41. Snow
Chapter forty-one
Snow
I run out of the prison block, right past the stalwart guard outside as I cut across the wet lawn.
I know I spied a maze from my bedroom window, and that’s where I go now as I run from my demons.
I have no idea what came over me. Even though my knucklesare split and bleeding, it felt good to get revenge on Ferdinand.
After all, he hurt me.
He would have done the same to me if our roles had been reversed.
Ferdinand would have killed me for his so-called queen and the father he once loved.
I wasn’t surprised to hear that my father had torn apart yet another family as I push my legs forward, trying to escape the monster waking inside me.
Maybe I am more like my father than I realized. A sob escapes me as I stumble through the entrance to the maze, running and running until I hit a dead end.
I’m lost, but who isn’t?
I just don’t know myself anymore.
There’s one thing I am afraid to admit.
All I could imagine was Regina sitting in that chair as I knocked Ferdinand out cold. I can still hear the way his teeth clattered to the floor, the ones I knocked out with Moth’s brass knuckles.
It felt fucking fantastic.
I know that Regina killed my father. I have never been able to prove it, but maybe I can get her to confess one day in that very same chair.
And just maybe my guys will be willing to help me achieve that dream.
Then, once I have rid this world of her, I can take my father’s throne and don my crown as rightful queen.
That is my kingdom, after all.
And one way or other, I will take it back from the usurper and make her pay.
Wife or no wife, she never loved my father. She only wanted his throne for herself, and then she tried to kill me so she would have no opposition.
Big mistake.
Regina has awakened the storm.
And I am going to rain down on her disgraced crown like a raging tempest.
I drop to my feet when I come to yet another dead end, and a frustrated scream escapes me.
Now I’m lost with no way out.
It's only when I turn a corner, bumping into a solid wall of chest that I realize I’m not alone.
One of them followed me.
I just didn’t expect it to be Moth.
The one who hates me.
Well, no. Prince is pretty much in the same league.
Moth captures me by the shoulders, and I meet those onyx eyes.
Why has he come after me? I’m surprised he even cares.
Then again, he did give me his brass knuckles. He saw I was struggling with Ferdinand, and maybe it was his olive branch.
“Hey, what’s the rush?”
I gaze up into his face, and he is smiling at me.
He grinned at me before, and I swear the whole world flipped upside down.
“Why have you followed me?” I ask.
Moth shrugs, leaning against the hedge behind him. “Thought you needed a friend.”
I grab a stitch at my side as my running finally catches up with me. “Why?”
He rises a brow. “I don’t know. You just looked lost.”
Well, I am stuck inside a maze, and I’m starting to think coming in here was a mistake.
“Well, thank you for checking in on me. I’m surprised. I was under the impression you didn’t like me very much.”
Silence filters through the maze, and I’m pretty sure the birds stop chirping.
Moth stares at me for a while, and was it something I said?
“Snow, I have liked you far longer than my brothers have.”
My eyes widen.
What is that supposed to mean?
He steps away from the shrubbery, coming to stand in front of me. “I knew from the moment I saw you back then that you were something special. So, when I found out what Prince had planned for you, I… tore myself apart.”
What is he talking about?
“You really don’t know, do you? I knew it. You really hadn’t seen me…”
I shake my head. “You’re talking in riddles now.”
Moth meets my eyes. “I saw you once on your father’s estate. Singing to a freaking bird of all things. You were six; I was seven…”
His voice trails off.
My heart thumps, and I lean against the hedge beside him.
I really had no idea…
“So, that girl was me? The one in your sketch.”
Moth’s mouth quirks up with a tight smile. “That’s right.”
My head spins, and then I peer away, grabbing my forehead.
This is messed up.
I remove my hand from my face, gazing at him in astonishment. “Why didn’t you say hello to me?”
Moth has nothing to say to that and his silence says it all.
A smile forms across my face. “And they call Casper the shy one…”
He narrows his onyx eyes. “Hey, I’ve talked to plenty of girls. Just not ones like you, Snow.”
My heart skips a beat.
I have no idea how to respond. Who knew he could be so… sweet.
