Her heart soared! He’d come for her! He hadn’t abandoned her. She was going to have quite a few angry words with him later, but for now, since her Jared was here, she knew they would be all right.
Jared’s hands going up in the air and his eyes widening in fright were Mina’s only warning that something was wrong. She turned just as Temple’s ungloved hand reached for her arm.
Her arm swung up, and she stabbed Temple in the palm of the hand with the piece of the glass knife. Temple screamed and stepped back, holding his bleeding hand. He stared at the golden glass in horror and then at the blood that dripped from the wound. It was first red, and then slowly, drip by drip, it turned to gold. He pulled out the glass and dropped it in shock.
“No! No! What have you done? How did you know?”
Mina stared at him without any sympathy. “A deal made in blood that can only be broken by blood. Yours.”
“How could you have come by my blood?” He groaned in pain, trying to use his power to reverse the effect of the magic that was turning his arm and shoulder into gold. He was able to change it back for a second, but then he would be overwhelmed and lose the ground he’d gained. He was sweating and fighting it so hard. Mina knew he would lose the battle.
“You gave it to me…freely.”
“I would have done no such thiii—” And he was gone. The most powerful Stiltskin encased in his own golden curse. And she’d done it without the Grimoire.
A loud screeching noise came from the ceiling, and the phoenix flexed its wings and flew in a giant circle. Thank you for freeing me, the voice echoed in Mina’s head. The bird flew over her head, making Teague duck for cover, and in a wink of an eye, all of the flames in the room were gone. The bird came to light on Teague’s book and looked at Mina with large solemn eyes.
“You’re welcome, but now can you help me?” Mina turned to point to Nix, whose shoulder had turned a deep purple color. He was gasping for each and every breath. “They say that a phoenix’s tears can heal people. Is that true?”
“Yes, but even if I heal him, he will still die on this plane.”
“So there’s nothing you can do?” Mina cried out. A warm arm wrapped around her shoulder, and she could feel Jared coming to aid her.
“No, there’s nothing I can do. I am truly sorry,” the bird said, using tones of her mother’s anguished voice. “But I thank you again for our freedom.”
“Our?” Mina looked around, confused.
“Your bravery not only freed me, it freed all of those entrapped by his malicious deals.” The phoenix’s voice became deeper, more masculine. The timbre of the familiar voice made Mina go weak in the knees. The voice of her father. The bird looked toward the Stiltskin, who was surrounded by gold orbs that grew and grew until they took the shape of their true form.
A small gold bubble phased into a young tree nymph who looked around the room and took off running down the hall. An even larger orb phased into a dazed and confused griffin. Another released an ogre, a small fairy. One after another, hundreds of orbs shifted, and Fae of all races and sizes began to walk among each other, hugging one another and rejoicing in their freedom. Then the most amazing thing happened as each and every one of the freed Fae bowed toward Mina in respect.
Teague walked back and forth, his anger spilling off him in waves. “No, no, no! You shouldn’t be bowing to her—I’m the one who freed you. I sent the Stiltskin into her world so she could defeat him. I’m the one who instigated the quest! You should bow to me!”
The menagerie of freed slaves ignored Teague and departed through all available exits, out of the broken windows, the destroyed walls into the courtyard, and even into the palace itself, eager to leave and not be enslaved again. The phoenix called out to her in one truly earsplitting scream of joy and then vanished into the night.
But there was one golden orb left. It was the last to be released and the slowest to be freed. The final orb floated farther away from her, to the middle of the floor, and slowly phased into the form of a man who looked familiar. It couldn’t be…could it?
He looked confused, dazed, and stumbled over a broken column. His dull brown hair and small moustache couldn’t hide the wide fear-ridden brown eyes as the man stared at the Stiltskin statue in horror.
“No, it can’t be,” Mina choked out and froze, her hand going to her heart as she tried to call out his name. She hadn’t seen him in almost nine years, so she couldn’t be certain, was too scared in case she was wrong. Mina tried to say something, but his name died on her lips, barely a squeak. “Father?”
