Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 4)

“Don’t be distressed, Elle, about the other girls and who made it. With you here, I’m not sure there is much competition.”

Chapter 25

Those words, those few little words, sent Mina soaring for a whole three-point-two seconds before crashing down into reality with a flop.

Stop it! She told herself. Don’t let him fool you.

Who was she kidding? If she didn’t do what she’d come here to do, everyone was doomed. Her ancestors, her brother, her family.

Teague had left her alone after escorting her to the door of the gathering room. She assumed he had to get back to finish the testing with the last two girls, although he had said there would be a delay since they had to find another ogre.

Somehow, that thought infuriated her. They were taking advantage of ogres and making them pawns in a princess test. So what if the ogres were naturally evil and most of the girls were no real danger to them? Mina had imprisoned one forever. She’d had no choice. Evil or not, Royals shouldn’t just use them as bait.

She would really have to have a talk with Teague again later.

Mina entered the waiting room to find Dinah and Ever alone. Dinah seemed surprised at Mina’s appearance, but she masked it quickly. Ever didn’t even look at her. She was too busy reading a book on a settee.

“Is this it?” Mina asked. “Did the others not pass?”

“Looks that way,” Ever answered shortly. “Do you see anyone else? I guess it’s just us…and probably Annalora.”

“What makes you so sure?” Dinah asked.

“Oh, she’ll pass the test all right. One look at her face and the ogre is sure to drop dead.” Ever delivered the dry line with a deadpan face and perfect timing. Dinah snorted, and Mina had to cover her mouth to keep back the giggles.

“No, she’ll pass because the ogre will hear her complaining a mile off and run before he ever sees her,” Dinah added.

Now Ever started laughing. The jokes definitely helped to relieve the mounting stress that made the room so suffocating. “Or she’ll try to sing, but it will be so bad, the ogre turns himself to stone.”

The tittering laughter continued on, until a small cough at the door made them look up in surprise.

Annalora stood there in her slim blue dress, which didn’t look wrinkled at all. “Or Annalora will pass the test, because she is worthy of being queen, and she will kill anyone who gets in her way.”

Mina was stunned. “You passed the test already? How many were there?”

“What does it matter? They’re dumb and illiterate like you,” she taunted. “What would really help everyone would be to banish all of the horrible, evil, and dangerous creatures to a faraway land. Elle, what land did you say you were from? I’m sure there’s plenty of room for more stinky ogres.” Annalora smiled cruelly, waiting for Mina to respond.

Hateful, spiteful, inappropriate names were on the tip of Mina’s tongue. She was seriously ready to lash out against the ignorant girl. But she curbed them. Something about Annalora’s smile seemed a little too eager. She was ready to start a fight, and Mina knew how to read between the lines. Responding to her jabs would just be adding fuel to the fire. The girl thrived on the emotional turmoil she caused others. Mina had seen plenty of girls like her in her school and on the Internet. They called them trolls. Man, that thought entertained Mina.

>She racked her brain to remember how she knew, and once again it was Jared that had told her. There was no easy way out of this.

“I don’t know. I must have heard it from a tale when I was a child.”

“I don’t believe you. No one else has been able to tell it was me. They either failed altogether or assumed I was also an ogre.”

He didn’t seem convinced, but at least he didn’t seem like he was ready to murder her. She watched him warily, and she could see an inner battle as he tried to convince himself of her words.

“Well, now all of the girls here know you shift. Don’t they?” She spoke up softly.

“What?” he frowned and placed the Grimoire within his coat. Now both hands were free. She assumed it was so he could kill her easier.

“Well, you’ve shifted in front of me twice now. So don’t the other girls know that you can shift?”

His lips pinched together. “No,” he grunted. “They don’t. I didn’t reveal myself to the others. Most were too scared to defend themselves, so I held back the other ogre while they were removed. If they were smart enough to defeat or incapacitate the first ogre, they turned to attack me. Only you paused, only you knew. How?”

“You didn’t attack me. Scared me, yeah, by climbing up the bookcase next to me. But not once during this test did you actually try to hurt me. I can’t assume, no matter how scared I am, that everyone is my enemy,” she reasoned.

“You should. You’d live a lot longer that way.”