All That Glitters

by Dawn Ibanez

  CHAPTER 25

  “Part of me wants to gush about how badassed that was,” Carly said. She stopped when she saw her mother standing at the kitchen island with Ryan and her father. “Oh, hi.”

  Kalina looked at the trio before going over to the bookshelf. “You’re all invited to Monte Carlo tomorrow night,” she said looking through the book selection. “Faust and I are going to play a game.”

  “What have you done?” Ryan asked.

  “She’s going to play a few rounds of baccarat with Faust. If she loses, you both die when the baby’s born, and Faust gets the kid. If she wins, Faust gets the axe himself.” Carly looked at Kalina and smiled at her frown. “Did I forget to mention that the other part of me thinks this is a dumb-assed plan?”

  Kalina found the book she was looking for and took it from the shelf. “I have everything under control,” she said.

  Ryan snapped his fingers and the book she held disappeared. He held up his hand and looked at the book’s cover when it reappeared. He cursed. “You challenged Faust in a game you have no idea how to play?” he asked.

  “I have some idea,” she said going to him and snatching the book away. “I just need a refresher.”

  “You expect us to stand by and watch you gamble your life away?” Reese asked.

  Kalina rubbed at her face. She knew they weren’t going to take it well. “I would rather you learn it from me instead of hearing it from someone else.”

  Reese wiped her hands in the towel at her waist and went to Kalina. “If I could, I would kill him myself,” she said before pulling her into a tight embrace.

  She knew she would. Kalina held on to Reese and sighed. “Can you guys come? Just in case I win? I want someone there that I know will take him down.”

  Alex nodded as he put his arms around both Kalina and Reese. “We’ll be there.”

  Kalina turned to the counter and saw Ryan frowning at the book. “Ryan?”

  “Why are you still calling me that?” he asked.

  She pulled away from the Harts and went to his side. “Because that’s your name.” When he shook his head, she touched his hand. “I’m not going to call you something that hurts you. I’m not my father.”

  He looked at her with those vertical eyes. Kalina smiled as she moved her touch from his hand to his face. “I’ve seen glimpses of you like this for a while. Now, I only see you. Not some monster everyone is trying to convince me is there.”

  He turned his face into her hand and kissed her palm. “You are the only one.” He took her hand in his and looked at the book again. “Maybe I can speak to him. Change the deal so I play him instead of you.”

  Kalina shook her head. She looked at the goblin she loved and her family and sighed. “I need to do this,” she said. “To beat a Faust, you have to become a Faust. And it’s time that I did just that.”

  Alex frowned at her. “Who told you that?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “A few people, actually. So, there must be some grain of truth to it, isn’t there?”

  Ryan adjusted his hold on her hand. “Did Faust say where he wanted to play?”

  Another detail she let him handle. Kalina shook her head. “I assumed it would be the most extravagant casino in the city. We all know he likes to roll like that.”

  Ryan nodded as he gave her the book. “You read. I’ll start making what preparations I can.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Alex said.

  Kalina looked at the pair and nodded. “Fine, do what you want. I’ll be here reading for a while.” She gave Ryan a chaste kiss on his lips. “If I get tired, I’ll go to the penthouse.”

  He shook his head. “You stay here until I come back. We can’t even trust Xian right now.”

  “What about Esme?”

  “She’s caring for Merrick.”

  Kalina nodded as she stepped away from him. “Alright then. I’ll be here until you get back.” She was quiet as Ryan and Alex opened a portal and walked through it. Once the portal closed behind them, she frowned at Carly. “Say it, I dare you.”

  Carly laughed. “It looked like you were kissing a frog!”

  Kalina rolled her eyes and threw one of the sofa pillows at her friend. “He’s the same as he’s always been,” she said sitting down with her book.

  Reese took the pillow from Carly before she could throw it back. “No fighting inside,” she said. Her eyes then narrowed as she looked at her daughter. “And you were supposed to be anchored in your room. How did you get out to go to Kalina?”

