A Grimm Legacy (Grimm Tales) (33 page)

"Is this our world?" Andi asked the mirror. The pounding on the door stopped. Andi tensed, not knowing what was
happening on the other side.

"It is. Take your companions
’ hands and step through." The pleasant woman's voice assured her.

Andi raised an eyebrow at the others. Fredrick shrugged back at her. Shots sounded behind the door and the wood of the door squealed. Two bulges where the bullets hit the wood protruded just to the left of Dylan's head.

"Time to go,” Dylan said, latching on to Andi's hand. He reached for Quinn as she reached for Fredrick. The door flew open as they stumbled into the glass.

Another shot fired behind them. Andi felt the wake of the bullet as it buzzed past her head. The tip of her toe had barely touched the glass when the mirror exploded.

Flinging her arms up to shield her face, Andi ducked her head and closed her eyes, the razor sharp shards peppering her exposed skin.

When the debris settled, she looked up to see the silver frame and empty hole where a handful of mirror fragments clung to the edges.

Rough hands pulled her from the others, but she didn’t have the presence of mind to fight back this time. Her numb brain still processed the gaping hole and hadn’t been able to communicate it yet to the rest of her body. They had lost their only way home.

It was a dazed group that was marched from the queen’s room and down the corridor. The guard on them had been tripled, and two men grasped Andi’s arms while a third trained his gun on her. Andi recognized the guard with the gun as the one Quinn had mercilessly kicked, and he looked all too ready to put a bullet in somebody.

The small group stopped on the landing at the top of the stairs where the blood from Dylan
’s bullet wound had puddled on the hardwood floor. It might not have hurt a few minutes ago, but he was white and clammy now.

Herrchen strode up the last steps fuming, his hair falling out of its perfect arrangement. He straightened the bottom of his coat and snapped at the guards.
“Search them this time!”

The guard with the gun holstered it and snatched Andi
’s bag off her shoulder before running his hands along her body. Andi squirmed and aimed a kicked at him that he easily sidestepped. The others were treated no better and the guards found nothing other than Andi’s bag and the now worthless pearl ring. The guard she’d choked while invisible wasn’t there, so no one gave her cloak a second glance.

“
Restrain and separate them,” Herrchen spat. “I want those two out of this castle and back where they belong immediately,” he said, jerking his chin at Dylan and Quinn. “Wilhelm will take care of that one personally.” He glared and Andi. “And
you
are coming with me.” Herrchen gripped Fredrick’s bicep and yanked him by his cuffed hands down the stairs.

Fredrick stumbled down the steps with Quinn and Dylan right behind. Andi screamed,
“No!” and threw her weight into the guard on her right, knocking him off his feet and tumbling on top of him.

The sound of a gun cocking froze her. Andi
’s eyes found Fredrick’s. He was halfway down the stairs with Herrchen pressing the barrel of a revolver to his temple.

“
He is the expendable,” Herrchen said, his voice a deadly undertone.

Fredrick stood stock still, his jaw tight and eyes dark. Andi recognized the expression. He wasn
’t scared, he was furious.

“
I
will
receive your full cooperation. Am I clear?” Herrchen asked.

Someone jerked Andi to her feet. She locked eyes briefly with Quinn, her expression as scared as she was sure hers was. She had a harder time reading Dylan
’s face. There was fear there too, and anger, but something else as well—concern, directed at her. They were marched down the stairs and Andi was alone with her guards and the person who’d pulled her to her feet.

“
You’re going to have to learn to curb that rage.
”
Wilhelm smirked at her. “No wife of mine will be allowed to behave in such a manner.”

“
You’re wife? Dream on,” Andi sneered,spitting at him. A direct hit on his face, she noted with a split second of satisfaction before his hand lashed across her face so hard her ears rang.

He fished a handkerchief out of his pocket and meticulously wiped his cheek.
“I know you’re distraught over your friends leaving, so that little misstep is the last I will allow. Next time, Herrchen will be notified, and I promise you, he doesn’t make idle threats.”

Her face throbbed as Wilhelm motioned for one of Andi
’s guards to pass over his gun
.
“You are dismissed. I’ll see the lady to her room personally.”

The guards gave a brief salute and melted back into the shadows of the castle.

“My lady?” the prince said, waving Andi gallantly down the hall with the gun trained on her. Glaring at him furiously, she walked stiffly along.

“
I’ve had rooms prepared for you. You won’t be in them long, but you’ll need a place for the day, to get ready.”

Andi didn
’t really care what he was saying, she was too scared and angry for rational thought, but one thing did catch her attention.

“
Why won’t I be there long?”

Wilhelm gave her one of his wolfish smiles
.
“Because today is your wedding day.”

Andi stopped dead in the hall, her mind and stomach reeling. Wilhelm gently nudged her in the back with the gun and she stumbled forward in a dazed shamble.
“I know it’s not much time to prepare, but my staff have been on alert. I think you’ll find everything in order by this evening.”

They reached giant double doors with a pair of guards planted in front. Wilhelm motioned for her cuffs to be removed and opened one of the doors.
“Marriage will be good for you. It’ll help you settle into your new life.”

He lowered the gun and slid a hand along her jaw, wrapping his fingers around the base of her neck. The touch would have been a caress if his fingers weren’t gripping her tight enough to leave bruises.

“
You might not be very amiable to the idea now, but you don’t have a choice. And I think in time, you’ll enjoy your role here. What little girl never dreamed of becoming a princess?” the prince taunted. “Of living happily ever after?”

“I look like a princess.”

Andi stared at the beautiful scrollwork on the inside of what was now her prison door, her cheek still hot and tender where the prince struck her.

