Page 31

Anxiety ran rampant through me like it was shredding me from the inside.

No, no, no. I didn’t want this yet. I wanted Fletcher.

I was diving into the unknown, in a place where everyone saw him as lesser—as worthless.

This had to have been the feeling Fletcher had experienced on the hill.

Terrified panic that something drastic would change between us before I was certain about my feelings for him.

Suddenly, it was me trying to grasp at a title for us, to anchor me for when I’d inevitably cross that barrier into a sea of strangers who all knew me and hated Fletcher.

His brows turned up, cinnamon eyes widening as if he just sensed my alarm. It’ll be okay, he comforted in a hesitant tone that echoed in my head unconvincingly.

My eyes darted to the guard who had come to a slow stand as he took his hat off, eyes locked on me. “Right away.” He disappeared and reappeared directly across from us, still inside the barrier.

He held his hand out to me. “Come, Princess.”

I looked to Fletcher who was wearing a sad smile and gesturing an open hand toward the guard. “Go on.”

I lifted my arm and let my fingers drift through the barrier.

It had a wet texture to it, cool to the touch and slippery.

Yet, my fingers on the other side were dry as a bone.

I retracted my hand, looked at the guard and his neon feather, and said, “Tell the king and queen if they would like to meet with me, they can do so here.”

The guard’s line of vision darted back and forth between us, eyes harshening on Fletcher before he turned and sprinted for the castle, teleporting midstride.

I gave Fletcher a tired look. “I’m not ready.”

He crossed his arms and smirked .

The king and queen materialized on the other side of the wall.

The queen had the same square-shaped face and crystal gray eyes as me, while I had the plump lips and eye shape from the king.

Both were dressed far more relaxed than I had imagined.

The king was in a pewter night gown that brushed the fine blades of evergreen grass beneath his slippers.

The queen was dressed in a slim, tight t-shirt with matching sweatpants.

I thought I was going to have more of a positive reaction to seeing them, but instead, a tentacle of foreboding seemed to unfurl inside me, darkening the edges of my mind.

They were perfect strangers—enemies, trying to take Fletcher from me.

They pressed their hands against the barrier with tears in their eyes. “Is it true? Ripley?” the queen asked, nodding her head and shaking free some dirty blonde strands from her long, messy ponytail.

“Hello,” I said, wishing that Fletcher was beside me for strength. Stars rippled across my skin, and he stepped beside me. But, I noticed the hesitation that faltered his fluid movements, as if the king and queen’s presence had broken something inside him.

When I reached out for him, their eyes turned to Fletcher, brows pulling down and hands pushing themselves off the barrier.

Their once open and eager stances morphed in an instant at the sight of him next to me.

The king shifted to hold his wife’s hand, but she drew away from him, crossing her arms and eyes training on Fletcher.

“Darkly,” the queen growled.

A snide smile brushed over his face. “I found her.”

There was a long beat of silence that passed through the four of us.

Aged tension filled the space between our bodies, and all I wanted was to be in control of the situation.

This was my choice to be here. And I was here for a reason.

“I would like your help to give him his magic back,” I said with an open palm.

The queen looked to my hand then back at Fletcher. “She deserves to keep your magic after what you did to her,” a hateful grit textured her words.

I furrowed my brows. They didn’t know what had happened to me in the cages, so what had they been referring to? I gave him a curious side-eye. “What’d he do?”

He rolled his eyes and raked his wavy hair up and to the side with his fingers. “May I?” he huffed then turned to me, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

I narrowed my eyes at him, waiting .

“When I came into your room during the ritual, I was outraged. I yelled at you for scaring me ’cause I thought you were in actual trouble. You didn’t like it, so that’s when you took my magic from me—”

“Not that part,” the queen barked.

His glare turned to the king and queen’s stern faces before his jaw went rigid. “You had a habit of coming to see me outside the kingdom that I didn’t care to break. And while you were visiting me after the ritual was over, I was distracted and… you got kidnapped.”

The queen slammed her fist against the barrier, and a sloshing sound flowed outward as she shouted, “He’s the reason you spent your entire life away from your family, Ripley!”

