“I don’t know about this, Emily.”
She shrugged him off. He didn’t know her world, didn’t know Mrs. Cress, and wasn’t responsible for all this. She was. She could fix it. Holding her finger out, Emily let Mrs. Cress poke her, smeared the blood on the paper offered and then turned to Kayden. “I know you’re not afraid of having your finger pricked, are you?”
He scowled.
Then he held out his finger. His smear crossed hers, making a bright red X on the page. “Give me your hands,” he demanded.
She complied, looking into his ever-changing eyes. “I love you, Kayden.”
He tensed. “You’re sure this will work?”
“Can’t be any harder than killing a dragon, right?” Closing her eyes, she called on the magic within her, just like he’d taught her in her dreams. She could feel it well up, almost pink, if a feeling could have a color. She could feel the temptation of his power, so close, and she only had to let go for his to ripple over her, mixing with her own gift in a feeling almost more intimate than sex. She sighed, allowing him to pull her into his embrace. The wash of energy lifted her spirits to the point she felt like she was flying.
And then she blinked, opened her eyes, and looked around his bedroom.
“It worked.”
He kissed her forehead, his scent rich and soothing, and then released her.
“That almost felt too easy.” With that, he turned from her and headed for the door.
****
Pushing the door open with her butt, Daphne juggled a sandwich and mocha. “Ems?”
“She’s gone already.” Mrs. Cress held a piece of paper and stood in the middle of the bookstore, a stray ray of light making her look tiny and frail.
“Well, that’s good, then. I’m not into long goodbyes.”
Mrs. Cress snorted. “You’re following them.”
“What? Fuck. Why?” Daphne sucked a gulp of her mocha. If she were getting tossed back into magic land, there would be no more mochas. Fucking politics.
Mrs. Cress transformed into the familiar form of Daphne’s mother. “You need to bring something to your sister.”
“So, the Mrs. Cress thing—we’re done with that bullshit? You weren’t terribly believable as a sweet old woman, Mommy Dearest, if you don’t mind me pointing out the obvious.”
“Good enough to fool Emily, which was the important part. Good enough that her man obeyed Emily and didn’t doubt me.” Fluffing her dark hair, the picture of what Narcissa would look like in a few years, Cress preened. “You only wish you possessed the kind of power Narcissa and I wield.”
Fuck that. “So, why didn’t you just give whatever to Emily? Why send me to bring it to her?” Digging into her sandwich, she wished it didn’t feel so much like a last meal.
“Not Emily. I need you to take this piece of paper to Narcissa.” Waving the paper, Cress helped herself to half the sandwich. Daphne considered the white sheet, with its red x, and tried to calm her heart rate.
“Mom, is that blood?” Emily and Kayden wouldn’t be so stupid as to give the evil queen blood samples…would they?
“Yes, dear. Now, finish eating and you can go to Narcissa.”
Leaving the paper behind, Cress headed back to her office humming. Daphne tried to swallow, her stomach suddenly far too upset to want more food.
Why was it the happy little idiots on the side of good always fell for the evil queens that disguised themselves as little old ladies? Trite.
Very trite.
And now she was back in the middle.
Fuck.
Chapter Thirteen
Kayden headed down to the hall and met chaos. Old food still lay on the banquet table, smelling like soured wine and meat that had gone bad. Dogs, never usually allowed inside the castle, lay about…overlaying the aroma of the food with the pungent smell of wet animal. Men fell where they stood, some seeming to come awake at the sound of his footfalls and blinking in obvious drunken stupors.
“What in the hell?” He bellowed the words, hands on hips as he surveyed the mess. “Who can explain this?”
Near the fire pit, long gone out, his brother roused, naked and wrapped in women. “Kayden?”
“Kallicrates, what goes on here?”
Emily’s hand closed over his arm. A zing of awareness, an increase of his power, came from the touch, but he chose to ignore his soul mate in favor of considering his brother.
