by Casey Bond
I was wrong.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CARDEN
“What was that?” I saw something in the hedge maze. It was too fast for the eye, but I know I saw it. Didn’t I?
Craning her neck around, Arabella asked, “What?”
“Did you see anything in the maze?” I asked carefully.
She looked around and slowly shook her head. “I don’t see anyth—”
“There!” I interrupted. “Did you see that?”
“What was that?” Her voice shook with each word.
That fight or flight instinct screamed at me to spread my wings, to grab Arabella and fly far away from there.
“Ghosts?” she asked, backing up until her back met my chest.
“I’m not sure.”
“Arabella,” a woman’s voice called out.
“Brave?” The specter of a woman appeared, reaching her hand toward Arabella. “Are you dead?” she asked.
Brave laughed. “No, but the curse is fading! Are you doing this?”
Arabella slowly shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
Just then, Queen Coeur appeared in the garden, striding among the ghostly men and women. They backed away from her, afraid to get too close. Some looked at their hands in wonder, while others looked around at all the other half-manifested Cursed ones. Every path within the garden was full of people Coeur had lured here and then imprisoned.
The Queen directed her gaze to the Cursed. “You failed me. That is why you were punished. I wanted a champion, someone worthy of my time, yet none of you were able to compete. Of course, some were worse than others. But perhaps, everyone deserves a second chance.” The Queen turned her cruel smile toward Arabella and me. “If you want to be set completely free… free from the curse that binds you, free from the castle, free to live out the rest of your lives in peace… you must become the champion I crave. And to become the champion, you need to eliminate the current players.” She pointed a sharp, painted-black fingernail toward us.
The dark layers of the Queen’s gown fluttered in the wind as the specters rushed past her to catch us. Without a second thought, Arabella pumped her arms and we sprinted back towards the direction we’d come from, towards the castle’s front.
“There’s nowhere to go!” she yelled. “They’re everywhere!”
“Can they really hurt us?” I yelled. “They’re not even real! I mean, they’re real, but they have no bodies.”
We came around the last bend in the hedge maze that led to the castle and saw Rule lounging back on one elbow on the steps to the front door. “They can’t physically hurt you, true, but they can pour their spirit into your body and assume control of your mind,” Rule offered casually. “I could help you, of course. For a price.”
“A price?” Arabella scoffed.
“Nothing is ever free, Bella. Surely, you didn’t think I was helping you just because of a simple tether. Nothing so insignificant as that has motivated me in centuries. Whatever game you and Esmerelda were playing at didn’t work. I’m sorry to say that the game is drawing to an abrupt end… for you.”
“Esmerelda was right about you,” she spat. “You are a coward.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “At least now she can see you for what you really are!”
Rule was in front of me in an instant, pressing a sharp fingernail against the side of my throat. “One push, and I’ll make a fountain out of you. You’ll bleed out in less than a minute, Prince.”
“You wouldn’t hurt Arabella,” I challenged, staring back at his glowing, yellow-orange eyes. “As much as you pretend this is all a game, I know it’s not to you. I know what you’re doing.”
Rule growled, curling his lip. “You know nothing.”
“I watched my father posture himself and his kingdom for years. I know how this game is played. I’ve seen it lost and won, and you are in no position to win without Arabella.”
“She’s not my heartmate,” Rule countered coolly.
Suddenly, Arabella grabbed her temples and fell to the ground.
“Aww, what a pity,” Rule tsked. “Looks like one of the Cursed got to her while you were distracted.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
ARABELLA
A spirit rushed at me and I belatedly realized it was Brave. As she jumped into my body, a mind-numbing coldness seeped down to my bones. I was still me, but I could feel her, too. Intense pain split my head down the middle from the sheer effort of will it took to hold in both of us.
“Listen to me, Arabella. We will not harm you,” she promised. “None of us will allow ourselves to be used by her again. We don’t believe her lies. We’re here to help you.”
“What? How?” I stammered, but as quickly as she appeared, she was just as quickly ripped away.
Rule tore her away with sharp claws, Brave’s legs thrashing futilely as his impossibly long talons held her suspended above the ground. He growled at her, baring teeth that elongated by the second.
I cried out, “Rule, no!”
The sound of my voice seemed to wake him. He blinked rapidly, looking from Brave to me and back.
“You can’t help but protect her!” Carden scorned Rule.
Rule released Brave, who, with the other Cursed began to form an impenetrable wall around Carden, Rule, and me. Coeur’s soldiers flanked her sides.
Coeur chuckled. “Foolish, foolish human hearts… After everything I’ve given you, you would risk it all for a simple girl? A shameless girl unworthy to wash your feet?”
“What do you mean, ‘everything you’ve given us’?” Brave scoffed, pushing her way to the front of the crowd of apparitions.
The Queen ranted, “I protected you. I gave you a home, work to keep you from boredom, and spared your lives when I should have ended them. Have I not been merciful?” she sneered.
White roses began to bloom in the darkness, their petals unfolding rapidly.
