Page 21 of Cinder's Trial

My comment didn’t help. Levi barked, “Back to the hotel. But no heading out the front. Gerome has the SUV parked in the alley.”

As we piled in, me in the back with the prince, Levi in the front with his gun in his lap while Gerome drove, Killian leaned over to whisper, “How did someone know I’d be at that diner?”

Not to mention have a pie with blackbirds already to go.

I didn’t have an answer, but I just knew Levi would use this as an excuse to be even more strict.

I just didn’t expect it to extend to me!

7

We returned to the hotel and pulled right into a loading dock door, meaning we avoided the crowd building out front. The curse worked overtime bringing Cinderella hopefuls, and I had to note that while single available princes were rare and often caused commotion when they appeared, I’d never seen this kind of frenzy before. It was further evidence of the curse morphing, becoming more intense. It made me worry what kind of darkness it might have in store.

Killian appeared amused, murmuring, “Satin, ribbon, and taffeta vendors must be raking in the dollars.” This in response to the number of ball gowns being worn. Although I had to wonder how many of the women had been visited by a fairy godmother. Mine had not mentioned if she acted alone or if an army of them existed. How insane would that be to have dozens or hundreds of women waving wands around and transforming rags into dresses?

Once we entered the suite, I pulled out my laptop and began running the names on the guest list through the various databases I could access, looking for anyone with an arrest record. I also reviewed any pings on social media that might be cause for concern or indicate someone received one of the invitations that Killian hadn’t sent. Of those I found, most appeared to be ordinary women, suddenly in the grips of the Little Ash curse.

Since the hotel chose to send up a lunch of soup and salad—on the queen’s order—Gerome popped out and fetched us pizza. We weren’t allowed to touch it until the Knights had a piece from each box. The pie surprise had left them even more alert.

As for me, the incident baffled. What did that rhyme have to do with the Little Ash curse? And why send it to Killian?

When I excused myself to use the washroom, as I washed my hands, the air sizzled and poof!

Fairy godmother stood there with me. A good thing the luxury hotel suite had a large bathroom or her wide skirt might have made things cramped.

“Hi, again,” she chirped.

I leaned against the counter. “Back so soon? The ball isn’t for a few more days.”

She grimaced. “I’m aware. However, I thought I’d check in with you since the curse is nagging. One Godmother and hundreds of Cinderellas is making it hard for me to find time to eat and sleep.”

Well, that answered my previous thought. “Do you have to grant all of them their wishes?”

“Only the authentic ones who are getting screwed like in the story. For example, I had one girl beaten black and blue by her mother for stating she’d be attending the ball and marrying the prince.”

My mouth rounded. “That’s awful.”

“Agreed. Rather than dress her for the ball, I took her to another state and put her in a women’s shelter. She won’t make it back in time and will hopefully beat the curse.”

“If it helps, I don’t have any urge at all to throw myself at Killian.” A relief. Yes, the prince could be charming, and most definitely handsome, but I felt nothing. The man invading my dreams wore a different face. At the same time, the Levi I interacted with when I closed my eyes resembled nothing of the man I knew in real life. The former actually smiled and liked me.

“Don’t be so sure you’re safe,” Godmother warned. “You’re one of the strongest pulls I have. So be careful. The Grimm Effect can be devious when it wants a certain outcome.”

“I wish I understood why. Like, where did this magic come from? Why is it determined to make us live out fictional fairytales?”

“Can we really understand aliens?” her cryptic reply.

Before I could say anything else, someone knocked at the door. “Agent Jones, are you okay?”

“Fine,” I loudly stated to appease Levi, even as I wondered why he’d be listening in on me in the first place.

“I hear you talking, yet your phone is out here.”

“Just having a chat with my fairy godmother.”

A reasonable answer, unlike his response, which involved kicking in the door.

Me and Godmother gaped at him and the gun he had pointed at her.

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