Fate’s heart latched onto Brune’s suggestion as panic took over. Brune had awakened worries she’d been trying to ignore for a very long time. “I’m Keep Guardian. As much as I’d like to, you and I both know I can’t leave.”
Yet. But Fate wasn’t about to let Brune in on just how much Gerdie had educated her on the subject and the options she’d recently discovered.
Brune wagged a finger at her. “Now that’s just plain stubborn on your part. You know your contract has a loophole. Why haven’t you used it yet? Make me your proxy and I’ll let you off the hook for this mission and every other one after that. I can handle this all by my lonesome. I’ve got an excellent track record of seventy-five years to show for it.”
“Right up until you didn’t.”
Brune leaned within inches of Fate’s nose, her hazel eyes flashing with anger. “Don’t play self-righteous with me.”
Fate stood her ground. “Or what? You’ll feed me to the Gorgons? FYI, if you get rid of me, there’s no guarantee the next girl you’ll have to summon will make you her proxy.”
Brune withdrew, her body shaking with rage as she worked to control herself. “Why the resistance? It’s obvious you don’t want the job. Not with boy wonder tugging at your heart strings.” A cold smile spread over her face when she caught the truth on Fate’s expression. “Sorry, kid, but you really don’t have any other options. I’m the best deal in town.”
Fate couldn’t take it anymore. “Forget it. I’m onto your diabolical plan. Gerdie dug into this whole proxy thing. If I die while you’re my proxy, you get to be Keep Guardian. Permanently. Or should I say forever. It’s no secret you’ll do whatever it takes to get the Orb and Rod from Gerdie and me so you can use them to make yourself immortal. Even if that means having to pry them from our dead hands.”
Brune’s jaw twitched.
That was all Fate needed to see to know her suspicions were correct. “I knew it. Word of warning, Brune, it’s time to come to grips with your new reality. The only reason you’re here is by my good graces.”
“Oh? And how’s that?” As much as she tried to conceal it, Brune seemed truly puzzled. And possibly a little worried.
Fate relished in it. “I guess you didn’t know, since this whole situation is unprecedented–you carrying on with your old guardian duties while the position’s already been filled by the new guardian. Well, thanks to Gerdie, it’s come to my attention that I have the power to deport you from the Keep. Not sure if deported is the correct word in this case. It’s not like this is a country and you’re an illegal immigrant, but you catch my–”
“Oh get to the point, would you?”
Fate planted her fists on her hips. “Rude. I was getting there before you interrupted. Let’s see, where was I? Oh yes. According to Rule #2,783 of the Guardian Handbook: ‘A former guardian who resigns her position to a chosen successor forfeits all rights to said position, regardless of applicable age and eligibility. It is at the discretion of the new guardian, whether the former guardian is of use to the mission or should be expelled.’ There you go. The proper word is expelled.”
“Thanks for clarifying. So?”
“What?”
Brune stamped her boot. “Are you going to expel me?”
Fate didn’t answer. She wanted to watch Brune squirm a little longer.
“Well?”
Fate tapped her chin. “Hmm, I’m not sure. Maybe it’s time we reviewed your attitude of late. Let’s see, you’ve been helpful and instructional, but mean and condescending in your delivery. You’ve been cool in the face of danger and able to lead during chaos. Though you were cold, brutal and downright bitchy to the survivors of the injured and departed. Hmm, you’re not exactly the team player we need around here, so I’m thinking…”
“Look, I know my social skills need scrubbing up.” Brune’s breathing came in anxious bursts all of a sudden. “I’ve been living without people for so long I’ve forgotten how to be…nice and compassionate. Yes, I’m impatient and short-tempered, but like you said, I’m useful and you can learn from me.”
“Do I actually need you here to teach me stuff?” Fate patted the top of her head. “Nope. I’ve got it all right here in the old noggin. Like you said, all I have to do is focus on the questions and I’ve got all the answers I need. What it really boils down to is, I don’t trust you. As long as Gerdie and I have the Rod and Orb, you’re a threat.”
