you five years ago. And yet you placed me in the middle of danger. I’ve been cursed for two years…and now I’m going to die.”
I glanced out the window. It was too late. Gabe was already speaking to the crowd.
“Oh, my dear.” The godmother rose and crossed to place a gentle hand on my head.
Her scent enveloped me, a smell I couldn’t quite place but that filled me with a peace I hadn’t expected. My pulse slowed, and my breathing calmed. Even my aching heart throbbed a little less. I would die calmly, at least.
I looked up at her.
“I can promise you that we are always working for good,” she said. “I placed you in the haven because I knew it was a place where a friendless thirteen-year-old would be safe and sheltered. But there were other such places. I chose that one because the plans I serve are bigger than you can see, and you are not the only person in the kingdoms.”
The weight of her hand disappeared, and I looked up, intending to question her further, only to find myself alone. I looked back down as the whole crowd burst into applause. Their clapping hands looked like an undulating wave from this distance.
I had called on my godmother, and she had come. But it had changed nothing. I was alone, and I would die.
But the calm that she had brought with her had wormed its way down, taking root inside me as it changed into something else—determination. She had been cryptic, in the way godmothers were said to be, but I had understood her.
She had placed me in the haven because five years ago Leander had already killed his own father and was on his way to introducing a great evil to this kingdom. She had placed me here so that I might grow old enough to do something about it. And, so far, I had done nothing but free myself from the lake.
But it was not too late. I was not dead yet, and I was here, in the heart of Leander’s Keep. Earlier, at the lake, he had said the curse would make me sicken and die. And that meant I had time. Even as I weakened, I would keep searching. Audrey had used our search for the remaining object to lure me here, but she had not been wrong. If I could find and destroy it, it would change everything.
As I pushed myself to my feet, I felt the change. I swayed slightly, my knees nearly buckling beneath me. There was no pain, just a bone-deep weariness that begged me to crawl onto the waiting bed and close my eyes for a moment. But I turned my face away. If I lay down, I would not get back up.
Grief tugged at my mind—for my own future, now gone, but also for Gabe and the horror he would feel when he realized the truth. It made my heart break to have to leave him like this. And Audrey. The thought of my friend almost made me double over. Leander had no doubt hoped her betrayal would be a double blow, a death to my spirit as his curse was death to my body.
But now, when the moment came, I knew Cora had been right. Enough years had passed for my friends to earn my trust, and for all Audrey’s impetuosity, only the direst circumstances would have forced her to act in such a manner. I would not allow her mistakes to cloud my eyes to her loyalty and love. Just as none of them had rejected me for the mistake that had sent Audrey straight into Leander’s arms.
And the more I considered it, the clearer it became that she was working with him unwillingly. She had done as Leander commanded in the areas he had named—influencing Gabe and me to be here and now taking my place. But she had not betrayed our various plans to him. He might have worked out our presence at the lake and in his study—but he had not been waiting for us in either place, nor had he prevented our freeing me from the first enchantment.
A fresh wave of grief filled me. How she must have hoped that we would find a way to defeat him before today came. And how much it must have hurt her to be forced into such a position. I hoped I would have the chance to see her before I died, to tell her