you hoped?”
“It was more.”
“Then why am I in here talking to you instead of Phillip?”
“Because we’re taking our time. Because all this is a lot to process. How is it so easy for you?”
Zeva shrugged. “I don’t know, but Petunia said she had something she wanted to talk to me about.”
“How long can you stay?”
“Just a few days, then I have to get back to the kids. I was worried about you, Zuri. You scared ten years off my life.”
“No, it was the twin thing that scared you. I did nothing.”
“Fine, I suppose you’re right, there. But it felt like you were deathbed sick.”
“Phillip did tell me if I didn’t take the cure, I’d turn into a frog, so . . .”
“We can’t take you anywhere, can we?”
“Nope, guess not.” Zuri ate a cookie.
“I love it here, Zuri. I love everything about this place. I met a . . . a person in the hallway. I got lost going to my room, and he’s the most amazing . . .”
“Tell me,” Zuri prompted.
“He’s kind, generous, and strangely handsome.”
“How strange? There are levels here, and I need to know.”
Zeva laughed. “He’s level ten. He’s a cursed prince. Or he was, much like Phillip. His name is Hunter.”
“Phillip told me about him.”
“I think we’re going to be friends.”
“Oh yeah?” Zuri nudged her sister.
Zeva took a bite of one of the cookies. “Yeah. Just friends. He’s got it bad for Gorgeous McEvil.”
“Ravenna?”
“Yeah, that one.” Zeva sighed. “Too bad for me, huh?”
“Maybe not. You never know.”
“Well, I won’t go into a new friendship wishing for him not to get what he wants so I can have a chance at what I want.”
“You’re a good egg, Zeva.”
“I know. So are you.”
They curled up together in the bed, and the lights dimmed of their own accord and little glow-in-the-dark stars appeared on the velvet canopy of the bed. It was so much like when they were children.
“See? Magic is real. You just have to be willing to see.”
“Do you think zebras can change their stripes, Zeva?”
“I think that men aren’t zebras. People evolve and change, but you must always take them for who they are in any given moment.”
“Complicated.”
“Yes and no.”
They turned to look at each other and laughed.
“That’s how I feel about Phillip. Yes and no.”
“So you just need to figure out if it’s more yes or more no.” Zeva pulled the blanket up over them. “Even then, sometimes more no is still a yes.”
“Not helpful.”
“No, it isn’t, is it?” Zeva laughed.
“I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too. I wish I could stay longer.”
“Be careful what you wish for. I think the castle has a way of anticipating wants and needs. You might find yourself trapped in the dungeon.”
“With a terrible beast?” Zeva giggled.
“That would be the worst. Just the worst.” Zuri sighed overdramatically.
“Whatever would I do?”
They dissolved into laughter.
“I wonder if Hunter has super hearing. Do you think he can hear us giggling?” Zuri asked.
“Maybe. If so, I should probably not tell you all the thoughts I had about his loincloth.”
“He wears a loincloth? Good Lord.”
“He has pillaging thighs.” Zeva bit her lip. “And I quite like his eyebrows. They’re very masterful.”
“Masterful eyebrows? You’re killing me.”
“Fine. Your turn. Tell me something about the cursed prince. Yours, I mean.”
Zuri considered. “Okay. I think kissing him is the closest I can get to heaven without dying.”
“Whoa.”
“I know.”
“This is serious.”
Then they looked at each other and were overtaken by another fit of laughter.
When Zeva stopped to catch her breath, she said, “Told you so.”
“Nobody likes a know-it-all.”
“You’re stuck with me, wombmate.”
Zuri found that the normalcy of these moments with Zeva was exactly what she needed.
Chapter 14
It had been a few days since he’d told Zuri about magic.
Since they’d made their own magic with the kiss they’d shared.
A kiss.
That didn’t begin to describe what had happened between them. How could something so extraordinary be described with only two words? It couldn’t.
He’d thrown himself into helping with Anna and Jordan’s wedding, and he’d gotten to spend a lot more time with Zuri. Especially now that he didn’t have to hide anything about himself. They spent their evenings working until a late dinner, and then they talked over wine for hours, until neither of them could keep their eyes open.
He watched her across the Once Upon a Time Ballroom as the castle assisted her in hanging the soft, tiny flower bud lights Anna had wanted for the reception.
Zuri shook her head and directed the castle to move the latest string. She laughed