Twice Upon A Time (Unfinished Fairy Tales #2)(97)

“What if I say it is?” I don’t sound like myself. My voice is cracking.

“What are you talking about?” Edward hooks his arms under my body and sweeps me up from the floor. “I brought some food with me. I thought you would need it after fainting away at court. It must have been an awful trial for you. Also, we really must cure your tendency to faint. Come and work in the garden with me. Your constitution needs to be strengthened.”

He sets me on the edge of his bed. The aroma of hot, savory chicken soup reaches my nostrils. Edward presses a spoon into my hand. “Get some nourishment inside your body,” he urges. “Then lie down, and you’ll feel better. Don’t think about the trial. We can discuss it tomorrow morning.”

I don’t feel like eating anything, but if I am to break the news to him, I might as well get more strength. I do my best to choke down some of the soup, wondering how I am going to explain my eventual doom.

“That’s enough. I’m better now.” I put the spoon back on the tray. I really don’t want to disclose the inevitable, but what’s the use of putting it off? As princess, I can’t stay silent and disappear three days later. I must tell Edward the truth, and discuss whatever necessary arrangements that have to be made. “Edward, I need to talk to you.”

Puzzled, he takes my hands and kisses my forehead. “What are you worried about? Honestly, even if Bianca convinces and proves to everyone that you are not her sister, I am willing to face it. I will file for divorce, no matter what it does to my reputation, and I will marry you again. Everything will be properly done, so no one can question the legality of our marriage. I’ll abdicate if necessary. I’ll . . .”

I put a finger on his lips. “Edward,” I say in a small voice. “Krev finally showed up.”

He goes still. His hands fall on my waist, holding me in place, as though I might suddenly levitate and disappear. “He came to take you back and you refused him?”

“Yes, but it’s much worse than that.” In a broken voice, my shoulders shaking, I tell him what Krev had told me. I struggle to stay calm, but in the end I can’t help it any longer. I start crying again, and I fling my arms around him, sobbing into his chest.

Edward seems to have turned into a marble statue. When I finish, he pushes back slightly and looks into my face. “Nonsense,” he says flatly.

“I want to believe it’s nonsense too. But what has Krev to gain from lying to me?” I tug down the sleeve of my petticoat, baring my shoulder. The mark is pink, and unless my eyes are deceiving me, it’s a shade lighter now. “This is the reason I was able to stay alive. This is the reason I keep getting dizzy whenever there is a crowd or when I’m out of breath. It’s because I’m not from your world and I cannot survive.”

His fingers press into my skin as he grips my waist so hard that I’m sure he leaves marks on my skin. Not that it matters now. “There must be a way out of this,” he says fiercely. “You simply cannot leave me again.”

“The only way for me to stay is for me to become an Athelian,” I say. “And that’s not going to happen unless the goblin can make me enter another person’s body. But I can’t, Edward. You know it’s impossible. Even if the goblins can do it, I can’t take another person’s body.”

“Summon the goblin,” he suddenly says. “We’ll talk to him—discuss with him—anything. We’ve got to figure out an alternative to save you.”

“In three days? Then perhaps we can start digging my grave, because if I don’t leave with Krev, then I will die in Athelia.”

“No.” He crushes me to him. “I thought that when the other girl showed up, I had prepared myself for anything, but this…this is beyond what I could imagine.”

“The trial doesn’t mean anything anymore,” I whisper. “It’s pointless, even if I prove that I am Katriona Bradshaw, because I’m going to die.”

His embrace is so tight that my vision goes black again. A moment later, water splashes onto my face and I open my eyes. If we need any proof of my eventual demise, then perhaps this is it. If I can faint just because he was holding me too tightly, then what Krev says is likely true.

Edward brushes the hair from my face, using a handkerchief to dab away the wetness from my face. I’m pained to see the redness in his eyes—he must have been crying as well. “I’m sorry, Kat.”

It’s the goblins who should apologize. After everything that we have been through, we still can’t be together. But what’s the use of blaming them? If it weren’t for Barthelius’s spell, I would have never met Edward twice. Would I prefer it that way—living a normal life and settling down with Jason, and never knowing Athelia existed?

No. Never.

Three days. I’ve got to make the remaining three days the longest ever. Fortunately, we have had the experience of preparing for a permanent farewell.





45





It takes a tremendous amount of effort not to break down and weep as I stack the letters in neat piles on my writing desk. Usually I face my daily letter-writing with the mindset of a cubicle worker—it’s a job that has to be done, whether I like it or not. However, today it’s with a heavy heart that I survey my desk. I don’t plan on composing any letter today—save for the one I’m going to write for Edward. It’s one of the last things I can do — pour all the love I have toward my husband on paper.