety purple cushion. Mina heard the laughter that followed
at her expense, and she might have yelled at them if they weren’t dangerous
giants. She heard the snap of a whip, and the carriage lurched forward. Once
the carriage was moving, she felt it was safe enough to part the curtain and
look out the side window.

She wondered if Teague’s betrothal had
already passed, and if he was angry at her for disappearing like she had. Mina
was surprised at how the thought saddened her, though it shouldn’t. She knew
that historically, Teague got betrothed, but then the betrothal was broken off.
That turning point was the epicenter of the problems.

Her one chance was to try and catch him
unaware. “Oh please.” She closed her eyes and whispered. “Let him not have
turned already.” For the dark prince petrified her; this kinder one she could
handle.

She sat back in the seat and was almost lulled
to sleep by the swaying of the carriage. Half an hour later, she heard the
sound of hooves. She sat up again and looked out the window. They were beside
the lake, and the mountain backdrop was just the same as the view she’d seen
with Nix the day she’d destroyed the Grimoire. They seemed to have fallen in
behind another carriage, this one the color of fresh leaves in spring. It was
hard to tell, but Mina thought she saw the back window flap on the carriage
move as someone peeked out.

A white and black carriage pulled by four
beautiful white horses with snow white manes came up alongside Mina’s coach and
then moved in front of them. She watched for signs of life, but this passenger
wasn’t as curious as the one in the green carriage.

Mina’s curiosity got the better of her. She
couldn’t help but stare out her window at the bright colors and strange steeds
that pulled them. Truly, there were rhinoceros-like creatures, unicorns, and tamed
griffins. One carriage was even pulled by forest trolls. Her driver seemed to
be aware of what was passing, and he let every carriage pull in line in front
of theirs.

Over the next fifteen minutes, the line became
a caravan. Twelve carriages rode toward the palace.

The closer they came to the familiar
snowcapped mountain, the more hands she saw pointing into the sky from the
carriages. Mina didn’t need to look to know that the griffins patrolled the
skies. But she wondered if she alone knew the glory of the
palace—suddenly visible—at sunrise and sunset. The sun had not set
yet to reveal the splendor of the white palace. At all other times it was nestled,
hidden, on the far side of this mountain lake. Its only access was a single
stone bridge that led across the lake and ended in the glamour.

Mina shivered when she saw the bridge, because
she knew that hungry trolls lay in wait underneath it, a siren statue stood
guard deep in the murky water, and giants guarded the front gates. They were
all there to protect the Royals from intruders, from attackers, from
assassins—from
her
.

The first carriage in the caravan began
to cross the bridge to the middle of the lake. Unlike the last time she’d been
there, when the giants tossed a carriage and driver into the lake, these guards
let the carriage pass without a second glance. The carriage disappeared into a protective
veil. The second carriage passed the giants and then the third.

Curiosity drove her to continue peering
out between the curtains, and she saw a young girl with long midnight-black
hair looking out of the white and black carriage.

Her hair was much longer, but there was
no mistaking the petite features and easily irritable face of Ever. Mina sucked
in her breath and was about to yell and wave in her direction. Then she remembered
this was before Ever knew her. Everything was becoming more surreal with each
passing minute. This was what Ever had been hinting about but refusing to tell
her.

Ever’s coach passed through the veil.

Mina sat back and found herself holding
her breath and squeezing her eyes shut as her own mouse-drawn carriage followed
the others. For the second time in her life, she felt the buzzing and pop as
she passed through.

The glamour dropped, and she was once
again seized in the moment. How beautiful the Fates’ castle was with its
shimmering walls, arched gold and silver gate, tall towers, and artisan-carved sun
and moon symbol throughout.

