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fifty-two

“ W e don’t have much time,” Isla said, already dressed for the festival in an evergreen gown that shimmered as she flitted around me. She pulled a set of keys from her cleavage, fumbling with them, then testing them on my cuffs.

“You-you retrieved the key… I didn’t have high hopes of you helping me,” I breathed.

“All of his keys, actually,” she chirped smugly.

“I’m here, aren’t I? I want the crown and I believe what your maid told me—that he plans to propose to you.

I’ve never trusted him, and lately he’s been even more erratic.

I need you out of the picture. If he doesn’t propose to me, my father will assume it’s my fault.

” She scowled, then met my gaze. “Will you leave us for good?” she asked, pausing her progress on the lock.

“Yes,” I promised. “I’ll leave as soon as these shackles are off my wrist. I never want to see Galen again. Please, be quick. He’s due to come any moment.” I heard the click of a cuff and then one wrist was free.

“Obviously, I know that. He’d be here already if it wasn’t for me.

It wasn’t easy to retrieve these,” she said, holding up the keys.

“First, I had to get him drunk, which wasn’t difficult.

Then I had to lay with him until he was so thoroughly exhausted that he passed out. His valet will wake him soon, though.”

The second shackle dropped and I felt magic surge through me. My back tingled and itched as flayed, charred skin began to heal itself. “Thank you, Isla. I owe you my life.” She’d already turned around.

“Don’t forget it,” she said, looking back with a grin before rushing out .

My legs wobbled as I walked to the door and peered out the hallway. Only a few dim sconces lit the way. I turned towards the staircase, but the steady thud of a phantom heart beat drew me back. The heavy drumming shook my bones as it pulled me in.

Dark magic, seductive and sweet, called to me as I moved towards the Elder's evil creation.

I approached it cautiously, studying the mechanics.

An encased, blackened heart sat suspended in the air, pumping on its own.

Blood funneled from a network of arteries into a large vat in steady, gushing bursts. I hissed at it with disgust.

Its magic brushed against me in soft, soothing strokes, but it had no power over me. I’d already been to hell and back, and I’d learned a thing or two. The best way to defeat darkness was to let in the light.

With no time to waste, I shifted into a unicorn and sent wave after crashing wave at the heart.

The dark magic curled and writhed as it flooded out of the pulsing organ.

It tried to escape, but there was nowhere to hide as starlight lit up the room and disintegrated every evil thing in its path.

Glass shattered, blood boiled, and the heart splintered, until the only thing left was a pile of white sand. Then I ran for my life.

It took all my willpower to not stay in my pneuma form.

I knew I couldn’t be seen, but the impulse to protect myself was difficult to ignore.

I let out a steady breath before shifting back into my fragile human body, feeling instantly vulnerable.

I raced up the stairs, two at a time, until I arrived at a door.

I cracked it slowly and then stepped through.

Fresh air engulfed me and I sucked it down with gratitude. The position of the sun told me it was late afternoon and guests would be arriving soon. I backed up against the castle’s white stone walls, trying to camouflage myself as I reigned in my frantic desire to run .

I began to slowly scoot along the building until I came to a corner and cautiously peered around it. Before I could so much as yelp, someone grabbed me from behind… and everything went dark.