“You could date,” Cillian was saying, ticking off his fingers. “You could go on a stroll. Have you ever done that? Just gone on a walk and taken in the beauty of our world?”
“No,” I said, voice gruff.
“Right. You should get a pet,” he said, and my head snapped to him.
“Absolutely not.” I was not fit to care for another living creature.
“Maybe I’ll get you a pet.” He waggled his thick dark eyebrows mischievously.
If I knew anything about the high prince, it was that he didn’tthreaten—he followed through. “Don’t blame me if it ends up somewhere in a ditch.”
“That was dark.” He frowned as we stopped in front of the tower. “A little funny, but very, very dark. You need to work on your humor if you’re ever going to make friends.”
“I don’t want friends,” I said, “and I’m serious about the pet. I better not show up at my cabin one day with some cat lurking outside.”
He raised his finger. “How about?—”
The ground beneath our feet rumbled.
Cillian arched an eyebrow. “Was that your stomach?”
My jaw locked as I slowly looked up to see the tower bending over. My jaw dropped open. The tower was moving, and not just moving—transforming. Ice flooded my veins, a pounding filling my ears as I thought through every bad scenario that could happen right now.
The stones crunched and creaked as they rearranged before our eyes, wings sprouting, a head forming with jagged stone teeth, and a long tail emerging and whipping right toward us. I pushed Cillian behind me, heart hammering.
“Well, you don’t see a tower turn into a dragon every day,” Cillian mused right as I tackled him to the ground, shielding him with my body. Cillian would be crushed to death if I didn’t do something.
“We need to run!” I roared, the stone tail skimming over our heads.
Cillian peeked out from underneath me. “How do you think it moves like that when it’s made of stone? And what godwitch is responsible for this? Truly extraordinary?—”
I braced my legs as the dragon stomped toward us, bits of stone chipping and barreling toward the ground. This fucking mission was going to get him killed. I’d told him it wasn’t worth it. All for a woman who likely didn’t even exist.
“We’re leaving,” I said.
“No!” Cillian stepped out in front of me just as the dragon’s mouth snapped dangerously close to his neck. I yanked him back and began dragging him away.
The tower was protecting whoever, or whatever, was inside, so all we needed to do was leave. It couldn’t follow us. I glanced back at itshulking form. The dragon was now perched and staring with its blank stone eyes. At least I didn’t think it could follow.
Cillian wrenched his arm from my hand, turned, and sprinted back toward the dragon.
Damn it all to the godwitches. I yelled after him, but it was too late. The dragon swiped a paw, picking up the High Prince of Fairwitch Isle, and my entire body turned cold.
This was something I was adept at—not panicking, not spiraling or losing my mind, just going cold. No feeling or emotion hit me. Instead, a sense of purpose took over and a plan formed as I stalked toward the stone beast that clutched my prince in its paw.
“Okay, this is actually starting to hurt.” Cillian squirmed in its tight grasp, his hood falling off his head to reveal his thick, shiny black hair.
I pushed down any rising panic, reminding myself I had a job to do, and I would do it. Sword raised, I approached the monster. A sword would do no good against stone, but I didn’t need my weapon. I just needed to draw the tower’s attention long enough that it would let go of Cillian and we could get the fuck out of here. Then I’d never let Cillian leave Fairwitch again.
I’d also have a strong word with that fortune teller if I ever found them.
I stopped in front of the dragon, and it whipped its head in my direction, then lifted one of its giant paws and slammed it into the ground. I dove out of the way as stone met ground with a thundering crash that rattled my teeth.
A slow smile spread across my face. That was it. I didn’t have to destroy this tower. It would destroy itself.
I jumped in another direction, its other paw slamming down and shattering into rocks that flew everywhere.
The dust was so thick I could no longer see Cillian. I couldn’t see much of anything. But a scream wrenched through the air.