Flopping onto a strange backless couch next to the door, she attempted to arrange her thoughts into something cohesive. The vaulted ceilings, gilded wainscoting, and priceless furnishing were lost on her in a room fit for
—well, fit for a princess. She tried not to panic and forced herself to think.

Marrying that snake was out of the question. She couldn
’t—wouldn’t—entertain the idea. She started hunting around the room. With the invisibility cloak, slipping out wouldn’t be difficult. She’d make her way back to Mr. Jackson’s mansion, plead with Harland and Cob for help, find the others—and then what?

The gun pressed to Fredrick
’s temple surfaced in her memory and she stopped her frantic exploration of the room. She’d never find him before Herrchen got word she’d escaped. As detestable as the prince was, she had to agree that Herrchen didn’t seem like the bluffing type.

A sharp rap sounded on the door seconds before it opened, revealing a tall, thin man with wild, dark hair and a pair of half glasses perched on his rather large nose. A small posse followed, bearing an assortment of sewing trappings, and to Andi
’s horror, an extraordinary wedding dress.

“
I
cannot
believe I’m being made to work in such conditions,” the thin man sniffed, snapping his fingers at several members of the posse who converged on Andi. “Almost no advance notice, forced to make house calls like a country veterinarian delivering a breeched calf—”

Several of the tailor
’s people shuffled Andi off behind a screen and began unfastening her cloak.

“
Wait!” Andi said, putting on the brakes and slapping away one woman’s hands.

“
Yes?” the tailor said sharply, watching her from over the top of his glasses.

“
I don’t want to get married,” she stammered, at a loss of something better to say.

“
That’s hardly my concern,” he said, chivvying her behind the screen
.
“It’s my responsibility to ensure you look resplendent walking down the aisle.”

Andi took several deep breaths and tried to take her mind away to a happier place as the tailor
’s assistants took away her mud stained clothes and proclaimed her too filthy for a fitting. They had her in and out of the shower, scrubbed until her skin stung, before she could work up enough energy to protest. They eased the dress over her head as if it were made of porcelain but Andi was the one who could break at any moment. If she let the reality of what was happening sink in, she wouldn’t be able to control the flood of tears she was barely keeping in check.

They stood her on a low stool and measured, pinned, and tucked for so long she wanted to tear her hair out and scream.

The tailor knelt in front of her, tisking around a mouthful of pins
.
“We’ll have to loose a full panel of embroidery here at the bottom. No one told me you were so short,” he said with a baleful look at Andi, as if her height were her fault.

They finally extracted Andi from the mountain of white silk and trim. Bustling out of the room, the tailor promised to be back in time to dress her for the ceremony. Andi tottered off the stool, gathering her cloak and shoes to her chest like comfort objects. Her toe hit something sharp on the rug. Thinking the tailor had neglected to keep track of all of his pins, Andi bent down and picked up the object. It wasn
’t a pin, but a shard of mirror about the size of her palm.

Handling the jagged edges gently, Andi examined the piece of magic mirror that must have been lodged in her clothes somewhere, probably the folds of her cloak. She twisted the small fragment of glass, watching it catch the reflection of the afternoon sun that spun inevitably toward nightfall. She set it gently on the nightstand and burrowed into the pillows on the bed, contemplating a good cry.

Another brief knock and the door swung in to admit the first of a long string of maids with meals, beauticians, hair stylist, manicurist, and a jeweler with an obscene amount of diamonds in his possession. Andi submitted to their administrations in an emotionless kind of stupor, as if she was outside her own body, watching it all happen to someone else.

The tailor returned as promised and as Andi was zipped into her wedding dress. They fussed over her with veils and tiaras as she quietly watched the sun sink through the windows. It touched the tops of the pine trees and Andi felt like she was watching the last  grains of
sand run out of an hourglass.

A woman asking her to lift her foot to slide into a shoe pulled Andi slightly from her stupor.
“No, I’m wearing those,” she said, pointing to her grandmother’s shoes still lying on the bed, “and the cloak too.”

The tailor peered at one of her shoes with a frown that rapidly turned into an expression of wonder.
“Where did you get these?” he asked, cradling the shoe reverently. He adjusted his glasses and ran a light finger along the fine beadwork patterns twining around the heel.

Andi didn
’t see the harm in the truth at this point. “They were my grandmother’s.”

“
Yes, of course,” the tailor said, bending to slip the shoes on himself. “Get rid of those!” he snapped at one of his attendants who quickly removed the offending footwear. “But the cloak won’t do, it is the entirely wrong color and covers too much of the dress.”

“
I’m wearing it,” Andi said firmly.

“
You’re not,” the tailor countered with a stubborn set of his jaw.

Andi studied him through narrowed eyes.
“I guess I’ll have to defer to your expertise,” she said sweetly. “Really, you’ve done such beautiful work in such a short time. What do you think of a permanent position at the palace?”

“
A possibility,” the tailor said, pushing his glasses up his nose and looking like Christmas had come early this year. “Would you, as the new princess, be in a position to make that happen?”

“
I imagine I would,” Andi said, straightening to her full height. “And my first order of business would be to have you redesign your fellow prisoners’ uniforms in the dungeons.” Andi smiled icily down at him.

The tailor locked eyes with her briefly and addressed one of his assistants.
“Maureen, would you please hand the lady her cloak?”

Andi wasn
’t sure why she’d insisted on her grandmother’s things. Their nearness used to give her a feeling of security, and perhaps part of Andi was still contemplating making a run for it, or expecting a last minute rescue. But in her heart, she knew there was no one to come for her.