But he was gone; he made his escape, like the others, into the night. She was about to run after him into the Fae world, but she couldn’t—not yet. She had a duty here…now. A quest to finish, and she couldn’t be sure it was him. Maybe she only imagined it was him because the phoenix had just spoken to her using his voice.
“Come on, Mina,” Jared’s soft voice whispered into her ear. His arm wrapped around her and she buried herself in his embrace.
“You came?” She started to cry soft, silent tears.
“I’m not supposed to come back. My mother the Queen forbade it—she said it was too dangerous for me here. So I was banished to your world, never to cross over, for fear of my life.”
“Why did you come? I-I thought you were angry at me for coming, and you said you wouldn’t follow.” She started to hiccup.
Jared’s gray eyes bored into hers. His face filled with emotion, and his own eyes looked to be just as tear-filled. “Do you really not know the reason why I came? I came back for you. I’ll always come back for you.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. His nearness tickled her senses, and she couldn’t help but hold him even tighter. Jared gently tipped Mina’s chin up, and he leaned down to press his lips to hers in a soft kiss that quickly turned into desire. So many pent-up emotions and unsaid words spilled out between them in a kiss to top all kisses. Never before had she lost all sense of time and place as her lips sought after those of her protector, her friend and her Fae prince. All thoughts of Brody disappeared as her world encompassed Jared and Jared only.
He pulled away, and he was visibly shaking from the intensity of their kiss. “Mina, I want you to know that I’ve felt alone for a very long time. I was incomplete, and nothing could fill that void. Until I met you. I’ve known for a long time, but I wasn’t sure how you felt about me. At times I thought you hated me, but I wanted to tell you that I, uh, Mina, I lo—aaaarrgh!”
Jared’s body tensed up in pain, and he fell away from her. Mina tried to grab him and pull him close, but something stabbed her in the side. She looked down and saw her torso covered with blood, but it wasn’t hers. She looked up to see a large knife sticking out of Jared’s stomach. Teague stood behind him with his hand wrapped around Jared’s throat, his eyes glittering evilly.
Chapter 26
Jared’s eyes were squeezed shut in pain, but he refused to make a noise.
“Teague, no, let him go,” Mina begged. Jared’s eyes opened wide, and he shook his head from side to side, telling her to keep quiet.
“That’s right. Mother dearest sent him to the human world to keep him from me.” He still had the knife inside Jared, and he hadn’t pulled it out yet. That knife was the only thing keeping him from bleeding out. “She knew how much I needed him,” Teague raged wildly.
“I don’t understand!” Mina cried out, her hands clenched at her side in anger.
“It’s easy, Mina. I want power! I want you to finish more quests so I become more powerful. Use the book. Use my book to entrap them all.” Teague giggled madly. He was becoming unstable. She could see him flinching and blinking like an addict searching for his next fix.
“I can’t,” she whispered.
“Yes, you can. It’s easy. It’s the same as your book. Just open its pages and finish the tale.”
Mina slowly walked through the rubble of the room, toward the podium. She kept glancing between Charlie, who was being very
brave and watching from inside his cage, to Jared, whose face had now broken out in a sweat. He was doing his very best to stay calm and not worry her, but his eyes kept flicking to her brother.
Why would Teague want to hurt Jared? Why would he need her to use the Fae book? Was it all part of his giant plan to gain more power? Why was Jared so worried about Charlie?
“Not until you release my brother,” Mina said firmly. She knew that no matter what happened, he needed to be safe.
Teague’s eyes narrowed, and he wiggled the knife inside Jared, who groaned and bit his lip to keep from crying out.
Mina stood tall, the tears still coming, but she refused to waver. “LET MY BROTHER GO! I defeated your quest! I want my brother, now!”
“Very well.” Teague waved his finger, and the lock clicked off Charlie’s cage. The small boy ran to Mina and clutched her around the waist. Mina knew that now was not the time to be distracted again. She pulled Charlie with her and looked upon the Fae book for the very first time.
