Beauty Beheld: A Retelling of Hansel and Gretel (The Becoming Beauty Trilogy Book 3)

by Brittany Fichter

  “I told you so you would know,” she said, “that I am not a complete monster. You see, I cannot blame you wholly for what our father did or did not do for us. I also, however, believe that I am the rightful heir since I came first.” She moved the dagger down over his heart. When she spoke again, her voice was surprisingly soft. “I am going to give you this one chance to live and take my mercy. I’m sure by now your wife has informed you that her ability to grow her own child has been removed?”

  Ever’s anger that had subsided returned to him like a flood. With a roar, he shoved her off of his chest and leapt to his feet, but she easily knocked the knife from his hand and had him at her dagger’s point once again.

  “Here’s my offer. I remove the curse which I placed upon her if you swear to leave Destin and never return.” Her voice grew nearly inaudible. “Find a quiet place and settle down. Have a family.” She leaned back a bit and searched his eyes. “Be happy.”

  “And leave you with my people, and the two children whom you sent two Fae after?” he growled.

  “Oh, that. I wanted to know your strength. When the messengers didn’t return, I knew more about you, and that you were willing to do what you thought was necessary to protect your hold on the kingdom.”

  “And had I failed,” he ground his teeth through another round of shaking, “what would you have done if the Fae had killed your children?”

  “They wouldn’t have—”

  “I know bloodlust in a creature’s eyes when I see it!” he shouted.

  “But you didn’t let him hurt them, did you?”

  “So you sent your own people into my home to die? Life is quite cheap to you, isn’t it, sister?”

  “And I would do it again!” she shouted back. Her hand shook as she held the dagger against him. Green mist rippled through her gray eyes. “If there was one thing I learned from Father, it is that I will do what I must for the better of my people.”

  “And so will I.”

  “So,” she stepped back, “you would refuse your wife the one thing she desires to save your own crown?”

  For once, Ever had no answer. The pain in his chest was too tight. Why, he cried out to the Fortress, are you allowing her to do this? How has she grown so powerful as to defeat even the power you have placed in me? But there was no answer. Only that nagging sensation to be patient. So he said nothing.

  “Then you may expect no other such offers from me,” she said in a low voice. With that, she reeled back and smacked the butt of her dagger across his head. “Put him with the others. But I want them in separate cells.” Two Fae, a male and female, came in and began to tug him toward the door. Ever thrashed, trying to break free, but it was no use. The hemlock’s venom was sending his body into convulsions, and his efforts only brought him a severe bout of pain as he was dragged back to the hall.

  “Oh,” Sacha said, turning just before they led him out. “I will take this first, though.” She lifted his left hand and slipped the signet ring from his finger.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Release

  The poison had kept Ever’s heart beating at an erratic pace for hours, sometimes slowing it dangerously and other times speeding it so fast he felt light-headed. But he felt it come to a complete stop when his eyes adjusted to the dark enough to make out the limp body hanging out of the stocks. Before he could run to the body, however, one of the Fae delivered a sharp kick to his shoulder. Pain seared down his arm and even his chest and sides as he clutched at the bloodied spot the Fae’s pike had left three days before. Through stinging tears, Ever raised his shaking head to look at the man in the stocks again. But before he could speak or reach out, both Fae guards picked him up and tossed him into an empty cell, sending yet another wave of pain through his body.

  “Ever!” His wife’s voice came from somewhere else in the dark room. There, in the faint light of the single candle, Isa knelt on the other side of Ever’s bars in the cell adjacent to his. “You need to heal yourself now!” Her voice was strained. “The poison will kill you if you don’t stop it.”

  “I don’t have time for that,” Ever panted as he rolled slowly to his knees. “Takes too long.” He began to crawl toward the bars but was interrupted by a violent twitching in his right arm. The smell of mildew assaulted him, and odd lights briefly danced before his eyes. The poison was spreading, but all Ever could do was grind his teeth as he waited for his vision to return to normal and his arm to stop moving. He’d had brief sensations like this over the past four days, but this was by far the worst. With Garin on the other side of the bars, however, Ever hadn’t the time to pay heed to his wound. As soon as he was able to sit up straight, he crawled over to the bars in stiff, awkward movements. “Garin?”

