I prepared my good-bye to the long, dark corridors and fading tapestries, my only friends in the place I called home. “I will not miss it here,” I muttered under my breath. That was when I felt the pain in my stomach. He was fighting his way back in. As he did, a hand tugged my arm and pulled me into a corner.
“I will make you suffer.” My youngest sister, Primrose, glared at me. “I will lock you away, in unending torment.” She grabbed a fistful of my hair. “You will get no peace from death.”
“Don’t screech.” I pushed Primrose away with a gentle nudge. She was so petite. She’d always been the smallest of us all. “The spell will lift.”
“Zalia told me of your hexes and evil. How you wish wickedness upon us. I do not trust to live my life knowing a sister meaning me harm lies in the shadows, waiting to find a way to ruin my happiness.”
I grabbed her wrist and tugged her toward me. “If you come at me again, I will hurt you, for real this time. You, my other siblings, Father,” I spat, “have brought me nothing but misery, and you’re here threatening my life.” I let go of her. “Stupid girl.”
“Father says you are darkness,” she said, rubbing her wrist.
I clenched my jaw. “Then you better not get too close.”
She shifted from foot to foot, uncertainty lacing her features. “The baron is coming to court tomorrow eve. Make sure they’re gone by then.” She pointed at her spots.
“What of mine? Hmm? Yours will fade and yet I am stuck with them.”
Confusions swept her soft features.
“Leave,” I ordered before she could argue further. “Now.”
I attempted to leave the passageway, but Zalia strutted toward us. I looked up at the ceiling. “God give me strength,” I said under my breath. “What is it? Have you come to scream at me also?”
“I know you have been with Caspian.”
My heart hammered. “That’s preposterous.”
Primrose glowered, hiding behind Zalia. “She threatened me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Enough from you.” I snapped my fingers, and her mouth sewed shut.
Zalia scowled, looking from me to Primrose who was screaming behind closed lips. “What did you do to her?”
“She always did talk too much. The spell will lift once I walk away.”
Her eyes flashed red. “Why have you requested an audience with Father? You’ve avoided him all these years. Why now?”
I sensed fear in her tone. “He has accepted, hasn’t he?”
“He is less tolerant than me.”
My lips curved into an unsettling smile. “Good.” I lifted my skirts and pushed past her. Before I reached the corner, I stopped and looked back. “I never wanted to hurt you, you know. Despite what you may believe, I never killed Charleston. I know you cannot always control your powers. You gave in to delusions, and I worry you still do. Be careful, Zalia, for I won’t always be here to protect you, and the next time you let your magic overtake you, Father will have your head.”
“I would never…” She spluttered, but hesitance caught her last words.
“You know I speak truth. I hid the pain from you, taking it myself, but no more. Not today.” I looked my sisters up and down before turning the corner. I’d never been close to Primrose or Selena, but I had been once to Zalia.
I couldn’t look back. Instead, I pushed forward, forcing one foot in front of the other. Nervousness buzzed on my lips, or perhaps it was the kiss from Caspian that lingered.
I was certain I was falling in love. I couldn’t explain the feeling in me; although things were moving fast, he was all I saw when I looked to the future. A hope… a chance for happiness. He was everything I wanted in a man, a love requited.
* * *
I shivered as I walked up to the king’s office. Pulling the hood of my cloak over my head, I hurried past two guards. The flames from the torches on the wall danced, their shadows rippled.
I held my breath.
“I swear these passages are haunted.” The guard let out a shaky breath. “The princess is coming for an audience with the king. Have you seen her?”
“No,” the other said.
Avoiding them both, I turned the corner and took the long way around. Their voices faded, their conversation unintelligible. My heels clicked against the ancient stone. I blinked twice, then the voice thundered into my mind.
“DO NOT SHUT ME OUT.”
I pressed my hands against my temples, squeezing him out. “Get out!” I begged. “Leave me.”
“DO NOT DEFY ME.”
I focused on my kiss with Caspian and was consumed by fluttering in my stomach. After a few moments, he fizzled away, leaving my head clear. I needed that if I was going to best my father, a man known to rule with an iron fist and always chose head over heart.
I reached the double doors and emerged from blackness. The guards looked me up and down, along with four nobles and three highborn girls. A servant stared from behind them, unnoticed by the rest, carrying a tray.