The carriages pulled up into a long
receiving line hosted by two beautifully adorned individuals—the sun and
moon themselves. The Fates were waiting on the steps. Queen Maeve, her raven
black hair sparkling like starlight, wore a dress of deepest blue which made
her pale skin look even paler. A crown of silver rested upon her brow. Her delicate
hand was entwined with her husband’s. King Lucian was dressed in the same blue,
with gold suns embroidered along his sleeves, his crown golden. Where his wife
was pale, he was tan, and his honey-wheat beard and hair seemed to soak up the
rays of the sun. He honestly emitted a warm glow.

Even from a distance you could feel their
love for each other radiate from them. Next to them, standing tall and looking
extremely dashing, was Teague. His own royal garments complemented his parents’,
the slightly lighter tint highlighting his nervous blue eyes. His gaze
flickered over the awaiting coaches and then back to his parents. His
expression was entirely opposite theirs. He looked forlorn.

King Lucian smiled and waved a footman
forward to open the first coach’s door. A young woman stepped out and walked
forward to be presented before the Fates.

“Miss Annalora Goldfind,” the footman
hollered out, his voice echoing across the lake.

The young woman smiled sweetly and
curtsied before the Fates. Then an escort led her into the palace. As the
carriage drove off, the next one took its place in line. The footman opened
another door and a woman with pink skin and deeper pink hair stepped out in a startlingly
pink dress. Mina thought she heard the name lady Fuchsia. Like the young woman
before her, she was presented and led indoors.

She needed to get out of the princess
receiving line before she the Fates realized she was not from their plane and
imprisoned her for life. Arriving at the palace on
her
terms, not the giants’, was the wise approach. Mina reached for
the handle of the door on the side of the coach facing away from the Fates. She
opened the door to jump out, but her way was blocked by a troll.

“Going s-s-somewhere?” He sneered
cruelly.

“Yes, anywhere that’s not here,” she
answered. Her frankness only elicited a raucous laugh from the troll, startling
the mice. That caused them to dance into the carriage in front of them,
jostling it around.

Ever’s head popped out and she tried to
soothe her horses. She shot an annoyed glance—utterly and oddly
familiar—at Mina and the troll whose laugh had started it all.

“You’re funny,” the troll acquiesced.

“And you’re funny smelling,” Mina said.
He laughed again, but he refused to budge from her door.

“Nice try. Sit.” He pushed her in her
chest with one of his ginormous fingers. The force of the impact sent her
crashing backwards into the opposite door and causing it to open. As the
carriage rocked, she held tight to the doorframe. The door swung open, smacked
the side of the coach, and then swung back inward to nail her on the behind.

“Yeouch!” Mina yelped. She grabbed the
door, slammed it shut behind her, and ducked to the ground, as if she could
hide from her own stupidity. Every eye there—including the
Fates’—must be on her at the moment. She peeked through the parted
curtain and saw that—though the royal couple didn’t seem to be looking
her way—a frowning Teague seemed to have noticed the commotion with her
coach.

More girls entered the castle, and it was
almost time for Mina’s coach to pull up. What would happen? Would they open the
doors and immediately arrest her for trespassing? Would she be fed to the
trolls under the bridge?

She quickly ran her hands through her
hair to pull out the stray leaves and tried her best to brush off her skirt.
The coach dipped as a footman stepped up and asked for her name.

What in the world was she supposed to
say? She couldn’t very well tell them she was from another dimension. Or give
them her real name. She bit her lip and tried to think of something, anything. Then
it came to her.

The Story was pushing her this way. She might
as well play her part in it. “Cin—uh…I mean Elle Cinder.”

“From—?”

What would Mei Wong tell her to do? She’d
probably say stick as close to the truth as she could. Immediately, an image of
a where she used to live popped into her head. The small apartment above the
Wong’s Golden Palace Restaurant.

“Elle Cinder from the lands of the Golden
Palace.”

He leaned closer and whispered back at
her harshly, “There is no such place.”

“Where I come from there is.” She tried
to make her voice drip with arrogance.

Frustrated, the coachman poked his head
through the curtain and gave her a glare. His long pointed ears were turning
red at the tips. “Do you expect me to lie to the Fates?”