Wicked Ugly Bad (A Kinda Fairytale) (36 page)

“Scarlett,
really
look around.  These people don’t want to turn you in.  They’re on
our
side.”

She
blinked and glanced around with new eyes.  This time, she noticed that all the
hairdressers and maids, seamstress and footman were… smiling at her.  No one
was rushing to call for Cinderella or report the break in.  Instead, they
looked thrilled.  Several people actually reached out to pat her shoulder in
greeting as she passed by.

Clearly,
Cinderella hadn’t endeared herself to the Bad folk of the castle.

“Miss
Scarlett.”  Antonio, the palace baker, beamed at her.  “Thank God!  You’ve come
to save our prince.”  His fuzzy green face reflected staggering relief. 
“Cinderella had him dragged upstairs, screaming that they’d either be having a
wedding or his funeral.  We’ve been watching the ceremony on TV and it’s like a
horrible nightmare.  You have to stop her!”

Letty
gave the tree ogre a reassuring smile.  “Marrok and I have it all under control.” 
She headed up the stairs.  If her confidence still wasn’t a hundred percent, at
least she was doing better a faking it.  Besides, so many people were counting
on her to fix this that she really didn’t have much of a choice but to
succeed.  “Don’t worry.  We’re about to cause some trouble.”

Marrok’s
mouth quirked.  “We should make that our new family motto, Red.  Seems
everywhere we go we start something fun.”

“You
have some seriously bizarre definitions of fun.”

Scarlett
led the way towards the throne room.  All around them the trappings of
Westlands’ wealth glinted and shone.  Marble pillars lining the halls.  Gold
leaf shining on every door knob.  Waterfalls of crystal dangling from the
chandeliers.

Marrok
arched a brow as they passed a twenty foot tall portrait of Charming posing
beside his favorite horse.  “Nice place Dru’s going to marry into.”

She
snorted.  “You wouldn’t think so if you’d ever tried to sit and watch TV here. 
It’s impossible to find a relaxing piece of furniture.”  She looked around and
made a face.  “I would never live someplace specifically designed to make
people feel uncomfortable.”

“Does
that mean you won’t be building me a castle in our new kingdom?”  He pouted. 
“Because, your grandmother said I could be prince of the Enchanted Forest. 
She’s going to steal me a crown and everything.  We have it all planned.”

Scarlett
rolled her eyes.  “The two of you should be kept far apart.”

“Oh,
don’t be jealous.  You know you’re my princess, baby.”

“There
aren’t going to
be
princes and princesses in our kingdom.  We’re about
equality.”

“Did
we vote on that?  I don’t remember voting on that.”

She
refused to be amused by his teasing.  “Would you please concentrate on saving
your soon-to-be brother-in-law?”

“I’m
a multi-tasker.  You should know that by now.”  Still, Marrok unzipped the duffle
bag slung around his shoulder and began skillfully sorting through the weapons. 
“And let’s not call Charming ‘my’ anything, okay?  I still don’t like the guy.”

“You’ve
never even met him.”

“Yeah,
but I’m holding a grudge that you were engaged to him.”

“I
was never
really
engaged to him, though.”

“Turns
out I’m unreasonable and don’t give a shit about that part.  In fact, I
also
blame him for the fact I spent the past six weeks tortured with your lie about
that damn glass slipper.”

“I
didn’t technically lie.  It was more like an omission…”  Scarlett trailed off
with a frown as Marrok dug what looked like a glass vial from his bag and
shoved into the pocket of his cargo pants.  “Do I even want to know what that
is?”

“Probably
not.”  He looped a military-style gun around his torso and hesitated.  “I need
you to promise me something.”

“Of
course.  Anything.”

“If
you see Trevelyan start to turn into his dragon form, you
run
.  Got it?”

“Absolutely
not.”  She made a scoffing sound.  “Have you gone crazy for real?  I’ll not
about to run away and leave you…”

He
cut her off.  “Baby, you
have
to run.  If you trust me to stop him, then
you need to get out of the way first.”

