She sighs. “Fine, wrap him in a sheet to protect him.”
“I don’t like the dark,” the mirror supplies. I shouldn’t be surprised I get a magic mirror who is afraid of the dark.
“Fine, but no commentary on the village people as we depart.”
“I promise,” he says with a salute.
She throws the sack full of clothing next to me then places her hands on her hips, eyeing the pots and pans with pursed lips. “You don’t think they have kitchen pots at the castle?” I ask.
She frowns, then reaches for my hands, kneeling in front of me. Her chocolate brown eyes harden with worry. “You must promise me not to try to kill the prince, Daphne.”
I scowl at her. “But–”
“I can handle myself,” she says with a slice of her hand through the air. “It’s you I’m worried about. If your murderous attitude doesn’t get you killed, your clumsiness might. What’s our motto?” she says with a smile.
“If it’s pointy, don’t disappoint me?”
“The other one.”
“If it’s hot, leave it to rot?”
“The other other one.”
“Sisters forever?”
She plants a kiss on my forehead, and that pit in my stomach opens up into a chasm. “That’s the one.”
ChapterTwo
“Goodness gracious in Idylican,” the mirror mutters as we stride to the town center. “I’m most certainly correct in my assumption that you are indeed the fairest in the land.”
I set the mirror down and spin him around, pressing his face against my chest.
“My lady fair, I cannot see,” the mirror man declares. “I appear to be nestled in your voluptuous bosom.”
“Upsetting the townsfolk of Strongfair isn’t how I want to exit this chapter of my life,” I mumble. It would be a pointless endeavor as we exit our homeland and make a new life for ourselves in The Hallowed. I’m not even sad to depart from our home. It’s not like the people of Far, Far Away have been kind toward me. I just wish it was under different circumstances and didn’t involve Gwyneth’s floof being fondled by a cruel, arrogant prince.
Speak of the cursed and he shall appear.
Charming grins at the pair of redheaded twins who scurry away with rosy cheeks and wrinkled skirts. He wipes a pink smear from his lips before his smile falters as his gaze lands on Gwyneth. He gestures to the guards surrounding an enormous sad-looking sunken pumpkin. Several mice and lizards scurry around the dusty ground, dodging the hands of the royal guards.
“Where is the fairy godmother?” Charming bellows.
“Busy, my prince. She sent her understudy in her stead,” one of the guards replies with a tense brow.
“Busy? What could be more important than me finding my Cinderella?” Nobody answers.
A short girl with pink hair comes darting from the town hall. “Here I am. Sorry, my magic didn’t hold.” She eyes the tiny escaping creatures and pulls a long spiral silver wand from her skirts. She waves it in the air while we all stare at the pumpkin, then back at the fairy.
She frowns and presses her lips together. “Perhaps a fresh squash is in order? Some mice and lizards too.” She gazes around as if these items would just appear before her.
“I have mice and frogs?” I offer.
She nods. “That will suffice.”
“You hold the mirror, I’ll go grab them,” Gwyneth says before turning and running back toward our hut.
“Go and find a new squash,” Charming snaps at one of the guards who makes a hasty retreat toward the town hall, leaving the rest of us staring at the deflating pumpkin.
