I would rather have Quinn rip out my heart like he did with Stephan of Glasburg than live a life without my Rapunzel.
“But you said—”
“I said many things that aren’t true,” I interrupt her, my gaze fixed on the stone floor because I can’t bear to look at her lest she see the depth of my guilt. “Many things I regret. Too many fucking things I can neverunsay.”
Rapunzel leans forward and rests her head on my shoulder. My eyes slide closed, and I swear, each beat of my heart punches harder than the last until I fear it will crack clean out of my chest. “I’m sorry, too, Wren.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“But I did.” Her tremors ripple through me like a melancholy wave. “You were right about me being a coward. But I couldn’t silence Sybil’s warnings.” She straightens and taps the heel of her palm against her forehead. “They screamed in my head, reminding me to protect my secret. That even the very best of men will use it for evil. I wanted to tell you, but always, the words got stuck because I was afraid.” Each word is said on a trembling breath, and when she grasps my hands, she squeezes until our fingers twist. “I should have trusted you. I should have saved your father, no matter the cost.”
“You couldn’t have saved him, Rapunzel. John would have eventually found a way to murder him. Not even you can alter destiny.” This truth kills me to say out loud. Percy Kincaid was too close to John. He knew the king’s secret, and John would have hunted him to the ends of the world to protect it. It’s a secret I have to tell Rapunzel. But not tonight, when there’s too much that still needs to be said between us. And when I pull her on my lap and cradle her to my chest, she sags against me. It’s as if she’s waited a lifetime for this moment. And maybe she has—because so, too, have I. “I would grant you my forgiveness, but there is no guilt for me to absolve.”
Her muffled hiccup damn near breaks me. I wrap my arms around her and hold her, rocking her until the last of her sobs subside. Until she’s no longer trembling. Until she finally swats her hair from her face and gazes up at me, her expression raw. It slices my heart in half.
One part beats for me, the other for her.
“I love you, Wren.”
I feather a kiss over her lips. “And I’ve never stopped loving you.” I cup her face, my gaze bouncing from the newly shorn brown wisps back to her captivating green eyes. “When it’s cut, do you feel it?” Because it looked like she was in agony.
Rapunzel answers with a curt nod.
“Badly?” I press.
“Like severing a limb.” Her admission is so quiet, I need to strain to hear her.
Fuck. “And you suffered this pain for Quinn. Why?”
“I couldn’t watch him die.” Her expression is heartbreaking. “The three of you are too special to me to lose.”
“Rapunzel…” Her name slips from my lips like a prayer. She slaps my hands away when I run my fingers through her hair.
“Don’t touch it.” She scrunches her face in disgust. “It’s cursed.”
“It’s perfect.” I ignore her weak protests and bury my hands in the heavy, golden waves. “As beautiful as the rest of you.”
She’s skeptical. No matter. I’ll make Rapunzel love her whole self since I’m a large part of the reason she hates the magic that lives within her.
“I need to tell you something, Wren.”
Expecting the worst—ready to forgive her for anything—I tense and detangle my hands from her hair. “What is it?”
She swallows hard. Drops her gaze, and I let her stare at the stone floor if that’s what she needs to do to spill her secret. “I once asked Sybil what would happen if I cut it off. All of it. I would be free, right?”
Right.
It sounds easy.
Too easy.
Nothing is ever simple with magic. There is always a cost.
“What did she say?”
I tense, waiting for an answer I know I’ll hate.
“I should have died with my mother during my birth. That is the natural order.” Oh, God. Oh fuck. Stop talking… But Rapunzel continues. “The magic keeps me alive.”
