11. Snow
Chapter eleven
Snow
I shuffle back on the bed as the four men pour into the cell.
I recognize Angel, but I do a double take when the nearly identical man steps into the cell after him, identical all but for the lack of an eye patch.
Twins.
All this time, there were two of them, and I thought one was bad enough to deal with.
And not only are there two of them, two fae princes with long, silvery hair and ice-cold eyes, but there’s another…
One with luminous eyes of green, facial stubble, and shoulder-length brown hair. He was dressed like Angel, but why ?
What is going on?
Then there’s a fourth, but he’s still unknown to me, having yet to show his face as he hovers at the threshold, and thank goodness.
My mind is still reeling after finding out that Angel is a twin. Have I been dealing with them both this entire time?
I did notice that Angel was acting strangely at one point, and I wince as my head gives a painful throb.
Then there’s the green-eyed one…
Who is he?
He shakes his head. “No, you can’t…”
Angel’s twin sighs. “Move aside, Hunter.”
Hunter?
I peer at Hunter. He seems to be fighting for me. He doesn’t want the others to do whatever it is they’re about to do, and my heart pounds.
“Hunter, don’t do this,” Angel’s twin pleads, but the green-eyed male is adamant.
“No. Just look at her, for fuck’s sake! What kind of men are you?”
Angel lifts his head, and if I thought he was terrifying before, his blue eye practically glows with fury, now. I whimper.
Hunter whips his head toward me. “It’s okay, Snow. You’re safe… No one will harm you.”
Yet I still can’t take my gaze off Angel. The way he looks at Hunter, and then in a flash, he has Hunter pinned to the wall, twisting his arms behind his back.
Hunter screams. “No! Prince! You bastard! You can’t do this!”
Who’s Prince?
Finally, my eyes find the fourth, and all the blood leaches from my veins when I get a look at that larger-than-life male.
One brown eye, and one green eye, and I can’t tear my gaze away.
He's not all that much taller than the others, but he’s larger in the sense that he’s dangerous, lethal.
He owns any room he enters, and I swear all the air leaves the cell when he steps inside, wiping down his fine suit.
Daddy always wore suits and conducted himself in a similar manner.
This one, just like my late father, doesn’t have a single hair out of place, and like the others, he shares the aquiline nose, but he has the strongest jawline, the sharpest chin.
His hair is black. Nowhere as black as mine, but it still seems to absorb all the light in the cell as he stops before the bed, assessing me with those mismatched eyes.
He's handsome. They all are, and I have never been in a room with so many men before...
Even Daddy kept me far away from his board meetings, not letting any of his men lay their eyes on me.
Even the ones he trusted.
It was how he ensured I was safe.
But now here I am, locked in a cell with four six-foot-plus men, and it seems he failed to keep me a secret after all.
There’s no missing the hatred in the dark-haired male’s mismatched eyes, and I shiver.
He hates me. No, he hated my father, and now he is going to make him pay by taking out his daughter.
I swallow.
Hunter struggles in Angel’s hold, and the blond male really is strong. He twists his arms, and Hunter cries.
“No! Prince! Don’t! Mother would be turning in her grave!”
I don’t look away from Prince when Hunter mentions their mother. They must be brothers.
Prince’s green eye glows, and he grits his teeth. “Angel, get him out of my sight. I will deal with him later over his disobedience.”
Angel drags Hunter out of the cell, and the green-eyed male spits at Prince’s shoes.“Fuck you, asshole. You’re not my dad!”
Before he departs, Prince reaches around, gripping his younger brother by the shirt, and my lip wobbles when I spy the warning in his eyes.
“Don’t try my patience, baby brother. I have been nothing but good to you.”
Hunter wriggles in Angel’s arms, but the stalwart male is too strong.
My heart thumps.
I would stand no chance.
“You’re lucky you’re my brother, Hunter. Because you would be dead ten times over…”
He lets go of Hunter’s shirt, and now the green-eyed male can be heard out in the hall.
He may be a stranger, but it seems he is my only ally in the world right now.
Hunter doesn’t want his brothers to hurt me, a girl he doesn’t know from Adam, yet he is still willing to vouch for me.
I’m touched.
A shame I will never get to thank him.
Prince will kill me. After all, my Daddy had many enemies, and this is just the result of all his dastardly deeds over the years.
Once Angel and Hunter are gone, Prince’s eyes fall on me, and they’re cold, lifeless.
There is no love or warmth to be found in those eyes. What, specifically, did my father do to earn such ire?
I refuse to show fear. Instead of cowering like a little wisp of snow, I raise my chin and meet those exquisite eyes.
They really are captivating.
A shame they’re filled with hatred.
The ice cracks slightly in Prince’s gaze. “Saint.”
Angel’s identical twin steps up beside me, and I meet his ice-blue eyes. He’s like an angel in every way, even from the roots to the ends of his silvery hair.
There’s sadness in his gaze when it meets mine, and my heart breaks when I spy the regret.
“I take it you ate the soup…”
The soup?
I suck in a trembling breath. So, that was him with the soup, and not Angel after all.
I thought Angel seemed different.
Saint tricked me into making me think he was his brother. The other one, Hunter, tried to do the same thing as well, but he failed miserably.
His discarded wig and eye patch remain on the floor.
Saint sighs. “Let’s not make this harder than it has to be. Come willingly, okay?”
I find his eyes again. He wants me to behave so his twisted brother can torture me, and there are plenty of things I wish to say.
But they remain in my mouth.
What’s the point?
I’ve already accepted my fate.
I have decided I am going to reunite with Daddy and Mama.
This was my path all along. Not to live and see the world and become the woman that I was always supposed to be.