“I’d rather die than spend another day under your thumb,” Brave gritted.
Coeur shrugged her shoulder. “Very well. Suit yourself.” She extended her arms and began walking toward them, following the meandering pathways that twisted through the hedges. Even the thorns on the rose bushes cowered from her. She was going to obliterate them all.
“Brave, run!” I yelled.
“No!” she screamed. “I’m done running!” With that, Brave raced toward the queen who had turned her into nothing more than a ghost, nothing more than a slave.
The Queen let out a shriek as Brave reached her, and in an instant, all the Cursed exploded with a poof, the smoky remnants creeping through the air.
I covered my mouth in horror. They are all gone. She killed them all.
“And you,” she spat, walking straight toward me. The hedges rearranged themselves to give her a direct path. “How dare you walk into my kingdom – my very court! – and turn my people against me.”
“Mother,” Rule warned.
She stopped in her tracks, ticking her head back. “Has she turned your heart, too, son? Have you let this wretch muddle your mind with her lies? Remember who she is. She’s nothing more than a piece of human trash,” she jeered.
Rule seemed to be fighting an internal war between his heart and his mind. He panted, his chest heaving as his eyes began to change. His pupils morphed into feline slits, but with a painful scream, he regained control and they became circles again, dilating in the moonlight.
Undeterred, the Queen turned to Carden. “Fine. If my own son won’t hear the voice of reason, at least I know one of you is predictable.” Coeur waved her hand at Carden, and with a loud roar, he changed into the beast.
I whirled around with my back to the castle, keeping him, Rule, and Coeur within my sight, and began backing away from Carden, who had lost all sense of control. He had no idea who he
was or what he was doing. Coeur was pulling his strings and he was no more than a mindless puppet to do her bidding.
Carden zeroed in on me, crouching low with his hackles raised. His jaw shook expectantly as he waited for her command, spittle dripping from his dangerously spiked teeth. When she smiled at me, he pounced, claws extended with murderous intent.
Just then, Rule shifted into a lion, tackling Carden to the ground with a crash. Dirt and grass flew in every direction as the two rolled around in a tangle of flailing limbs and snapping teeth, until Carden gained the upper hand and Rule rolled over to get free. They snarled and bit at one another, tufts of dark and pale fur flying all over the garden.
“Stop! Please stop fighting!” I screamed.
Coeur just watched, pleased with herself at the chaos she caused.
The beast cried out and Rule snarled in answer. The pair was evenly matched. They would fight, separate, and pounce on one another again, meeting with teeth and claws; their feet kicking and their backs twisting as they rolled across the ground. Then Rule let out a roar that made the windows of the castle explode. The sound distracted Carden for the split-second Rule needed to bite into Carden’s throat.
Carden stopped fighting.
“NO!” I ran to them. With the infliction of a mortal wound, Carden changed back into human form and Rule let him go, his large lion paws pacing beside us, shielding us from his mother.
“Carden?” His throat was mangled, pouring dark blood from both sides. I pressed down to help stop the flow of blood, but it was no use. “Please don’t die,” I cried. “Don’t leave me.” The tether between us weakened. No longer strong and vibrant, it was fading like a burnt-out star. “Please, Carden.” His eyelids fluttered. “No…” I moaned, my tears splashing onto his cheeks.
He mouthed the word, “Heartmate.”
I nodded, my heart splitting in two as the tether faded away into nothing. When Carden took his last breath, his neck went limp in my hands.
“Rule, can you help him?” I pleaded. “Can you bring him back?”
No longer my protective lion, he had changed back into his fine, golden suit. With pinched lips, he shook his head.
Refusing to accept his answer, I wailed, “There has to be something you can do!”
“I’m sorry,” he offered, kneeling beside me but still facing away. “She won’t allow it.” I sobbed, rocking back and forth on my knees, holding Carden’s lifeless head to my chest.
I felt like my soul had been ripped out and shredded.
Like I died right there alongside him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
ORYN
Esmerelda was intense. She dragged me to her house so she could pick up a few things, and then made me sit in the forest for what felt like forever, looking for the shimmer to reappear. I asked her a hundred times how she knew it would, but her only replies were that she just knew, or – my personal favorite – Shut up, human, before I eat your muscle and pick my teeth with your bones.
She made me watch the air while she sewed, stitching a hat I was pretty sure was comprised of someone’s skin. It was one of the most disturbing things I’d ever seen; Esmerelda rocking back and forth, working the needle, humming a sweet tune as she made a hat out of something’s flesh. If she caught me looking at her, she’d grunt and jut her chin toward the spot where I told her the shimmer had first appeared.
I was starving, but afraid to ask her if she had anything to eat. She probably had plenty of things to eat. I just didn’t want to find out what things. Like the origin of that hat…
We were sitting outside in the dark when she finally stopped humming and looked up. “All finished.”
I nodded to her work. “That’s really nice.”
“Liar,” she said with a snort.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Not what, but who?” she corrected. “Fitting, considering your profession.”