  At first, Ever feared the man in the stocks wouldn’t move at all, but finally, his head rolled to the side just enough for Ever to see that Garin was still there. Ever grabbed the bars in front of him and began to pull. Isa protested and said something about his health, but Ever didn’t listen. The bars gave way a little, but much less than they should have. His strength was almost gone.

  A sharp object was thrust through the bars, just inches from his face, and Ever looked up to see the Fae woman guard standing just outside his cell, her face taut. Ever grabbed the pike’s end, and was about to loose the rest of his strength into this evil, mystical creature, when he heard a soft voice to his left.

  “Slow down,” Isa said softly. “Let me handle this.”

  Ever wanted to retort that he didn’t need her help tearing this monster limb from limb, but as he opened his mouth, the Fae’s face smoothed, losing what little emotion it had held before. Ever turned to see Isa closing her eyes, one hand on the bars, and the other held palm up towards the Fae woman. “We need time alone,” Isa whispered. “We will not be escaping tonight.” Normally, it would have bothered Ever to have his wife promise a guard they wouldn’t try to escape, but this time he knew she was right. Garin wasn’t moving anywhere in such a poor state, and there was no way Ever was going to leave him again. Not like this.

  It took longer than usual for Isa to convince their captor, so long that Ever thought it might not work. But finally, the Fae woman nodded once before returning her pike to its upright position. To Ever’s surprise, she even took out a key and unlocked both his and Isa’s cell doors. She shut the prison door behind her as she left. Isa let out a sigh but didn’t open her eyes. “Go on,” she said. “Let him loose.”

  Ever nearly passed out in his attempt to lift Garin out of the stocks, and when he finally did, the older man’s body dragged along like Genny’s rag doll. “Garin,” he started, but he could say nothing else. Dried blood matted Garin’s face and his long gray hair, and even in the dark his skin seemed nearly transparent. Ever delicately lifted the steward’s head and shoulders into his lap, and Isa scrambled to sit on Garin’s other side.

  “There you are.” Garin’s eyes opened a slit, and thought his breathing was labored, he gave Ever a ghost of a smile. “I wondered what was taking so long.”

  “Forgive me!” Ever pulled him closer and laid his head on the steward’s shoulder. “I shouldn’t have gone! I should have come back for you.”

  “You did exactly as I told you.” Garin burst into a fit of coughing. The spell lasted so long that Isa also placed her hand under Garin’s head, her face puckering with worry as she wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead with the end of her skirt.

  “What did they do to you?” Ever whispered. But even as he asked, he knew what he needed to do. Closing his eyes, Ever gathered what little remained of his strength, taking the steward’s hand in his own. The moment felt eerily familiar.

  And like his father, the steward pulled his hand free. “No, Ever,” the steward said. But Ever wouldn’t lose another this way. Not again. Determined, he firmly placed his hands over Garin’s heart, and the blue light began to drip from his battered body into his friend, a light blue glow emanating from Garin’s chest.

  �
��Ever.” Isa placed her hand on his. “This isn’t going to work.”

  But Ever only shoved her hand off. Why wouldn’t they just let him focus? Again, he pressed, and again, the blue light began to trickle out, but it was getting harder by the second, and Ever began to shake with the effort.

  “Everard!” Isa took him by the arms and shook him hard, the pain in his shoulder briefly reigniting. “You need to stop! You’re killing yourself!”

  “What if I want to die?” he shouted back. The words were out before he had time to consider them. He didn’t miss the look of pain on Isa’s face. “I can’t do it.” He hung his head as tears began to roll down his face. “First, she’ll take Garin. Then, she’ll take you. I cannot keep watching this death.” Sobs began to rack his body.

