The Queen shushed her by snapping two fingers together. Fable’s mouth was sewn shut instantly. Axel and Lucy exchanged looks; they weren’t going to utter a word no matter what.
“You wanted to know who you really are, Loki. You wanted to know why you were banned, and who the girl was. More importantly, you wanted to know about the darkness you had inside of you,” Carmilla leaned back now, crossing her legs. “Here are all the answers you wanted. You’re simply the Huntsman. Always were, always will be.”
As for Loki, he longed to scream. But he didn’t need to. His moist eyes, filled with horror, showed how shocked he was.
The dizziness hit him again, and the flashes returned. This time he recognized that he was the one chasing Snow White, and that she’d been running scared from him. Loki was the Huntsman, the dark warrior Charmwill had warned him not to look at in the Dreamworld. Loki had been running away from himself in the dream; running away from the evil inside him. That was why Snow White had that look in her eyes as if she wanted to tell him something but couldn’t. That was why she’d always asked him to cross the oceans in his mind and read between the lines in the dream.
Now, he knew where the darkness in him came from, why Charmwill had preferred Loki live with the Minikins and never return to who he was before. It was like he was two people; one evil, one good, and he had to find a way to make the good one prevail against the dark one.
What exactly happened two centuries ago, Loki wondered. Did falling in love with Snow White change him into a better person? How did he change from a dark Huntsman to the boy he is now? It drove Loki mad.
“Why do you think I let you get away with my daughter in the Dreamworld?” the Queen of Sorrow said. “Yes, it’s true that I was occupied with killing Charmwill Glimmer and that I forced her to bite the apple. But I let you go because no matter where you go, you can’t run away from me,” she pulled out the Fleece and rolled it slowly over her fingers, one by one.
When Loki tried to resist, she pulled the Fleece tight around her finger, causing him to choke. When she pulled the Fleece through her fingers, the thin threads that had entered his body pinched him from inside.
“I own you now, Loki Blackstar. You know why? Because I have your Fleece, which is similar to a Dreamhunter’s soul,” Carmilla said, toying with the Fleece. “Now you’re working for me again. You’re my Huntsman and you will do whatever I say. I’ve got a lot do work to do in this town so I can find the Lost Seven before my daughter finds them. And you will help me enter each one’s dream,” she shifted her eyes towards the others. “I’d appreciate it if all of you’d cooperate and welcome your new school principal and the town’s Chairwoman,” she pointed at herself, and then looked back at Loki.
In Loki’s mind, he’d decided whose side he was on. It didn’t matter if he were the Huntsman. It didn’t matter if he had great evil inside him. He was going to fight the Queen of Sorrow no matter what. If only he could free himself or get his Fleece back.
Carmilla stood up and turned around to pick up cut up fruit on the counter. While she had her back to them, they thought they heard her mumble something, but couldn’t decipher it. It seemed like she was talking to herself in a much calmer and softer voice. Lucy thought she’d heard Carmilla sob briefly as if she held a great secret she couldn’t expose, and wondered if this was another side of the Queen they hadn’t seen. Everyone else thought it was one of the Queen’s tricks.
“Evil is nothing but a point a point of view,” Lucy heard the Queen talk to herself briefly while she was cutting the apples.
Although he could see her slightly shaking, Loki didn’t buy into the Queen’s solitary emotional moment. He thought it was the perfect time to free himself while her back was turned. He kicked the chair harder, trying to stand up, reach for his Alicorn and kill her.
“Tsk Tsk,” Carmilla said, wiggling her warning forefinger as if she had eyes in the back of her head. She continued slicing the apples she was about to bring to the table. Her voice had changed back to the demanding Queen who must be obeyed.
Loki and his friends exchanged clueless looks.
The Queen of Sorrow picked up the dissected apples and other fruits from a basket and turned around, staring intently at Loki with her yellow snake eyes. Then she said her favorite words to Loki, “Peekaboo,” she pointed her forefinger and middle finger at Loki’s eyes and then back at her own, ”I see you.”
End of Snow White Sorrow
The Grimm Diaries book one
Next book will be
Cinderella Dressed in Ashes
Don’t forget to check the glossary and the Author’s notes
Snow White Sorrow’s
Glossary