Before I had time to even process what Fletcher had said, he snarled back, “But, I have dedicated my entire life to finding her. And I have.”

The queen’s fists balled as her shoulders rose. “Seventeen years later! And you still think you are good enough to protect the princess of Elizy?” She let loose an exasperated yelp. “My daughter does not belong with you!”

Fletcher flinched and so did I. And the king.

Fletcher stepped forward with the most subtle outstretch of his hand in front of me as if he wanted to shield me from the yelling, from the way they viewed him. “I did everything in my power to return her home and correct what I have done.”

“By joining the Cidris, damning more of our people.” She bared her teeth and dropped her voice a level. “The wreckage you’ve left in your wake is unforgivable.”

Fletcher clenched his fists.

Seeing him under such stress carried to me, tightening my chest.

“I had to! What if someone else had found her? Huh? Who was going to be inside the operation for you ,” he pointed at them, “keeping an eye out for her? They find Elizians. It’s what they do. I needed their resources.”

It was then that I had decided. Seeing him break was too much for me to bear, and I couldn’t handle it any longer. My body wanted Fletcher. And now, I was sure that my mind did too.

I moved forward and threw myself in front of him, stepping back as a signal for him to calm.

“Enough!” His hands came to my shoulders, trying to move me aside, but I stayed still and stepped closer to him.

“Fletcher has protected me in ways that I still do not understand. He was the one who worked tirelessly to find me and put his life on the line in the ?lden Lands.” I slowed my cadence and enunciated, “Not you.”

While the king took a decisive step backward, the queen did the opposite. “We aren’t allowed to leave the barrier to come looking for you, Ripley!” She pounded her fist against it, sending another washing noise into the air.

“You can, you just won’t,” I corrected. “As far as I’m concerned, Fletcher was the only one who came for me during the ritual. I’ve chosen him. And I trust only him.”

With my confession, I could feel Fletcher’s aura surround me with love and affection and pride. My heart gave one profound beat that sent up the dust of love for him that I had stored away.

The queen’s eyes widened in surprise, but her voice grew low and calm. “Ripley, your other three suitors have been waiting for you since the day of the ritual. You do not need to go with whom your magic calls to. I guarantee these men are far more worthy than this low-life, orphaned scum .”

I had heard those words before. Fletcher had said them about himself in the hills two months ago. But orphaned. He was orphaned? How had I not known that? “Fletcher is worthy. He’s the only one who knew the difference between me and a fucking hologram—”

Fletcher’s hands released my shoulders, and I turned to see him loosening his rigid stance as he let his head fall back before rolling his shoulders.

“Don’t try to change their minds, Ripley.

I’ve tried my whole life. Apparently, what we do at the age of nine can never be forgiven.

” His hand curled around my forearm. “Not reaching your hologram in time was the biggest mistake of my life.”

“Even if you had, Fletcher Darkly, how you came to be would have disqualified you anyway.”

Fletcher’s hand untangled from me as I watched him turn his back and stalk off into the forest.

I pivoted toward the king and queen. “How could you?”

Without Fletcher’s presence, the queen’s entire demeanor shifted. Her brows pulled up and her hands finally relaxed. “Please, Ripley, come with us. Leave him behind. We beg you. That man is no good. He has no moral compass.”

“I will not return without him. So give him his magic back so that we can both rejoin our rightful kingdom. ”

Her thin lips pressed together. “He is not welcome here. He is a menace to our kingdom.”

“Then it looks like I am low-life, orphan scum as well.”

I turned and followed Fletcher’s footprints in the soft soil. I heard my parents calling my name, but I ignored them as I continued to the man I now admitted to trusting whole-heartedly.

He hadn’t gone far. Just beyond the tree line was a small lake where the still surface reflected the evening sun.

The silhouette of Fletcher bending to the ground, picking up a rock, and skipping it across the water stole my attention.

Where the rock disturbed the liquid glass, ripples expanded with patter in the crisp air.

A horde of luminous fish swarmed toward the spot where the rock sank, fighting over it.

The places where the wet scales touched the air, a gilded flurry of sparkling wisps glittered upward for several seconds before winking out.