“You’re back?” Kalli sounded confused as he rubbed a hand over his face.
“I’m back,” he agreed. “You have one hour to clean up this disaster. There’s a wedding today.”
“Who’s getting married?”
His guards, looking ashamed, began to move. Maids shuffled into the room, obviously hiding nearby, but not daring to enter the room that had been filled with who only knew what debauchery, the night before.
“I am,” he announced and Emily’s nails bit into his arm.
“To whom?” Kalli finally managed to focus bloodshot eyes on him and they went wide.
“Emily, my soul mate.”
“She’s fucking here in daylight?” Kalli nearly screeched the words then cupped his own head with a pained expression.
“Clean up, brother. My bride and I shall wed before the sun sets this day.”
Spinning to leave the hall, he ignored the fact that Emily had to race to keep up.
“Was that supposed to be a proposal?” Her quietly hissed words sounded more than a little annoyed.
“We’re destined to wed.” That someone tried to block him from that destiny more than annoyed Kayden.
“Destiny schmestiny. You’re going to have to be a bit more romantic, princey poo.”
Using the annoying name her sister created, Emily won no points with Kayden with her words. “We will wed. There will be no more discussion about who will be king. I will rule and that fool downstairs will back down, once the discussion—”
“We seem to be suffering from a failure to communicate.” Emily slammed to a halt, and Kayden almost didn’t stop to turn and face her. There was much to be done. They could talk later. Women, his included, wasted too much time on words.
“We can talk later. First, the wedding. I need to check on my father. I shall send a seamstress to my rooms. You wait there for her. We’ll talk tonight.” Decided, he strode further down the hall, not bothering to look back.
Emily would obey. She always obeyed. They could talk it all out once he’d secured the kingdom. She would understand.
****
Daphne hated the feeling of traveling through dimensions worse than flying. She preferred to keep her feet firmly on the ground.
As she again felt solid floor under her feet, she concentrated on not throwing up.
Then Narcissa came into view and she shoved the paper behind her back.
“Sister, what brings you here?” Narcissa demanded, hands on hips and head tilted. “I thought we agreed on the plan? Is she dead?”
“I just needed to pick something up. Be out of your hair in a minute.” Trying to spin and keep the paper out of Narcissa’s range of view, she headed for the door.
“What is that you have there?” Narcissa demanded. Daphne resisted, hanging her head. She shouldn’t feel ashamed or even bothered about giving Narcissa the paper. If Emily was dumb enough to give blood to her mother that could be used in spell casting, well, who was she to help her?
But it bothered her.
Passing her sister the paper, Daphne couldn’t meet her eyes. Maybe Narcissa wouldn’t know what it—
“Blood of the prince and our sister? Oh, clever girl. This is better than any poison I could ever concoct.” Narcissa snatched the paper and spun in a circle like she’d gotten a gift. “You’ll help me, of course.”
Opening a trunk, Narcissa bent to begin pulling things out.
Daphne swallowed hard. It tasted like a betrayal.
“I won’t help you. If you’re doing this, you can do it on your own.”
/> Narcissa stood up, eyes blazing bright green. “You will help me, or I’ll tell everyone what—”
Waving her words away, Daphne laughed. “The prince already knows everything I’ve done. I don’t have a thing to hide.”
The glowing green orbs narrowed. “I can kill you, you know.”
The casual coldness in her tone made Daphne shiver. “Seems a waste. You sacrifice a pawn to gain what, sister?”
The light went out of those perfect eyes, and Narcissa seemed to consider. “You would pick fat and frumpy over me? Daphne, I’ve been here for you. I did everything I could to take care of you and you’re siding with Emily? Now, when I need you most?”
More guilt piled on top of her already heavy heart. “You’re just trying to make me feel bad.”
“Is it working?” Narcissa’s smile was familiar. Her sister had always looked out for her, been her friend, and not judged even when she saw the dark ugly bits of Daphne.
