AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I thought we were best friends,” she choked out. “Together, every day, then you vanished without even popping over to say goodbye on your way out. So, since you’ve made it painfully clear that the role I have to play in your life is essentiallynothing, you can go home now. I’ll find the fairies from here.”
“Nothing?” I barely choked the word out. “My entire life has been about you since I was ten years old!” My words cut off rapidly, because I was coming dangerously close to revealing things I was bound by oath not to tell her. I switched gears. “And we’re in this now, Lina. Turning back isn’t a luxury I have. So as much as you love to hide from all of your problems, I’m afraid this is one time you’ll just have to deal with it.”
Her color darkened to a deep burgundy, glittering so fiercely, it was hard to look at her. Without another word, she spun on her heels and stalked off into the makeshift tent. Just before she slipped through the opening, she called over her shoulder.
“You’re so right. I can’t believe I’ve been hiding from my problems all this time when I could have been handling them in the mature, sensible way that you do.” She turned her head just far enough to glare at me. “Running away.”
* * *
The sun was setting,and I was seriously weighing the risk of sleeping out here with whatever beasts roamed the forest against the frustration of facing Lina and her random spewing of uncomfortable truths in the tent.
If nothing else, at least I don’t have to go in right now.
No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than a rustling sound had me grasping the hilt of my sword. It was halfway out of the sheath before a familiar green-scaled figure appeared, swirling ocher eyes looking angrier than I’d ever seen them—an effect that wasn’t lessened by the fact that he was only about as tall as my waist these days.
Rumplestiltskin.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him.
“No,” he snarled, revealing a mouth of sharp, golden teeth. “The question is, what are you doing here? More importantly, what isshedoing here?”
Then, he stilled, his eyes darting around furiously. “Where is she?”
I stared him down while I replayed my conversation with Lina, about how I didn’t respect her enough to answer her questions. Maybe it was true, to some extent. I could have tried harder to let her know what was going on.
I can’t go back and fix that, but I can start now.
“She stormed off after we fought.” I stuck to the truth, knowing he could sniff out a lie like a bloodhound.
“You let her leave?” he hissed.
“She’s an adult,” I reminded him. “I didn’tlether do anything.”
“You’re supposed to be protecting her.” There was no mistaking the threat in his tone.
“That’s why I came with her.” I made sure he knew I hadn’t broken our deal.
“You call gallivanting off with her into the most dangerous forest known to man, or beast, protection? Then, you just let her waltz off without even bothering to look for her?” He shook his head, his eyes burning with a lethal quality. “We made adeal,boy. You protect her, I keep your father alive. Did you somehow manage to forget that with that thick skull of yours, or did you just decide you don’t care anymore?”
I seethed at his implication, but my voice was calm when I spoke, only addressing one part of what he had said. “I didn’t look for her, because I didn’t need to.”
Rumplestiltskin was nothing if not shrewd. A rare look of horror crossed his features while he turned slowly to see what I had already noticed. Lina was standing behind him.
And she had heard everything.
25
Lina
The momentary relief of seeing Uncle alive after months and months of no word was completely replaced by something else entirely.
Fury.And worse, something that felt like slimy creatures were crawling through my insides.Betrayal.
As angry as I had been at Edrich, I was now also furious on his behalf—on his entire family's behalf.
“Is it true?” The words escaped my lips before I had time to decide if I wanted the answer. “Uncle, is it true that you held his father’s life over his head—for me?”
I looked between the two most important men in my life for an answer that neither seemed to be willing to give. Uncle rubbed a hand over his face, and Edrich stared down at him with a grim sort of triumph.
