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"Nothing."
"Clara says you went to find the Dark Fairy. Jacob?" She took his face between her hands. Such slender hands, those of a girl. "Is that true?"
Her brown eyes looked straight into his heart. Fox always sensed when he was lying, butt his time he had to manage to deceive her, or she would follow him, and Jacob knew he could forgive himself for a lot of things, but not for losing her.
"Yes, I was going to," he said, "but I saw Will. You were right. It's over."
Believe me, Fox. Please.
Another knock. This time it was Donnersmarck's men.
"Jacob Reckless?" The two soldiers standing in the doorway were barely older than Will.
Jacob pulled Fox with him out into the corridor. "I'm getting drunk with Donnersmarck. If you want to go with Clara to the wedding tomorrow, fine, but I am taking the first train back to Schwanstein."
Her eyes went from him to the two soldiers. The Fairy was probably already in the palace gardens.
She didn't believe him; Jacob saw it in her face. How could she? Nobody knew him better, not even he himself. She looked so vulnerable in her human clothes, but she would try to come with him, whatever he said.
Fox didn't say a word as they followed the soldiers to the elevator. She was still upset about the Larks' Water. And now she was about to get even angrier.
"You don't look at all silly in that coat," he said as they waited for the elevator. "You look beautiful. But I still wish you hadn't come."
"She cannot follow me," he said to the soldiers. "I need one of you to stay with her to make sure of that."
Fox tried to shift her shape, but Jacob quickly grabbed her arm. Skin on skin kept the fur at bay. She tried desperately to wriggle free, but Jacob didn't let go. He pressed his room key into the hand of one of the soldiers. Despite his boyish face, he was as broad as a wardrobe. He should be able to keep an eye on her.
"Make sure she doesn't leave the room before the morning," Jacob told him. "And be careful. She's a shape-shifter."
The soldier didn't look too happy about his task, but he nodded and took Fox's arm. The despair in her eyes was painful, but losing her would have hurt much more.
"She will kill you!" Her eyes were drowning in tears and anger.
"Maybe," Jacob replied. "But it won't make it any better if she does the same to you."
The soldier dragged her back to the room. She fought like a vixen, and before they reached the door she nearly broke free.
"Jacob! Don't go!"
He could still hear her voice as the elevator opened into the lobby. For one moment he actually wanted to go back up, just to wipe the anger and fear from her face.
* * * * *
The other soldier was clearly relieved that Jacob hadn't picked him to look after Fox. On their way to the palace, Jacob learned that he came from a village in the south, that he still thought his life as a soldier was exciting, and that he obviously had no idea whom Jacob was hoping to find in the imperial gardens.
The large gate on the rear side of the palace was open to the public only once a year. His guide took forever opening the lock. Jacob once again missed his magic key and all the other items he had lost in the fortress of the Goyl. The soldier chained the gate again as soon as Jacob had slipped past him. Then he took up his position with his back to the gate. Donnersmarck, of course, would want to know whether Jacob ever came out again.
The sounds of the city could be heard in the distance — the horses and carriages, the drunkards, the street vendors, and the calls of the night watchmen — but in the Empress's garden, fountains gurgled peacefully, and from the trees came the songs of the artificial nightingales — which Therese had gotten for her last birthday form one of her sisters. A few of the palace windows still had light behind them. The stairs and balconies, however, were eerily quiet for the eve of an imperial wedding. Jacob tried not to think about where Will was.
It was a cold night, and his boots left dark prints on the frost-glazed lawn, but the grass absorbed the sound of his steps better than the gravel paths did. Jacob didn't have to look for the Dark Fairy's footprints. He knew where she'd gone. The centerpiece of the imperial gardens was a pond, which was as densely covered with water lilies as the Fairy lake. And here, too, there were willow trees leaning out over the dark water.
The Fairy was standing by the shore, the light of the stars on her hair. The two moons caressed her skin, and Jacob felt his hatred drown in her beauty, but the memory of Will's stone face quickly brought it back.
She spun around as she heard his steps approaching, and he pulled open his black coat, exposing the white shirt beneath, just as her sister had instructed him. "White as snow. Red as blood. Black as ebony." One color was missing.
The Dark Fairy swiftly unfastened her hair, but as the moths emerged, Jacob pulled the blade of his knife across his arm. He smeared blood onto his white shirt, and the moths tumbled down as if he'd singed their wings.
"White, red, black..." he said, wiping the blade clean on his sleeve. "Snow-White colors. That's what my brother used to call them. He liked that story a lot, but who would've thought they had such power?"
