Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 4) (20 page)

“No, but who’s to say that I’m lying?”

He shook his head and gave her a long
look. “Your neck, not mine.” He leapt nimbly down and stood in front of the
coach as another footman opened the door. He cleared his throat and seemed to rethink
the announcement, but finally raised his voice loudly. “Miss Elle Cinder from
the Lands of the Golden Palace.”

Mina took the offered hand of a third
footman and let him help her down the steps. Her nerves got the better of her
and she almost tripped, but she recovered before anyone noticed. Her body moved
on its own, and she found herself standing in front of Queen Maeve and King
Lucian. She could feel the moment Teague recognized her, because his gaze bored
a hole through her.

He continued staring, and she was afraid
to look, afraid to make eye contact. She curtsied before the Fates and was
about to rise when King Lucian stopped her.

“Elle Cinder,” his strong self-assured
voice repeated. There was no question in his voice. He seemed to be repeating
it so he could remember.

“Yes, your—” What was she supposed
to call him? Majesty? Highness. Her mouth went dry and she finally spit out,
“Royalness.”

Lucian smiled and slowly rubbed his beard.
Queen Maeve gawked at her, judging her. Mina noticed the moment when the Queen
dismissed her, because her gaze moved past her and beyond.

Mina’s legs began to quiver from staying
low in the curtsey.

She was doing great so far at not making
eye contact with Teague. His black leather boots had not a single spot of dirt
on them. Suddenly that black boot started to tap impatiently, as if trying to
draw her attention upward. Was this it? Had the giants brought her all this way
so Teague could send her to prison?

Knowing the moment was at hand, and it
was no longer avoidable, Mina looked up and her breath caught in her throat.

He
was
frowning, but then the corner of his mouth lifted in the hint of a smile that
he was trying to hide. Her eyes traced a line from his lips and his angular jaw
up past his nose to make contact with his deep blue eyes. Which were alit
with—relief?

He bowed. “Elle,” the name rolled off his
tongue, and she shivered.

She was certainly thankful he wasn’t
furious at her, but she could tell he wanted to say more. He held her gaze and
flicked his eyes to the right. She glanced in that direction. There wasn’t
anything over there.

He did the motion again, and she realized
she was supposed to head up the steps and follow the other girls inside. She
was standing there like a goof staring at the prince.

“Oh yeah, that’s right.” She lifted her
skirt and proceeded up the steps. When she got to the top, she hesitated again.
There were two options. She started to go left.

“To the right,” Teague whispered.

“I knew that,” she said into the air,
refusing to look back at him. His laughter followed her down the corridor. When
she was out of his line of sight, she started to run—not down the hallway
toward where the other girls were waiting—but for an exit. An escape
route. She found a smaller hallway and followed it around to another side door.
Thinking this must be a servant’s entrance, she opened it and dashed inside.

Only to come face to face with beautiful
girls in a waiting room.

Eleven hateful gazes greeted her.

Chapter 22

“Hi,” Mina said meekly. She waved her
hand in a wide arc in good old American fashion. Which was obviously not the
thing to do, because the scowl grew deeper on the girl closest to her. Apparently,
waving was not in their etiquette book or something.

“Who are you? I don’t know you. Why are
you here?” The questions vaulted out of the one called Annalora’s mouth, one
after another. Annalora’s dress was deep amber, which complemented her gold
blonde hair and hazel eyes, and she was petite.

Mina couldn’t help but liken her to a
small, aggressive Chihuahua.

“I’m here for the food, of course.” A
snarky comment felt like the best course of action. She didn’t feel the need to
elaborate.

“I knew it,” Annalora huffed. She turned
and sat down next to Ever, crossing her arms and casting an annoyed look toward
the others. “I heard there were only eleven, but she makes twelve.”

Another beautiful girl in an emerald
green dress approached her. Her skin was tanned, and her hair a dark green
piled high and woven with leaves and vines throughout. Her reception was much
kinder than Annalora’s—the girl clasped her hand gently and gave it a
warm squeeze. Mina noticed that her skin, though soft, had an odd pattern to it.

Oh.
It wasn’t skin, but very soft, supple
bark.

“I’m Dinah, a wood nymph. Welcome, and I’m
sorry for Annalora’s reception of you. After all, she’s part gnome, and we all
know gnomes have no manners.” There was no hidden malice behind Dinah’s
comment. She’d stated it as fact.

Mina glanced over and watched as Annalora
just gave a shrug of acceptance and looked away. Other than Annalora’s stature,
there was nothing similar to what she’d envisioned a gnome to look or act like.
The girl was not rosy cheeked or good natured. In fact, she was quite mean.

“Come sit with us. You must be nervous.”
Dinah motioned to a long padded bench.

Mina sat next to her, studying the girls,
while Dinah gave quick introductions. Her head spun as she tried to match the
names with the faces and races. She finally settled on trying to go by the
color of the dress—or in some cases, the girl herself. Fuchsia, a pink
fairy, had small iridescent wings. Shaya was a nixie with green skin and dark
waist-length hair. She sat closest to the fountain with her shoes at her side,
dipping her toes in the cool water.

Ever was the most surprising; she was so
different from modern-day Ever. Her jet black hair fell in soft curls down her
back. Her pale blue dress was trimmed with silver lace. Her face showed hints
of mixed anticipation and anxiety. She kept clasping and unclasping her hands,
reaching up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, but her expectant
eyes never left the door. She wasn’t paying the other girls any attention, even
seeming to tune out most of Annalora’s complaints.

Mina was about to move and try and speak
with Ever, but the door opened and a page entered, clearing his throat. The
small talk died immediately as all eyes zeroed in on the young man. “Follow me,
please.”

