Chapter 48
JACOB
LICHTENSTEIN CASTLE
Arushing sound thunders in my ears like the crash of a waterfall. I gasp. Need more air.
I flicker between this world and another just out of my grasp. Faces blink. In and out.
Wilhelm.
And…oh no, the Enchantress. I scowl.
“Ah!” she says, her voice the sound of falling snowflakes, fleeting and cold. “There’s the Grimm frown I’ve come to love. Appears as if he’s perfectly fine. Back to his old self, to be sure. I can’t wait to see how this story turns out. It’s sure to be glorious.”
With a flurry of starlight and a gust of midwinter, she disappears.
“Brother!” Wilhelm throws his arms around me. I groan from the impact. “Sorry for the tackle. I’m glad you’re alive. You were dead. At least, mostly dead.”
“Now we’re even,” I grumble, sitting up. The movement hurts, but not as much as it should. I inspect my body, expecting to see chunks of my skin ripped off and stab wounds in my flesh. I’m completely healed. “Why didn’t you just let me die?”
“It was Ella’s idea, and I agreed to it.” Wilhelm lifts his chin. “We made a deal.”
“You should never have let Ella make a deal with the Enchantress.” Dread coils down my body. “That was the worst idea you’ve ever had. What was the deal?”
Wilhelm explains it all to me as I stand. My knees buckle, but Wilhelm catches me and holds me up. Blood begins to flow through my veins once again.
“My life wasn’t worth hers,” I say. My stomach twists at the thought of Ella vanishing into her story forever. To never hear her voice again or wrap my hand around hers. Never kiss her lips. “You should’ve left me to die.”
“Actually, I would’ve,” Wilhelm says, his voice laced with guilt. “But Ella refused.”
“I’m glad you would’ve.” I rest my hand on his shoulder. “I couldn’t have asked for a better brother.”
“Someone find her!” The prince’s voice echoes through the halls, frantic. “Close every gate. Don’t let her escape.”
I try to run to meet the prince at the ballroom entrance, only to trip over my wobbly legs twice. Dying really can be inconvenient. “What is it, Your Highness?” I ask and then blink in surprise. “Are you all right?”
The prince looks wretched. His jacket and pants are inside out. His wig is gone, and his stockings are ripped, cloak tattered. There isn’t a piece of his clothing not streaked with blood. Blood even stains his lips.
“It’s the Southland princess.” Prince William grabs my shirt, eyes wild. “She ran off. You must find her this instant!”
“Of course. I’ll find her.” Because I need to talk to her. I will get her out of this deal with the Enchantress. My life is an easy exchange.
Which exit did she use? I spot a trail of golden dust that leads down the hall.
I take off in a sprint, running faster than I’ve ever run in my life.
But when I reach the back gate, I see I’m too late.
A lone bluebird is flapping its wings, soaring off into the forest. All that is left are glass slippers etched with gold, entrenched in the pitch the prince had ordered.
“Don’t know where the maiden got to,” one of the guards calls from the top of the wall.
“Same here,” a second guard says, joining me. “Saw her from the top of the wall, but by the time I got down here, she had vanished into thin air.”
“Better keep quiet about what you saw,” I tell the guard. “The prince would have your head if he knew you let her slip away. Leave this matter to me.”
“Oh, yes. Of course.” He nods vigorously.
I grab a board and toss it over the pitch, balancing my way to the slippers and lifting them out of the muck. I wash them in the moat until their glass glistens gold in the torchlight. They’re so tiny. Memories of our last kiss haunt me.
“Did you find her?” the prince asks, running to the gate, breathless.
“Err…” the one guard says.
“We um…” the other stutters.
“Yes.” I stride up to Prince William. “Unfortunately, she got away. But your stratagem for using the pitch worked in the end.”
I hold out a glass slipper. His eyes widen. Reverently, he takes the shoe.
“This is the princess’s,” he says. “I’m sure of it.”
“Perhaps it can help us find your bride.” My tongue is thick in my mouth just saying that.
“Yes, I must marry her. Dawn will be here shortly. I’ll ride the entire kingdom until I find who this shoe belongs to. I won’t stop until I find her. No one shall be my wife except the girl who fits this glass slipper. You must ride with me, Jacob. I won’t have it any other way.”
“Of course.”
He takes off into the castle, barking orders.
I lift the other slipper out of the folds of my tattered jacket, holding it up into the air just as the first hues of marigold sunrays light up the sky.
Love and happiness may never be destined for me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t bring happiness to the one I love.
After the fifth house, I can barely keep my eyes open.
“We should just take him to the Maier manor,” Wilhelm grumbles. “Then we can get this whole dirty business over. You can’t delay this forever. We both know it’s Ella’s slipper. And I don’t like the idea of Ella being alone with that witch.”
I peek at the hourglass in my pack. The name Cinderella winks savagely at me.
I’ve been delaying the inevitable, hoping I’ll come up with some scheme to out-trick the Enchantress, but we’re out of time.
Every maiden we visited desperately tried to squeeze the slipper on to win the heart of the prince, but they all failed.
I clench Storm’s reins. Wilhelm is right. Again.
“Your Royal Highness.” I move to the side of the prince’s carriage. “Perhaps we should pay a visit to Lord Maier’s manor. I’ve heard he has daughters.”
“Lord Maier?” Prince William frowns. “Yes, I remember his eldest daughter. We should make way there with haste.”
As Wilhelm and I ride behind the royal carriage and the entourage of guards, my heart begins pounding. I can’t let her marry the prince. Except that’s the right choice, isn’t it?
Because true love gives the one you hold closest the wings to fly.