folded her arms and blocked Kelly's path inside.
Challenge me to a duel, you bitch, Kelly thought. I’m really in the mood right now.
“Where’s your boyfriend?” Kalliope finally sneered. “Stuck on your porch as usual?”
“Actually, I cured him.”
Kelly gave her a terse smirk, hoping that she looked as powerful as she'd felt that night when she commanded great forces far beyond her usual reach. Kalliope didn’t even have the decency to look curious.
“So why isn’t he here, following you around like a sad puppy?”
When Kelly didn't answer, understanding dawned on the other woman's face, followed by triumph. Kelly was ready for whatever verbal diarrhea Kalliope was about to unleash on her. She'd already lost her heart. Nothing could hurt her now.
“I knew it!” Kalliope shrieked in triumph. “He went back, didn’t he? He was just using you the whole time!”
Kelly took a dangerous step toward her, narrowing the gap between them.
“What the fuck are you talking about, you crazy bitch?”
Kalliope guffawed loudly for a moment before taking great pleasure in explaining. “Ronun told me that whenever you were around, he felt like the curse was weaker. I told him to get close to you, just to see how much you affected it. I never thought he would take it so far… I mean, sleeping with you, getting you to fall in love with him?” She shook her head in mock pity. “Not cool.”
She couldn't hold a straight face though and quickly broke into the ugliest giggles Kelly had ever heard. They punctuated that same sense of timelessness, breaking into her grief as this fresh bit of news hit her hard.
Ronun had never mentioned that she eased the curse. Of course he hadn't. He wouldn't have dared let on or else she might think—quite rightly—that he was only using her for a chance at a normal existence.
Rage and loss tore at her gut as she fought a losing battle for control over both. She wanted to clap back with something really smart and cutting, but Kalliope was already walking off, cackling like a maniac. Besides, words held no meaning for Kelly anymore.
Her vision blurred as she tried to contain the flood of tears streaming down her face. If she became lost in the torrent of grief and anger again, she would go back to her bedroom, and this time she would never come out.
It was a shocking realization for someone who'd never felt more than a little melancholic when a new boy toy didn't work out. Yes, she'd loved Ronun with all she had to give, and yes, he’d thrown her heart in the dirt and stomped all over it. But she felt it beating inside her chest, and as long as she was alive, she was going to live, dammit!
Turning away from Kiki's shop, she took a slow, determined step toward Owyn's office. Then another and another. She continued putting one foot in front of the other until she hit her normal stride, and then she began to breathe again. Great gulping breaths that burned her lungs, perfectly complementing the rage building inside her like a blazing inferno. She was on fire with it.
Fuck that guy!
Her cheeks burned with shame and betrayal. Her heart crumbled like ash, never to be whole again. In a blinding flash of clarity, she understood the kind of offense it took for a witch to cast such a powerful curse. Obviously, Ronun took after his ancestor, slimy and deceitful and—
Kelly rounded the corner to the Judiciary's main grounds and stumbled to a stop. No one had mentioned anything about a carnival setting up on the Othercross lawns. It seemed like an odd choice of locations, but the more she studied the scene before her, the odder it became.
Arranged around the outer edges of the huge square, dragons stood at attention. They were proudly set, with chests puffed out and wings held high. Within the circle stood hundreds of unicorns, their pale coats glittering with majesty. There were trolls, dwarves, and goblins, all standing in perfect ranks.
And gargoyles were everywhere. Perched all over the main building, in the trees, on statues. Every inch of the grounds was black—really, a rocky grey—with them. Any spot where a gargoyle could sit was occupied by a grotesque, snarling monster.
In unison, as if on some silent cue she couldn't hear, every single eye—thousands of them!—turned to Kelly and her heart nearly stopped. From the mass of bodies directly in front of her stepped a man dressed in gilded finery that reflected