Snow's Lament (13 page)

With that insult, Rumple disappeared from view in a cloud of golden smoke.

“He’s a right ass, isn’t he now?” Maleficent said with grim humor.

A surprised laugh came from deep inside me. “That, he is. We can’t trust him.”

“Child, everyone knows that.” She leaned back into her chair and sighed heavily. “He works for only himself and helps when he sees an advantage.”

“I suspect he wants the gem.” Although something had been bothering me about it. “He had the chance to take it from us while we were trapped on Earth, but he didn’t.”

“He works to gain your trust and will use it to stab you in the heart when he feels the time is right.” She shuffled through her robe and pulled out a small bracelet. “I made this for you a couple days ago. Put it on.” She held it out to me and I took it, surprised at the warmth emanating from the silver metal. It was deceptively light and pretty, but since it was a gift from Maleficent, I knew it held strong magic. Small white stones dotted through the silver and flashed with blue fire whenever the firelight hit it.

“Moonstone?” I questioned as I held it to the light.

“Rainbow moonstone.”

She said nothing else. I glanced at her quizzically. “What does it do?”

She shrugged. “It doesn’t
do
anything. It’s a stone that will allow you to come to terms with your gifts. To accept and embrace them. And to realize your true desires.”

It sounded like a mall psychic was speaking to me, not the mighty Maleficent. At my look of bewilderment, she laughed. “I speak the truth. Rainbow moonstone is a highly feminine stone. Wearing it will help you accept your personal powers.” She grinned as I still didn’t look convinced and reached over to take my arm.

“Here.” She clasped the bracelet around my wrist.

“Pretty,” I murmured, mostly because it was true. Even though I wasn’t sure about the accepting yourself mumbo jumbo, it was still a pretty bauble, and I never allowed myself many of those. I held the bracelet up and watched as the natural blue fire flashed within the stone. “Thank you, Maleficent.”

“My pleasure. I know you don’t believe me right now, but stones will attune to your body chemistry. I felt like this needed to be yours, so I made it—with magic and chemistry.”

It dangled off my wrist slightly. “I’ll cherish it.” I shook my wrist slightly and watched the stones.

“I’m glad,” Maleficent said and as I tore my gaze away from the bracelet. I could have sworn a small, mysterious smile was present where it hadn’t been a moment ago, but disappeared before I could convince myself it was there.

Maleficent whipped us up a quick soup and crusty bread, and we ate because it was all we could do while we waited for Rumple. Neither of us had any clue as to where he’d gone. We chatted about inane topics, uninterested in broaching the heavy campaign we were about to get into. The upcoming battle probably should have been the only thing we spoke about, but both of us were exhausted.

We would be front and center in the fray soon enough, and Maleficent had promised to get me back to the crew as soon as Rumple arrived with the charm. I would be the one to break into the castle, and the rest would stand watch at different sentry points around the grounds.

It was hardly a foolproof plan, but if Max were still alive and recovering, we needed to get in and get out before he was back to full strength. I didn’t see how that could happen after the bullet he’d taken to the head, but I’d seen stranger things happen inside of this godforsaken kingdom before.

I squared my shoulders. They should have killed me when they had the chance. Now, I was hellbent on making this right and stopping the suffering she was inflicting on everyone.

I briefly wondered about Max’s daughter. The realist in me wondered if something had happened to her. She was one of the few things helping him keep a tenuous grip on his sanity and willpower. If Naomi harmed her, his descent into madness would make complete sense.

But if she had tricked him into thinking she was gone, I would be a monster. I would be the one who killed her father.

I blinked and shook myself out of those maudlin thoughts. We had enough depressing things to think about, and I didn’t think I could handle leaving a child parentless right now.

Gold smoke appeared in the room and I stood, ready to go as soon as the charm was handed over to me. Rumple appeared, again looking no worse for the wear. In his hand dangled a silver heart charm attached to a short chain.

“Cute,” I said.

“Brilliant,” he remarked. “Considering you’re going in there as a hapless chambermaid who left her home with only this small bauble as a reminder of her poor, dead parents.” He waggled his eyebrows, gaining an amused snort out of me, and motioned for me to turn around. I did, feeling trickles of anxiety run up my spine at being defenseless in front of him. A strong hand lifted my heavy hair from the nape of my neck. Goosebumps exploded along my skin and I bit my lip as I tried to curb the blush creeping along my neckline.

His hands stilled and I wanted to sink into the ground with mortification.

“Such a lovely lass,” he murmured. “Strong as leather and soft as silk.
Ignis et glacies
.”

“Rumple!” Maleficent’s sharp bark of disapproval snapped me out of my trance and the blush I’d been trying so hard to control bloomed onto my skin. I stood as still as stone and waited until Rumple had clasped the necklace around my neck.

He took his sweet ass time and when the necklace was finally looped, he leaned in. “Fire and ice, Snow. That is what you are.” He gripped my hair, settled it along my shoulders, and stepped away.

