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Three slams a canvas to the wall to grab our attention, and the wooden frame splints into three parts. His chest rises and falls, his fury palpable. “Fuck the rules. Who is she going to tell? For Morpheus’s sake, what are we so afraid of? We’re dying! Little by little. Day by day. I don’t want to go without a fight.”

His gruff, hollow tone riddles me with fear…and hope.

Two’s eyes bulge. “You’re talking!”

Three’s jaw hangs open for a second before he adds, “You two got to have sex. It’s only fair.”

“She won’t love us as we truly are,” I say quietly.

Two rolls his eyes at my pessimism. “Maybe she will. Three’s talking. The curse is weakening.”

“Or we’ll lose the bet and take the kingdom down with us.” I shake my head and twist open the door to Nell’s bedroom.

We all come to an abrupt stop.

“Where is she?” Two asks.

A dark sense of acceptance settles in my chest as I take in the sight of her empty room. I close my eyes and hone in to her magical signature, but it’s faint and fractured. “She’s gone.”

Chapter 38

Take me

The fireplace burns bright, illuminating the bedroom I’ve been sleeping in since I was a child, and the pain in my calf that lured me back to Demeter finally relents.

Esme releases the head of the pin and tucks her socks back in place before she hurries over to me. “By the spindle! Where were you?”

Her hair, braided in two braids instead of one, wraps around her head like a crown. I’d compliment her if it wasn’t for the terrified gleam in her eyes. “Faerie.”

“Of course, Faerie. It didn’t take me long to figure that. Your Father asked for you about twelve times. You were not supposed to leave for another couple of days. I didn’t know what to tell him.” Her hand shoots out to grab the emerald pendant hanging from my neck, and her throat bobs. “The Shadow King gave you that necklace… Why?”

A loud pounding on the door stops us cold. “The king wants to see you now, princess.”

Judging by the last time my father summoned me to his office in the middle of the night, this is going to be far from pleasant. “Just a minute.”

We exchange a quick glance, and Esme wrangles out a dress from the chest at the foot of my bed and starts unfastening the necklace. “You can’t show this to your father. Might as well have come home with a promise ring.”

The guard barrels through the door, and his eyes bulge as he takes in my appearance. “The king said that you should come immediately.”

Esme slips the emerald in the fold of her skirts and glowers at the guard. Tipping her chin up, she slaps the man’s arm, quick as a snake. “She needs a minute to change, you brute! Do you want me to tell the king you dragged his unmarried daughter out of her room in her undergarments?”

The guard shrinks at the reproach. “No, Ma’am.”

I change and hurry downstairs, the flustered guard keeping a respectful distance on my heels.

“You asked for me, Father?”

His gaze darts over to me for the first time in what feels like months. “Where were you?”

I open my mouth to speak, but I’m missing some crucial information.

“You were in Faerie, weren’t you? You sneaked out of your own free will. You’ve shamed yourself, and me,” he adds with a defeated sigh.

I guess it doesn’t matter what I did or didn’t do because he doesn’t control me anymore, and that’s the real problem.

“He corrupted you, just like I knew he would.” He clasps his goddess talisman. “May the Mother forgive her, she was such a lovely, innocent girl,” he mutters to himself before facing me again. “You, young lady, need to reflect on your choices.”

The anger inside me boils over. “My choices? You dare to call them mine when you were the one who sold me out. I never asked for this!”