She had been told that at one time there was only one book, and that a Fae had split the book in two: one with the power for good, the other for evil, and that whatever quest or tale the Grimms completed on the physical plane, it would magically appear in the Fae book. Here she had the chance to look upon it with her own eyes, and she gasped.
The Fae book was definitely filled with the same stories as hers, but this one was filled with picture after picture of Jared. She couldn’t help but flip backward a few pages and see magical images come to life: of Jared defending her in an alley. Sitting in art class with Mina, spinning on the pottery wheel. There was another one of Jared by the lake, teaching her to fight. Jared and her in the storage room, laughing, before their tickling fight. She flipped forward and saw the last page filled with a motion-captured image of Jared and her sharing a kiss.
“What is this?” There was something terribly wrong, a feeling deep in the pit of her stomach that this wasn’t right. It wasn’t the same as the pictures in her Grimoire.
“Use the Fae book and finish the quest, Mina. Or I’ll kill Jared.”
“Mina, don’t do it. Just take your brother and run,” Jared hissed as his brother squeezed more tightly around his throat.
“I can’t get back, Jared. I never figured out how to get back on my own.”
Jared’s gaze flickered down to his pocket, and one hand slowly reached down to pull something out of it. It was small and silver, and it fit in the palm of his hand. “I had to go to the old biddies and have them fix it, but it’s yours. It should have always been yours.” He flung the seam ripper as hard as he could toward Mina, and he screamed as Teague pulled the knife out at the same time. Jared collapsed on the ground, holding his side, and slowly his fingers turned red with blood.
The seam ripper came to rest by her boot. Charlie picked it up in his hands and stood protectively by Mina’s side.
“Now you have no choice, Mina. Use the Fae book, or Jared will die…here…right now.”
“Okay!” She spun around in anger and lifted the book high into the air above her. She flipped open a black page, and turned it toward the golden body of Temple and the snake. Nothing happened. “Why aren’t you working?”
Teague turned to her, his arms opening wide; he dropped the knife onto the floor and smiled widely. “Because that is not the quest I’ve set up for you. You need to use it on me—on us.” He started to spin widely in a circle. “I’ve waited hundreds of years, brother, for this moment. To finally have you and a Grimm in the same place, and now I’ve done it. The other Grimms didn’t entice you enough to come back to our world. But you never expected me to pick a girl, did you? And one that you would fall in love with.”
Mina stared at them and felt numb. Teague wanted Jared. It was always about Jared. He manipulated Temple to steal her brother, knowing Mina would come here, and eventually Jared would follow. It was a trap, and she was the bait, and now Jared was going to die because of her.
“Miiinna, Miiinna. You’re wasting valuable time. He’s dying, Mina, and it’s all your fault. Just complete this final tale, and you can save him.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, he’s my brother, my other half, and I want what is best for him. I’ve always wanted what is best for him. But what kind of hero are you if you can’t even save the one you love? You do love him, Mina, don’t you? I’m sure in that small, confused, easily swayed human heart, there beats some love for this Fae.”
“But the book, it could…what if it..?”
“The books have been a part of us for so long, it won’t hurt us. I promise. It’s the only thing that can heal us.” Teague held his hand out to her. “We’ve been torn apart for so long, you are the only one who can truly heal us.”
Her heart started to race, and she gripped the pages of the book so hard she could feel them wrinkle in her fingers. She was angry, angry at being tricked, angry at being used. But she wouldn’t let her own feelings get in the way of saving Jared’s life. She at least owed that to him.
Mina pulled all of the magic in the room toward her and let it flood her. She was furious and she wanted Teague to pay, but she wanted Jared to live more. She felt a guttural scream rip forth, and she forced all of the power through her and into the book. She flipped open the book to a blank page and turned it on Teague.
He was so sure it was the only way to save Jared, and she didn’t have any other choice. Jared had stopped moving on the floor.
