“Fern. No, please!”
“My son will never forgive me for this.”
Morgana clutches her forehead, blond wisps between her fingers. The sickness of the nightshade must be kicking in.
“Fern…please…I…” Her voice quavers. The sorcerer lifts her eyes to the queen. “I love you.”
Will inhales sharply. The emerald separating us blazes like fire. The hall lights up, and a piercing clang bounces off the stone walls. The energy convulses, ripples, then shoots back toward Morgana, firing a bolt of green into her chest. Her lavender eyes widen and she collapses, unconscious against the edge of the circle. The magic…Morgana activated it with a declaration of true love, but her love’s target—Queen Fern—isn’t cursed. There was nothing to break, nowhere for the spell to go, so it rebounded on Morgana.
A hush takes over the room. The force field flickers like the flame of a candle, moments from going out. Lacking the spellcaster, the runes and lines etched in the carpet hover with potential energy, ebbing like an escaping draft.
Fern bursts into tears behind me.
I scramble for Will.
He darts his eyes toward me and sends a halting gust of wind my way. Before I can breach the edge of the circle, he slams his hand intothe center and focuses. Green magic floods up his arm, and the wall sharpens back into place just as I collide with it.
“What are you doing?” I yell.
Will clamps his teeth shut as the spell soaks into his skin and becomes his. With less experience than Morgana, he’s having to fight to control it.
“Ah…” he grunts, straining. “Don’t want to let it go to waste.”
“Will—”
He shakes his head, his brown waves tickling his earrings. “We’ve got a curse-breaking spell here, Princess. It’s your only chance.”
It’s…?
The realization drowns me. It wraps vines around my ankles and submerges me into the depths, into a silent yawning abyss. I fall back onto my heels and stare. Like blurred figures in a painting, the world rushes around me. There are shouts. Echoes. A waft of pine.
Will keeps his eyes on me.
“I wondered how I could possibly beat your epic quest to the dungeons,” he says, just loud enough. Not for the audience, not for the show. For me. “Here we are. I’d die a thousand times over if it meant you were free. I’d sacrifice anything, crawl down a thousand flights of stairs with a bleeding gut and it would never be enough.”
A strangled sob chokes loose from my mouth.
I can’t say that I don’t want my curse gone.
Because I do.
Will smiles.
“Fliss.” He says my name like it’s the only word, like it eclipses the sun. “I was lost to you from the first day. Gods, your reaction to the Feiyan was so disarming…. I was yours then, and I am yours now, Princess.”
My heart floods, unable to find purchase. A turmoil that grips and aches. The more he says, the closer he tiptoes toward death.
“Will—”
“It’s okay.” He grins, and even with the blood raining down his cheek and agony in his eyes, he’s still the most beautiful sight.“Just promise me that you’ll think of me occasionally. When you lie. Think of me. And, to ask one thing in return, take care of my mum. And Gill. I’m pretty sure he likes you more than me. I’m sure Mustard won’t even notice.” He chuckles. “Don’t let anyone use you ever again. Wear those flowers in your hair and be bold. Be brave. Be yourself, free of this curse. Felicity Farrow…You don’t owe anyone the truth.”
No. No no no no no no no—
“STOP!” I screech.
Will halts, disarmed.
Tendrils of green snake up his forearm.