I swallowed and had just turned back around to keep watch, when the ground shook and the shimmer appeared, a slit glowing in the middle of the air. Esmerelda wasted no time jumping through it. I ran after her and dove through, hoping like hell I didn’t break anything again. She might be long gone by the time I landed.
Instead of hitting the ground, something caught me in the air. Not something. Someone. Esmerelda. She was strong for a little thing. I grinned at her and she rolled her red eyes. “Don’t get fresh with me, human, or my heartmate will—”
“Eat my muscle and pick his teeth with my bones?” I laughed.
She sat my feet on the ground. “I was going to say, tear you into tiny strips one at a time, but I guess it’s good that you learned something during your stay.” She held out the fleshy hat. “This is for you.”
I accepted her gift, my mouth gaping open. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t really want the thing, but she’d taken so much time and care in making it.
“Wear it so that my heartmate knows you are a friend.”
“So he doesn’t tear me into tiny strips, one by one?”
She smiled. “Exactly. Now, let’s go find him.”
Cautiously, I asked, “Who is your heartmate?”
“Prince Rule,” she answered with a pleased smile. “The one you saw behead the two guards in the forest.”
“Of course, it would be him,” I muttered, cramming the hat onto my head.
“I believe he terrified you.” Esmerelda smiled, grabbed my free wrist, and in a flash, we were gone.
My stomach churned and I hit my knees when we landed in a labyrinthian garden, but a scream—my sister’s scream—came from farther inside the maze. I opened my mouth to yell her name, but Esmerelda put her finger over her mouth. “She isn’t injured,” she whispered. “We need to find Rule. The Queen is in the garden ahead.”
“Where is Rule?”
“With your sister,” she growled.
“Wait, why are you mad at Bells?”
“Because she is also tethered to Rule,” she answered with a deadly glint in her eye.
“Oh, shit,” I cursed, pushing myself up to stand. “Look, Esmerelda. Don’t hurt her. Just give her to me, and I’ll take her away from here.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“The Queen?” I guessed.
She nodded once.
I exhaled. “Okay, well let’s find your heartmate, and maybe he’ll know how to deal with her.”
Esmerelda grabbed my hand, and in a flash, we reappeared on the other side of the garden. My head spun so fast, I almost puked. She clucked her tongue in dismay. “Humans are so weak.”
“I’m the strongest one you know, though,” I boasted weakly.
She tilted her head, her white hair stretching to her waist. “You are.”
“Where’s my sister?” I asked, managing to stand up straight and look over at Esmerelda. But Esmerelda wasn’t looking at me anymore. She was looking at her prince.
“How?” Rule asked, bewildered.
“You were sloppy,” she chastised, crossing her arms over her chest.
I could see the argument written on his face, but as Esmerelda began to move toward him, she suddenly stopped and stared at something lying on the ground a few feet away from him. A man lay, dead from the looks of it, and my sister, covered in his blood, was holding onto him and rocking back and forth.
“Bells?” I yelled, running to her.
I crouched down, but she just shook her head. “He’s gone. He’s really gone.”
“Bells, who is he?”
“My heartmate,” she cried, her sobs strengthening.
Heartmate? I thought only the fae believed in that.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
RULE
Mother approached, her ire fixed on Esmerelda. “I’ve been looking for you for a very long time.”
Esm
erelda straightened, refusing to let my mother diminish her pride. “Your son is very powerful. He kept me safe. Just like he will now. Isn’t that right, Rule?”
Mother laughed. “Your tether to him is no stronger than the one he and I share.”
“That’s not true, and you know it,” Esmerelda insisted.
“Rule, whose tether to you is the strongest?” Mother asked, eyes still fixed on my heartmate.
The heels of Mother’s shoes clicked closer. “Don’t do this,” I warned.
“It must be done!” my mother exploded. “I am sick of your fickleness.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Esmerelda cried out from behind me. I whirled around to see her clutching her chest. Mother made a squeezing motion with her hand and my heartmate’s mouth popped open. She couldn’t even scream.
“I know how to sever it!” I yelled, stepping into her line of sight. “Mother, you can sever the bond between me and my heartmate. Between me and whomever you want.”
Mother’s hand relaxed infinitesimally. “You learned how it can be done?”
“Yes,” I admitted, raising my hands in surrender. “And I’ll let you cut whatever you want if you give your word to let them go. Without the tethers, they won’t mean anything to me, anyway. It won’t hurt for them to be set free.”
For a moment, I thought she would refuse. “As long as the tethers are cut, you have my word.”
I took the vial from my pocket. “You need something very personal and very sharp, like this,” I offered, untying the leather cord from around my neck. “This potion will illuminate my tethers, but I don’t know for how long, so you’ll have to cut them quickly. I won’t do it. I can’t,” my voice wavered.
All my life, I tried to be strong enough to be loyal to my queen. I tried to keep her from hurting the ones I loved, but in the end, she won. She always won.
“How did you come by this information?” she asked shrewdly.
“I went to Virosa. Luna helped.”
“You cannot trust a witch!” she raged. “She would just as soon kill you as help you.”