  Carly rolled her eyes. “I’ve been able to get out of your anchor spells for a few years now, Mom. I just haven’t had anywhere pressing to be until now.”

  Reese frowned as she returned the pillow to the sofa. “I guess you aren’t a child anymore,” she admitted. She turned to Kalina. “You either, huh?”

  Kalina opened her book and turned her attention to the pages in front of her. “I know I can do this. I just want you guys to back my plays. Please,” she said.

  Carly sat next to Kalina and ran her hands through her hair. “You’re really going through with this, aren’t you?”

  She pulled out a business card and smiled. “They always say if you can’t beat them, join them. It’s time I put that to the test.”

  *****

  Rumple and Alex stepped through the portal and found themselves in a large throne room. Rumple looked at the shadowed figure on the throne. “I thought you liked her,” he called out.

  “I do like her. But she has to learn how to stand on her own.” The shadows around the throne peeled back to reveal Lucifer sitting with a handheld videogame in his hand. “To be completely honest, I was hoping she would have challenged him to a few rounds of a Moshi Moshi Dance. That would have been hilarious.”

  “Sire, there has to be something you can do. Kalina is no match for Faust,” Alex said. He glanced at Rumple and inhaled. “She’s already under enough stress with just finding out she’s pregnant by him.”

  Lucifer glanced up and did a double take. He closed his game and sat it on the arm of his throne. “She said your name?” When Rumple nodded, the ruler of Hell let out a sympathetic sigh. “The two of you really have any uphill battle on your hands.” He looked at Alex. “I can’t help. It’s part of the rules. If I step in, then the balance that keeps things stable here will be all out of whack.”

  “Why did you give her the mirror? Wasn’t that interfering?”

  “No.” Lucifer shook his head. “That was me, giving someone a gift. What she does or doesn’t do with it is none of my business.”

  Rumple knew Lucifer would treat this as if it were nothing. Alex had wanted to come and plead Kalina’s case. “It was a waste of time coming here,” he said turning his back. Before he could take two steps, a large snout knocked him to the stone floor. Rumple looked up into the burning eyes of Lucifer’s personal hellhound.

  “Easy Cerberus,” Lucifer said. “He’s a little testy right now. Nothing for you to get upset with.”

  The center head huffed while the other two heads sniffed at Rumple. He sat up and sighed. “I can’t stand by and do nothing. Kalina is trying to gamble her life away, and I know Faust is going to do something to trick her.”

  Alex moved Cerberus aside and helped Rumple stand. “Kalina is important to all of us. There has to be something you can do.”

  Lucifer sighed as he went back to his throne. “To be perfectly honest with you, I would happily give you anything you need to take down Faust. He’s grown into an asshole of phenomenal proportions. And Kalina seems like a sweet girl. She really does not deserve to have him as her sperm donor. But I can’t just bequeath his powers to her. She needs to take her place as his heir, and she needs to do it on her own.”

  Rumple growled as he paced around the room. “I should have never gone into her candle shop.”

  Lucifer laughed. “You would have been in this state sooner.” He opened his game again and focused on it. “Face it, Goblin, Faust was looking for an
excuse to cut ties with you.”

  There was one hope left. “Can you let Alphonse out?” Rumple asked. “Or any of the others? They should be able to distract Faust enough that Kalina would have a chance, but they wouldn’t interfere. They would simply be spectators.”

  Lucifer turned on his throne and dangled one leg over the arm. “Alphonse’s seal is bound to Faust. I don’t have access to him. Any of the others would want to battle her as soon as they laid eyes on her. Leave this between the pair of them. The only advice I can really give you is to make sure you have a decent number of executioners there. If she wins, Faust will not go down easy.” He went back to his game. “You may have to remind him, all of us are slaves to balance. And eventually, every cheater is caught.”

  Rumple ran a hand over his face as he turned away from Lucifer. “Yes, yes. Keep hope alive and karma and all that.” His frustration got the better of him. “But we are talking about the woman I love. I can’t lose her. I won’t. Not to Faust’s manipulations.”

