“Mother, stupidity isn’t contagious,” I pointed out, flicking a stray piece of lint from my lapel.
My father snorted dismissively. “We are going to require your presence back at the kingdom, boy,” he stated. His eyes weren’t even on me even though he addressed me. He was too important to deign to give his eldest son attention, even though it was clear he needed me for something.
I kept my face passive even though that was not something I wanted to hear.
“Really?” I asked, glancing down at the beds of my nails. My back began to itch but I did nothing to appease the feeling. I did not even shift my weight. Any indication of discomfort and my parents would know. “And why is that? I’m having such fun bringing pleasure and chaos into a world that used to have magic but no longer possesses it.”
“Do you dare question your father?” my mother asked. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the gold arms of her throne, leaning forward so her jewels spilled from her neck like tears from a prisoner.
Instead of looking directly at her, I began to count the beaded designs embedded in her throne, trying to keep my rage at bay. She was not allowed to question a single thing I did, not after what she had done to me and my brother. Not after any of it.
“Considering I am a grown man free to do exactly as I please, yes,” I said, shifting my gaze to my mother, “I am.”
Her lips drew back into a sneer.
“Perhaps I should etch something else on that back of yours,” she said. “Remind you of your place. If there’s any room left.”
I clenched my jaw at her audacity. How easily she could bring my shame up.
I wanted to kill her for that.
The deep, dark heat of my magic pulsed and swelled inside of me, burning to come out. Unlike Alice’s magic that shot out of her in fiery bursts, quick and temperamental, just as she was, mine built slowly and more powerfully.
“We’re weak, boy,” my father announced.
My jaw unhinged. I never knew my father even knew the word, and yet, here he was, admitting that our realm was not as strong and as powerful as both he and Mother insisted.
“The Fae realm has been breached,” he continued. “There’s already a crack in the Never Glass, put there by humans. Humans, of all things. Not only that, our Fae dust has been stolen at an alarming rate. We cannot seem to find out who is behind the theft, but when we do…” He let his voice trail off, the threat clear.
“Who would want the Dust?” I asked.
“Who wouldn’t?” my mother snapped. “You know it’s potency. It gives the user a high no human-made drug could replicate. It will literally make you fly.”
“But only if you believe you can,” I pointed out.
“Son, these kids will be so high, they’ll believe anything,” my father said. I flinched at the word son, at the thought of him believing he had any right to address me as such.
“Do you think the breach and the theft are related?” I asked. I didn’t like how curious I sounded, didn’t want my parents to think I was actually interested at all. The last thing I needed was them to feel like they were dangling a carrot in front of me, and all I needed to do was hop-hop-hop to grab it.
“We’re working all angles,” my mother said. “We even have someone in Wonderland to sniff out what’s going on. I do not trust the Red Queen. I would not be surprised if she was behind this. Coward she is, she’d used mere peasants and thieves to do her bidding, though.” My mother’s delicate nose wrinkled, although wrinkled wasn’t the right word if the skin deepened without actually marring her face.
“Pan?” I drawled, shifting my weight.
My father snorted and my mother shook her head.
“You think we’d trust Pan?” my mother asked. “You really are an idiot, aren’t you?”
“It is someone you have never met before,” my father said. “Someone you do not need to know the identity of.”
I rolled my shoulders back, forcing the tension out of my shoulders.
“Why did you beckon me here?” I asked. I was tiring of their games. I wanted to get back to Alice, to the investigation. We were so close to discovering the truth of it all, and not to be there felt like I was falling back a few paces.
My parents exchanged a look. Immediately, I was on my guard. Rarely were they in sync. The two were known for their powerful alliance, not because of any love among them.
“We know of the girl,” my father said. “We know she’s become your lover.”
“Give her up, Rumpelstiltskin,” my mother said. “If you actually care for the mortal, you’ll give her up. Your presence is required at home now, and if you cannot rid yourself of her, we will do it for you. And you will not like it.”
8
Jack.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to reach out to him at all, let alone ask him for help.
Things were still tense between us, though tense wasn’t exactly the word I would use to describe it. They weren’t good. Then again, had they ever been?
I wasn’t sure.
However, Pan wasn’t wrong. If anyone would know about Anna’s relationship with Russell Charming, it would be Jack. Jack’s father was a Royal, a judge for Wonderland. Certainly his tracking skills would have put him in a position to pick up rumors.
Then again, maybe bringing something like this up was in bad form. Maybe it would only throw salt in wounds that hadn’t quite healed.
And yet, I knew I had to do something. I needed something to go on when it came to Charming and Anna. Did Russell love Anna the way he seemed to love Mary Stone? I still remember the look on his face when he spoke about her to me at his office. Rumple had arranged the meeting. Rumple ensured I could ask what I wanted and still be safe. Granted, Russell couldn’t answer everything. He seemed bound by the same magic Rumple had been so I didn’t actually know who killed Mary Stone, I just knew it wasn’t the Mad Mage like everyone believed it to be. I knew it wasn’t Russell or Rumple. And I knew my father helped cover it up.
