Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 4) (28 page)

The only thing she could come up with was
that the shoes might have run out of time and gone into the
future—without her. She had made a stupid mistake. Now she’d never see
her mother or brother again.

Mina turned her head at the sound of
Annalora’s voice and noticed how often she accidentally brushed against
Teague’s arm, or ran her fingers along the cuff of his jacket. She was marking
her territory. And at this point, Mina didn’t care.

Dinah dropped her napkin between her
chair and Mina’s, leaning close enough to grab it and whisper, “What’s wrong
with you? This is no time to give up just because that harlot is trying to mess
with your mind.”

When Dinah looked into Mina’s tear-filled
eyes and read the pain there, her voice changed. “Something else has happened.”

Mina nodded her head, “Yes, the worst
imaginable.”

Dinah pinched her lips together and gave
Mina’s hand a quick squeeze. “Don’t worry. It will all be over tomorrow and you
can go home.”

“That’s just it. I can never go home,
regardless of the outcome,” Mina confided. A single tear slid down her cheek.
She tried to wipe it away without making a big fuss about it, but Annalora saw
and moved in for the kill.

“So, Elle, crying about the next test
already, I see.” Her smile was filled with delight. “Maybe you should quit now
and save your breath.”

Teague didn’t say anything. He just sat
back and studied the two of them with interest.

Mina didn’t have the heart to exchange
barbs at the moment. She just reached out and took a sip of water.

Ever, on the other hand, had plenty of
fight left. “Why don’t you worry about yourself, Annalora?”

“Because I don’t have anything to worry
about.” She scooted closer to Teague and proceeded to look down her nose at the
pixie. “But you on the other hand…do. I’ve heard how you’re an embarrassment to
your family. Don’t go doing something stupid tomorrow, like actually trying to
win. Because we all know you’ll fail.”

Mina felt the air in the room stir as
Ever tried to get her temper under control.

Dinah gasped and clasped her hands over
her mouth.

The candles flickered more. Ever was
about to truly embarrass herself. And that was something Mina didn’t want her
friend to do. What did she have to lose at this point? She really couldn’t
stand to see Annalora freely pick on the other girls.

Mina picked up her glass of water and
walked past Annalora, dumping it in her lap. Annalora shrieked in anger and
jumped up.

“I thought you needed a bath. Oh wait, I
forgot. You already had one in the fountain.” Mina snarled and let a smile of
pleasure show on her face.

“
You
!
You pushed me in the fountain.” Annalora’s face turned purple with rage. She
really
looked ugly when she was mad.

Mina shrugged her shoulders, “How could
I? I was in my room. Alone.”

She had forgotten about Teague, but his
laughter was a sudden reminder. Mina raised the empty glass in her hand and
made a play of saluting him. He drank the rest of his and returned her salute.

Mina placed her glass on the table and
left. Instead of making her way back to her room, she picked up the edge of her
skirt and wandered down the corridors until she found the main palace doors.
She should have escaped as soon as she could with the shoes and found a way to
her ancestors instead of getting distracted by helping Teague. But now, she was
trapped on the Fae plane, and she hadn’t even been able to help anyone.

The guards at the gate gave her a cursory
glance, but let her pass without stopping her. She continued down the steps and
walked up to the bridge, looking out over the lake. It was nearing sunset, and
it was a terrible time to leave, but she couldn’t stay. She needed to find
help, to find an ally that would help her find a way back home.

Her feet carried her over the stone
bridge, and she hesitated a moment when she heard the sounds of the trolls
underneath, their claws scraping along the stone. Her steps piqued their
curiosity, and she could see their red eyes watching her through the holes in
the bridge. Since she was leaving they had no reason to bother her. Their job
was to prevent unwanted arrivals.

When she passed through the hidden veil,
her skin buzzed and she heard the pop. She wasn’t sure why, but something told
her to pick up her skirt and run. She’d made it past the final barrier without
being stopped, but now she wanted to get as far away as she could. Maybe she
could find another Schumacher to send her into the future.

She was walking into the unknown. But she
knew what would happen if she stayed. She’d either fail the test tomorrow, or
she’d pass and have to watch as Teague got engaged to Annalora. And then the
event she’d been warned about would happen.

Something would launch the prince onto a
terrible warpath of destruction, and she needed to be as far away from him as
she could when that happened.

Tears filled her eyes, and it was
difficult to see where she was going.

The two suns had finally set just as she
made it into the woods. She wandered around and eventually found a small grove
of twisted trees with the familiar purple fruit Nix had shown her. She plucked
some low-hanging fruit from a branch and sat down to eat.

What was her next move?

The bushes closest to her started to
move, and Mina jumped, alarmed.

Suddenly, someone darted out from between
the branches. Ferah! Bedraggled, pale, and wide-eyed with fright, she tripped
and fell on the ground next to Mina in exhaustion.

Her hand gripped Mina’s forearm as she
choked out one raspy word. “Run.”

Chapter 26

That was the only warning Mina received
before a scythe sliced through the bushes—quick and clean. The Reaper
stepped into the open and pulled back his hood. His black face accentuated his
evil yellow eyes. In the darkness, they seemed to glow like a cat as they
followed her movements.

Ferah whimpered and tried to move away,
but it was clear that she was exhausted and couldn’t run any farther. Her lips
were dry and cracked and even her eyes were losing their luster.
What had the Reaper done to her?
She
looked inches from death.

Mina stepped in front of Ferah,
protecting her from the Reaper.

“Go away. You’ve done enough,” Mina
warned, her hand slowly reaching for the Grimoire.

The Reaper laughed, or tried to laugh. A
weird hacking noise came from his throat. “Move, or you’ll die with your
friend,” his coarse voice rang out, silencing the sounds of the forest.

