Lucky Charm (Reverse Fairytales Book 2)(71)

I thought back through the past couple of months when he’d been absent all day. He’d told me he was recruiting palace guards, and I’d believed him. Instead, he was hatching a murder plot, no doubt inspired by Xavier and my own father. He must have thought it hilarious to wait for our wedding day, echoing the disaster that had happened last year. Perhaps he only chose today to be guaranteed that we would all be at the palace. It occurred to me that he wasn’t just planning to kill my family, but his own too. If Cynder hadn’t rescued me when he did, the palace would be filled with hundreds of people there for the wedding reception. Cynder had saved hundreds of lives, not just those of us here. I felt sick at the thought of it.

“Can you all leave us?” Cynder said to his people. “Our guests need a bed, and I suspect they will be hungry. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, and I’m sure they’ve had enough to deal with already today.”

“A couple of women took Mother, Elise, Leo, and Daniel through a door. The rest of the people left through other doors until it was just Cynder and me in the room.”

“I was going to leave you to live in peace. I’m sorry this has happened to you.” He moved forward and got to his knees in front of me so that we were now almost eye level as I sat on the sofa.

“You saved our lives,” I said. “I don’t know how to begin to thank you.”

He took my hand and sat next to me on the sofa. Our eyes both went to the picture on the screen which showed the charred remains of the palace.

“You can thank me by fighting them. You are the best queen Silverwood has ever had. The Magi need you. Everyone needs you. Please don’t give up.”

I wasn’t about to give up. My fighting spirit was angry. I was going to bring Luca down and turn this around no matter what it took.

“Anything else?” I asked, gripping his hand tightly, knowing that this time I wasn’t going to let go.

“You might want to think about getting a divorce.”

From the depths of my despair, a laugh bubbled to the surface. I would win. With Cynder by my side, I knew that this was just the beginning.





If you enjoyed Lucky Charm - don’t miss the final instalment in the Charm Trilogy...



Charmed

Luca looked every inch the man in despair as I watched him on the TV. His beauty was not diminished at all by the tear tracks down his face. If anything, the sorrow made him all the more beautiful. It was a shame it was all fake. Fake tears, fake sorrow. And yet, I couldn’t turn the TV off. It was one in the morning and I’d watched this particular interview twice already in the past twelve hours. The first two times I’d been surrounded by my family and the members of the Freedom of Magic group as we huddled round the sofa, trying to take in everything that had happened.

The palace was gone. Barely anything survived the catastrophic fire that had torn through it. The cause had finally been confirmed as a number of bombs placed at strategic points throughout the building for maximum impact. So much for extra security! Of course, when the person in charge of the extra security was the one who planted the bombs, there was little anyone could do.

“Come to bed,” I heard Cynder’s voice behind me but I didn’t turn round. It was Two am and I should have been sleeping as the other’s were, but I couldn’t sleep. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to sleep again.

“I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

He slipped in next to me on the sofa.

“No,” he whispered. “I couldn’t sleep either. I’ve brought you a hot milk.”

I took the milk gratefully and gave him a sad smile.

“I should have known.”

Cynder put his arm around me. “You’ve had it so tough this past year. First your father, now your fiancé. There is no way you could have known. Please don’t put the blame on yourself.”

“I was with him every day. Every single day for a year. Only an idiot would not have suspected something.”

Cynder stroked my cheek, causing me to take my eyes from the TV and look at him directly.

“The only idiot I can see is him. He threw away everything and for what?”

“He didn’t throw away everything though did he? He’s quite the hero now. The whole of Silverwood feels sorry for him and he’s been tipped to become the new king. King! Not President, but actual royalty. He’s the happiest person on the planet right now. He’d gotten everything he ever wanted.”

“I wasn’t talking about that. I was talking about you. He lost you. No title, no matter how powerful or glamorous could compare to being by your side. He is the fool here.”

“Hmm,” I made an uncommittal noise. From where I was, the only people that had lost were my family and I. And we had lost. We’d lost it all. Everything we had was burned to cinders. Our clothes, our belongings, our home. That paled into insignificance as I contemplated the loss of life. The majority of our staff were at the wedding when the bombs went off, but of those left behind to get the palace ready for the wedding reception, most had perished. A total of ninety seven people had died yesterday. Ninety seven families who had lost a loved one all thanks to the greed of one man.

“Look at it this way,” said Cynder. “He can’t really become king because you are still alive. As soon as you show your face, he’ll be done for.”