Tears leak out of her eyes, sliding down her cheeks. “This is not how our story ends,” I snarl. I put my hands over Theo’s and shove with him. The apple slice flies out of her mouth and slaps Malachi in the eye before falling to the ground. She sucks in a deep breath, and then another. Theo releases his hands but stays at her back to offer her support as she gulps down oxygen. I cupher face and smile. My cheeks are damp with tears of fear and relief.
Malachi stands and disappears from our side as I whisper reassurance to my sister. Her gaze floats over my shoulder.
“What did you do? Don’t pretend you didn’t plan this,” Malachi snaps.
“I thought if I could revive her with true love’s kiss, she would fall under my spell and realize we are meant to be,” Charming grumbles.
My head snaps over my shoulder to stare at the idiot. “Before now, I considered you an inconvenient mellow with a stupid belief that you were worthy of my sister.”
Charming swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “She is my chosen.”
“She is your nothing. You upgraded yourself from mellow to dangerous. A threat that needs neutering.”
“You mean neutralizing,” Theo says with a laugh.
“I said what I said, and I mean what I mean.”
Charming shrinks away from me. “It is my birthright to claim my Cinderella.”
He obviously doesn’t value his life or he wouldn’t be pushing me.
“I hate you,” Gwyneth says, her voice both hoarse and strong. “You fed me a poison apple to engineer a true love’s kiss from me. It backfired, and now all I see when I look at you is the face of my death.”
“Gwyneth, give me a chance to explain,” he croaks. “My heart is true.”
“You’d have to have a heart to make that true,” she says. Her voice gets better by the tempo. She stands on shaky legs, and I rise with her. Charming is still on his knees, and his big blue eyes plead with her to see reason. The problem Prince Poopfloof is facing is that my sister only deals in logic and reason. So if she’sdetermined you aren’t worth her time, then you can be assured she has considered all the variables and nothing will change that smart brain of hers.
Her foot snaps out and buries itself between his thighs. Malachi winces as a wounded animal-sounding whine erupts from Charming’s throat. He clutches his groin and turns several shades paler.
“Nice work,” I mutter. “Still deserves to be neutered.”
“Later. We have work and research to do.”
I enjoy the way his eyes bulge as she casually puts his castration on her to-do list.
Malachi shakes his head. “You Stone sisters have balls of gold.”
I spy the picnic blanket and bend to take a peek inside the wicker basket. Ooh, frost fruit and sausages. Charming meant business. He might be a mellow poopfloof, but he knows good food.
“Is anything else cursed or spelled?” I demand, because it would be a tragedy to let this food go to waste.
“No,” Charming utters, still clutching his mini Charming.
“Excellent.” I bend to snatch up the picnic basket, and a bee chooses that moment to fly into the basket. “Hey, no, that’s mine. Get your wings off.”
I waft the creature away. It spirals up out of the basket, buzzing louder in my face. Wait, that’s not a bee. Unless bees have human faces and angry scowls. Sprite? The tiny thing flies at my face. I step back, swatting away the angry, persistent creature. I don’t need a sprite bite. Those suckers always have consequences.
“I’m sorry. Take the basket,” I cry. Funny how I can cut down a dragon and annihilate a prince, yet run from a sprite. It’s irrational, but there’s a happy medium of size for slaying, and tiny creatures do not fall into that category.
The damn thing latches on to my arm and snaps its teeth down. Their venom floods my veins, and then with a squeak of triumph, the damn thing releases me and flies away. I clutch the throbbing bite in my hand while Theo, Malachi, and Gwyneth stare at me wide-eyed as we await the consequences. I once saw a man explode from a sprite bite, but that was an extreme case. There was also a woman whose head turned in the opposite direction and was stuck there for several diurnals. She lived, luckily.
“Are you okay?” Theo asks. They are still giving me space.
“I think so?” My stomach gurgles as the grumpy gremlin announces its displeasure at the lack of sustenance. Bubbles fizz in my throat. That’s new. I blink as I seem to get taller.
“Oh, my Idols. I’m becoming a giant,” I whisper. As far as consequences go, this isn’t too horrid.
Gwyneth blanches—again. Maybe I’m not just growing but also turning into a troll?
