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I felt the tears streaming down my face. I felt every emotion he felt. I saw everything he saw. Including the friendship blossoming between a young boy and the girl he called Thumbelina.
The boy was distraught. His father was dying. Uncle knew he cared for the girl, and he knew the boy was honorable.I heard the words he spoke.
“I can help your father.”
The last thing I saw was a younger Edrich’s hopeful expression before the vision cut off abruptly. Suddenly, I was back in the forest standing between Uncle and Edrich. I was dizzy with the amount of information he’d shared; with the years of memories that had hit all at once.
My eyes were damp and swollen, my breaths coming in fast. I didn’t know what to say or think or feel. But one thing was certain now, more than ever, I knew I needed to make it to Ellaria.
Uncle seemed to read the resolve in my expression, and sighed.
“If you still want to go, I will take you myself. But we at least need to wait until morning. Please,” he tacked on, and I wondered if I had ever heard him use the word before.
I found myself nodding, almost as much in shock as agreement.
“Fine,” I said, emotion clogging my voice. “In the morning, then.”
28
Edrich
Though sleeping in a tent with a troll was nowhere on my bucket list, that’s what I found myself doing. Well, a troll, a fairy, and her ridiculous hedgehog, but it wasn’t like Lina took up much room, as tiny as she was.
Tiny.
But Rumplestiltskin had held her in hisarmswhen he took her from the castle.
The sounds of their uneven breathing told me I wasn’t the only one awake, but I also wasn’t eager to break whatever quiet sort of truce the three of us had going. So instead, I just laid awake with a very specific memory running on repeat in my mind.
It was the day before I left our small cottage to go work with Atesh.
“Can’t you just make her big?” I asked. “Wouldn’t that be the best way to keep her safe?
He studied me for a moment with slitted reptilian eyes, as cold and unyielding as the man they belonged to. I shivered in spite of the unnaturally warm day. I hated this man. Hated asking him for anything, but for Lina, I would risk it.
“You’re concerned about her safety?”
“Isn’t that what matters to you?” My cheeks reddened, sure he could see through me when I didn’t quite answer.
“And I suppose she’s told you she wants to be big.” Something in his tone was mocking, his eyes glowing brighter with ire, though I couldn’t quite figure out why.
Of course, Lina would want to be human-sized… wouldn’t she?
“I haven’t asked her,” I admitted.
His expression morphed into something ominous, and I took several steps backward.
“I don’t have anything that could make Lina big for you.” He covered the distance between us and poked my chest with a bony finger. “So, I guess you’ll just have to keep doing things the hard way. Protecting her, that is.” He tacked on that last part with no small amount of scorn.
“No.” I wasn’t sure if it was a denial to what he was implying or to his statement, but I shook my head. “I’m leaving. My family is assuming my deal.”
He held my gaze with his eerie one for a long moment, a moment in which I was sure he was about to tell me I couldn’t go, that my father’s life was forfeit the moment I left that cottage and stopped visiting Lina’s farm every day.
“Then go. She doesn’t need you like I thought she did. Just be sure your family holds up their end of the deal.”
Trolls didn’t lie. Up until now, I hadn’t even been sure theycould.
But somehow, Rumplestiltskin had lied to me back then. And I wanted to know why.
