Blood Red (75 page)

Vivi Anna

Goldilocks laughed, her golden ringlets bouncing with glee. “Hang on sweetheart, and get ready to have your mind fucked.”

Everyone at the table glared at her, but she continued to giggle.

Rapunzel neared Red. She gestured to the empty stool at the table. “Please sit, and I will tell you a tale that should have been told to you long ago.”

“I prefer to stand.”

Wolf stared at her. She avoided his eyes. He could see the mistrust on her face. The bridge that he was so carefully building between them was crumbling before him. And after she was told, he feared that there would be no hope in rebuilding it.

Rapunzel closed her eyes and began to talk.

“They say the lands of Germania were a peaceful place. Before our wars, disease, and famine, people lived in relative harmony and brotherhood. Peoples’

lives flourished. There was no need for bounty hunters or hired killers. Brother did not go against brother.

But that all changed, when the Brothers Grimm appeared in the lands. No one is sure where they came from. It was like they appeared from thin air. A sorcerer's trick. Some say that they were the true creators of Germania. They soon took control of the lands again. Kings and Queens fell under their spells.

Seduced by their evil enchantments. The lands were soon plunged into chaos.

The Kings and Queens plundered their own lands.

Overtaxing their people, forcing them to give all their possessions to the kingdom. Soon people started to 148

Blood Red

starve, disease broke out, and fighting erupted from the ruins. Brother stole from brother. We are all a product from this world.”

She looked at each of them as she spoke.

“Thieves, outlaws, bounty hunters, hired killers, and spies. All traitors to the ruling aristocracy. We are all exiles. Each marked in their own way as an enemy of the kingdom.”

Red smirked. “You’re not telling me anything I do not already know. I was told these fairy tales when I was a child too.”

Rapunzel turned her icy blue gaze onto Red. “Not fairy tales, Red. No. The prophecy says that the end of the lands of Germania will come. The Brothers Grimm will crush them in their iron fists like the crumpling of discarded paper. But from the ashes of the ruined lands will come hope. A band of seven will come together. Seven exiles, each branded with their own marks of fury. And from this seven, one will arise. The one who has the power within them to destroy the Brothers. To restore the lands to their former glory.”

Red glanced around the room. “Let me guess.” She counted them around the table. “We are the seven.”

Rapunzel nodded. “Yes, that is what I believe.”

“Who is the one?”

Wolf stood. His face set in stone, his eyes dark and unlit. “You are.”

Red’s face fell. Her heart leapt into her throat. It was impossible. They were feeding her a load of shit.

She started to laugh. “Yeah, right. I am the one that will lead us to battle and smote the enemy with my 149