Page 26 of Cinder's Trial
I hadn’t fared much better.
I blinked my sticky lashes in shock, which led to Levi barking, “Cinder, are you all right?”
“Do I look all right? I’ve been slimed.” And it stank.
“You’re not injured, though?”
I shook my head.
“Good. But I know someone who’s going to get a verbal beating. Fucking Hannah. She told me she checked your place.”
“She did.” I jumped to her defense. “I don’t know where the spider came from. Suddenly, it was just sitting beside me as I ate my cottage cheese.” In that moment it hit me. “Little Miss Muffet.”
“What?”
“It’s a nursery rhyme.” I frowned. “Although the spider wasn’t that big in the poem and has nothing to do with my story curse at all.”
“Wait, since when is the Grimm Effect reenacting poems?”
“It might be,” I cautioned. “We shouldn’t jump to conclusions from a few incidents.”
“How many will it take?” he drawled. “Or are you waiting for one of them to kill you?”
I wanted to argue, but I had nothing. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
“What’s going on is you’re being targeted.”
“Which makes no sense unless…”
“Unless what?”
“The Grimm Effect somehow thinks I’m going to ruin the Little Ash tale. In which case, it would make sense for it to get rid of me.”
His brow arched. “I doubt the Grimm Effect is sentient enough to care about a single person.”
“We don’t know enough about it to say anything for sure, but I don’t know what else makes sense.”
“I do. Hundreds of wannabe Cinderellas who see you as a threat on their pathway to marrying a prince.”
“That’s just silly. I don’t want to marry Killian.”
“They don’t know that. Could even be the curse is trying to convince you that you should.”
“It will have to try harder,” I huffed. “I am not marrying anyone unless it’s for love. The real kind,” I emphasized. “Not some magical spell that makes me think I am.”
“How would you ever know the difference?”
“I just would.” I had to believe that.
“You’ve been in love before?”
I shook my head. “No, but I’ve read enough romance novels to know how it feels. How your heart flutters when they’re near or you think of them. How your toes curl when they kiss you. How your dreams and thoughts are consumed.”
A moue of disgust twisted his features. “Sounds unpleasant.”
“It’s the best thing in the world if you can find it.” I’d seen the transformation in my good friend Blanche, from grouchy to happy.
“Must be nice for those who can find it.”