Page 26

The next few days were a blur. My goal was well in hand, and yet I could barely bring myself to care. I laid in bed, staring off into space, my eyes puffy and red from finally letting myself break down after the others left.

They’d tried to talk to me about what happened. They felt just as betrayed as I did, but I couldn’t just forgive Adam the way they could. They’d known Adam longer, loved him like a brother. They would get over it.

If it had just been the lying, I might have been able to forgive him eventually. I told myself that I shouldn’t punish the child for their parents or, in this case, their ancestor’s crimes.

Yet this dark ugly ball of hate in my very being couldn’t separate the man I’d fallen in love with and the very symbol of my hatred.

A thousand years. A thousand years, and Snow White still held onto the power she’d stolen from me. It might not be in the same kingdom, but somehow, they’d still found a foothold in the new world. A new place for them to conquer and mold for their own selfish purposes.

I sometimes wished I’d never left my tower. If I could, I’d put each brick back up until I could climb back inside of it and pretend like this never happened. That I hadn’t fallen for my enemy and then had my heart ripped out in the end.

Except I couldn’t and wouldn’t. I might not have Adam, but I wasn’t alone. I still had Zane, Blake, and Luke. They loved me as much as I loved them, and I wouldn’t give up that feeling for anything in the world.

They’d been giving me space while we waited for the designated day for our final stand. They still needed to keep up appearances, or someone would get tipped off about our plan.

Rebecca and Nick had taken to pulling all the stray pieces together. Gathering the rebels for more protests. Making sure that the press would know where to be when it finally came down to it.

This would be the final spark that would ignite the world into change. Nothing could go wrong. Which meant, I needed to pull the pieces of my broken heart back together and be the leader that they all wanted.

Rebecca left food for me each day on the side table. I’d pick at it, forcing myself to eat though my stomach rolled with each bite. I didn’t have time to be heart broken. I needed my strength for what was coming. So I forced myself to eat, to bathe, to dress, to move around the room.

Then the day finally came.

Everything was coming to a head. Everything that I ever wanted and desired would be accomplished tonight. I just had to keep my head straight and not let what happened with Adam frazzle me.

There were people depending on me. I wouldn’t let them down. I wouldn’t let my mother down.

“My queen?” Rebecca knocked on the door, before pushing it open. “Are you ready?”

I glanced over myself in the mirror, searching for any hint of weakness.

The makeup Rebecca had taught me to use covered up the bruises under my eyes from lack of sleep. The red lipstick was stark against my pale skin. We’d decided to leave behind the crown and majestic dresses for something more modern that would make the masses think I was one of them and not some foreigner coming to conquer their city.

The pants suit was unlike anything I’d ever worn before. The pants clung to my backside and thighs, flaring out as it hit the knees in a pale shade of violet. We left my chest bare under the jacket, and the buttons starting just below my breasts made the look feminine and yet powerful.

The high heels she paired with the outfit were three inches and, while normally I wouldn’t care, I worried that, if tonight’s event went wrong, I wouldn’t be able to run away.

Still, I trusted Rebecca to know what kind of statement we wanted to make and wore them.

I breathed a heavy breath, before turning to her. “This will work.”

Rebecca inclined her head. “It will. It has to. If it doesn’t...”

“No.” I shook my head, approaching the door. “We can’t think about second chances. This will work. We have to keep that in mind. We have no other option.”

“Right.” Rebecca gestured for me to exit the room first. “Your chariot awaits, my queen.”

“Eva,” I reminded her with a smile.

“Right, Eva.” Rebecca returned my grin as she rubbed her hands up and down her thighs. She was nervous. We all were. We couldn’t afford to fail this.

Unfortunately, we were relying on a lot of unknown variables to strike this revolution into a full movement. Every piece had to be perfectly in place, with me creating the biggest spark.

It was a lot of pressure, pressure my still tender heart didn’t want to deal with. Still, I shoved down my emotions and made myself put one foot in front of the other.

I could have teleported to the warehouse, but Nick wanted to go over some final details on the way. I stepped into the car waiting in front of the house. Rebecca sat in the back with me, while Nick drove.

“Is everything in place?” I asked the mage, my eyes staring out the window as the scenery passed by. My hands were slick with nerves, and I resisted the urge to wipe them on my pants. I had to be perfect tonight and sweat stains wouldn’t make the statement we wanted.

Nick looked in the mirror above his head, meeting my gaze as he drove. “We have tips being sent out to every reporter and news station in approximately twenty minutes. Once they hit, you will have only about fifteen minutes to do what you have to do before the place is swarming with them.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I’ll be ready.”

“Eva,” Nick started, his eyes flicking between me and the road. “If something goes wrong...”

“It won’t,” I clipped. I couldn’t let even the possibility slip into my mind or we were all lost. Just the slightest slip-up and not only could I be locked back up or worse, but so would Rebecca, Nick, and all those who supported us.

Zane, Luke, and Blake were going to meet me there, coming in as surprise back-up when I faced down the three council members. Nick had found out they were meeting in secret at one of Cleric Jetta’s warehouses.