“I’m not the monster you think I am. Do you actually think I’m capable of killing my own sister and my niece?”
“Duh. Gerdie told me everything you did when you were in the Book of Fables. You used the Words of Making to create Old Mother Grim. And then when your grandmother wanted to undo the harm you’d done, you turned the villagers against her just so you could escape the book. They burned her at the stake for what Old Mother Grim did to their children.”
Brune’s eyes welled with tears, which shocked Fate. “You have no idea what it was like bringing all that misery to everyone we met in the fables. Having to do such horrible things does something to you. It changes you in shameful ways. And then you have to rationalize your despicable actions, tell yourself over and over that your survival depends on causing tragedies until it becomes the truth.”
Fate’s anger fizzled. She understood that kind of shame after some of the things she’d been forced to do during her own journey through the Book of Fables.
“In the beginning, we fooled ourselves into thinking the stories and characters were just fiction. Make-believe.” Brune’s voice grew thick with emotion. “But when the children started disappearing and we found out what Old Mother Grim was doing to them. It all became too real.”
“That’s because it was. You do realize that, don’t you?” Fate stared at Brune. “Every person in Oldwilde is as real as you and me, and we played with their fates to save our own.”
Brune nodded sadly. “I came to realize that much later, but I honestly didn’t know that at first. I was scared about being trapped inside the book. My fear hardened me to the people we came in contact with. I told myself everyone and everything was make-believe, nothing more than fluffy fairy tales needing a villain.” Her eyes filled with shame before she dropped her gaze. “So I played the role, a little too well at times.”
As much as Fate hated to admit it, she understood. She hadn’t believed anything was real when she’d first entered the Book of Fables either. But that didn’t mean she was going to feel bad for Brune and comfort her with a hug. “I understand you had to do what you had to do. But that doesn’t excuse betraying your grandmother to the villagers and leaving your six-year-old sister to fend for herself against that child-eating monster.”
Pain splashed across Brune’s face. “Gerdie still hasn’t given me the chance to explain. But she has it all wrong. I didn’t turn the villagers against Oma. My grandmother was devastated by guilt for playing a part in creating Old Mother Grim. She and I tried to destroy the monster with magic over and over. We came pretty close a few times. But Old Mother Grim was too greedy for life.” Revulsion twisted her features. “Her appetite for the blood of the young was bottomless.”
Out of all the monsters Fate had faced in the Book of Fables, Old Mother Grim had been, by far, the most disturbing. The image of that fog enshrouded, gluttonous creature with her engorged belly and vulturine face would be forever burned in her brain.
Squeezing her fists, Brune fought to hold back the tears. “Oma couldn’t live with knowing her freedom depended on Old Mother Grim preying on all those innocent children. As you know, the story needed its tragic ending, because if we didn’t make it happen, we’d never escape the Book of Fables. So Oma sacrificed herself to save Gerdie and I. She told the villagers she was to blame for their missing children.”
The breath went out of Fate. She couldn’t imagine the heartache and guilt Brune must have lived with all this time. Fate’s own guilt over Finn’s sacrifice cut to the bone every minute of every day. But at least she held
onto the hope of making it right someday soon. Brune would never get that chance.
“I tried to stop Oma,” Brune went on. “She was a strong stubborn woman though, and she wouldn’t have it. She dosed me with one of her heavy-duty sleeping potions and left me down by the stream. I guess that’s why Gerdie thinks I went to the villagers. I woke up a few days later, sick with a headache. It took awhile before I found the burn site. When I saw Oma’s body, I actually considered bringing her back to life with the Orb, or using the Words of Making. You have no idea how close I came to doing it. But I was more afraid of what horrible thing I might bring back than I was of losing my grandmother forever.”
Fate nodded as Brune fell quiet. She’d lost count of how many times she’d nearly given into freeing Finn from the giant oak with her Words of Making. The only reason she hadn’t weakened was because her reckless use of the power to write anything into existence had been the very reason Finn had been interred within the tree by the Green Man.