“I won’t be the one dying this night. Now
leave. This is the only warning I’m giving you,” Mina called out boldly. In the
face of death, she wasn’t afraid. If she couldn’t save her family, then she
would die trying to save one of the Fae.

“You mean you won’t be the
only
one dying tonight. For I shall kill
you both.” His hand gripped his scythe and the silver blade grew longer,
creating an arc over four feet long.

Mina couldn’t let this girl die. Not if
she had any say in the matter.

She held the Grimoire out in front of
her, and it grew in size to a shimmering golden version of the Reaper’s own
weapon. She changed her stance, gripped the scythe over her shoulder like a
baseball bat, and beckoned with her hand.

“What’s this, girl? You intend to mock me
before you die? Do you know who I am? I’m a Reaper. I’m the killer of dreams.”

“Well, I’m the Grimm…and I’m a Reaper’s
worst nightmare.” Mina didn’t wait. She rushed forward intent on catching him
off guard. The Reaper swung his scythe to meet hers and the blades rang as they
collided. She turned, using her momentum to swing her smaller scythe at his
thighs. He had to lower his own blade to stop her from cutting his legs.

They paused, staring each other down.

The Reaper hissed. “I’m surprised at your
enthusiasm to meet your death. Weren’t you one of the young ladies at the
palace? I believe you were. You protected the prince from this one, and now you
defend her? Were you in league with her from the start?”

“No, I’ve never met her before. But I do
believe in second chances. Except when it comes to you,” she growled.

This time it was the Reaper who led the
attack, while Mina parried his blows. The clash of metal filled the forest, and
she thought she saw a shadow pass overhead. But she didn’t have time to be
distracted. The Reaper feinted and took a Superman-like leap straight up into
the trees. She lost him in the canopy of darkness above and slashed at the
shadows that danced near her. Goose bumps ran up her arms, and she thought she
saw movement to her left. She screamed and sliced, connecting with nothing but
air.

Breathing hard, Mina tightened her grip
on her weapon and closed her eyes to listen. She knew the Reaper was hiding in
the shadows above her. The wind blew softly through the trees, and she
waited…listening…until she heard it.

The rattle that comes before death
strikes.

She screamed and held the scythe above
her, using it to blast a golden beam of light into the face of the Reaper as he
leapt at her from the trees. He screeched in pain, covering his eyes from the
blinding light that pulsed from her weapon. Mina used the distraction to spin
and cut the Reaper out of the sky. He fell to the ground with a heavy thud,
wounded but not dead.

But it was enough. He was weakened enough
for the Grimoire to entrap him. The scythe changed into the Grimoire again.
More light emanated into the forest, wind picked up, and she heard him scream
in terror.

It was over.

Afterwards, the forest was eerily silent,
and Mina saw the Grimoire’s pages flip. It stopped on a page, and just before
its light faded and it closed, she could make out the picture of the final
battle between her and the Reaper.

Mina turned to help Ferah, but the Fae
girl was gone. She’d disappeared, leaving only a slight impression where her
body had lain on the grass. Mina was about to call out for her when she grew
cold and a large shadow beast appeared before her. She wasn’t afraid as the shadow
dissolved into Teague’s Fae form.

“You ran away, Elle. Why?” His voice
didn’t give any hint to his feelings. But she knew from experience with Jared,
that he wasn’t asking. He was accusing.

She couldn’t answer him, so she turned
her back on him and continued to scan the forest for Ferah. If the girl came
back now, she’d be in worse trouble than before. She hoped Ferah had the sense
to stay far away.

“Answer me, Elle.” His voice rose, and
she could hear the anger he was trying to hide.

Mina sighed and turned, holding her hands
at her side. “I’m trying to find my way home.” She couldn’t make eye contact
with him, so she continued to stare at the grass.

“I don’t know why you always think the
worst of me. If you had passed the next test, you’d always have had a home with
me. Even if you didn’t, I would make sure you’d be taken care of.”

Her heart skipped a beat, but she
remembered why she was here. Teague couldn’t be trusted. Even split from his
worse half,
Jared
couldn’t always be
trusted.

“I can’t. You’ll come to hate me over
time,” she answered truthfully.

“You don’t know that.” He sounded hurt.

“I do. And I also know that I can never
live in the castle. That will never be my home.” She pointed back toward the
hills beside the palace.

“So you would rather run away, fight a
Reaper, than marry me?” He was clearly trying to stay calm, but his words were
sharp and his arms flung in each direction as he spoke. “I can tell you that
I’m not that bad.” He finally noticed the Grimoire laying on the ground and
leaned down to pick it up.

Mina argued, “Hey wait a minute, that
belongs—”

“—to me,” he finished. But Mina
grabbed the journal from him and pulled.

Teague wasn’t prepared to let go, and the
book ripped into two pieces. “You tore it!” He growled in frustration.

“No, you did!” she yelled back.

“I can’t believe you stole from me.”
Shocked, he held his ripped half up.

“Borrowed,” she corrected indignantly.

“When were you going to give it back?
After
you ran away from the ceremony and
killed one of the Fates’ Reapers to save a fugitive? I bet you were coming
right back to give it to me, weren’t you?”

“Um, okay.” She bit her lip and tucked a
strand of hair behind her ear. “Borrowed with the intent to not return…right
away.”

He crossed his arms and held the damaged
book in front of her. “If you wanted it that badly, I would have given it to
you.” His hand glowed, and he waved it in front the damaged book. It began
reknitting itself. He did the same to Mina’s half, and her front cover and few
pages filled out into a completely separate book.

“Now we both can have one. See?” He
flipped his open, stopping to stare at the image of the ogre on one page and
the Reaper locked in battle of scythes with Mina on another.