A Grimm Warning (The Land of Stories, #3)(92)

“Because I turned it into an orphanage,” Little Bo said with a snide smile.

Red sat incredibly still while her brain processed this. Then, as if her animalistic instincts had taken over her body, she lunged toward Little Bo with her fists raised in the air.

“I’m gonna kill her!” Red yelled.

Froggy had been preparing for this moment and immediately grabbed ahold of her before any damage was done. It took Bree and Emmerich’s help to keep her in her seat.

“You lousy piece of sheepherding trash! You did that on purpose! You knew giving my castle over to a bunch of brats would hurt me the most!”

“Red, how can you say that about orphans?” Bree scolded.

“Oh, don’t let the word fool you! I’ve met all of those delinquents myself and each one is more awful than the last! Most of their parents are alive and well—those kids were just too horrible for them to raise on their own,” Red said.

Little Bo didn’t deny the reasoning behind her actions. She just sat across from Red and smiled mischievously. Red eventually cooled off enough for the others to let her go. Emmerich decided to change the subject before anyone got hurt.

“What is your necklace?” Emmerich asked Little Bo.

No one had ever pointed it out before and Little Bo was surprised he’d noticed it. A chain so thin it was almost invisible rested around her neck and was tucked neatly away into the top of her dress. She pulled the necklace out and showed him the small heart-shaped rock hanging from it.

“It’s a stone heart,” she said.

“Why do you wear it?” Emmerich asked.

Little Bo didn’t know what to tell him since no one had ever asked before. “I lost someone I loved very much once,” she said. “I wear this necklace to remember them. In a strange way, it helps me from missing them too much.”

“Did they die or just run away from you?” Red remarked with a snort.

Little Bo didn’t respond. She played with the necklace in her hand and just smiled at the former queen. Her presence alone aggravated Red much more than anything she could say.

Things weren’t quite as lively in the first carriage but the passengers were starting to grow restless. Princess Hope was very agitated from being cooped up for so long and began to cry. Cinderella held her daughter tenderly in her arms and rocked her until she fell asleep. Sleeping Beauty admired her mothering skills as she sat across from her.

“You’re so good with her,” Sleeping Beauty said. “It makes me miss my own mother so much.”

“Me too,” Cinderella said. “There are so many times I wish my mother was still alive so I could ask her if I’m doing the right thing.”

“If a better mother existed in the world I certainly haven’t seen her,” King Chance told his wife. “And that includes our own mother.”

King Chase laughed at his brother. “Yes, our mother was a good person at heart but she was rather cold at times,” he said.

Sleeping Beauty smiled and then gazed out the window sadly. The subject of mothers had recently become a very sore one for her.

“Do you think if all the chaos ends—” Cinderella said but quickly corrected her choice of words. “When all this chaos ends, will the two of you want to start a family?”

Chase placed a comforting hand over Sleeping Beauty’s and she fought against the tears forming in her eyes. There was something they hadn’t shared with them yet.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—” Cinderella said, but she didn’t know what she was apologizing for.

“No, it’s quite all right,” Sleeping Beauty said. “Unfortunately, due to the effects of the sleeping curse, I and many women in our kingdom have been left unable to bear children.”

Cinderella and Chance were devastated to hear this. “Oh, my dear friend, I am so sorry,” Cinderella said, but there was nothing she could say to comfort her.

Sleeping Beauty looked back out her window before their sympathetic faces awoke any more of her pain and frustration. “Some things are just not meant to be, I suppose,” she said.

The carriage became very quiet. The secret path curved across the border between the Northern and the Eastern Kingdoms and Sleeping Beauty recognized the landscape around them.

“We’re home,” she announced to her husband. “I would recognize these hills from miles away—”

Her voice faded and her mouth fell open. Something suddenly came into view in the distance that sent shivers down her spine. Before she could tell the others what she was seeing, she opened the window and stuck her head through it.

“Stop the carriages!” Sleeping Beauty yelled up at Jack and Goldilocks.

Jack and Goldilocks pulled on the reins and the carriages started to slow down but Sleeping Beauty had jumped out before they came to a complete stop. She ran straight toward what she had seen as fast as she could.

“Wait! Where’s the fire?” Jack called after.

“Where are you going?” Goldilocks asked. But the queen didn’t respond to either of them.

The others in the traveling party stepped out of their carriages to see what all the fuss was about. Once the royals saw Sleeping Beauty running in the distance, they sprinted after her but didn’t go very far. Sleeping Beauty stopped at the edge of a village no one else had seen and stared at it in horror.