A tear escaped and Brune wiped at it roughly with the back of her hand. She frowned, obviously embarrassed by her show of weakness.
Fate watched Brune with growing empathy. There actually was a human inside that hard shell after all. Was it possible Brune had been more impetuous in her youth than calculating? Fate could certainly identify with being impulsive more than a few times. Had Finn not been there to spare her from getting her hands dirty with destroying the villains from each fable, she could easily have come out of the Book of Fables every bit as hard and bitter as Brune.
Yet, there was still one question needing to be answered. “What about Gerdie, Brune? Why did you leave her behind?”
Brune’s brow furrowed with guilt. “I never meant to leave her there. After I gave Oma a proper burial, I used the Words of Making to find Gerdie. I still don’t understand why it didn’t work.”
“Hmm, that happened to me when Finn lost his memory and wandered off in the snow. The Words of Making were useless once he lost his connection to me. I suppose if Gerdie blamed you for Oma burning at the stake, maybe her hatred broke the connection you had with her.”
Brune looked tortured. “It’s not like I gave up right away. I searched for Gerdie for months, thinking maybe one of the villagers had taken her in. But after awhile, that stopped making sense. I realized I was fooling myself into believing the villagers would ever help her. They were too distrustful and superstitious of outsiders.”
“I remember,” Fate agreed.
“The hardest thing I ever had to do was admit Gerdie was dead too. Most likely at the hands of the villagers. If I’d known she was alive and all by herself, I never would’ve left.”
Fate regarded Brune with a shocking sense of warmth. “You have to tell Gerdie this. I’ll speak to her on your behalf. She needs to listen to what you have to say.”
But Fate’s guard had been up too long and this newfound compassion made her feel vulnerable. She must never forget what Brune had done to her. Resentment seeped back in. “Just don’t go thinking this changes anything between us just because I’m willing to help you mend things with Gerdie. You spelled me, made me your butt monkey and chucked me into the Book of Fables. You didn’t care what happened to me. I was expendable, just a piece of garbage you discarded.”
The sadness in Brune’s eyes faded. “Anyone in my position would’ve done what I did. I had no other options. I was decaying faster than you can say zombie. If I’d died before summoning my successor, the guardian line would’ve ended and there’d be no one to set things right in the Keep. You do know if the scavenger causes too much damage in the Keep, the rotations will come to a grinding halt, right? Countless monsters will come pouring through those gateways. I’m talking angry gods, demons, vampires, shifters, you name it. The list is endless. You thought the Chimera was bad? There’s worse. Things you can’t even begin to imagine. After that, it’s only a matter of time before they make their way to other worlds. Including Earth.”
Brune wasn’t exaggerating. Fate had felt this impending threat deep in her bones since she’d taken the oath. Hearing the possible dangers spoken out loud only renewed her fears. It didn’t matter that she understood Brune’s motives. She still hated her for using her. “I could’ve died in there. I almost did.”
A hint of empathy softened the hardened plane of Brune’s features. “I get it. The Book of Fables is every bit as dangerous as the Keep is. I came close to dying in there once too.”
“Once? Try several times.”
Brune sighed with frustration. “Fine, you win the contest for who almost died the most. Happy now?”
Fate didn’t feel any better.
“Let me ask you this.” A smile curled Brune’s lips, but the smile didn’t touch her eyes. “If you could go back in time and stop yourself from being spelled and sent into the Book of Fables, would you do it?”
Fate stared back at the woman who had been her puppet master for the last six months. She wanted to yell yes with all the resentment she’d been living with. But they both knew the answer to that question. If it hadn’t been for Brune’s summoning spell, Finn wouldn’t exist. Fate would never have met him in the flesh or kissed his lips and known the bliss of being held in his arms. How could she erase Finn and everything they’d shared together? Imagining a life without him caused her the most unbearable pain.
Brune didn’t wait for Fate’s answer. Instead, she gestured towards the archway leading to the Gorgons’ lair. “So what’s it going to be, Keep Guardian? Are we going to do this, or are you going to expel me and face the Gorgons on your own?”
