Fable (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #3)(6)

“Don’t apologize. I feel the same way,” she lied, and instantly regretted her choice of words. He looked confused and stared at her like a stranger. Great! she thought. She did it again. Insert foot in mouth.

Brody had stepped back from Mina and was now looking around the graveyard uncomfortably. He’d probably just realized how inappropriate their conversation was, considering their location, and was looking for a quick escape. Mina felt sorry for him and decided to relieve his distress.

“So I guess I’ll see you at school, then.” Not the most eloquent moment, but it would do.

Brody looked at Mina, and he shuffled his feet uncomfortably. “Yeah, see you then.” He turned to leave, but stopped as if he’d forgotten something. He reached into his suit and pulled out a slightly crumpled rose. Heat rose to Mina’s cheeks when she realized she was probably the one who’d crushed it when she buried her face in his chest.

He walked over to Charlie’s casket and held the rose out awkwardly, as if he couldn’t bring himself to release the flower. Instead, he turned to Mina and offered the rose to her. That one action alone created another wave of silent tears. She’d sworn that she couldn’t cry anymore, but Brody was proving to be her undoing. Gently, she reached out and took the pathetically smashed flower, and she laughed softly. Charlie would be laughing hysterically if he were here to see the state of the rose. It was at one time a beautiful specimen of a rose, and unlike the ones others had brought and laid on Charlie’s casket, this one still had its thorns. It must have come from Brody’s own garden. Which made this one even more special.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He nodded to her and walked silently down the hill to his car.

Two men came forward and began to lower the casket into the ground. Brody’s rose was still in her hand, and she had a moment of selfishness where she wanted to keep it forever, because it was a gift from him. At the last minute, Mina rushed forward to drop her rose onto the others as the casket finally lowered to the bottom.

A few people stopped to speak with Sara and pay their respects, but Mina couldn’t help but stare at the rose that she’d tossed on the casket. As much as she’d wanted to keep it, she had to start breaking the ties between them.

But something was wrong. Unlike the other roses, this one wasn’t holding still. It was moving back and forth as if blown by a forceful unseen wind. Incredibly, a gust came by, and the rose shot out of the grave and blew across the grass. Irritated, Mina chased after Brody’s rose, trying to stop and pick it up, but it continued its wild journey until it flew under the branches of a shaded willow tree.

Mina stopped and parted the long weeping willow’s branches, and could see the rose resting against Jared’s black boot. Wait…not Jared—Teague.

Teague reached down to pick up the rose and brought it to his nose to breathe in its scent. His hair was a lighter shade of brown than Jared’s, and his eyes were a deep blue, while Jared’s were a haunting gray. They both had similar angular jaws and drop-dead-gorgeous looks. Teague once again was dressed in black, and Mina had a mind to joke about whether he was going to a funeral, but he was, so the words died on her lips before she even spoke them.

Instead, she glared at him and held out her hand, demanding the rose without saying a word.

Teague’s eyes widened and looked her over, never once dropping his Cheshire Cat smile. “I only came to pay my respects.”

“What respect? You don’t respect me or my family. Otherwise, your kind never would have cursed us.”

“You’re wrong—it’s always wise to respect your enemies.”

“Well, I don’t respect you.”

“You should, Mina. Do you see what happens when you ignore your duty—when you ignore me?” He pointed to Charlie’s grave, and his voice became threatening. “I don’t like to be ignored, and now you have one less distraction in your life, so you can focus more of your time on me.”

Teague’s words confirmed her worst fears. Her actions had led Teague to strike out against her family and kill her brother. Her stomach dropped, bile rose in her throat, and every inch of her was sick with the guilt his words layered on her. It was her fault, and she knew it. But she couldn’t show him how weak she was, and how much his words had affected her. She had one more person to protect: her mother, and she would not be negligent again.

“You’re not welcome here. So please leave.” Mina snatched the rose out of Teague’s hand and felt a sting in her palm. She winced in pain but refused to acknowledge it.

Teague reached for her hand, and Mina let him open up her palm to inspect her wound from the thorn. She was still reeling, and her whole body shook with anger. Teague leaned forward and blew on the small cut in her palm, and it healed itself. She ripped her hand from his grasp and took two steps away from him, almost falling on the ground. She needed to keep better control of herself. She needed Jared.

“How is my dear brother?” he asked, as if reading her mind.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

His eyes darkened. “We are not exactly on speaking terms.”

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that you keep trying to kill me, would it?”

“Now, sweet Mina, our fight goes back long before you were born. But you can’t hold it against me that I’m only doing my job. I’m supposed to throw quests your way, and you are supposed to try to stop me. It’s as simple as that. I can’t help it if we have a casualty or so in the process. That’s what makes the stories so good.” He smirked. “That’s what makes them popular. That’s what makes me powerful.” He was so close to her now that he ran the back of his finger across her cheek, and she flinched and smacked it away.