Forever (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, #5)(47)

She made herself get back to cleaning and, after a few minutes, the Fae lights came out of hiding. They helped her tackle the hallway. They swept, mopped, and washed the high arched windows. Before she knew it, it was evening, and she was famished. When she returned to her room, warm food waited. She devoured it all and slept soundly, her door never closing.

The next morning when she went to the kitchen for soap and water, even more Fae lights greeted her.

“Are you here to help?”

They bobbed and blinked excitedly.

“Well, then we need to take down the remnants of the old tapestries, and we need to replace or repair the paintings. I hate to get rid of them, but they need to be fixed. Can you handle that?”

Before she had even finished, a third of the lights dashed out the open window. Another group—the ones she figured she worked with yesterday—worked together to carry large pots to the pump.

Mina went out to the main hall with a bucket and started gathering large pieces of the broken column. She didn’t know how they were actually going to clean up the pillar. She definitely wasn’t strong enough to move it.

The double door behind her banged wide open, and she smelled it before she dared turn to look. A large fur-covered beast stood peering over her shoulder.





Chapter 22



Mina swallowed a scream and scrambled backward, tripping over the rubble she was trying to clear. The white-haired beast stared at her, its gruesome teeth lifting into a half-smile, making her knees shake. He was huge—easily over twelve feet tall—with white and gray tufted fur covering his whole body. His nose was apelike, and his teeth were large and flat. Her first thought was Yeti.

His furred hand reached for her, and she rolled out of the way, scraping her stomach across the sharp pieces of marble and stone. When she stopped moving, she had time to notice it wasn’t attacking. It was actually hefting the large broken column onto its shoulders and turning to walk back out the doors. A few minutes later, he returned and picked up another piece of the colonnade and dragged it out.

“Careful,” Mina called out, utterly relieved. “We don’t want to scratch the floors.”

A long rumbling sound echoed from the thing. She wasn’t sure, but it could’ve been laughter. She worked side by side with the furred beast for a good part of the afternoon. He took down the broken tapestries and paintings and put them on the floor, and he cleared the rooms of the large debris, stone, and destroyed doors.

The Fae lights returned and worked on cleaning the scorch marks from the walls and clearing cobwebs.

The beast carefully opened up another door and entered the throne room. Mina followed at a distance. This room was the worst. Both of the Royal thrones were destroyed, burned to a crisp. The curtains were in a pile on the floor, and the portrait of the Fates had been blown up. All that was left was the frame.

They got to work cleaning up the throne room, and it felt weird. She wanted the palace to be put back together, but she didn’t know why. Maybe the Fae part of her soul wanted order restored. More Fae lights came in to help, and the yeti cleared out the destroyed chairs. Within a few hours, even the pillars were fixed.

“Well, now that it’s cleaned, what do we do? We can’t leave it empty.” Mina said to the Fae lights as she looked around the Great Hall.

A small Fae light spun in circles to get her attention, signaling her to follow it. It led her up the stairs and down an empty hall to a large storage room. The beast followed her, always a few yards back.

The Fae light zipped into the locking mechanism, and the lock grew brighter from within. A loud click followed, and the door swung outward to reveal darkness.

The Fae light pulled on a curtain, and a few seconds later, the room was bathed in light. Mina gasped. It was like walking into a museum. There were tapestries, paintings, and statues all carefully stored on swinging racks or marble shelves.

She took her time walking among the paintings and studying each and every one, while the yeti waited in the hallway. Quite a few paintings depicted the Fates at various celebrations or events.

Mina paused when she came to one in particular. Teague was obviously happy, excited about something. The joy, deep in his eyes, made her wish desperately that she knew how to make him look that way again.

The painting showed his betrothal ceremony.

She remembered that day. The artist had captured the moment perfectly. Teague stood in front of the twelve girls who would take part in the choosing ceremony. Most of the girls’ faces were hidden, since the painting portrayed them looking up at Teague, but Mina could easily recognize Ever’s long black hair, Annalora’s gold-blonde locks and her deep amber dress. She smiled when she recognized Dinah’s beautiful tanned skin and dark green hair. But there was one girl who wasn’t looking at the prince, one girl whose head was slightly turned toward the painter, and he had captured her worried expression as she looked for an escape route. She wore an elegant white dress of moon crystals and feathers. The painter had centered her in the painting, the only one of the twelve whose face was visible.

And it was also obvious that the prince was looking straight at her. Even now, Mina’s stomach filled with butterflies at seeing his reaction to her.

“This one. I want this one in the throne room.” Mina pointed to the painting.

The Fae lights carefully entered and took the painting out.

Mina paused and moved to the next painting—another of the ceremony, although she couldn’t remember when it took place. Teague stood in the middle, with the final four girls on either side of him. Most of the girls were smiling and trying to appear as regal as they could. Only Mina, next to Annalora, looked as if she wanted to be somewhere else. And once again, Teague was staring at her over Annalora’s head. It was obvious that the artist had figured out, before everyone else did, the story being played out. He could see the feelings Teague had for her.