“Kinda. Bitch.”
Narcissa dropped the paper, sweeping across the room and smelling like the only arms that ever held Daphne in her low points. Her hug, tight and comfortable, brought back memories of them as little girls. “I’m doing this for us, Daphne. No one to control us. No one to tell us who to wed, what to do, how to behave. I want us to be free.”
Free. The word used to be the driving force for Daphne.
Until she had it. She’d been free for years. In the other world, she could do what she wanted and only answer to herself.
She hugged Narcissa back, but her decision snapped into place. She couldn’t betray Emily, not for this. There were other ways, if Narcissa really wanted freedom. She didn’t want freedom. She wanted power.
“I know, Narcissa. And thank you.” The words had a hollow ring, but Narcissa didn’t notice, too happy to be getting her way. She only heard what she wanted.
“Good. Now, I need to prepare. Go, get dressed appropriately and we’ll meet again at dusk.”
Daphne nodded and headed off to start a plan of her own.
Chapter Fourteen
Standing at the window, Emily considered the courtyard below and then, further in the distance, the ruby red fields of her dreams. The tiny houses, scattered like hobbit holes across the land, the sea in the far distance, right now more purple than blue.
Zenith shone lovely, in reality, and she had chosen to come here.
But could she choose to stay?
The tower shook as her pet, a tamed dragon named Sparkles by a much younger Emily, came to push her face in the open stone window. “Sparkles,” she whispered, scratching at the ridge over the animal’s eye. “Hey, buddy.”
A keening noise, like a dragon purr, started and Emily put more effort into the rubbing. All of it was reality and all she had to do was marry her dream guy, become a princess and live happily ever after.
Sparkles wheeled away from the window, as if sensing Emily wasn’t coming out to play, or perhaps because she had dragon business to attend to…like eating half the town’s fish supply…and her departure left Emily to her thoughts.
Turning, she faced the room. In this room, she learned to feel beautiful. Walking to the mirror, she looked at her reflection in the glass.
Same Emily, same glass, but no handsome prince to run his hands across her body. No connection to Kayden at all, if she was honest with herself. The distance that started between them in her world hadn’t been solved with sex. And it hadn’t been solved by bringing him home.
Kayden wasn’t talking to her. He never bothered to explain the rush to get married. She hadn’t seen his father in months, though he’d been sick now for years, and Emily actually liked the old guy. He wasn’t sharing his problems with her…
He was just assuming she would do as he needed and moving on. She wasn’t stupid. It had something to do with the king. But he wasn’t telling her what, and it pissed her off.
Stroking her hand on the glass, as if she could turn back time and make him become the man she’d thought he was—her friend—she was shocked when the image wavered like she’d stroked water…ripples moving from her fingertips, to wash against the edges of the frame.
Daphne, rushing down a hall, came into view in the rippling glass. She stopped, then turned and tilted her head, a downright comical expression on her slender features. “You’re doing mirror magic?” Daphne demanded and leaned closer to Emily in the area visible through the mirror.
“Um, maybe?” Emily wasn’t sure. She’d never done mirror magic, or whatever it was, before.
“Where in the hell are you? What’s with the interior decorator’s silver obsession?” Daphne looked around, interested.
“Kayden’s rooms, castle in Zenith. Where are you?”
Daphne stood back and whistled. “So, that’s the same mirror you did the nasty in front of? You dirty bitch. No wonder I love your naïve ass.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” But Emily blushed and looked around guiltily.
“I’m also in the castle. Shit is going down. What are you doing in Kayden’s room? And where the hell is the princey-poo? And why aren’t you naked and sprawled on that bed?” Daphne, comfortingly familiar, demanded all the questions in rapid-fire succession.
“Long story short? Dream prince not being the man of my dreams today. He’s all bustling around, planning to marry me, but never asked. Something is going down and no one is bothering to tell me what.” She didn’t mean to sound so angry, but from the look on Daphne’s face, she understood.