A bright light burst forth from the book and shot straight into Teague’s heart, while another beam of light poured into Jared’s dying form on the ground. They both began to glow brighter and brighter. Teague began to laugh maniacally, his body slowly raised off the floor until he was floating in the air. Jared’s unconscious body lifted into the air and floated next to Teague’s. Mina could see the wound on Jared’s abdomen slowly start to heal itself. Teague was right. The book was healing them and not entrapping them within its pages.
She began to have hope and kept pouring every ounce of power she could into directing the book. She didn’t know what she was supposed to be doing, but obviously the Fae book did.
Jared groaned and opened his eyes. When he saw himself floating in the air and the beam of light going into his heart, he began to struggle and yell. “NOOOO, noo!”
It was only then that she questioned her choice. Teague had lied.
“Mina!” Jared cried out, and reached for her.
She dropped the book, but it never hit the floor. It continued to float and send vivid beams of light and power into the two brothers. But then something began to happen. The brothers began to be drawn closer together, and the light grew brighter and brighter. Threads of power wrapped around them, binding them, and then both Jared and Teague converged into one.
A retinue of guards rushed into the ballroom, followed by the Fates, the royal King and Queen. Queen Maeve screamed out No before falling to the ground in a faint.
A loud noise filled the room, and threads of magic lashed out in every direction, knocking anyone who was standing to the ground. It took Mina a few seconds to gather her thoughts, for she was blinded and couldn’t hear. She looked to the middle of the blast area where Jared and Teague were last. She could only see one body, and it was lying prone on the floor. The body moved and groaned, and Mina knew it was Jared.
Chapter 27
Mina ran to the body on the floor and flipped Jared over, and wrapped her arms around him.
“You’re okay. You’re alive,” she whispered, and ran her hands over his face. Jared’s eyes fluttered open, and she sat back on her heels in shock. The young man before her was Jared. It had Jared’s hair, face, body, but the eyes were wrong. They weren’t gray, they were blue—like Teague’s.
“What, no kiss?” he sneered, and pushed her hand away in disgust. He sat up and looked around the room, and began to laugh.
Queen Maeve, her dark raven hair stunning against her white dress, looked even paler from the
distress of what she had just witnessed. Even King Lucian appeared shocked at what had transpired. He held onto his beautiful wife and spoke quietly to the royal guards behind him.
Teague turned to the Queen and said, “Well, hello, Mother,” and laughed when she took a step back from him in fright.
What had she done? Mina felt a hand pull against her arm and looked at a stricken Charlie. He kept pointing and dragging her away. She followed her brother to the other side of the room and couldn’t help but feel that she had just done the worst thing imaginable. She had destroyed Jared. Yes, he was now alive, but that person, that thing across the room was not her Jared.
Her feet were filled with lead, and she kept stumbling and tripping as they ran through the rubble. Charlie stopped by a still form and knelt down. Nix was still breathing! Mina grabbed his hands and felt a gentle squeeze back from Nix. His face was now almost unrecognizable from the swelling, and she could see he had almost stopped breathing.
“You are the bravest nixie ever. Thank you for choosing to not give in to your curse,” Mina whispered.
Nix could no longer speak, but he blinked back in response. A huge tear slid down his face.
Charlie handed Mina the seam ripper, and she didn’t hesitate for one second. She pressed the gem on the end, and a pop and crackle emanated from the tip. Mina quickly mimicked Ever and drew a large circle in the air. The seam ripper continued to pop and ripple as it cut through the planes, creating a door. The door wavered and then turned lucid. She could see something on the other side, and it looked like her world.
“Charlie, you go first!” she commanded, but he was nowhere near the portal. Instead, her silent brother was holding onto Nix’s arm and trying to drag him toward the opening. “Charlie, we can’t help him.”
The little nine-year-old boy put his hands on his hips and glared at her. She knew that look, knew that Charlie wouldn’t budge without bringing Nix along.