That
didn’t sound good.  Her eyes narrowed.  “What aren’t you telling me?”

He
gave her an innocent look.  “What do you mean?”

“I
can see on your face that you’re hiding something.  What is it?”

Marrok
studied her, apparently weighing his options.  “Have you ever seen a dragon?”

“No.
 Why?”

“They’re…
big.”

“How
big?”

“Oh,
pretty big.”

“
How
big?
”

He
sighed.  “About fifteen feet.  Give or take.”

Scarlett
stared at him.

Marrok
arched a brow at her.  “So, that’s why you listen to me and
run
,
alright?”

“Oh
my God.”  She gave her head a clearing shake.  “Okay, wait.  Time out.”  She
stopped walking and held up her palms in a T-shape.  “Fifteen
feet?
” 
Her voice went shrill.  “You can’t fight a fifteen foot long dragon, Marrok!  There’s
no way my plan is going to work without you dying!”

“I
told you, I hated this idea.  Usually, you come up with much better ones.”

“You
didn’t tell me
why
you hated it, you idiot!”  She gave his arm a
frustrated whack.  “We’re not doing this.  Let’s get out of here, before anyone
else sees us.”

“Gustav
said the wedding is already starting, though.”

“Do
you think I give a shit about that wedding, right now?”  Scarlett seized him by
the elbow and tried to herd him back downstairs.  “Move it.”

“Letty,
hang on.  If we just change a couple of details, this can all still work.”

...And
that’s when Esmeralda and Avenant started setting off their very loud
distractions.

“Oh
no!”  Scarlett sent a frustrated look towards the windows.  “They’re early.”

“
Again
.” 
Marrok scowled.  “Fuck.  We should stop including them on these missions if
they can’t figure out how to tell time.”

Scarlett’s
mind buzzed with frantic ideas for escape.  There was no way anyone in the
Westlands was going to miss the gigantic fire blazing where their courthouse
once stood.  Two seconds later the “Good folk only” county club went up in
flames, followed by the statue of Cinderella that had just been erected in the
town square.

The
explosions
had
been part of the plan.  They were meant to draw attention
away from the palace, but that was
before
Letty realized they needed to
cancel this whole idea.  They’d just alerted Cinderella to their presence and
they were too close to the throne room to hide for long.  How were they going
to get out of the kingdom without a confrontation?  A confrontation they
couldn’t
possibly
win.

This
was a disaster!

“Red?” 
Marrok’s voice went serious as he saw her panicking.  “We can’t turn back. 
This has to happen
now
.  I will take care of Trevelyan.  I promise.”

“All
fifteen feet of him?!”

“I
wouldn’t have brought you in here if I didn’t know we could do this, baby.  All
you have to do is
stay away from the dragon
.”  Topaz eyes burned into
hers.  “Trust me.”

She
swore under her breath.  “I
do
trust you, but I’m not going to just let
you face him all by yourself.  I’m your True Love, damn it!  It’s my job to
save you from your own suicidal craziness.”

He
slowly grinned.  “Remember that because…”

Whatever
he’d planned to tell her was cut off by Cinderella’s armed rats bursting out of
the throne room and heading straight for them.

Sometimes
I wonder why I counsel these patients to work together.

I shudder
to think what would befall this world if all the Bad folk were ever smart
enough to organize themselves.

Psychiatric
case notes of Dr. Ramona Fae

“Scarlett!” 
Cinderella smiled cheerily as her men dragged Letty and Marrok across the
parquet floor of the throne room.  “Welcome to my wedding.  I
soooo
hoped you’d be here to witness my special day.”

As
much as Scarlett detested the woman, even she had to admit that her stepsister
made a beautiful bride.  Cindy was decked out in a four foot wide wedding
dress, studded with enough pearls to choke every oyster in the sea.  Her blonde
curls fell in perfect ringlets, covered with a nearly transparent lace veil. 
Perched on the tippity top sat the diamond tiara of the Westlands.  Hundreds of
twinkling diamonds glinted mockingly as the rats hustled Scarlett and Marrok
forward.