33
Mr. Romance Has To Go
FINN WENT BERSERK WITH panic, punching and kicking the inside of the dragon’s mouth. A growl resounded from deep within its throat, vibrating the spongy wet tongue beneath him. Choking on the fetid, clammy air he was trapped within, Finn did his best to calm down by breathing into his sleeve and silently repeating his mantra.
When Moria had first chomped down on him, he’d thought he was dinner. He was beginning to think he was wrong. Had that been her intention she would’ve chewed and swallowed him by now. As his racing pulse steadied out, he remembered what she’d told Tynan. Let them think the Unholy Piper has met his end in the most horrible way. He supposed the scene needed to look convincing to the soldiers. It really was the only way to let the king off the hook, but he certainly didn’t appreciate the petrifying experience.
So here he was, locked inside a dragon’s mouth that stunk of honeyed ham gone bad and heading god-knows-where. Moria had said she would go home to the Serpens. Fear jumped his pulse back into high gear. Had he just traded one prison for another? He certainly couldn’t see himself shaking hands with her and going his merry way. She may have risen from the ashes, but he was certain she wasn’t going to thank him for burning her into a charred lump.
All her talk of injustice and him being a hero had been for Tynan’s benefit. There was no room for forgiveness in Moria’s cold reptilian mind. That would require a heart, and she hadn’t been born with one.
A sudden pitch had Finn sliding down the tongue and banging into the front row of fangs. As he righted himself and shook saliva from his hands, he felt the tug of gravity. Moria was going in for a landing, and at a great speed. Another abrupt dip threw him against the side fangs, but the lack of g-force told him she’d landed.
Daylight shot past the cracks of Moria’s fangs as she opened her mouth. Finn edged closer to the front, when her tongue promptly shoved him out. He tumbled through the air, hitting the hard ground. Groaning with pain, he rolled over in the tall grass and looked at the dragon. For a split second he considered launching into the air, but with his stamina being next to zero, she’d no doubt chase him down and snap him out of the sky. And then she would probably make a meal of him.
But wouldn’t that be better than rotting away in her dungeon? He couldn’t stand the thought of being locked in the dark again. “I don’t know what you’re waiting for,” he croa
ked. “Just finish me off.”
She tilted her horned head and looked at him with one eye. “You don’t know who I am, do you?” The voice coming from the dragon was more of a snarl.
Finn wiped the thick slime of her saliva off his face with disgust. “Oh, I know who you are. A soulless snake straight from the bowels of Hell.”
“Well, you’ve got the snake part right.”
Finn frowned at the dragon, and then he saw it–the amber eye staring back at him. “Sithias?”
The dragon bowed its head as its body swiftly narrowed into an ivory snake with brown speckled feathery wings. He stood six feet tall when coiled– enormous by normal snake standards–but so much smaller than the dragon he’d shifted out of. “Well done, sir. It only took you about an hour to catch on.” Sithias’s amber eyes sparkled beneath the shadow of his hunter’s cap. “But then I suppose you’re not as sharp, what with the whole lack of food and water ordeal.”
Weak with relief, Finn fell back into the grass and laughed until it hurt. “Your acting’s really improved,” he rasped. “You had me fooled.”
Sithias rose on his coils with pride. “Why thank you, sir. I’ve been practicing my craft every day since I’ve been back on the island. No time for writing new plays though. My audience can’t get enough of my current productions. They’re calling my plays timeless classics.”
Finn pushed himself to a sitting position. “You’ve lost the hiss in your speech too. What happened to that? A few well placed hintsss would’ve tipped me off.”
“Elsina put an end to that. She doesn’t care for the fact that I’m a snake and has forbidden any such reminders.”
“Why would she care?”
“Oh. Well, Elsina and I are together.”
“As a couple?”
“Don’t look so shocked. Is the idea that outrageous?”
“Aye, more than a little,” Finn admitted. He shook his head in disbelief. “How did it happen?”
Fate's Keep (Fate's Journey Book 2) Page 24