The fact that all three of them already knew about his experimentation made me wish I’d just killed them all when I’d had the chance.

Instead, I’d tried to be diplomatic. Tried to do it the peaceful way. Adam’s way. And look where that had gotten me.

The scenery changed, and the sparse buildings looked even more menacing in the shadows of the night. There weren’t any mages or humans walking along the side of the roads. As if even they knew to stay away from this place.

The large warehouse crept into view, its dim grey siding hiding the horrors that happened within.

My heart stuttered in my chest, telling me this was it. Everything would happen tonight. Everything would change. And for better or worse, I would get my revenge for the humans, for my mother, and for myself.

I stepped out of the car with barely a word to Rebecca and Nick, pulling a cloak of magic over myself to hide from any cameras that might be watching.

They would only see a car stopping briefly and then leaving. They’d never see me coming until it was already too late.

The lights in the building were dim. The fact that any light was on at all this late in the evening spoke of secret meetings and immoral things happening inside.

My steps were soft and muffled as I approached the building. Nick had shown me a map of the building the other night, indicating which door to enter to bypass any extra security that might trip me up.

I was supposed to enter the side door and head toward the center room where the council members would be meeting. The others would show up shortly after me as back-up, because one against three wasn’t exactly great odds.

I could barely handle it. However, it was always better to be prepared.

My appearance would throw them off their game. I’d mock and taunt them until they were too frantic to think straight. Then Zane, Blake, and Luke would appear, helping me bring them down together.

Each step into the warehouse sent a sinking feeling in my gut. It was quiet. Too quiet for a place that tortured and experimented on humans and mages alike.

My eyes scanned the open areas. Clear plastic curtains separated empty beds and discarded equipment. Any sign that there had been prisoners here had been wiped out. No blood, no evidence of foul play. It looked as if it were a makeshift hospital that had been abandoned overnight.

Had we gotten it wrong? Was Nick’s information incorrect? Or did someone warn them ahead of time?

I should leave. This wasn’t right.

But...

If I left, this would have all been for nothing. I couldn’t fail tonight. Even if there were no humans or mages to save, no proof of their wrong doing, I could still take them out. I could still move us forward in our plan.

My feet slowed as I came to where they were holding the meeting. My hand twitched at my side, ready to send my power out at the first provocation.

I stepped into the circular room, my eyes adjusting to the brighter lights. My glamor fell at the sight before me.

A lone table and chair sat in the middle of the room. A curtained-off area to one side that could have all manner of things inside of it but, as I rounded the area, I could see between the edges, showing a toilet and shower.

My lips twisted to one side.

On the other side of the curtained area sat a figure. My eyes trailed up the familiar boots to find Adam sitting on a single person bed, his hands between his knees as his head hung forward.

My confusion turned to anger, burning into a fireball in my hand. “Didn’t I tell you what would happen if I saw you again? Did you think I was making an idle threat?”

Adam lifted his head, the sadness and regret on his face causing my rage to falter briefly. “Eva, you shouldn’t have come here.”

My fingers played with the fire in my hand, unable to release the magic completely or attack him with it. “Why are you here? Where are the council members?”

With each question, I stepped toward him, my fireball raging in my hand suspended in my indecision.

“Eva.” Adam stood but didn’t move toward me. “You need to leave. You can’t do this. You don’t know what will happen if you start this war. They could kill you. Kill all of us.”

My teeth gnashed together, hating that he sounded like he actually cared. Someone had leaked what we were planning. Was it Rebecca or Nick? Or maybe one of the other rebels? It could have even been one of the news outlets they’d contacted.

In the end, it didn’t matter who did it. Their plan was ruined. There would be no spark to light that fire.

“You should be more worried about me killing you.” I lifted both hands up now, fire burning in my palms. “You were stupid to think that I wasn’t serious. Did you think you could come here, plead to me on your own, and I would just roll over like a good little human?”

Adam dragged a tired hand through his hair, shaking his head. “No, I didn’t.”

I stepped forward, my feet passing a black line that traced the floor, and I jolted. I shook my head, feeling strange.

“What was that?”

Adam stepped around me, keeping a few feet of distance between us until he was outside of what I noticed now was a circle of black around the bed, table, and makeshift bathroom.

Odd.

I spun around to keep my eyes on him. Another figure stepped out of the dark, his face half covered but his dark eyes narrowed on me.

Gage.

“I told you I would protect you, even from yourself,” Adam murmured, the words dejected and defeated as if he didn’t want to be there anymore than I did.

“I already told you.” I stepped forward, determined to make him understand. “You can’t protect me.”

Except when I hit the black line, I couldn’t move forward. I bounced off an invisible force. My hands went up, touching the air that thickened and refused to let me through.

“You’re right,” Gage quipped, his lips curling beneath his mask. “We can’t protect you from yourself, but we can protect everyone else from you.”

That’s when I realized that these weren't some random items in the middle of the room, a random circle on the ground.

This was a prison cell. A prison for me.