“I’ll never know everything, will I?” she murmured, more to herself than Snow.
“Maybe,” Snow said, “it’s better for you that you don’t.”
“But Damascus said she knew me. That she’d forgotten me.”
“In the beginning,” Snow replied, “my mother was a favorite of this world. Of your mother, if you will. Over time, she and Skyll became enemies. Damascus wanted to rule Skyll. To hurt Skyll.” She drew back, her eyes wide, as though the mere act of telling the story was somehow profane.
“Go on,” Rune said.
“Damascus became so very powerful. Someone would be needed—someone of the flesh—who would be her match.” She leaned closer and almost whispered, “More than her match.”
“And I was created for that eventuality.”
“Yes.”
Rune stared her down. “Why would Damascus help create something that could destroy her?”
“She didn’t create you to destroy her—wasn’t even aware the others were plotting that very thing. She helped create something—someone, sorry—who could rule with her. The two of you together would have been invincible.”
“I would never—”
“Yes, you would have. Damascus would have groomed you and trained you and warped your mind from birth. You think you’re a monster now.” Snow shook her head and her eyes were dead serious. “If she’d have kept control of you...”
Rune shuddered when Snow’s voice trailed off. The woman didn’t have to finish. Rune could imagine how she might have turned out had the witch raised her.
“So how is it you didn’t turn out like Damascus?” Rune paused. “Or did you?”
Snow studied her. “You don’t have to trust me, Rune, but you do have to accept Skyll. Not as just a world or an it. This is where you belong. You’re made of this world. She’s yours, and she needs your help.”
“I have no idea how to do that.”
“You’re afraid to give in, to let yourself be vulnerable. To trust. And I understand. You’ll have to do it, but I understand.”
“Food’s done,” Jim called.
Rune turned to look at him, amazed that he wasn’t more broken up over Ian’s horrible death. A little amazed that she wasn’t.
But in her defense, she hadn’t known him. Not really.
“Does the witch have Z?” she asked Snow, as they walked toward the campfire. Despite the fact that she’d just eaten, her stomach rumbled at the scent of cooking meat.
She took the tin plate Jim offered her and took a bite of food as she waited for Snow to answer her.
“If Z is one of yours and my mother believes she can use him against you, then it would be safe to assume so.” Snow began to eat, and she ate as though she’d not seen food for a very long time.
Rune couldn’t help but ask. “Why do you wander around Skyll starving and begging? If Damascus is your mother, you could have everything you needed.”
“I’d rather starve,” Snow snarled, and went back to her food.
Rune walked a few steps away and motioned for Jim to follow her.
“Was Ian your friend?” she asked him.
He nodded. “He was. We arrived at nearly the same time.”
She looked down at her plate. She didn’t want to sound judgmental, but she really needed to know. “You’re not…grieving. You’re not broken up.”
He stared at her for a moment, the bland and pleasant-faced, grinning clown disappearing beneath something darker. “It isn’t the same here, Princess. We…” It was his turn to hesitate.
“Go on.”
“We don’t think of life and death the way you do. There are other worlds than this one, than yours.” He smiled then. “I’ll miss him, but I don’t fear it is the end. Do you understand?”
She was silent for a long moment. “No,” she said, finally. Then, “Maybe.”
But it seemed incredibly sad to her.
There was always an end.
“You’re going back, aren’t you?” he asked. And there was no judgment or anger in his eyes.
“I have to.”
“Princess,” Snow said, standing suddenly beside Jim. “I know you believe you must. I also know things will happen here that will challenge that belief.”
“How do you know?”
There were hundreds of years of knowledge and mystery in Snow’s blue eyes. “I know.”
Rune met her gaze and didn’t look away. “You’ll also know I can’t trust you.”
Snow inclined her head and the white length of her hair slid against her pale skin. “I understand.”
Jim said nothing. He stared off into the distance, and Rune could feel his discomfort. He didn’t trust Snow either.
More than that, he feared her.
“Princess,” Olson called. “Your charge is asking for you.”