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“No,” I gritted out.

She tried to bury an ax in my chest.

“Is that even real?” I asked.

“Of course it is,” said the prince, who paused to think. “Perhaps she is not attracted to you.”

“Sheisattracted to me,” I snapped. I knew it. I could feel it in the air between us. The problem was that she also hated me.

The prince did not look so certain. I reached forward, wrapping my hands around the bars of his cell, and his eyes grew wide at the length of my claws.

“I asked you to tell me how to make her fall in love with me,” I said. “Is your beloved princess not in love with you?”

“Of course she is,” he said, as defensive as I felt.

“Then what made her love you?”

He thought for a moment and then said, “Have you told her she is beautiful?”

I blinked, slow.

“No.”

“Well, is she beautiful?”

“Yes,” I hissed.

She was more than beautiful, more beautiful than I cared to admit.

I thought of how she had looked at me upon her arrival, the shock that had come across her face, the fierceness that had taken over when she decided to fight me.

“Then you should tell her. All women want to hear they are beautiful.”

I tried to imagine my creature melting into my arms at the sound of those words, but my mind only conjured an angry snarl.

“You are certain that will work?” I asked.

“If she does not fall in love with you immediately, it shall be a start.”

My heart felt split in two. There was a side of it that rose with hope at the thought of having her love, and there was a side of it that felt completely ridiculous and would rather forget my name.

“If you are wrong,” I warned, leaning closer so the prince could see my face between the bars of the cell. He paled and pressed against the stone wall, not as aloof as he appeared. “I shall cut the curls from your golden head.”

With that, I left the prison to summon my creature.

Chapter Seven

The Fairy Ring

Once I returned to my room, I stripped off my wet clothes and opened the wardrobe only to have the door slam closed. I tried it again, and this time it wouldn’t budge, as if it had been locked.

“Open this door!” I said as I pulled on the handle. “I need clothes!”

The door flew open, and I fell onto my back. A piece of cloth landed on my head. The door shut again, and I pulled the fabric off to find they had thrown a thin, sheer robe.

“This can hardly be considered clothes!” I yelled and shifted onto my knees, banging on the wardrobe, but there was no response from the creatures in the closet. I growled as I stood and slipped on the robe, laughing at its ridiculous coverage.

I crossed to the window and looked out, though the glass was mostly obscured by curling vines and golden-green trees. I could just make out the glistening peaks of the Glass Mountains, their jagged edges sitting on the horizon like ominous waves.