He's supposed to be the grumpy one.
Now the blood rushes through my head as I’m at a loss for words.
It’s a lot to take on.
“So, now you know why I pushed you away. I’m sorry. It’s a bullshit excuse, I know.”
I shake my head. “No, no… I understand…”
More silence passes between us, and this is so awkward. Maybe one day, we can look back on this moment and laugh.
Moth sighs, leading the way. “Come on. I’ll show you the way out.”
Finally, I am getting sick of this maze.
Moth is quiet as we head back to the house, bypassing the prison block entirely, and my body shivers.
I hope I never have to go down there again.
I can still hear the wet thumping of my punches, and once again, I see Ferdinand bleeding out before me, the smell of blood and sweat cloying as it speckles my cheeks.
The memory will haunt me forever.
Everyone has gathered in the living room, and the guys haven’t even bothered to wash off Ferdinand’s blood.
Neither have I, for that matter.
“Snow,” Hunter gasps, rushing to my side when I enter the room with Moth.
“I’m fine,” I tell them.
“Where’s Prince?”
He turns from the mirror where he’s scowling at his reflection, and I meet his mismatched eyes.
It looks as if Knight has seen to his bruises, but his eye is still painfully swollen.
I clear my throat. “I have a proposition for you, Prince. Maybe then you will finally realize that Regina doesn’t mean a thing to me.”
“And what would that proposition be?” he asks
I glance around the room.
Everyone gives me their support. Hunter gives the thumbs up, and Angel’s eye is glowing with newfound wonder.
Wonder at me …
After all, I kind of lost control in the prison, and I bet he adored every moment.
He likes it when I go dark.
“I want to face off with Regina, and I will need your help.”
Prince lifts a brow. “Oh?”
I inhale a breath. “So, I propose that you offer me up as bait. That way, you can lure Regina in and kill her once and for all.”
Prince’s mouth parts in pleased surprise, and I go on.
“And once you have killed her, you make me the rightful queen of my father’s kingdom.”
No one breathes a single sound after my declaration of war.
But I am prepared to redden my hands with Regina’s blood. She has made me suffer for far too long.
And now it’s time to end her reign of terror.
I step up to Prince, and we study our reflections in the mirror; I just hope Regina isn’t watching us through her evil mirror.
“So, Prince, do you think you can put all your trust in me? Are you okay to work with your enemy?”
The guys stiffen as they all await Prince’s response; it will either make or break him at this point.
I hope he chooses his next words wisely.
This world wouldn’t be the same without him, after all.
No matter what, he needs to live.
It’s the only way we can both get back at Regina.
One of Prince’s sinful black brows arches at my audacity, and then he turns to his brothers.
“Well, it seems as if I don’t have a choice. Unless I want to end up like your dear friend Ferdinand.”
My heart thumps in my chest, and then I swallow a hard lump. “Why? W-what happened to Ferdinand?”
One by one, they avert their eyes, and I seek Prince’s for answers.
He’s the only one who can meet mine.
“Well?”
Prince watches me for a few strange moments, and do I spy a little concern in his eyes?
Then he looks away from me and sighs. “You killed him.”
My world crashes around me.
“Oh.”
I thought something felt very ‘final’ about that last punch, and what do you know…
I’m just like Daddy after all.
Like father, like daughter in the end.
Like father, like daughter…
I truly have become tainted.
“Well,” I whisper. “At least now you can see what I am willing to sacrifice in order to help your family, Prince.”
The sacrifice being my soul.
Casper hangs his head, and there’s no missing his grief.
They’re all solemn, even Angel.
My soul was something they wanted to preserve, but there was no way I was going to come out of this world completely unscathed.
It would have always found a way of catching up with me in the end.
So, time to become the storm.
Goodbye forever, sweet helpless Snow.
Hello, raging tempest…
Finally, Prince speaks. “I agree to the proposal.”
Everyone tenses, but I don’t look away from his mismatched eyes. The green shines appreciatively, and I think maybe he has finally found it in his heart to trust me.
I just hope we all survive.
Time to face my dear stepmother again.
I’m sure she has missed me dearly.