  “No need to be so dramatic, Ever.” Garin’s voice was surprisingly mild, as though he were actually smiling. “We all die.”

  “Why, Garin?” He stared hard into his mentor’s face, trying to memorize its features in the dim light. “Why would the Fortress allow this? Why must so much evil abound?” His words were hard and cold as he spoke them. There was no excuse for this, no reason that the evil should have its way so easily.

  “That is easy. Because my duty is now fulfilled.”

  “It can’t be. I still need you. I need you more than ever now to tell me what to do!” Another spasm tried to take him, but Ever fought it with all his might. As he did, though, something inside warned him that his ability to ignore the poison’s effects would soon be gone.

  Garin reached up with a shaking hand and gently touched Ever’s face. “You helped heal a heart that had been broken for centuries. I lost my son to the evil of my people, but the Maker has kept me here for so many years, waiting until I found another.”

  “But I’m not your son. And I brought the curse! I have pained you again and again with my folly. And yet, you bore it with patience! I cannot have been the good son you deserved to have!”

  “You may not be my son by blood, but you became my life. From the moment I looked into your eyes, I knew I would love you in a way I hadn’t loved anyone in five hundred years.” He chuckled softly, which sent him into another coughing spell. “There were moments, to be sure, when you tried my patience. For example, all those times salt magically appeared in my tea.” He squeezed Ever’s hand. “But you are a man now. And I couldn’t be more proud.”

  “But—”

  “That’s what a father is, Ever. You watch your children fall, and you help them get back up. And you love them through it all.” He turned to Isa, his breath becoming fainter each time he spoke. Still, he managed to reach up with a shaking hand and touch her cheek as well, wiping at the tears that were rolling silently down her face.

  “Be patient with him, my dear. And never lose that heart of yours. I knew you were special the moment I saw you as a little girl, with your bouncing braids and bright eyes. In the last four years, you have far exceeded even my expectations. Now that I will be gone, it will be your duty to take care of Ever.” His eyes twinkled even in the dim light. “Someone has to do it.”

  Isa wiped her tears on her sleeve and nodded, still crying as she leaned down to plant a kiss on the older man’s forehead.

  How dare she nod? Nodding was admitting defeat.

  “I need to know, though,” she said in a shaky voice, “why couldn’t Ever heal them?”

  “Because they were never sick.”

  “What?”

  Garin let out a raspy sigh. “I should have seen it before, but I’ve spent a long time away from my people. I happened to see one of the children more closely as they prepared to punish me for my crimes.”

  Ever burned with rage as he listened, but he let Garin go uninterrupted.

  “I realized that the children’s symptoms, like so much else, were only illusions.”

  “But the pain!” Isa said. “They were in pain!”

  “My people are skilled deceivers.”

  “But then why couldn’t I see through it?” Isa sounded indignant.

  Garin laughed again, his chuckle hardly more than a whisper. “You are strong, but there is still much of your power that you haven’t even tapped.” He broke into his worst coughing fit yet, and when he lowered his hand, Ever could see drops of blood on his palm.

  “So it was all a ruse,” Isa whispered. “Just like the house.”

  “Don’t you see why we need you?” Ever leaned closer. “We cannot defeat her on our own!”

  Garin let out another rattling sigh, the gleam no longer in his eye. “I have been working for over five centuries, Ever. I am tired, and the Maker has seen it fit to finally bring me to my eternal rest.”

  Ever shook his head at this, tears beginning once again to fall, but in the dark, he could just make out Garin’s smile.

  “You will see me again when it is your time.” Garin wheezed out a chuckle. “That, of course, gives you no right to try and see me sooner than you must. You have a family to care for now. Your wife needs you, the kingdom needs you... and those children need you.”

  “They cannot be ours. Both of their parents live.” Ever’s voice came out more bitter than he’d expected.

  “That does not mean they need you any less. You, of all people, know what woman you leave them to if you allow her to keep them. Now, promise me, Ever, that you will not give up.” Garin suddenly jerked forward, grabbing Ever by the collar and pulling his face down. “Promise!”