Dresses ruffled and shoes clipped along
the marble floor as eleven anxious girls and one terrified interloper followed
him out into the hall. Mina picked up her pace and cut in line to squeeze next
to Ever, receiving a scowl from one of the girls with star white
hair—Stella, Stellya—or something.

Mina stared at the back of Ever’s head,
willing her to look over her shoulder and recognize her, but the pixie never
did. She knew that Ever had fallen for Jared and that they’d been friends for
years. She’d just never realized until now how
many
years, since the Fae aged differently than humans. Of course,
it could’ve had something to do with how immature Ever acted on the human
plane. Like when she was thieving French fries from Mina’s tray at lunch.

Something soft brushed against Mina’s
face, and Ever jumped and turned around, her eyes filled worry. “I’m so sorry,”
she said. “I didn’t mean to bump you with my wings.”

Mina paused as Ever’s long pointed wings
shimmered into view. They were more spectacular than Fuchsia’s wings. The fine
spirals of iridescence created a mosaic of color.

“Why are you hiding them? They’re
beautiful. You should be showing them off proudly,” Mina said softly.

Ever’s cheeks filled with color as she
blushed and stammered. “It’s because I can’t control them. They reflect my mood.
When I’m excited or angered, they flutter uncontrollably. And right now, I’m
extremely excited. I’d die of embarrassment if the Fates saw me like this. I
mean, who knows what kind of tests we will have to go through before he gets to
choose one of us.”

“Tests?”

“You didn’t think the next queen would be
selected on beauty alone did you?”

“Queen?” Mina knew she was starting to
sound like an idiotic parrot who repeated everything. But Ever didn’t hear her
and kept on talking.

“We’ll be weeded down to a few based on
certain requirements, and only then will one of us be betrothed.” Her cheeks
flushed a pretty pink again, and her wings fluttered, causing a stir in the air.
“Oops, see? There I go again. It’s so embarrassing.”

“I think they’re beautiful.” Mina tried
to process what Ever had said. She quickly looked over the girls in front of
her and couldn’t help but feel sorry for Ever. She seemed so hopeful, but
Teague—and then Jared—were obviously not in her future.

“Thanks.” Ever’s face lit up with joy. “I
think they’re pretty special too. I’m Ever.”

“Nice to meet you, Ever. I’m M—” A
towering set of double doors opened with a sharp crack, and it was a good
thing. She’d almost blown her cover.

They were ushered through the doors into
a room that Mina had been in before. It was hard to hold back her tears as she glanced
around at the tall glass ceilings and the white pillars lining the room. She
looked past the fountain by the windows as she searched for the golden cage she
knew wouldn’t be there.

There. Right there was where her brother had
been held captive. In the future. Mina froze and caused a bit of a traffic jam
as the girls behind her suddenly had to stop, dresses swishing. When Mina
didn’t budge, the others quickly bypassed her to gather around a large pedestal
in the middle of the room. In years to come, it would hold the Fae book; right
now it held a small crystal bowl filled with water.

But Mina’s mind was plagued with
guilt-inducing memories and terrifying thoughts. She had messed up and was the
reason
that Jared ceased to exist. The
self-loathing she’d been fighting to keep deep inside of her—that she’d
been ignoring for weeks—roared to the surface. She started to quiver as
silent tears formed.

No, that wasn’t true. It wasn’t her
fault. It was Teague’s.

It was his fault Jared was gone. He was
the reason her brother was kidnapped; he was the reason that her father had
died. When she turned to face him like the other girls had already done, she’d
see that same disarming smile. But the packaging didn’t matter. She knew what
he would become. She knew the evil that was inside of him. This handsome
charmer was a façade. Her hands shook in anger, and she clenched them within
the feathers of her dress. She sniffed back the tears and refused to let anyone
see her cry. She had a job to do, and she couldn’t be distracted by emotions.
Not when so much depended on her having a level head.

She turned slowly, trying not to draw
attention to herself. The Fates and their son stood behind the pedestal and
bowl. Teague had a definite air of confidence about him, but she could also see
the nervousness he was trying to mask. He kept shifting his weight from foot to
foot. It was hard for her to equate the Teague that plotted the destruction of
her family to the young man standing in front of her.

Lucian smiled and addressed the girls.
“Thank you for coming. We are honored by your presence, but as you know the
choosing ceremony is only just beginning. Some of you have traveled a great
distance to be here for the betrothal. Your families believe you possess a
beauty and qualities that make you worthy of being the future queen. But no
matter the qualities for which your families praise you, we are searching for
someone with very specific traits. You must meet all of our royal requirements.
Your journey here will end right now unless you can prove yourself with a few
tests.”

Mina wanted to scoff and roll her eyes.
This sounded like that reality TV show Nan watched obsessively. She looked
around, wondering where they kept the roses. But only briefly. She couldn’t
afford to take any of this lightly. If she didn’t pass whatever tests the Fates
had set up, she would be escorted out of the palace. She’d been given a chance
at stopping Teague here, and—though this wasn’t the way she’d planned to
get in—she’d be a fool to waste it. Her heart sped up and she found
herself craning to see around Annalora, to get a better view of—she
didn’t know what exactly.

Maeve stepped forward and held out one
long finger, pointing to the crystal bowl on the pedestal. “Here is your first
test. Trial by blood.”

That didn’t sound good. Mina glanced
around. More than a few of the girls looked a little unsure and scared.

“On the pedestal is a knife. You must
prick your finger and let a drop of your blood mingle in the water. Blood is
power, and the water will sort out the weak from the strong. Also it will
determine your heart and your reasons for being here.”

The room fell silent. Mina swallowed. Her
anxiety had just quadrupled.

The crystal bowl of water sat ominously
on the pedestal waiting to decide the future of the twelve girls.

It was Annalora who asked the question
that was plaguing everyone’s mind. “How?”