“Do I... remind you of him? Is that why you’re angry?”
A chunk of apple stuck in her throat. She coughed it out, tossing the apple aside.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She waved him off. Hanging onto a branch above, she tightrope walked back towards him. “You’re nothing like him,” she said.
“Then what is it?” he asked. “I thought...” His chest rose and fell heavily. “I thought we were friends.”
The bruise on her heart panged.
“We are friends, Kaelan. It’s one thing for you to help me become Radiant, but Endreas will come after me. If you’re with me, he might kill you, even if he doesn’t know it’s really you. After what happened the last time...” Her breath caught. All the pain of his death came back to her fresh. “That can’t happen,” she said strongly. “If this deal goes through with Eris, you could have a real chance at a new life, one that’s not fettered by the incidental circumstance of your birth. I was wrong, when we first met, back in that iron prison. When you told me you loved a nymph”—pain wrenched in her chest—“I thought you were a naïve fool.”
“Magda, I—”
“But I was wrong,” she said, sagging. “You asked me before if I was in love with Endreas and...” She shook her head. “You were right. How would I know what love feels like? I was only ever taught to protect myself.” She chuckled humorlessly. “Everything I know about love I learned from human romance novels.”
He was stone-faced. “You don’t want me to help you become Radiant?”
“I wish I didn’t need your help,” she said, “for you own sake. But I do. Regardless, if I succeed or I fail... afterwards, flee. Take Honey and go home. Please believe me. You don’t want this life of being a Prince, of battling your family or teasing apart the riddles of prophecy. If you can hide, if you can escape, if you can leave all of this behind, do it.”
His green eyes combed over her face for such a long time, her cheeks began to burn.
“You think I should go back to being an imp?” he asked finally. “Is that what you’re going to ask this witch to do to me?”
“Was it so bad?”
That darkness rolled over his face again. It seemed like it was doing it more often now, or maybe he’d always been like that, given to brood. She had no idea. She really didn’t know him at all. And yet, she had a piece of his heart. It was rooted in her. She could feel it burrowing deeper into her chest. If he died again... how much of her would he take with him the next time?
“At least as an imp,” she said, “you were safe.”
And if he became one again, or went into exile, he would be safe again. And she wouldn’t be at risk of experiencing the same kind of madness that had overtaken her the last time. She’d been ready to kill the King. It hadn’t been an idle thought. It had been a promise between her and the inexplicable grief. Only it wasn’t inexplicable. Now she understood. Being someone’s heart-place connected her to him in an inextricable way. A dangerous way.
“Will I ever really be safe, Magda?” he asked.
She ground her teeth, resisting the urge to tie him up, hang him from a tree, and lob rotten apples at him until he understood just what they were getting themselves into.
“Why don’t we wait until we speak to Eris before you decide you’d rather make my life more difficult than save yourself?”
She crouched down, grabbed the branch, and swung out of the tree to the ground.
Damion glanced up from where he was lounging, brow tilted in an aggravatingly haughty way. She was about to march over and punch him when Honey twirled by, dropping a crown of colorful wildflowers on his head.
“You look just like a Prince,” Honey said with a deep curtsy.
Magda laughed as Damion glowered.
“Thanks,” he grumbled, pushing up to his feet and pulling off the crown. “Not really my colors though.”
Kaelan dropped down behind Magda.
“Are we leaving now?” Honey asked. “I so do love flying. I’ve never met a witch. It’s very exciting.”
“It’s not exciting,” Magda said. “It’s dangerous.”
But Honey just stood there, grinning.
Magda ran her tongue through that empty space where her tooth had been and turned to Kaelan and Damion.
