Snow's Lament by S.E. Babin Read Free Book Online

about his motives and a little concerned he was going to drop us somewhere we’d never be able to find our way out of.
    He just smiled. “Is everyone ready?”
    I nodded and opened my mouth to ask him to elaborate on his plan, but he snapped his fingers and the world dropped away.
    #
    I had a mouth full of dirt and a warm hand on my ass. I hitched my hip over, trying to get said hand to move, but it was dead weight. I sat up slowly and waited for the world to stop spinning. Robin lay beside me, his hand now lying next to my hip. He was out cold.
    I leaned over and spit as much dirt out of my mouth as I could. “Belle?” I looked around and saw no sign of my two other friends, but that wasn’t abnormal. Portal travel was notoriously fickle.
    “Cyndi?” I scanned the area we’d dropped into. Unsurprisingly, we were surrounded by forest. Ahead in the distance, I saw what was probably the village we were supposed to be at. Rumple was good to his word…so far.
    “Snow!” The shout came from the west and I scrambled to my feet. Vertigo and nausea swept over me, so I stood there for a few seconds, trying to get my bearings. I nudged Robin with my boot, but the poor bastard was still out cold. I left him there and headed in the direction of what sounded like Belle’s voice. I drew one of my daggers.
    “Belle?”
    “Snow!” Belle crashed through the underbrush and stood beside me. Sticks and leaves intertwined in her long, chestnut hair, making me chuckle. I rarely saw Belle disheveled.
    “Where’s Cyndi?”
    I shrugged. “I’m assuming she’s here somewhere.”
    Belle drew in a deep breath. “I-I don’t think she’s here.”
    My gaze flew to her face. “Why not?” My heart started thumping erratically. There was only one reason she wouldn’t be here.
    “Rumple,” we both said at the same time.
    I cursed under my breath and grabbed her arm. “Robin is out. Let’s rouse him, get to the village, and try to find our way out of this place.”
    During the short walk back to him, my mind spun with a thousand different thoughts. Cyndi trusted Rumple. She liked him for reasons only known to her. I was one who could appreciate a pretty face, but I was suspicious and skeptical enough of everyone to always be wary. There was no sign of Rumple anywhere in our area. Either he was coming later—hopefully with Cyndi—or he had lied to all of us and my friend was in danger.
    Calm down
, I thought. Those two were bound by a deal. When I thought about it, I wasn’t sure he actually
could
kill her. Plus, she had something he wanted. I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure of what it was yet, but Cyndi knew. Yes, she was pissed at him right now, but she was the most forgiving out of all of us.
    Belle kicked Robin in the ribs and I pretended not to notice the small smile of satisfaction she got on her face afterward.
    “Wake up, jerk,” she sang sweetly.
    Robin groaned and his eyes blinked open to see Belle hovering over him.
    “For god’s sake,” he muttered. “I don’t mind waking up to a beautiful woman, but I sure don’t like a shrew standing over me.”
    Belle stood and kicked him again for good measure. “Uh huh. You’ve been out for ten minutes, Sleeping Beauty. You just lost your man card.”
    I waggled my eyebrows as Robin glared at her. “She’s got a point there. We need to go. It’s possible Rumple still has Cyndi.”
    Robin sat up and winced. “Did you really have to kick me twice?”
    Belle grinned. “Usually, third time’s the charm.”
    “Wench,” Robin muttered and brought himself to standing. He brushed off his breeches and unstrapped the bow and arrow from his back. “Let’s get this over with.”
    I led the way into the village. The small amount of light coming from the mostly obscured sun dappled the rocks on the path in front of us. Even with Naomi’s darkness spreading across the land, it was still gorgeous. I continued to keep an eye out for danger as we walked. Belle strolled beside