  “What about the child?” Lucifer asked.

  Rumple turned and saw both men watching him. He could also hear Cerberus padding along the perimeter of the throne room. “Right now, I don’t give a damn about it. If we survive, I may change. But right now, I need for Kalina to get through this.”

  Alex looked at Lucifer before bowing once. “I will keep you posted on the situation,” he said. He walked away from the throne and grabbed Rumple by the collar of his shirt. “We’re done here.”

  “No, we aren’t.” Rumple tried to pull his shirt away and cursed when Alex opened a portal. “I need to finish speaking with him.”

  Alex pulled him through the portal. Rumple stumbled into his apartment and fell to the floor. Before he could try to stand, Alex lifted him up by the neck. “Stop thinking with your dick before you get both of my daughters killed,” he snarled.

  Rumple swallowed as Alex’s features turned more skeletal. It was too easy to forget the quiet man was a death dealer. “Lucifer needs to help us.”

  “He can’t. And you need to calm down so you can try to figure out a way out of this mess.” Alex shook him once before dropping him.

  He barely kept his footing. Rumple rubbed his throat and cleared it. Fighting Alex would get him nowhere. And the other man had just as much on the line, if not more, than he did. Kalina was like a daughter to him. Carly was his daughter. Faust would try to kill her if she did anything to defend Kalina. And there was the baby. His first grandchild. Rumple closed his eyes and sighed. The message behind Lucifer’s words slowly dawned on him. “Kalina has to beat him to prove her worth.” Rumple rubbed his face. “If it’s not her, she’ll never be left in peace.”

  “Faust owns a lot of people.”

  “And each one of them would be after her.”

  Alex folded his arms over his chest. “And she’s carrying the child of the one person people feared almost as much as Faust.”

  Rumple shook his head. Alex spoke of the man that lived up to the name Goblin. The one that bargained and cheated and stole. The one that even Faust had trouble controlling. “I haven’t been that person in ages.”

  “I think you need to be him again. For a little while at least.” Alex snapped his fingers and a portal appeared. “Do you want me to bring Kalina here?”

  He wanted Kalina by his side every waking moment. But not yet. “No. There’s a few calls I need to make.” He only needed to speak with one person. The one that put him on this path.

  Alex nodded before stepping through the portal. Rumple collapsed on his sofa and looked at the ceiling. He was tired. And it was time to sever the ties that bound him. “I know you’re in here,” he said.

  Satella appeared in his kitchen and smiled. “I would ask how life was treating you, but I think that it’s rather obvious.”

  “Why are you in here?” he asked. She went to the refrigerator and opened it, completely ignoring him. Rumple snarled as he jumped to his feet. He appeared next to her and slammed the door. “What is your sick game, Satella?”

  She smiled. “Do you even realize how long I’ve waited to see your world fall around those obnoxiously long ears?”

  He snorted. “If that’s the worse you have for insults, you really have been locked away for too long.”

  Her smile twisted. “It isn’t the worse. And I’m pretty sure your darling child will also bear the brunt of your foolishness.”

  Rumple tried not to think of a precious cherub of a child with a knack for changing their hair color. He needed to focus on Kalina. She needed to be the one to survive. Rumple returned Satella’s smile. “At least I’ll have a child in the world.”

  She slapped him.

  Rumple tasted blood and touched the side of his face. She cut him with a ring she wore. He looked at her and smiled. “That will be the last time you lay a hand on me,” he said.

  “Do not talk about my child.”

  Rumple’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her. Satella was always crazed. Her love for her husband and child couldn’t be surpassed, except by her rage. “You possessed some poor stupid soul. For what? To get revenge?”

  “I have my revenge,” she said. “I get to watch you live your days and night in misery.”

  He went to the balcony and opened the door. The fresh air came into the apartment and made him realize how closed in his home started to smell. “You are a miserable soul, Satella.”

  “No, I am not.”