I shut my eyes and took a shuddering breath. I schooled my expression and turned around. “Thank you.” It came out more like a croak, but at least I could still speak.

His masculine chuckle wasn’t mocking for once, merely pleased. I wanted to shoot him in the kneecap.

“How do I use it?” I asked, fingering the cool silver and carefully avoiding looking him in the eye.

“When you reach the castle grounds, simply press it and whisper
abscondo
.”

I blinked and looked up at him. “What does it mean?”

“Loosely translated, it means to conceal.”

I took my finger off the charm and repeated the word a couple times until Rumple nodded in approval.

“And to reverse it?” I asked.

“Time. Prepare to be a chambermaid for at least twelve hours.”

“Super,” I muttered as another thought occurred to me. “Do I need to find proper clothes?”

He shook his head. “The glamour is complete. Shoes, hair, clothes—everything will appear. Just be careful not to touch anyone who has more than a speck of magical talent. The glamour will shimmer and someone with a discerning eye could see through it.”

“Touch no one,” I said. “That won’t be a problem.”

“Glad to hear it.” He nodded once to Maleficent and disappeared without saying goodbye.

“Sociable guy, isn’t he?”

The frown Maleficent was wearing didn’t dim. She rustled through the deep black feathers of her robe and handed me a small white stone. “Place this in your pocket. If the glamour fails, use this to quickly exit the castle.”

“Why would it fail?”

Her frown deepened further. “Because it furthers his agenda.” She shook her head. “I could very well be wrong, but take the stone anyway as a backup.” I held out my hand and she dropped it into my palm.

“Where will this take me?”

“Back to me. Wherever I am. Simply hold it and think about getting the hell out of that godforsaken castle.”

I tucked the stone into the pocket next to the stone for Giles. “Are you ready?”

She blew out a breath. “I feel there is an ill wind blowing, friend, but let’s go.”

And with those happy words, Maleficent swept me away and back into the heart of evil.

Belle’s concerned brown eyes swam in front of my face as I struggled to right myself from the dizzying ride through realms. I exhaled deeply and wobbled as I tried to stand up straight. It hadn’t bothered me much when she’d transported me to her chapel, but my mind had been on other things, specifically the cold blooded murder I had possibly just committed.

A cool hand gripped my arm. “We’ve been so worried.” Belle spoke quietly, but gave a reproachful glare to Maleficent as she said her next words. “And we had no idea where you’d gone to, so we spent hours looking for you.”

Maleficent huffed and drew to her full, quite impressive, height, but Belle didn’t look terribly cowed. Finding out there was a good chance you could be one of the most powerful sorceresses who’d ever lived seemed to go a long way to extinguish her fear. Not that I thought she could take on Maleficent right now. She was way too green and uneducated in her powers. I studied her. But maybe she could give her a run for her money.

“I’m…” What was I? I wasn’t fine. I wasn’t okay. I was merely existing, “here,” I said after a moment’s pause. “And ready.” That was as truthful as I could make it without dissolving into a puddle of grief.

Cyndi stepped up beside Belle and gathered me into her arms. She’d always been a tiny thing, but Cyndi always gave the best heart-soothing hugs. I relaxed into her embrace for the smallest moment, but felt my heart warm. She rubbed my back for a moment, but released me after a moment. She knew I didn’t mind when she hugged me, but she was intelligent enough to not hold on too long and make me uncomfortable.

Her lower lip wobbled and her cornflower blue eyes swam with tears. I expected her to burst into sobs at any moment, but she surprised me. Cyndi cleared her throat and spoke. “You’ve made a sacrifice very few could make.” She took my hand into her small, cool ones. “And you did it for us. And for your people.”

I blinked away the offending tears, nodded once, and removed my hand from Cyndi’s. If I hoped to get through this, I needed to brush away anything that reminded me of him. And that included people talking to me.

Cyndi’s mouth turned down at my brush off, but her gaze swam with sympathy. “Okay. Later then, but I need to tell you something first.”

I wanted to scream for her to stop talking. I just wanted to get in, find Giles, get the gem, and get the hell out. I didn’t want to talk about feelings. Or Max. Or anything even remotely similar.

“Cyndi…” Belle’s voice held a warning note.

Cyndi rolled her eyes. “Dude. Relax.”

I snorted in surprised amusement.

“I had a job, remember?”

My brow furrowed in confusion until I remembered her talents. The talents I’d never seen her use, nor knew she had until recently. I straightened and plastered an unconcerned look on my face. “What did you see?”

She shrugged. “Fire. Blood.” Her voice trailed off. “Pain…” She rubbed a hand across her forehead as if her thoughts gave her a headache. “A young girl. And…” her gaze met mine, “you.”

A gasp escaped me, but she held up her hand. “Don’t get too hopeful, Snow. You were…” she stopped to gather herself, “unconscious. Or worse.”

I tilted my head in confusion.

She lowered hers and underneath her breath, she mumbled, “Maybe dead. Covered in blood.” She sighed. “Probably dead.”