I cautiously walked up behind him.

Without so much as a courteous glance, he said, “Why are you here? Your suitors are waiting.”

That bite in his tone was new. I had seen Fletcher be angry before, but not at me. “You don’t have to treat me like that. I’m here with you, aren’t I? ”

As I sidled up to him, he bent, grabbed another rock, and threw it into the water. “You’re making a mistake.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, watching the splash in the distance and the fish bubbling at the surface. The sparkles shedding from the fish reflected off the surface like a splash of pure gold.

“You are not a mistake,” I corrected.

“I am.” He crouched, searched for another rock, grabbed one, and stood. “You just don’t know it yet.”

“Then enlighten me.”

He squeezed the rock in his hand. “I am nobody, Ripley. I was left to die by my parents after a year. My magic was the only thing that kept me alive. Magic and stealing supplies and food from Elizy. I’m a thief.

I come from nothing. I am nothing. And I certainly have nothing to offer you and your family like I’m sure those other men do.

Fuck, I can’t even do a decent job at protecting you! ”

I took a hard gulp, feeling his rage building in my own chest. In a quiet whisper that I hoped would soothe his unease, I dropped my arms to my sides and echoed, “You’re nothing…”

His face hardened. “Exactly. ”

I gently placed a hand on his shoulder and rounded him so that we faced each other. “To them.” I cupped his face in one hand. “But, Fletcher,” I gave a tearful smile, “you are everything to me.”

His deep eyes latched onto mine, tears building between his lids.

“Is that what you were too embarrassed to tell me?”

He sniffed and wiped the tears from his vision.

“Ripley, Elizians love their children fiercely. It’s unheard of for a parent, let alone two, to up and abandon a child.

That means there has to be something gravely wrong with me where they thought it was best that I die .

Most Elizians are afraid of me, they don’t want me around, and they certainly don’t want their princess associated with me.

And it didn’t help when I had to steal from people to survive.

I was—I am Elizy’s tumor they can’t get rid of. ”

My eyes darted between both of his rapidly, trying to gather some string of words that could put an end to his ongoing heartbreak. “What are you talking about? My parents didn’t even bother to come looking for me. How is that fierce love on their part?”

“They couldn’t risk getting their blood stolen from the Cidris. ”

I shook my head. “Excuses. It is not only Elizian parents who love fiercely. You are the only one who’s shown me fierce love, and kindness, and acceptance.

And everything else.” I huffed and dragged him against me.

None of this mattered right now. “Fletcher. I do not care what they say to me. I love you. I trust you. I forgive you, and I will return to you. I promise.”

His eyes softened, staring at me like he wanted to fall to his knees.

And then he did. Wrapping his arms around my midsection, ear pressed to my chest. I curled one arm around his head and the other drifted down his back.

“I die every day I’m not with you. But, I’d rather die knowing you’re safe behind those Elizy barriers, Ripley.

Even if that means standing by for another man. You are not mine to love.”

The statement stilled me. Actually, it killed me.

“I choose you. I will not stay there without you. You are my home. Deep down in my soul, I know the only thing I’ve missed for seventeen years was you, Fletcher.

Even if I wasn’t aware. I did not miss my kingdom.

I did not miss my parents. I did not miss my other suitors. ”

“You don’t know how much those words mean to me. ”

“I want to give you your magic back. And I want to burn the Cidris Facility down. And then, I want to marry you and live with you in Ellion City.”

He took the hand I had on his cheek and kissed my palm where his magic liked to appear.

“That sounds like a dream, but there’s something else you should know.

” Pain streaked through his eyes and tensed his face.

“I did not want you to feel pressure, but now that they know you are alive, they will do anything and everything to keep you inside Elizy. It’s the biggest reason I am terrified to let you go to them. ”

“What is it?”

He let out a sad sigh. “Every day you are not married, more Elizians get enchanted and thrown to the wolves of the Cidris. Elizy is off balance without you and the promise of continuing the royal bloodline. With your return and your hand in marriage, it puts an end to the enchantments. You have to marry soon. And I am not an option.”