Page 16 of Cinder's Adventure: Get Me To the Wedding!

“No, not after everything they’ve done,” yelled the girl. “They’ve been tormenting this kingdom for weeks! And now, to kidnap Mary Ann? To threaten to feed her to this monster?” Her blazing eyes met Cinder’s again. “You must end this! You must slay the Jabberwock!”

If Cinder tries to slay the Jabberwock, go to Chapter 43.

If Cinder tries to resolve this peacefully, go to Chapter 46.

Chapter 18

Cinder squared her shoulders, opened the massive oak doors, and walked through.

She found herself standing in the vast entry hall of a Gothic castle, where chandeliers crafted of black iron and white bones dangled from the vaulted ceiling. A fire roared in a nearby hearth, but it did little to fight off the chill permeating the air. The very coldness of the castle seeped into Cinder’s body, making her limbs ache where metal met bone.

She was drawn toward a tapestry that took up nearly the entire northern wall. Stepping closer, she watched as the fire’s glow flickered across a depiction of a group of hounds and hunters on black-coated steeds surrounding a gold-and-red dragon that was as big as a house. Their arrows pierced the beast’s wings and tail, and where they struck, drops of inky blood splattered across the ground.

“Surely you have heard the tale?”

She spun around.

A man stood an arm’s length before her, though she hadn’t heard him approach. He was tall and wiry, with skin the color of moonlight and long, loose hair the same color as the dragon’s pitch-black blood. He wore a black-leather vest and breeches and looked an awful lot like one of the hunters pictured in the tapestry.

His bruise-purple lips curled up into a smile that was more cruel than beautiful, even though he was quite possibly the most attractive man she’d ever laid eyes on. Which was saying something, given that her fiancé wasincrediblyattractive.

“Tale?” she asked, shaken at his unexpected appearance and the way his ice-blue eyes cut right through her.

“Of the glorious battle between the wild hunt and the rubinrot wyvern,” he said, tipping his head toward the tapestry. “Ballads have long been sung of our victory.”

“Oh,” she said, brow furrowing. “No, sorry. I don’t think I have heard it.”

He made a sound that was faintly disappointed, then swooped his long fingers toward a corridor. “Please, follow me.”

Without waiting, he strode off into the depths of the castle.

“Um. Sure?” she muttered, hastening after him. “Who are you, exactly?”

“They call me the Alder King.”

The Alder King. The Alder King…

Cinder racked her brain, but was fairly sure she’d never heard of him, and she wasn’t sure if maybe she should have. What if he was some important political ally that she’d accidentally offended somehow? That would be a terrible start to her role as empress.

“Nice to meet you?”

His eyes glinted as he paused at a door and gestured for her to go inside. “I assure you, the pleasure is all mine.”

Cinder stepped into the room, expecting an office, or maybe some sort of parlor for receiving diplomatic guests. She’d seen plenty of those during her time as Lunar ambassador, meeting with dignitaries from the Earthen Union.

She did not expect to see a pile of ordinary hay and…

“Is that aspinning wheel?” she said, walking up to the ancient piece of machinery. She pressed down on one of the delicately carved spokes, giving the wheel a spin. “You like antiques, I take it.”

“Not as much as I like gold.”

She turned to face the Alder King. “Right. Because, presumably, gold can buy… more antiques?”

She was tempted to point out that the price of gold had been steadily decreasing for decades, ever since the rise of the digital universal currency, but she didn’t want to be rude.

“One supposes that it could buy any number of precious things,” said the man, “but I don’t want it for material purposes. I have… other plans.”

For the first time, Cinder began to wonder if maybe this was all a scheme to kidnap her and hold her for ransom.

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