“I haven’t known her to cry since that dragon of hers died, when she was still a child,” Mother is saying. Someone is patting my back; someone else has their arm around my shoulders.
“Piggle,” someone says. “She’s our unofficial mascot.”
“It’s been an emotional morning,” someone else says. Ah, understatement; that can only be Honey.
“I cry all the time now,” I say, sitting up and wiping my eyes. “That is, I’ve cried several times in the last few months.”
“Twice today,” Bash adds, helpfully. I’m still annoyed with him, so I ignore him.
“Tandy!” Sasha shouts. “You can go outside and see the sign now!”
“And perhaps after…lunch?” my father says, hopefully.
“Roth, wejust ate,” Mother murmurs.
“Biscuits, Clotilde; that’s notlunch.”
“And you can go see Ama’s project! It’s, like,fundamental.”
“Maybe you could chaperone the year-end ball?”
I groan. “I just got out of doing things like that,” I point out.
“That’s, like,fun. Not aduty.”
“It’d be nice to have a cool chaperone for once,” Amaritha muses. “Relativelycool.”
Honey chuckles.
“I’m sorry, Amaritha, but I’m not sure I’ve ever qualified as even relatively cool.”
The girls are on their feet, pulling me down the stairs; I follow, helpless in the face of their enthusiasm, and hear the others behind me. Sasha’s still chatting away about all the places I can go now; for someone who claims to hate her adorable little town, she’s awfully excited to show it off.
We make it to the door before I balk. If I leave, if I step through the door and prove that the curse is broken, there’s still the possibility that I won’t be allowed to stay. My parents could change their minds, send someone up here to force me out bodily.
I glance back at my mother, who seems to sense my reluctance.
“You were cursed to stay here, unable to leave, until you admitted that what you really, truly wanted was to stay and never leave,” she says, gently. “I don’t like it, and I don’t understand it, but I…I can’t argue with it.” She moves beside me and wraps her arms around me. “We love you no matter what your decision. It’s hard to let you go; that’s all.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I say, into her shoulder. I am crying again.
“But not, like,literally,” Sasha says. “Now you can go anywhere you want. I still can’t believe you want tostayhere.Here!”
She pulls open the door and steps through. It’s bright outside; I can see people silhouetted against the morning sun. Amarithadefinitely let folks know the curse is broken when she went out for those rolls.
My parents step through the door, and I hear clapping and cheering. They’re well-liked royals. I smile.
Amaritha skips after them.
Honey comes up to my side and takes my hand.
“The Dark Wizard, huh?” I say, sniffing. “You’re really leaving me for a man?”
She laughs. “I’m leaving you for the chance to get into the archives of the dark castle,” she says, grinning at me. “There are centuries’ worth of documents justsitting there. Imagine what I’ll find!”
I squeeze her hand. “I love you, Honeyrose. I’m sorry I didn’t say it enough.”
“I love you, too, Tandy,” she says. “I’m sorry I couldn’t say it more.”
