Lucky Charm (Reverse Fairytales Book 2)(24)

“I don’t see what I did.”

“You changed everything. For the first time ever, a non-Magi was willing to listen to me. Not only did you listen, you were in a position of power. The first night you came to the kitchen, I realized what an asset to the cause you could be.”

“I was an asset to you?”

“I told the Freedom of Magic that things had changed. We made a new plan. I’ve already told you that Daniel was coming to the ball.”

“I was an asset?” I repeated, my heart spiraling downwards as he spoke.

“You kept coming down to see me, and my feelings began to change. By the time the ball came around, I didn’t care about what you could do to help the Magi anymore. I didn’t care what your father had done, or how bad it was for people like me. My biggest fear on the night of the ball was that you’d pick someone to marry. Someone that wasn’t me. I fell in love with you, not because you were an asset, I fell in love with you because you were you. Since then, everything else has been secondary. “When you picked Luca and announced your engagement, I knew that I had to leave you alone. I gave up on the Freedom of Magic and moved to Thalia. The king and queen gave me a job straight away.”

I’ve spent the last six months trying to get over you. When I saw you in the royal dining room, I realized it hadn’t worked. I still love you. I’m not sure I know how to turn that off.”

“I don’t know how to either,” I whispered.

He took my hand. Just the slightest touch from him made my pulse race. It always had.

“I have to marry Luca,” I said. “It’s the only way I can think to help the Magi. It wouldn’t be fair to him to break it off either.”

“I know.”

“I’m not sure I want to marry him,” I said, verbalizing for the first time what had long since been at the back of my mind.

“I know that too.”

“I love you.”

“I know,” he replied almost silently.

“Is there anything you don’t know?”

“I don’t know how I’m going to be able to let you go.”

I closed my eyes, letting the tears fall. It was exactly what I wanted to hear and didn’t want to hear at the same time. I felt his lips as he kissed away my tears.

“What now?” I asked, opening my eyes.

“Tomorrow, I take you home. It’s a day away from here. You’ll be safe there. Daniel will look after you, and you’ll have the best security.”

“I go home? What if I stay here with you?”

He looked around him at the cave.

“You have a country to lead and a man who will be worried about you. I know you well enough to know that Silverwood will thrive in your hands. You told me before that marrying Luca will provide stability for the Magi of Silverwood. It’s what I used to dream about.”

“And what do you dream about now?”

“I dream about something I can never have. Come on, it’s late, and you need to sleep.”





Pittser’s Revenge


Jenny woke me from my slumber so early, it was still dark outside. While it was not an official job of hers, it was something she was wont to do every so often when there was something she deemed an emergency.

I’d gotten home late the previous evening. Cynder had left me a couple of streets away from the palace so no one would see us. He took off on the horse, back to Thalia, leaving me to battle through the hundreds of reporters that were waiting at the back gates. I told them nothing, of course. A member of my guards saw me, and with his help, I was escorted through the throng and safely into the palace.

After spending an hour being fussed over by my mother, Jenny, and Elise, and after I’d given them a diluted account of what had happened in the previous two days, I’d finally fallen into bed after having a long hot bath.

“Please don’t tell me you are waking me to help you with the wedding plans. I’ve already told mother I’m too busy, and I don’t want to go over what happened in the last two days again. I already told all of you everything.”

“Get up and get dressed. We have a problem.”

My eyes flicked open immediately. Her tone left me in no doubt that something had happened, something serious. My mind flashed to Cynder, but I’d left him safe and sound.

“What is it? Have the anti-Magi been protesting again?”

I sat up and rubbed my eyes as Jenny roughly pulled out a plain dress and threw it on my bed.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded, although she left me no clue to what exactly I hadn’t told her.

“Tell you what?” I sat up on the bed and pulled the dress towards me. I’d never seen Jenny look so upset.

“I’ve been in your life since the day you were born, and I never thought you’d do something as deplorable as this. There are hundreds of TV crews outside. Leo is out there right now trying to calm the situation, but they want an official statement from you.”

I pulled the dress over my head quickly and jumped out of bed. “What are you talking about? What have I done?”

“It’s in all the papers this morning. That odious creep Frederick Pittser has been broadcasting it all over every channel.”

My heart sank like a stone. If Pittser was involved, it wasn’t going to be good.