No. My fate was sealed the day I decided to go with Ferdinand.
I don’t fight Saint. I merely go with him, and now I step up toward Prince, dwarfed by his size. I only reach his chest.
Why do they all have to be so tall?
A shame I didn’t end up with a bunch of dwarves.
I may be terrified of him, but I still meet his mismatched eyes. I can’t read him now. It appears he truly is as cold as I feared.
Nothing can penetrate that ice.
Finally, he turns, showing me his back as he leaves the cell. Saint grips my upper arm and guides me down the hall.
We move in ominous silence, and my heart thumps throughout my body as we tread endless halls, descending into the very heart of hell.
We’re underground.
Finally, Prince stops at a bolted, steel door, and when he unlocks the latch, I spy the room beyond.
A lone chair with manacles and chains sits alongside a table, and I swallow hard. I don’t dare look at what is on the table.
My heart beats on my tongue now, and then my body shakes.
To my surprise, Saint’s hand is gentle as he places it at the small of my back, and he leads me to the chair, fastening my arms and legs.
There's a red splotch by the legs of the chair, and my lip wobbles.
I’m no idiot. I know it’s more than just a red splotch.
I can’t help it. A tear falls from my eye. With my arms bound, I can’t even wipe it away.
Saint thumbs my cheek, and I flinch at his touch.
It's only when I spy my tear glistening on his thumb when I realize he was only trying to wipe my cheek.
I would find it sweet, but he fastened me to a chair with manacles. He’s no friend.
None of them are.
Not even Hunter, even if he did fight for me.
I don’t meet Saint’s eyes again, even though he won’t stop staring at me.
“Just tell him one truth about her. That is all. It should suffice.”
I meet his ice-blue eyes.
Prince is too busy looking over the torture tools on the table to hear him.
“What?” I ask.
His eyes narrow. “One truth. I know you don’t care about her any more than she does you. So, should be easy, right?”
They want me to spill the dirt on Regina...
Unfortunately, I don’t know all that much about her.
So, his advice is pointless.
“Just don’t lie. He’ll know.”
I inhale a trembling breath. Saint’s eyes still search me, and I wish he would stop.
He makes me feel exposed. Vulnerable.
They all do.
Finally, he steps away, and Prince returns at last. In his hands are a pair of pliers, and I gulp.
He eyes me for a few moments before he hands over the tool to Saint. “You do the honors, Saint. This is your area of expertise.”
Saint stiffens before coming over, taking the tool from Prince before he looks at me.
I don’t care for his apology.
It seems they will break me before they kill me.
“I’m sorry, robin.”
Robin?
Saint places the tool over my fingernail, and I close my eyes.
Deep breaths, Snow.
“All I want is one secret about Regina, Snow. If you lie, we will cut off your fingernails and send them to Regina.”
Like she would care.
“Now, who is her greatest ally? Who can she trust most?”
I honestly don’t know. But when Saint starts at my nail, I blurt out the first name I can think of.
“Ferdinand.”
I’ve no loyalty to him whatsoever. I don’t even know if he lived after I hit him with the rock.
Prince speaks. “Good. You passed.”
Is this a test or something?
Now Prince steps closer, hands folded behind his back. “What plans does she have for our company?”
I blink. How should I know?
His green eye glows. “What does she know about us?”
I close my eyes, shaking.
I am going to die after all.
Saint said I only needed to give them one truthful answer, but Prince isn’t going to give up.
Not until he gets what he wants.
“I… I don’t know. She never told me anything…”
Prince straightens. Then his mouth barely moves as he whispers, “Saint.”
Saint gazes at his boss. “She’s telling the truth.”
Are they good at that sort of stuff? Knowing when someone is lying?
I sure wish I was.
I could have sensed Ferdinand from a mile off, but I was just so desperate to be rescued, latching on to the first handsome face I met.
Stupid girl I was.
Prince’s eye flashes. “She is lying… I bet they both have something planned for us. They’re both Leroy’s whores!”
The tears drip in earnest now, and I whimper, “Please… I don’t know anything about her. She just married my dad!”
The word dad seems to tick him off, and then his face morphs as a monster takes his place. “Then what did your father have planned for us?”
The ice of his voice cuts me like a knife, and my body shudders. “I… I don’t know. He never spoke about his business with me either.”
Saint sighs. “Prince, she’s telling the truth—”
Prince growls. “Shut up! Like I have any reason to believe this little whore.”
Saint’s fist curls. I really don’t have any friends left in the world.
No one is coming to rescue me.
“Saint, hand me the pliers.”
My heart seizes.
Saint’s eyes meet mine, and there’s no missing his regret.
Well, he can shove his regret up his ass.
If he was really sorry, then he would stop Prince.
But in the end, I’m their enemy. My father destroyed their family. That much is certain.
It's why I’m here.
Saint hands Prince the pliers, then fades into the shadows until it’s just me and his deranged brother.
It’s not fair. I never asked to be born into this world.
I’m only the daughter of a monster...
“Your tears won’t work on us, Snow White. We know what you are…”
Prince grips my chin in a bone-crushing grip, turning my face this way and that, then scoffs.
“You’re not fooling anyone, princess . You may act all sweet and innocent, but I know there is a monster in there, too. Like the one who lived inside your Daddy …”
Maybe he’s right. I did grab a rock and smash it across a man’s skull. It may have been self-defense, but a part of me did enjoy it.
It felt good to get back at my enemy, to get back at Regina.
I hope I messed up Ferdinand’s pretty face forever.
“We’re done for today.”
My shoulders slump.
I get to keep all my fingernails after all.
Without warning, Prince swings his arm out, slapping me across the cheek with the back of his hand.
His ring knocks me out cold.