That last part still stung, thinking about it now. My grip on my steering wheel loosened, turning down the street for MaryBeth’s New Age bookshop. I pulled up to the curb outside and stopped the car. I didn’t know why I was nervous. I shouldn’t care.
Still, I pulled down the vanity mirror and caught sight of my reflection. It wasn’t as though Jack and I hadn’t talked about Anna and her death before. But this was different. I knew it, deep down. And I hoped that Jack would understand why I was here, and that he would help.
But I couldn’t predict him the way I might have been able to before - before the kiss. Before Anna’s death. Before that brief amount of time where we weren’t in each other’s lives.
I shook my head at myself and snapped the mirror shut. I was stalling, and I knew it. How could I walk to Marooner’s Bay without a care in the world, but talking to Jack was the thing that made me hesitate.
Because Jack actually means something to you.
Because you’re afraid to find this out.
Because you’re afraid of the truth and what it might mean.
I blew out a breath and forced myself to step out of the car. I forced myself to take a step, then another, until I reached the door of the shop. I knocked before stepping back, crossing my arms over my chest. The door opened on its own, and I glanced around. I knew MaryBeth was still able to do magic, though I wasn’t sure why. In Wonderland, all magic had been voluntarily given to the Red Queen as a way to protect the population because of the Mad Mage. I wasn’t sure voluntarily was the right word, but that was what everyone said so it was easy to believe.
However, the more I looked into Anna’s death, the more the image of the Mad Mage the Queen and her consorts had crafted began to get murky. Anna supposedly died because she had proof that Mary Stone wasn’t the Mad Mage’s first victim. If Mary Stone wasn’t a victim like everyone insisted she was, what did that say about his other victims? How could we know who was killed by him and who wasn’t? What could we reall
y believe?
“Well, are you going to stand out there all day?” a voice called.
I looked around again, but I couldn’t see MaryBeth even though I had a feeling she could clearly see me. I stepped inside hurriedly. Once I had crossed the threshold, so to speak, the door slowly closed, once again on its own.
“I take it you’re not here for another training session, Ms. Winter,” MaryBeth’s voice said.
I looked past the long row of books but I couldn’t find her, not behind the lone desk at the back of the store. No one else seemed to be here, which was a good thing. It meant no one would overhear my conversation with Jack - wherever he was.
I opened my mouth, wanting to ask her where she was, but I thought better of it. I didn’t want her to think she had that sort of power over me. I doubted she understood my magic, and I didn’t want to appear weak in front of her.
“I need to speak to Jack,” I said. My voice cracked and I internally winced. I wished I could do a better job to hide my nervousness when it came to her. There was something about her that always left me unsettled. She was always known as the Fairy Godmother, but I wasn’t sure if that was a play at words or if it was because she was genuinely a Fae who took in orphan kids and helped them with their magic, helped them create lives they never thought they could have.
“Do you?” There was amusement in her voice. “Well, all right. I’ll let him know. Why don’t you wait out in the back so you may speak in private? I doubt you would want anyone to overhear your conversation with him, especially with The Imp back in the Fae ream. He wouldn’t be able to protect you, would he?”
I bristled. If I recalled, I had been the one to save Crim and Shane, to save Beast and Belle. It was my magic, not his. However, Rumple did protect me from whatever he could, whether I wanted him to or not.
I said nothing. I wasn’t sure if this was her way to try and get a reaction out of me, but I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of having one. Instead, I nodded and found my way outside. The backyard of the store was familiar. It was small, but the grass was kept up well and there was a thick tree just by the six-foot fence that offered shade.
I crossed my arms over my chest and moved outside, watching as the sunlight cracked holes in the shadows on the grass. I didn’t think I had been out here during the day. Typically, I trained with MaryBeth late at night so no one could interrupt us, so no one could see that I had magic. I didn’t notice the variety of red and white rose bushes that lined that fence, didn’t notice the wind chimes or the bird feeders hanging from the awning by the door.
It was actually peaceful here, even with the Blood Forest on the other side of the fence, like a sliver of paradise in a world of danger.
“Aly.”
Jack’s familiar voice caused my heart to stutter, and I whirled around, managing to catch myself before I made a fool of myself, which I was wont to do when it came to him. There was something strange between the two of us. A history that was dark, attractive, and alluring.
When my eyes caught his familiar blue ones, I had to look away. Feelings I had felt for him long ago started to creep up to the surface - not because I was feeling them again, but because I was remembering them in the first place. And I didn’t want to remember. The boy - the man - in front of me was not the same one I remembered. He had his own secrets. He had his own dark magic that I never knew about. That he didn’t trust me with.
“Jack,” I forced myself to say. So many questions danced on the tip of my tongue - like how was he? What was he doing? Had he found Chessy? What did being a White Rabbit even mean and would he ever tell me?
“What are you doing here?” he asked. Walls were carefully placed around him. I could tell by the stiff way he moved, crossing the small yard so he could reach the roses. He came into a squat, leaning down and caressing the petals with his fingers. “I’m pretty sure it’s not because you want another lesson in magic. I doubt the Imp would want that after last time.”