Charming’s
eyes lit up like he’d been rescued as soon as he saw them.  Apparently, he
missed the fact that they were all screwed.  “Letty, how’s Dru?”

He
tried to move closer, but he was tied to one of the room’s countless marble
pillars.  A metal dog collar and chain gave him about two feet of slack, which
was just enough for him to reach the golden altar beneath a flower covered
trellis.

The
whole room was decorated in various shades of pink, with about two hundred
empty chairs arranged in neat rows.  Not many guests wanted to show up to a
wedding that was really a hostage situation.  Along the far wall, a huge
banquet was set up, including a half dozen ice sculpture swans and an
incredibly lovely wedding cake.  It stood twelve tiers high, a masterpiece of
sugar flowers and lattice work.

Bizarrely,
though, it looked like someone had punched a hole in the intricate decorations,
straight through to the chocolate of the fifth layer.  The frosting on
Cinderella’s fist sort of limited the assault suspects.  Her stepsister was mad
at a
cake,
but
Letty
was the one who’d been committed. 
Unbelievable.

“Dru’s
fine.”  Letty assured Charming, trying to sound calm.  “Or she will be when
you’re together, again.”

“They’ll
have to be reunited in whatever hell Bad folk are sent to, because none of you
will ever live long enough to see it happen here.”  Cinderella laughed.  “God,
this just couldn’t have worked out any better.”  She glanced up at the man
standing next to her.  “Looks like I didn’t need you after all, Trevelyan. 
You’re lucky I’m a princess of my word.  Letty is all yours.”

Scarlett’s
eyes traveled over to the dragon and she swallowed.  Even in his human form,
the man looked formidable.  Black hair fell to his waist, framing the deep
angles of his exotic face.

His
green gaze found hers and held it.  “Hello Scarlett.  I’ve been waiting for
you.”

Marrok’s
jaw ticked.  “What the hell is this about, Trev?”

“It’s
about you betraying me.”  Trevelyan arched a brow his attention still on Letty
as he answered.  “Did you think I’d just forget about that, Wolf?  I told you
I’d have my revenge.”  He glided closer.  “And for a debt this high, you can
only pay with your most valuable possession.”

Letty
tried to shift away as he lifted a hand to caress her hair.  The feel of his
fingers made her cringe.

It
took eight rats to hold Marrok back despite the magic inhibiting restraints
they’d put on his wrists.  Even the guards holding Scarlett released her to
rush into the fray.  “You son-of-a-
bitch
.  You touch my wife and I’ll
see you fucking dead!  I swear to God.”

Trevelyan
ignored that.  “At first, I wondered what you saw in an ugly stepsister.”  He
mused.  “But, soon I saw it, too.  The spark she has.”  His thumb traced down
her cheek.  “You look in her eyes and you see nothing but life and purity and
ideas
.” 
He leaned closer to her and inhaled deeply.  “I bet she tastes like Goodness is
always supposed to, but never does.”

Scarlett
was afraid to even look in Marrok’s direction for fear of what he might do if
he saw how scared she was.

“Can
we cut down on the creepiness?”  Cinderella requested.  “It’s wrecking my
wedding.”  She waved a hand towards the altar.  One of the rats was acting as officiant,
a gun in one hand and book of wedding prayers in the other.  “Jack, skip to the
‘I do’ part.”

He
obediently flipped ahead in the vows.  “Do you, Charming, underserving prince
of the Westlands, take the regal and glorious Cinderella as your rightful
princess and…?”

“Never!”
 Charming cried, cutting him off.  “You might as well behead me right here,
because I’ll never marry anyone but my True Love.  Drusilla, wherever you are,
I am yours!”  He shouted the last part the rat videographer and Scarlett
realized that Cinderella really was broadcasting this whole wedding over the
news.

Her
eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

Cinderella
whacked the back of Charming’s skull.  “What was that?  I didn’t quite hear you.”