“Yeah, life’s a bitch here in magic land. Look, there’s stuff you don’t understand going down. Marry him.”
“Just marry him? That’s your advice?” Stomping her foot, Emily glared at her friend.
“Look, it will increase your magic. I think you two are bonded, which is fine and flippity dandy, but if you marry him and accept the bond it will increase your magic. With some of the shit going on here—fucking politics—you’re going to need every dreg of magic you can get your pudgy little hands on. Marry the prince, bond with his ass, and ask questions later.” Daphne looked around nervously. “Look, great seeing you and all, but can’t stick around and chat. I’m working on stuff. I will explain later, too, but that’s my advice.”
Emily breathed out, a little disappointed when it almost broke into a sob. “I wanted happily ever after, but this doesn’t feel like that. He’s not even talking to me.”
Daphne stilled, her hand moving to touch her side of the mirror. Emily touched her own hand to the glass with her sister, her friend. “Trust him, Ems. He loves you. He’ll fix it. Together, you guys really can do anything. And I’m here. I’ll help. But you’ve got to trust him until he can fix it. Well, if you love him. Do you love him enough to stand by him while he’s being a bit of a douche?”
Emily closed her eyes. She thought about it, really dug deep. “Yeah, I can do that.”
“So, you do your bit and I’ll do mine. If we live through this, I’ll be with you soon.”
Emily nodded. “How do I turn the mirror back off?”
Daphne shrugged. “I suck at mirror magic. You’re on your own in that one. But look…trust no one, okay? Don’t be that kind of princess.”
“Okay.”
Emily stroked her hand along the glass again and the image of Daphne shimmered and faded.
Daphne might be a liar. She might be a betrayer, but she was one of the few familiar real things. Okay, fine, Kayden was real and so was this world, but Daphne knew both sides of things. And she really felt like a sister, which was the thing. Emily needed to trust her gut. Her gut said Daphne was there for her. Had been there for her. Liar? Yes, but family. Kayden was…
Her gut said he meant the world. Her gut said marrying him was right, even if he was being distant. Her gut said she could trust her magic. She could do this. A knock at the door meant the seamstress arrived.
Time to become a bride.
Chapter Fifteen
When Emily had imagined this moment, like e
very woman did, she hadn’t thought it would be like this. She wore a gown out of a fairy tale. The sky darkened, night closing in, and candles lit the courtyard, making the golden leaves sparkle and the ruby red grass look like a pool of old blood.
Dragons and fairies circled the outskirts of the chairs holding regally garbed nobles and soldiers. Flowers dripped and blanketed the courtyard in their rich and magical scents.
All in all, it should have made her happy.
Emily still wasn’t happy. Kayden and she had not seen or spoken to each other all day. Rather, a herd of messengers brought word back from him, to where she stayed closeted in his rooms.
His back was turned to her, as he spoke to the man who would perform the ceremony, so he couldn’t even see her entrance. She sighed and stepped forward. And then he turned.
His hair, dark and rich, hung around his handsome face. His eyes almost glowed silver in the candlelight. He wore a kilt and a creamy white shirt, hiding his chest and tattoos from her view, but making him look more like the prince from a story book.
None of that mattered so much as the sheer exhaustion carved deep lines in his face, the ragged emotions he looked to be holding in check or the tension in his fists, clenched at his sides. In a blink, he replaced the mask, becoming her carefree Peter Pan of a prince again, his face matching the regal elegance of the clothes. As if he wiped the actual emotion away, replacing it with a candor he didn’t feel. His eyes changed, too, becoming blue and losing their glow.
Her tentative steps strengthened. Whatever he wasn’t telling her weighed on him, hurting him, and she sensed he tried to protect her, not shut her out.
That would have to stop, but for now…she could be his rock even if he didn’t mean for her to be.
Emily moved to his side, grasped his hand, and met his gaze with her own. “Kayden.”
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