“Princess Evangeline,” a guard announced. A man sounded a trumpet, and the other guard opened the door. I’d never been announced before. I hated all the eyes on me. I was uncertain why the king was allowing such a public meeting. He’d hidden me away for so long, I had forgotten what the main rooms in the castle looked like.
I spotted a noble and his son. I rolled my eyes at his court-trained, charming smile. They’d stoop to any lengths for favor, even smiling at an ugly princess.
Those around me, their scandalous, wanting eyes regarding me, saved me embarrassment. Not one looked disgusted. Father must have warned them not to, a kindness that put guilt in my conscience.
Cautiously, I walked into the large office, which was a crescent shape. A desk ran along the far wall, polished and covered with ornate boxes, a cigar tray, parchment, ink, quills, and other trinkets. The man behind it stared at me with eyes of steel, his expression hardened. His youthful curls had flattened a little under the weight of his crown. I flitted my stare down to the Ring of Immortalem. The object delayed his death, until he relinquished its power willingly.
“Daughter.”
“No need for niceties.”
His eyes rounded. “You dare talk to me with such brashness?”
“Yes.” I twirled my fingers, and black magic fizzled midair.
His thin lips downturned. “What did you do?”
“You will release the fae in the dungeons to my care and hand over the Sword of Impervius. If you do not comply, I will rain down a hell on this castle unlike any you have ever seen. You will suffer, your heirs will scream, and your people will lose everything.”
He laughed mockingly. “I do not bow to my lesser.”
“I feared you for so long, and I see now I was wrong to do so. I have more power than you, and with it, I will take everything from you as you took from me. Tell me the truth. Did you place this curse on me?”
His eyes narrowed, his lip twitching at the corner. “Yes.” His nostrils flared. “You had something evil in you. My seer saw visions of murder and blood in your future. The only way to stop it was to place the curse of the beast on you. I did it to save my other children, but your mother hated me for it before she died.” He picked up a paperweight and weighed it in his hand. “Nevertheless, you killed Charleston.”
Tears pricked my eyes. “I never hurt him. I stopped Zalia.”
“What fairytales you tell yourself.” He slammed the paperweight onto his desk, cracking the wood. “You do not remember, but something lives inside you, and it destroys anything good.” The words were hissed through his teeth. Cold shivered down my spine.
“I wouldn’t—”
Caspian emerged from the shadows. I’d sent him to a passageway linking him to this room. The conversations I’d overheard behind the walls were priceless.
“Don’t listen to him,” Caspian said. “He is lying.”
“What is this?” the king spat, disheveling his crown. “You bring a fae to me?”
“You brought him here.”
Caspian stepped forward. “I know everything. The faeries in the dungeon… how you torture them! The king will know of this.”
“Yes, and I will be the one to end you.” I smiled, ear to ear. “I have great magic now, Father. Deadly, some say. I made a deal.”
Fear laced his stare. “Tell me you didn’t make a deal with the necromancer.”
I swallowed hard. “Yes… I… How do you know about him?”
“He is the one who cursed you, child.” He growled softly. “I presume that’s how he’s managed to infiltrate you, through it.”
“What?”
“He made a deal with me, for the ring.” It glinted on his finger. “They belonged to him. I didn’t want to tell you the truth, but as he is in control if you, you should know how dangerous he is. Because of him, your mother is dead!”
“You cursed me so you could live forever?” I growled, my stare growing murderous. “Then how fitting that you shall join my mother at his hand too.”
“Guards!” my father shouted. The doors flew open, and they rushed inside. I tried to stop them, but my magic wasn’t working. My lips parted. Caspian waited for me to do something, but I couldn’t.
“My magic.” I gasped. The necromancer had cut me off. “No. No.” I looked at the palm of my hands, wild-eyed. “Give it back. He will kill me, us.”
The sound of clashing and hollowed screams brought me to my knees. My father’s voice sliced through me. “You shouldn’t have told him.” He glared at me. “How will I explain this to the fae king?”
My mind faltered when I locked eyes with Caspian. Blood gushed out of Caspian’s chest, pulsating with each beat of his heart. I reached out to touch him as the scarlet dripped down his clothing, but he faded, then turned to ash as Father wrenched the sword back.
“No.” I choked. “No, Caspian.” I reached around the ground, touching what remained of him. My tears fell onto the stone. “NO!”
They grabbed my arms, then my legs. “Take her to the dungeons and prepare the executioner’s block.”