moment, I stared at the door waiting…for what, I wasn’t sure. But then Olli licked my cheek and I giggled. Together, with him in my arms, we hurried over to the fireplace where a white linen dress was neatly folded with a pair of familiar brown boots beside it. I didn’t technically need it. As soon as my magic rested a bit I could change my clothes magically…but I wanted this.
These were a piece of me. The real me. The me I used to be. They were mine.
I smiled and sat Olli on the floor and then quickly changed out of the purple gown Prince Thorne forced me to wear and into the white linen dress my mother left. It was soft and warm, and entirely familiar. Once changed, I tossed the purple dress into the fireplace – eventually someone would light it and the dress would go up in flames.
“Come on, O,” I said and snapped my fingers as I headed back to the kitchen.
I sat down on the bench and held my arms open. Olli leapt right into the cradle of my arms. Riah still hadn’t shown and I was trying not to panic about that. He’d said he was coming to meet me, to tell me the truth…I just needed to be patient.
Light flashed under my feet. I gasped and looked over Olli’s body and my eyes widened. Rainbow magic spread over the ground directly under me. Oh shit, Tegan! I gripped Olli to my chest just as the floor vanished and we fell.
The front door flew open and Riah leapt inside. His gold eyes widened on me.
“RIAH!”
But it was too late, I dropped beneath the floor. Cold air rushed up, sweeping over my body. The green vines of the tunnel flashed by my face. I looked down and found a hole in the tunnel floor beneath me. Rainbow mist swirled inside of it. I braced myself, holding Olli tight—
And slammed into solid ground. I grunted and cursed. The floor beneath me was dark with a rainbow glistening over it…yet I didn’t fall through.
Ice-cold energy hit my face. I looked up and my heart stopped.
Prince Thorne stood there waiting for me.
Chapter Sixteen
Saffie
Prince Thorne stood there waiting for me like he’d been expecting me, like he’d summoned me. The rainbow mist coiling around my legs told me it wasn’t him but Tegan, except that didn’t really comfort me…because he was still there. My pulse quickened, the beats sounded like drums in my ears. Fear grabbed ahold of me, locking me in place. Goosebumps spread across my body.
There was no one else around. Just him and me. He didn’t seem to have any weapon but I knew that meant absolutely nothing. This was the Seelie Prince. He had magic I couldn’t dream of. And mine was still weak. I was no match for him but I had to do something.
And then Olli threw his head back and howled.
I gasped and flinched.
Prince Thorne’s eyebrows rose and his eyes that looked like pure embers sparkled. His long deep red hair fell in waves past his elbows. Those pointed ears of his stuck out from within the fiery strands. Yet he said nothing. Did nothing.
Move, Saffie. MOVE. I scrambled to my feet, holding a still howling Olli in my arms.
It was probably foolishly futile…but I didn’t know what else to do. I wasn’t going down without a fight. So I turned and ran. I ran as fast as my legs would take me. Olli growled in my ear, his tail wagging. I glanced over my shoulder expecting to see Prince Thorne chasing after me, but he hadn’t moved.
His eyes flashed. He flicked his wrist and the tunnel vanished.
Darkness crashed in all around me and my steps faltered. My breath left me in a rush. There was just enough moonlight to see that I was in a forest of some kind. I stumbled around a tree and spotted a small meadow. Something moved up ahead so I leapt behind a tree trunk and leaned around to sneak a peak — I gasped.
It was me.
Miniature, two-foot-tall me with translucent pink wings and that lavender dress. I froze. Suddenly the forest around me came into focus and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t recognized it sooner. This was my curse home, before the theme park. It hadn’t looked like this in so long.
I hopped to hide behind another tree with a better view just as a woman with midnight hair entered the clearing. She wore a