  But Ever could only shake his head. “I don’t believe it,” he whispered. “The Fortress will restore you. It always does.” It had to. Ever had never needed Garin so much in his life as he did now.

  And yet, Garin closed his eyes, a small smile on his lips. “Not this time, Son. But,” he squeezed Ever’s hand once more, trembling as he did, “the Maker has left me enough life that I may finish this final task.”

  “No!” Ever cried out. He tried to pull his hand out of Garin’s trembling grasp, but it was too late, and Garin’s hand seemed to be sewn to his. Blue whorls of light began to ebb out of the steward’s body and into Ever’s. The waves of light looked like water flowing out of a crystal pool. Ever could feel the power entering his body, and he begged for the Fortress to make it stop. But the power continued to come until it slowed to a drip. Finally, it grew so thin that Ever didn’t know whether it was still coming or not. He clung to Garin’s body, praying until he broke into a cold sweat. No, he told the Fortress. Not now. If you love me, you won’t take him from me. If you truly love me, you’ll leave him for just a while longer.

  How many hours passed, Ever didn’t know, nor did he care. And yet, there came a moment where Garin let out one breath and did not draw in another. For a brief moment, the room grew as bright as day in the flash of a blinding light. Azure fire glowed, lighting the edges of the Garin’s body, the protector of kings that Ever held in his lap. Fierce wings exploded upwards, and in that short moment, Garin himself shined like a star in the night skies. Then the light went out, and the man Ever had cradled in his lap was gone.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Reasons

  As the Fae led him up to the Tower of Annals Henri was suddenly very glad his sister hadn’t been allowed to come. He had always been curious about this room, but the king had insisted that it was sacred and not a place for the children. The large, circular room with its walls of windows would have been a pleasant sight, had it not been for the sickly warmth that wriggled through his arms and legs and into his chest the moment he stepped through the door. His mother was bending over a large book on the large rectangular table near the hearth that stood in the center of the room, her short blond hair falling in front of her eyes. The sick chill, however, wasn’t coming from her, but from the black cauldron hanging over the fire.

  “There you are.” She looked up from her book and beckoned him forward. “Help me with this bundle before we stir it in.” She held out a little bundle of twigs, herbs, and flowers all tied together, about as long as the palm o
f her hand.

  “What is it?”

  She tilted her head and studied him. “What do you know about your power?”

  “I can still make fire in my hands.”

  She nodded, as though she had expected such. “You, as I do, have not one but two sources of power that flow through your blood. Did you know that your blue fire was given to you by the Fortress?”

  “What do you mean?” He frowned.

  “You have the blood of the Fortiers, who get their power from this very place.” She gestured to the room. “And you also have the power of the Fae.”

  Henri shuddered. He had never questioned his ability to feel power, to sense it when it was nearby. It had always been a part of who he was, something he thought everyone felt until Father Lucien had told him otherwise. But he wanted nothing to do with these green misted beings that floated about.

  “You know,” she said, eyeing him as she stirred the cauldron of sickly bubbling brown goo, “you shouldn’t be ashamed of your Fae blood.”

  But Henri didn’t answer, only studied the herbs on the table. As he did, a sparkle caught his eye, and his heart fell as he recognized the king’s ring on the table beside her. Now King Ever couldn’t even send for help.

  “Come here, son.”

  Henri took a step forward but stumbled backward when he felt the wave of raw force surge from the cauldron. “What is that?” he whispered.

  “Your uncle is very strong and so is his wife. In fact, she’s much stronger than I would have ever expected, considering the sniveling wench that your grandfather picked for his wife.” Henri’s mother sniffed. “I am strong, too. Even with my Fae power and Fortier fire, though I’m not sure it will be enough to best both of them. So this,” she gave the cauldron a stir, “will be our third source. I had to work long and hard to find the recipe. But,” she added, looking thoughtfully at him once more, “it will be even more potent with another’s assistance. Stand here. You’re going to help me.”