“I wish you had let me die instead,” I say as I lean over the railing, daring gravity to take me while I glare at the bright star. Genie already schooled me on this not being a workaround for death, but I still need to say it, even though changing history is an impossible feat. “I wish you had never reunited with Excalibur and become the Lady of the Lake. But most of all, I wish you would come back to us permanently and never leave us again, never be at the whims of the Idols you defy.” Why do I bother? All of this is for nothing anyway. Genie already said he can’t grant wishes asking for the dead to return.
With a sigh, I turn away and steal my spine. It’s time to usher in a new era of Stirling rule. It should have been a joyous occasion, one filled with light and hope, with Daphne holding us together. Now, I fear for our kingdom, because like my brothers, I’d happily let the place rot.
Chapter Three
Genie
Finally.
Chapter Four
Daphne
I’m so cold. Like sunk at the bottom of the lake with no clothes on and only a blanket of frog spawn to keep me cold. Eww, frogspawn. That is something that should be banished to Blazes. I love the frogs, though. They’re cute. Even the little wiggly worm things are cute. Just not the jelly sacks they spawn from. Oh, that’s why it’s called frogspawn. You realize something new each and every diurnal.
Nash’s words wrap around me as my dark knight with an enormous heart and careful hands whispers his troubles and desires.
Again.
But this time, something skims my soul. I’d say skin, but I don’t have any here. I’m skinless, but also boneless, so at least I’m not a skeleton. That would be gross. And that brings us full circle to the frogspawn.
“I wish you would come back to us permanently and never leave us again, never be at the whims of the Idols you defy.”
His wish hits my heart like lightning. This is it. I’m being dragged back for another lifetime of “how many ways can the realm kill Daphne Stone?”Joke’s on you, Idol scum. I didn’t die because of anything you did.I sacrificed myself for something much bigger than anything the Idols could cook up.
Love.
There is no nobler thing in this world. I’ve always had unconditional love for Gwyneth, my sister. But the knights chose me. They saw my clumsy chaos and embraced it with everything they had. Foolish, wonderful men. I was lucky to have their devotion for even a heartbeat.
“Brace yourself, Stone sister.”
I recognize that voice. The disembodied, judgy tones of the All Knowing that exists in the Living Library.
“Are you dead too?” I wonder.
“One who has never breathed cannot pass. I exist beyond your understanding.”
“Just say it’s complicated,” I grumble.
“This is going to hurt,” he warns.
How does one brace oneself without limbs? Do I glare? Maybe raise an eyebrow like Nash? But I don’t have brows, because I don’t have a face. Maybe the horses ate my face? It was definitely the horses. Everyone underestimates them.
“Please stop,” the All Knowing groans. “For the love of Idols, stop.”
My mind feels like it’s being squeezed down a tunnel, or a horse’s throat. Same difference.
Pain makes me cry out as I land with a thud and roll on a hard floor. That’s new.
Paper, musty books, and dust. Delightful.
I lift my head and squint at the light, attempting to focus. “Where am I?” My voice is hoarse and croaky because I haven’t spoken in so long.
“Take a tempo, Daphne,” the All Knowing advises. “It will come back to you.”
I groan, roll onto my back, and shake out my limbs to remove the stiffness. I wait a tempo as per his instructions and push up on my elbows. My vision clears as I blink, bringing the Living Library into focus. Except it’s not the room I left, this is...
“What happened?” I whisper at the utter destruction. Shredded paper blankets the floor, shelves lie on their sides, and books are scattered everywhere. Nothing flutters or sparkles like it used to.
