Page 113 of Down from the Tower

I frown. Ban is in the wind most days, and he doesn’t connect as often as the rest of us do. Certainly not as frequently as I talk to Ray. “Do you really expect me to believe one of the Reapers is an ally of yours?”

“Not at all,” she replies with a grin, giving me a little mock bow as she circles a hand in the air. “But bedmates make the best confidants. And his bed I like, I do! He likes to share all the juiciest stories after we fuck so I don’t lose interest and kill him. Dead, dead, dead.”

Now she’s bluffing. She absolutely has to be.

Snapping her fingers, she points at me. “Oh! I see, I see. He lied about telling all the Reapers that he sleeps with evil.” She spins, like the revelation is too much for her to simply stand still. “I was right! You can’t trust someone who bleeds for diamonds, can you?”

Rapunzel’s hands suddenly touch my arm and I have to admit the heat pulsing from her palm stings.“Whatever you did to my sister, you’ll pay!” Rapunzel screams from behind me, switching the focus back to her dead sibling. Her voice is loud and angry as she tries to barrel past, rage burning off of her. I think she really will scorch me if I don’t get out of the way, but instead of making it easy I hold out a hand and call my scythe to me.

It helps to block her path, and she cries out in frustration. I don’t know if I want to keep hearing the Queen’s maddening lies about Ban or if I should let Rapunzel have her way with the crazy lady.

“Little princess,” the queen mocks, “I did nothing to that girl except toss her body somewhere I needn’t worry about. Thorns, water, mud, it’s all the same! Body is a body when it’s laid to die. Rose, was it? The almost-dead princess.” I don’t think Rapunzel is processing every word from the Mad Queen, her rage is so great, but I snag one little detail away for later. Almost dead isn’t dead.

“Rosen,” she snarls, grasping my scythe. It doesn’t fade beneath her touch, and although I need to keep my attention laser-focused, it doesn’t escape me. I can feel it remaining solid in my grasp despite the pressure of her pushing on it, and that doesn’t make any sense.

The Queen notices as well, raising a brow. “Oh! A living who can touch the blades of Death. I might just keep you. Such a pretty girl, playing with Death.”

“Over my dead body!” Rapunzel yells.

“That can be arranged, too. There’s much you can learn about the dead, Princess! So much to touch and see. But little Rose - Rosie? Rosen? I didn’t do much of anything with her. Nope, nope, nope. The body was too weak and already broken. She wouldn’t last. So I let her go.”

“You threw her away,” Rapunzel barks, her voice wavering. Talking about her twin, the sister she could’ve had, is really affecting her and I need to get her out of here before the rage completely takes over. Magic driven by emotion is the most dangerous of all. This isn’t taking vengeance on her mother. This is a literal queen of her element, and she will torture us if given the chance.

“Couldn’t be helped at the time, dear, tick tock. You should learn to let the past go. Out of time she was, you know.” The Queen’s eyes drift up to me, her bloodshot gaze as alarming as her next words, her finger spinning to point at me. “And you! Had you not admired Little Red so, I may have shown mercy! In the gardens, with my guards and your soon-to-be death.”

“What?” I snap, unable to help myself. There’s a blunt pull in my chest as Midas’ soul tries to slip away, and once he’s dead and out of the way, I assume the Queen will jump into action.

“Little Red, silly wolf. You do remember her in that dead brain of yours, hmm? My niece who betrayed you.” Rapunzel stiffens behind me. I guess the truth would come out sooner or later but I didn’t foresee the Mad Queen being the one to burst that bubble.

“Oh, she didn’t know,” the Queen coos, placing a hand against each of her cheeks. “How tragic! Silly Zarev never mentioned following Little Red like a puppy boy? Then he got bit and wolf he be, so wolves started to follow indeed. She was chased, the poor thing. And when they tried to hunt, Red knew what to do. She came to my court, so I did the very best thing to do.”

She grins at me, and I feel my heart tighten as she continues. “I sent the guards to kill his family. Messy situation, so much red! They left the pieces everywhere.” She shrugs with a devilish leer, dragging the visual I’d rather forget to the front of my mind again. “Too bad you had to go and hide, Zarev, my boy. Or dead, dead, dead you’d be too!”

Some of the rage in Rapunzel diminishes, and her fingers ghost over my shirt. Her voice is barely audible when she speaks. “Zarev…”

“No comforting him now, Princess,” the Queen barks, pacing towards Midas. He’s lost his golden glow, his skin turning pasty and pale. “You’ll be the one crying in a minute. Sweet tears to ring in the time. Tick tock, the King is dead”

She reaches up, patting Midas on the cheek. I tighten my hands on the scythe, knowing I need to act fast or she could catch and kill the both of us. I can’t risk Rapunzel experiencing that pain.

The Queen clicks her tongue when she stops touching the King, shooting us an evil smile over her shoulder before speaking again. “Actually, his family’s cries matched your sisters. Such sweet, sweet music. Then no more sad songs, of course. Only dead, so, so dead.”

Rapunzel gives a vicious cry, shoving around me. I use the shadows to catch her before she can move too far, and as a single force, the four men holding Midas in place rip their swords free. The King lets out a small gasp as he crumbles to the blood-stained earth, his body going limp.

And with a joyful cry, the Queen sends her magic straight at us, two orbs of energy turning to red, transparent swords that whirl towards us.

I push Rapunzel backward to force her into the shadows, but she won’t do it. Instead she holds out her hands, screaming madly as the rage and pain take hold.

The golden glow and heat I’ve grown accustomed to follows as her powers heat up the space, and I barely have time to slip the shadows around myself before her magic overwhelms her, twin jets of burning rage spewing from her hands.

It’s not a controlled burst. She’s driven by sorrow, and the two bursts of heat rocket towards the Queen. It catches her off guard, and she barely manages to block it.

Without missing a beat, the Queen spins and sends two more blades our way. My shadows and Rapunzel’s burning light canceled out the first two, but now she’s fighting out of vengeance. I lift the scythe and drag it down through the air in an arch, barely managing to block the tirade of magic screaming towards us.

The Queen raises her arms to deliver another strike, and as she moves, Rapunzel zips into action. Instead of using her magic in the air again she screams and rushes forward, grabbing her long hair and throwing it wildly at the Queen. It’s enough to throw her off her game, and the hair momentarily wraps around the Queen’s hand. It moves faster than any normal hair, and without hesitating Rapunzel pulls hard on her locks, hard and sharp enough to twist the Queen’s wrist.

I’m stunned when her fucking majesty screams in pain. I can’t recall the last time someone truly hurt her.

My Golden Princess is a force like no other. And she fights like one too.

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