  “Really?” Rumple turned to look at her. “You stole a body to come and watch me be miserable. But I have to tell you, I think your plan backfired. Kalina still loves me. She doesn’t see this.” He gestured to his face and hands. “I’m still Ryan Gold to her.”

  Satella crossed the apartment and stood toe to toe with him. “You will always be Rumpelstiltskin. I don’t care what some soft-hearted nit-wit thinks.”

  He smiled at her. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself,” he said.

  A portal opened under her feet. Satella screamed as she fell through it. Rumple snapped his fingers and the portal vanished. He went to his bookshelf and pulled out an old tome. He opened it to the middle and smiled when he saw Satella frantically searching her surroundings. She was in drawing of a castle dungeon. The only thing in her cell was a pallet of hay, and a spinning wheel.

  “She said your name!” the witch screamed.

  “You cursed me, and I had a spell cast on you. If you were to ever say my true name with hate in your heart, you would relive the lies you told. For eternity.”

  Her eyes widened as the door in the background opened. Knights in armor marched into the cell carrying bales of hay. “No,” she cried. She grabbed one of their shoulders. “No! I can’t spin this! Tell the king he needs to release me!”

  The guard removed her hand. “You should have thought of that before you lied.”

  Rumple wanted to laugh as he closed the book. Satella’s faint screams could still be heard. She deserved her fate. An eternity of lies, deceit, and death. He would have to seal the book away to make sure she never got out. He would have to worry about that after they finished dealing with Faust. He stood and took a breath.

  His phone appeared in his hand. He looked through his contacts and found one the person he was looking for. Rumple dialed the number and raised a barrier around his apartment.

  “Two calls in one day? This is odd for you Ryan. Or is it Rumple again?” the familiar voice said. Francisco DeGenarro was the owner of one of the most popular casino chains on the planet. And he owed Rumple. Billions.

  He frowned. “This is the first time I’m calling you, Cisco.”

  “Your girl called me a little while ago. She said that she wants to call in a couple of those favors I owe you.”

  Rumple’s breath left him. “What?”

  “Yeah, Kalina’s a fun little thing. She said that she has this friend that can design enchantment proof cards. Do you know how much money that can save the house? It can also lose the house a ton, but
to have cards that a witch can’t just change with a wave of a finger.”

  “How did she get your number?”

  “I met her before. That little number she hangs out with is a firecracker. The pair of them used to hang around the human casinos in Casterly. Her friend learned all the games, she never touched them. Said something about her mom being an addict and not wanting to chance it.”

  Rumple tried to wrap his head around what he was hearing. Kalina used to frequent casinos. He sighed as Cisco continued to ramble. His little amalgamation of contradictions struck again. “Did she tell you who she is?”

  “I heard. But I don’t want to really believe it, you know? To me, she’s the heir to the Benton line. To think, she’s gotta be hard enough now to take on Faust. Like I told her. I can’t take sides. If she and her old man come to my spot, I can let them play, but that’s it. The house can’t favor either of them.”

  Rumple nodded. “I understand,” he said. He then looked at the book at his side. “Do you mind if I lock something in one of your safes?”

  CHAPTER 26

  Kalina walked into the casino with her shoulders back and her head held high. Carly disappeared into the crowd and Ryan was determined to hide in the shadows. His aversion to his appearance was slowly changing him from the man she knew. Kalina would let him pull away, but she didn't think she would be able to let him go completely.

  She approached the table games and saw Faust. Kalina watched him as he joked and laughed with Elena. The blonde woman was gorgeous, there was no arguing that. Not a hair out of place. Her makeup was flawless. Her dress looked as if it came off a runway, and Faust was just as put together. His black suit and dark wine shirt complimented his sun kissed skin.

  His ugly personality was a total opposite of his appearance.

  “He let you come alone?” A woman asked. It was Tereza.

  Kalina took a moment to look her over. She still looked like a princess. This time she wore a dress that matched Faust's shirt. Her dark hair fell around her body in waves, highlighting the gold cuffs she wore on her wrists. Kalina shook her head. “He's around here somewhere. He's still adjusting.”