He was gone. Taken. By them.
She breathed heavily. The burn of tears threatened, but she couldn’t cry; not yet. The dagger pulsed in her hand like it felt her distress, like it didn’t want her to be alone with it. Her heart had been nothing but in pain for the last few hours, but this, this was unbearable. She picked up the strip of his shirt, clenching it in her fist. Her feelings were too erratic. She could not tame them.
The thought of him trapped, in the dark, reliving his most traumatic past moments… No, she would fix this; she had to. If they hurt him, the man who she was almost certain possessed part of her soul, she would destroy them.
The dagger pulsed in her hand once more, and she gripped it, becoming a mask of calm, as she turned toward Otto’s dead body.
She smiled.
She returned to the manor quickly, in case the knight who’d saved her had a change of heart, but she felt sick as she walked through the manor gates without Trystan. After alerting the guards of what had occurred with a composure she was proud of herself for, she made her way up the stairs.
Evie immediately peeked in on Lyssa, who was asleep on Tatianna’s extra bed, Blade’s knit dragon held in her tiny hands. Evie gave a watery smile and then went to the hallway, and as soon as the door shut, she cried. She cried and cried until she was hiccupping, until she sank down slowly to the ground, until her face was sticky and puffy from the tears and she was burying her face in her knees.
Her sobs faded slowly, and when Evie finally looked up, only anger remained.
A little while later, Evie found herself in the entryway corridor. She’d bathed and changed, and with it came a renewed sense of purpose as she watched Marvin following her orders. Catching her reflection in the mirror hanging across the way, her eyes stopped on the red of her lips, from her mother’s rouge, then passed to her hair, unbound. She pushed it behind her ears as her loose pants swished against the stone floor.
“Lift it higher, Marv,” Evie instructed as she let a wicked smile settle on her lips. Becky appeared like an apparition beside her, looking forlorn and lost.
“He’s really gone?” She removed her glasses as she spoke, wiping the lenses against the thick fabric of her skirts.
Evie felt a strange kinship with her for just a moment. She gave Becky a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “We’ll get him back. I’ll make sure of it—whatever it takes.” And despite all that had transpired between them, all the insults and jabs and mistrust, Becky looked at Evie with something that veered precariously close to respect.
“What did you have in mind?”
Evie stared down at the gold markings circling her smallest finger. “Well, first—” She paused, smiling to herself. “I’m going to need you to kill me.”
Becky’s lips pulled up into a wry grin as she began speculating. “I thought you’d never ask.”
“All done, Ms. Sage!” Marvin called, and Evie looked to the opulent ceiling and what had just been added. Her heart pounded in satisfaction at Becky’s quiet gasp behind her. Otto Warsen’s head dangled there, eyes frozen forever in an expression of fear and surprise.
Stepping back, leaving him behind, Evie made her way to the stairs down to the dungeon. Quietly vowing to herself that she would save The Villain…
Or become one trying.
The End.
Well…for now.
Acknowledgments
As much as I love words, it is difficult to express them here, with so much emotion weighing them. I am so incredibly thrilled that I finally get to share this story with the rest of the world. From the time I was small, I loved fairy tales, storytelling, and the simple magic in laughing so hard a snort comes out your nose. I dreamed of this moment so many times, but I truly didn’t do any of this alone.
Brent Taylor, my incredible agent, was the first person to believe in me and this story. I cannot thank him enough for all his patience, support, and kindness as he guided me through publishing my first novel. Liz Pelletier, who edited this book and made it the very best version of itself, all the while talking me through every moment of doubt and making me a better writer. Thank you so much to Lydia, Hannah, Stacy, Rae, Jessica, Heather, and everyone at Entangled who worked tirelessly on the story with me and made it absolutely shine.
Thank you so much to Elizabeth Turner Stokes for creating the incredible cover of the book and capturing the story so perfectly, as if you plucked it from my mind. But mostly, thank you for Kingsley—he’d be nothing without you! And thank you to Toni for formatting it so beautifully. Big thanks to my team at Kaye Publicity and Meredith for getting this book and me in front of so many readers.