"Promise me he'll be by your side." The Fairy raised her hand, and all the gold in the dim room turned to silver. "Even when you exchange your vows. Please!"
"He is a Man-Goyl! As far as my officers are concerned, not even the jade can make up for that. And he's less experienced than any of my bodyguards."
"And he still outfought every one of them! Promise me!"
He loved her. Jacob saw it on his face. He loved her so much it scared him.
"I have to go." He turned around, but the door didn't open. "Stop that!" he barked without looking at the Fairy.
She dropped her hand, and the door sprang open.
"Promise me!" she said again. "Please!"
But he left without an answer, and she was alone.
Now, Jacob!
His fingers searched for a hidden door, but they found only wooden panels. The Fairy was walking toward the door through which the King had left. Come on, Jacob! She's alone now! There'll be guards outside that door. Maybe he could kick in the wall. And then what? The noise would immediately summon dozens of Goyl, not that she needed them to kill him. Jacob was still in the dark passage, unsure what to do, when one of the guards entered the room.
Jade.
It was the first time he saw his brother in the gray Goyl uniform. Will wore it as though he'd never known anything else. Nothing about him hinted at the human he had once been. His lips might have been a little fuller and his hair a little finer than that of the average Goyl, but his body still spoke their language. He looked at the Fairy as if she were his world.
"I hear you disarmed the King's best bodyguard." She stroked his face, the face her spell had turned to jade.
"He isn't half as good as he thinks he is."
His brother had never sounded like this. Will had never been spoiling for fights or been keen to measure his strength against others'. Not even with his brother...
The Dark Fairy smiled as Will's fingers closed almost tenderly around the hilt of his saber. Stone fingers.
I'll have you pay for him, Jacob thought as his heart drowned in hatred and helpless pain. Your sister has already set your punishment!
He'd completely forgotten about the spy. The man's eyes widened as the light of his lantern brought Jacob into view. Jacob smashed his flashlight into the spy's temple and quickly caught the slumping body, but one of the scrawny shoulders brushed against the wall, and his lantern crashed onto the wooden floor before Jacob could catch it.
"What was that?" he heard the Fairy ask.
Jacob extinguished the lantern and held his breath.
Steps.
He reached for his pistol, but then realized who was coming toward the wall.
Will kicked it in as if it were cardboard. Jacob didn't wait for his brother to push through the splintered wood. He was already stumbling back along the dark passageway when the Dark Fairy called the guards.
Stop, Jacob! But nothing had ever frightened him as much as the sound of these footsteps pursuing him. Will could probably see through the blackness as well as Fox — and he was armed.
Get out of the dark, Jacob! He's got the advantage here. Jacob tore down the curtain as he stumbled through the hidden door into the open.
The sudden light blinded Will. He held his arm in front of his face. Jacob quickly struck the saber from his hand.
"Leave the sword where it is, Will!"
Jacob pointed his pistol at him. But Will bent down anyway. Jacob tried to kick the saber away from his hand again, but this time Will was quicker. He will kill you, Jacob. Shoot! But he couldn't. It was still the same face, even if it was now cast in jade.
"Will! It's me!"
Will slammed his forehead into Jacob's face. Blood ran from his nose, and he barely managed to deflect the saber before the blade could slash open his chest. Will's next stroke cut into his arm. His brother was fighting like a Goyl, cold and precise, without any fear. "I hear you disarmed the King's best bodyguard." He isn't half as good as he thinks." Another strike. Fight back, Jacob!