His footsteps echoed over the stone floors, and I was left in darkness but for the flickering torches hung on the walls. A distant, rattling cough rang out from the other side of the dungeon, but the darkness shrouded whoever sat there.
Goosebumps formed along my arms.
I sat down amidst cobwebs. A rat’s eyes glinted at me before skittering away. Thomas hopped off my lap onto the cold stone floor.
“Some rescue,” I said. “I hadn’t exactly planned this far. I hadn’t planned any of it, to be honest.”
Thom’s eyes retreated into his skull in a grotesque blink. I shuddered.
“I hope you’re still in there,” I said. “Otherwise, there might be no happy ending for the two of us. Not that I’m sure there was ever meant to be one.”
My head was beginning to throb, the edges of my vision darkening. My body desperately needed rest, and there was no wayI’d be getting it before I found someone to help take care of Thomas.
Just a little more magic.
My eyes fluttered closed, and I reached for nausea, for dread, for all the premonitory feelings I’d once pushed away and shunned. Now, more than anything, I longed to know Prince Thomas would be okay.
“Please be alright,” I whispered, and in the distance, a thread’s tail swished. I caught its glimmer before it disappeared once more into the darkness.
In my mind, I bolted toward it. The blackness around me whipped past, the wind abrasive against my cheeks. I leapt, catching the end of the thread as it jerked in my grasp.
A flicker followed.
Prince Thom, human again, smiling and looking down at his hands.
And I was nowhere beside him. No hand in his, no shadow at his shoulder. Only absence.
My stomach twisted. The nausea abated, replaced by terrible certainty: there was a path forward, one that returned Thomas to himself immediately.
I knew how this must end. A commoner and a prince—a gap I once thought impossible to traverse. Who would have known the annoying royal snob across the pond would join me in a mission that would save the kingdom?
The gap I’d hated was one I now had to acknowledge: only one of us knew the cure for the Quiet Passing.
The other knew how to undo the past few hours, even if it cost her everything.
I sighed, dropping my head into my hands as the throbbingspread. Maybe there was another way. What was it that the potion did exactly? It wasn’t meant to turn him into a frog—Lee’s words were much more vague and unclear.
He’d said it was enchanted to help its drinker fit where they belong.
For Thom, that had been by the pond. I’d called him a princely toad once upon a time; apparently the words had rung true, or at least had sunken in. Unfortunately, he must have believed me.
“Do you really believe you’re no more than an ugly toad?” I asked. “Meant for nothing more than a dalliance by a pond with a girl like me?”
He croaked.
“You’re much more than that, Thomas.” I sighed. “Without you, I could never be what I am today. Do you realize that? I admit, you’ve had your rude moments, and your bluntness could use some work but…” I took another deep breath. “If you hadn’t kept telling me to try harder, to do better, to achieve more… I’m not sure I would have.”
Thomas hopped closer to me. I lifted an index finger to touch his back, trying not to shudder at the slimy skin.
“And many times, you were right to challenge me,” I said. “Anna told me Stephen seemed much happier over the holidays, gushing about life in the countryside. You knew your brother best—I shouldn’t have accused you otherwise.”
I held out my hands and he hopped onto them. “You wrote me letters.” A smile formed on my lips, my eyes watering. “You helped Ella and Prince Theodore find each other again. And you quit your treatise preparation, something I knew you’d worked your whole life for, to rush back when you heard my niece was sick.” A tear slipped its way down my cheek. “And after all that, afterdiscovering I’d never confessed my love to you at all, you still took the potion on my behalf.” I sniffled. “Thomas, you better transform back.”
He shuffled between his froggy feet, blank eyes on mine. Silence met my confession, and my tears fell faster. “Please come back to me, Thomas. You wrote that you belonged to the night, where your flaws could be hidden. But I love you, flaws and all. I love you, Thomas, and you belong with me, not tucked away from the world, but shining by my side. I’d give anything to have you back.” I leaned forward, crushing my eyelids closed and kissing his head, shuddering at the slimy feel, but too heartbroken to pull away.
Maybe it wouldn’t work at all. But even if he remained a frog all his life, I wanted him by my side. He’d done so much, more than even I knew possible, out of love for me. Taking care of him was the least I could do.
And if my magic did work? If it did what I thought it would? Well, it was a sacrifice for the kingdom, for him. He’d already sacrificed himself for me.