Robin’s dry as dust accent intruded. “Now, come on, love. Snow’s been unconscious and covered in blood plenty of times. Don’t start going all doomsday on us now.”

Relief at seeing him stilled my heart. All of them, really. But Robin had a rough go of it lately and he wasn’t high on the list of people Max thought highly of. Although now, Max pretty much hated everyone not blindly loyal to Naomi. So, we were all in the same boat. I smiled at him. “Glad to see someone’s optimistic.”

Belle shook her head in annoyance. “Blind loyalty.”

My mouth dropped open at her uncharacteristically caustic comment. “Belle?”

She shook her head and turned from me, and I watched as she walked away.

“Robin, care to explain what that was all about?”

His voice was unfailingly cheerful. “She thinks we’re sleeping together, love.”

I barked out a surprised laugh and turned to face him. “And where, pray tell, would she get that
insane
idea?”

He shrugged as a huge grin spread on his face. “Insane? I think it’s the most brilliant idea I’ve had all week. And,” he waggled his eyebrows at me, “we should act on it immediately.”

“Sex-starved egomaniac,” Cyndi muttered in disgust.

“
Handsome
, sex-starved egomaniac,” Robin corrected.

I sighed. “You need to fix this.”

Robin brushed an imaginary speck of dust off his leather vest. “Let a lad have a spot of fun, yes? She’s so damnably uptight.”

I couldn’t disagree. “But she’s also one of my best friends. And my roommate.” I paused. “And also possibly the most powerful sorceress in the world, so kindly rectify this before she turns me into a puddle of ash.” I glared at him. “Yes?”

He rolled his eyes and turned his grin into an exaggerated frown. “Fine, you surly tight asses.”

Cyndi laughed. “Thank you, you old man-whore.”

Robin raised a single eyebrow. “Milady said the word whore,” he said with pleasure and bowed. “My job here is done. I can now die a happy man.”

I punched him in the arm. “Go fix this. We can’t go in to die with our emotions all over the place.”

Robin stared. “My, you really are the voice of hope in a dark, dank world.”

“Now,” I gritted through my teeth.

“Tsk, tsk. So crabby.” He winked at me and trailed reluctantly after Belle.

A small smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. He’d done the one thing I wanted: made me think about something else. Perhaps that was his plan all along. He was going to keep Belle on her toes from now until she finally relented.

“So,” I said to Cyndi once Robin was out of hearing distance, “you think I’m going to die?”

Her eyes widened. “I didn’t say that! I just told you what I saw when I looked at him. I think he was beyond hope.” She tugged her fingers, a nervous gesture she had when she was about to say something she didn’t want to.

“Spit it out.”

“He had so much hatred inside him.” She shuddered delicately. “So much rage.”

I sat down on the damp grass and spread my legs out. Cyndi wrinkled her nose, but followed suit. “Naomi has his daughter.” It was a secret I’d kept from them and I wasn’t even sure why I had. “She was the reason he fought so hard for so long.”

Cyndi twirled a long blonde strand of hair around her finger and gaped at me. “A daughter?” There was a pause while she mulled this new fact over. “It explains a lot. I wonder…” She stopped and frowned.

I sat up a little straighter. “What?”

“It’s probably nothing. I just wonder if what I saw was prophetic. Or…in some way affected by her magic. I felt such a strong malevolent presence within him. I could tell he was still there. But he was fading. I wonder if maybe he’s trying to tell us something.”

After seeing him last, I had trouble swallowing this. “Was.
Was
trying to tell us something,” I reminded her.

Cyndi closed her eyes. “Snow, I think when this is over, you should try to talk to me.”

Maleficent, standing tall and still beside me, cleared her throat with meaning. For once, it seemed she agreed with Cyndi.

“I’m not making any promises.”

“Good enough for me.” Cyndi stood with a grimace and wiped off the seat of her pants. “See the things I do for you?” She flicked an offending piece of grass off her finger.

“Getting to be one with nature is good for you.”

She flipped me off and trailed over to where Belle stood, looking mutinous against the moonlight.

If we were going to storm the castle, we really needed to get our shit together. Every minute we waited was one more minute where something could go wrong. I, for one, had enough things going wrong. I wanted to get this over with. Plus, I wouldn’t mind seeing Giles again. It had been entirely too long.

Maleficent sat down beside me, tucking in her feathery robes. She tilted her face to the sky and studied the enormous orb above us. “It’s a perfect night for a war,” she said.

“Sometimes you should document the things you say and compile them into a book so you can refer back to how weird you are.” I pulled a piece of grass up and twirled it in my fingers, watching as silvery light from the moon glint off the dewy blade.

A small smile played on her fierce features. “It’s true. The full moon enables us to take chances we normally wouldn’t. It bravens and emboldens us.”

“Such as a suicide mission into an evil queen’s court right after I just killed her main henchman?”

“Well…” she paused, “exactly.” She absently stroked the blue-black feathers against her legs. “Although, you aren’t sure you actually killed him, and this isn’t a suicide mission. It should work.”