With a Kiss (Twisted Tales) by Fowers Stephanie

Author:Fowers, Stephanie [Fowers, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Paranormal, romantic, YA, Cinderella, Fairy tale, clean
Publisher: Triad Media and Entertainment
Published: 2013-03-15T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

I would be a mermaid fair;

I would sing to myself the whole of the day;

With a comb of pearl I would comb my hair;

And still as I comb’d I would sing and say,

’Who is it loves me? who loves not me?’

—Alfred Tennyson, The Mermaid

Snowflakes danced across the sky, melting into the green depths of Crystal Lake. Hobs plunged the paddle into the water after the melted flakes, rowing us further and further away from the shore. So far, there were no signs of the Merrow, but the other side looked too far away to get there easily. Something terrible was about to happen. Seaweed clung ominously to the paddle. Hobs was trying to put us at ease. “They can’t catch us . . .”

“. . . we’re the gingerbread man?” I finished for him. “And we all know what happened to him.”

He went silent. Bugul steered us away from the island in the middle of the lake. The reeds swayed silently in the cold chill. “Just keep your mind blank,” Hobs said, “or they’ll use it against you.”

“I have nothing to hide.” I gave him a significant look. The nymphs had gotten to me. Just like the wolves, they had alluded to all sorts of things that Hobs . . . Hobany—no, the prince!—was keeping from me. “How about you?” I asked. Do you have anything to hide?”

“Plenty.” As usual he was unruffled. “If we’re not careful, we’ll be their next snack. The Merrow feed on the foils of men.”

“So women are safe?”

He laughed appreciatively. “Merrow distort the truth. Ever hear anyone talk behind your back? You can’t help but listen, but when you do, you’re sorry. You’ll wish you can get it out of your mind, but it won’t leave. It’s like acid eating at you. That’s exactly what the Merrow are like. They steal your thoughts. You don’t want to hear what they have to say. Even if you know they present the truth like a lie—that’s what they do—their words eat at you anyway, and they swallow your trust whole. And then? You find yourself turning against those you shouldn’t.”

“So basically listen to no one but you, Hobs?”

“Yeah.” He treated me to a dry look. “Now you’re getting it.”

I leaned against the pile of blankets and cushions stashed inside the boat. Babs shivered beside me, and I dragged out a woolen blanket and laid it over her lap. Babs peered out into the lake and stiffened. I followed her gaze, seeing a dark form slide through the water. I gulped, suspicious that I was feeling only a shadow of the fear that was coming.

“Where are you going?” The question echoed across the still waters. Hobs put his finger to his lips, but I didn’t have to say anything. “To deliver the baby,” another voice answered. Hobs tilted his head significantly at me and I knew he was right. The thought had been stolen from my mind. “To the queen, to the queen,” the Merrows chanted. “. .

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