I pressed my lips together. I didn’t like that Jack thought I was so entirely helpless that I just sat around and did only what Rumple allowed me to do. I wasn’t that girl, and Jack knew it. More than that, Rumple wasn’t that person. He didn’t want to control me. Actually, he supported me in whatever decision I wanted to make, whether that was about Anna’s death or our investigation into who really killed her.
But telling that to Jack would just fall on deaf ears. There was no point in wasting my time, pleading Rumple’s case, when Jack had already made up his mind, and nothing I could do or say would get him to change his mind. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter. Let Jack think what he wanted to think.
“I wanted to ask you about Anna,” I said.
Jack looked away. “Not this again,” he muttered, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “What are you doing here, Aly? Why are you looking into things that clearly have been put to rest?”
“How can you say they’ve been put to rest?” I demanded to know, throwing my arms out. Magic cackled up and down my fingers like fireflies in the night sky. I curled my fingers, trying to rein the magic in. I didn’t actually want to hurt Jack, or even threaten him. But I wanted answers, and Pan made a good point to ask Jack about these things directly. “Beast didn’t kill her, Jack. That’s been proven. Which means whoever did kill her is still out there. Doesn’t that matter to you?”
Jack looked away, dropping his hand. “No,” he said. “Not if it means losing you.”
My heart skipped a beat at his admission and I had to look away. The sincerity in his voice was too much.
“Stop it,” I breathed out.
“Stop what, Aly?” he asked, taking a step towards me. He reached out a palm, and I knew he was going to cup my cheek, knew he was going to touch me, and I didn’t want that. I didn’t want any of him. He had had his chance to be with me, he had had his chance to stay in my life after Anna. He was the one who pushed me away. I didn’t care if he thought he was protecting me in some way. None of that mattered. I was alone. I was lonely and mourning in this isolation I didn’t want. And instead of being there for me, Jack pushed me away. He turned his back on me just like everyone else.
“Don’t,” I said in a voice above a whisper. “I’m not here for us. There is no us. You know this.”
“Because of the Imp?” he asked, snapping his hand back to his side, his voice filled with a bitterness I didn’t realize he was capable of.
“No,” I said. “Not because of him. Because of what happened between us. After Anna. Maybe even that night.”
“I will not apologize for kissing you, Aly,” he said, taking a step forward. This time, there were slivers of space between us, and even that was a generous way of describing it. He grabbed my face in his hands and pulled me to him until his mouth touched mine.
Immediately, I jerked back. I felt him hesitate, unsure if he should let me go and continue to kiss me, or if he should release me. Magic stirred inside of me. If he didn’t release me, I was going to do something bad. Even I wouldn’t be able to control this magic even if I wanted to.
And I did not want to.
The second he let me go, I stepped back and slapped his face. Anger flashed in his eyes, but he looked away, rooted to the spot. Something else flickered in his blue irises, something akin to shame. But it was gone just as quickly as it had come.
“What are you doing?” I demanded to know. “You can’t just go around kissing me. And no, not because of Rumple. Because I don’t want you to. Maybe, maybe we had our chance. But you threw that away the second you turned your back on me.”
“I don’t understand how you could be with the Imp of all people but you can’t forgive me for what I did - even though I did it to protect you,” he said. “Everything I do is to protect you. Can’t you see that?”
“What does that even mean?” I demanded to know. “You say it’s for my protection but you don’t tell me how. How are you protecting me? Why do I even need protect
ion? You’re not making sense. At least Rumple never lied about what he was. At least I always knew where we stood. And he doesn’t care who or what I am. He could still be with me and protect me.”
Jack’s face contorted into one of disgust with each word I said.
“You’re a fool,” he muttered.
“And you’re a liar,” I snapped. Suddenly, Pan’s words flooded back to me. How could I have gotten caught up in anything else? How could I have let Jack distract me this way? I was only here for information. “You knew about Anna and Russell Charming. You walked in on them. You saw them together.”
Jack’s lips twitched up into a grin that did not reach his eyes. “And who told you that?” he asked darkly.
I swallowed. Something akin to tension crawled down my spine, like Jack scared me.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. Somehow, my voice didn’t shake, something I was grateful for. “What matters is that I know.”
“You don’t know shit, Aly,” he said. “And you never will.”
“Anna -”
“Anna died because she found something out, something she shouldn’t have,” he said. “It had nothing to do with her and Russell.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked. I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t tell me anything.
Jack shrugged. “You were her best friend,” he said. “I thought you knew.”
“Knew?” My eyebrows shot up. “I didn’t -”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “I don’t want to talk about my girlfriend fucking my father’s friend. I don’t want to think about it. It’s over. Everything is over. I want to put it to rest. I want you to put it to rest. Before you get hurt. Before someone discovers the truth about you?”
I shook my head. I took a step back.
“I’m sorry,” I said, and I was surprised by the way I meant every word. “But we both know I can’t do that. Not until I figure out the truth.”
9
By the time I got back to Peter’s home, I was exhausted. I wanted nothing more than for him to make me one of his teas and to let myself be lulled asleep by them. Instead, as I walked into my room, I found Rumple waiting for me, glass of bourbon in his hand, dark eyes narrowed at the door.
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