Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 4)

“I will stop you,” Mina threatened, as the cold air brushed against her neck. Teague was slowly turning her in mid-air. He stood in the middle of the tower, and she glanced back over her shoulder to see that he had moved her through a jagged opening where a window had been.

It was a very long drop down. She wouldn’t survive.

“I can’t wait to see you try.” He laughed cruelly and, with a flick of his wrist, sent her flying out of the tower.

She gasped and tried to claw at the windowsill as she flew past, but she sliced her hands on glass. As she fell, she gripped the seam ripper within her bleeding hands and prayed. She stared into the night sky, alit with fireworks for her betrothal to Teague, and her heart broke. As much as she tried, she couldn’t change the past.

It always had to come to this.

She wasn’t scared, because she knew she’d done this before and lived. Calmly, she pushed the gem on the seam ripper. A great beam of light engulfed her, making an arc as she fell. Teague leaned over the ledge, an expression of utter disbelief on his face, as she fell through the portal—mere inches before the ground.

As she passed through he screamed in rage—swearing that he would find her.

Chapter 30

Mina landed with a painful thud on a cold stone floor. Her eyes were blinded with specks of light and she had to blink a few times before she could see. She rolled over and saw that the gate to the Fae plane was still open. It seemed to be closing…although very slowly. She looked around the room—a crucifix hung above a small cot beside a chamber pot and a simple table. She heard a rattling cough nearby.

“Were ist da?” a fearful voice called out from above her. She’d learned that much in German class her freshman year. Who’s there?

“Me,” Mina groaned and pushed herself slowly off of the floor to address the man lying in the cot.

He looked pale and sickly. His hair was slightly curly and damp from sweat. “Sind Sie ein Engel?”

“Huh?” Mina had to pause and listen to his thick German accent. Was she an Angel?

“Nicht,” she said, slightly proud that she remembered.

The man sat up. “Wie heißen Sie?” What is your name?

“Wilhelmina Grimm.”

His pale face went even paler. Rubbing his hand against his chest, he stated excitedly, “Wilhelm. Wilhelm Grimm.”

This time it was Mina’s turn to be shocked. She was in the room meeting her great-great-great-grandfather.

Wilhelm started to laugh, but his laugh quickly turned into a coughing fit. The door opened and she immediately recognized Jacob from sketches of the brothers she’d seen from history books.

He rushed in and quickly tried to calm his brother to stop the coughing. Lifting a wooden cup to Wilhelm’s lips, he gave him something to drink and then had Wilhelm lie back down. Jacob adjusted the covers around his brother and pulled the wooden chair up beside his cot.

Wilhelm gestured to her and began to whisper excitedly to Jacob, who turned and apparently noticed her for the first time.

He looked angry, and his tone of voice conveyed it well. “Warum sind Sie in das Zimmer meines Bruders? Sie gehören nicht hierher. Zu verlassen!”

Mina couldn’t catch all of it, and she kept stumbling in her reply. Finally, she just gave up. “I’m sorry. I’m not good at German.”

“English then?” Jacob’s eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms. “My brother insists you are his guardian angel.”

“No, I’m not his guardian angel. I’m his granddaughter.”

“False. Wilhelm has no children.” He smiled in triumph, believing he caught her in a lie.

“No, he doesn’t have any children yet.” She sighed and worried about how to explain what was happening. She was about to point out the portal to the Fae plane hanging in the air that he had walked right under, but Jacob was distracted by Wilhelm’s coughing again. “What’s wrong with him?”

Jacob ran his hands through his hair in defeat. “I bring him to Halle to see treatment for his…,” he moved his hand to his chest, “…heart and chest. He is sick and does not get well. I fear to lose him.”

Mina felt her breath catch in her throat. This was it. It was Wilhelm. If he died, then his lines of descendants would never be born. Her father. Herself. This was why some Grimms were disappearing. Somehow, through it all, she had come to where she needed to be.

But could she save him? She wasn’t sure, but she had to try. Mina stepped forward and very slowly placed her hand on Wilhelm’s chest. Just the touch of her hand made him sigh, and he reached up and placed his other hand on top of hers. She was misty-eyed. How many people got to travel back and see their ancestors? None.