Page 26

Chapter

Twenty-One

T here’s nothing more motivating than protecting those you love.

It causes you to do stupid shit like committing a crime.

Rationality and logic fly out of the window, not that I had much of either to begin with.

My feet stomp down the hill, my gaze focused on Charming, who is about to become a eunuch.

Theo and Malachi are a step behind me, a silent force of protection at my back, but they seem to know better than to get in my way.

I fist the back of Charming’s stupidly soft blond hair and snatch his head back before dragging him off my sister. I slap him so hard my palm stings, making him shriek like a girl. What a mellow.

“In what realm do you think it is appropriate to climb on top of a female and force yourself on her?” I snarl. “No matter your station in life, this is a crime.”

“Daphne,” Theo says, trying to get my attention, but I refuse to be swayed from teaching this asshole a lesson. I tried to be nice. We even drugged him and pretended that he had a night of passion with my sister.

“I thought you were dead,” Charming grumbles.

“And I thought you’d grown a brain. Seems we are both disappointed.” I rattle his brain in his stupid head, making my point.

Charming clutches his hair, trying to pull it free from my grasp. “I’m trying to save her,” he cries out.

I jerk his head. “From what? Oxygen? A peaceful life? A worthy suitor? What could you possibly be trying to save my brave, capable, beautiful sister from?”

“Daphne,” Malachi snaps. He never raises his voice. My head swivels to them as they crowd my sister. Theo slides his hands under her arms from the back. What in the Blazes?

My eyes land on my sister’s pale and sweaty face. Her hands clutch her throat as her eyes bulge. Panic sluices through my veins as I drop Charming like a hot potato and fall to my knees in front of her.

“What’s wrong?” I whisper. If she dies, I will single-handedly obliterate the Charming bloodline.

“She has a slice of apple lodged in her throat,” Charming mumbles.

I will pick apart why this happened after I save her.

Theo links his fingers together under her breasts and jerks them toward him. Her body heaves forward, but the apple remains stubbornly in place.

“Grab her head and tilt it up,” Theo demands. “It will make it easier to dislodge the apple.”

Terror swirls in my chest, freezing me in place. Malachi moves to do as Theo instructed and then does it again. No luck.

Tears leak out of her eyes, sliding down her cheeks.

“This is not how our story ends,” I snarl.

I put my hands over Theo’s and shove with him.

The apple slice flies out of her mouth and slaps Malachi in the eye before falling to the ground.

She sucks in a deep breath, and then another.

Theo releases his hands but stays at her back to offer her support as she gulps down oxygen.

I cup her face and smile. My cheeks are damp with tears of fear and relief.

Malachi stands and disappears from our side as I whisper reassurance to my sister. Her gaze floats over my shoulder.

“What did you do? Don’t pretend you didn’t plan this,” Malachi snaps.

“I thought if I could revive her with true love’s kiss, she would fall under my spell and realize we are meant to be,” Charming grumbles.

My head snaps over my shoulder to stare at the idiot. “Before now, I considered you an inconvenient mellow with a stupid belief that you were worthy of my sister.”

Charming swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “She is my chosen.”

“She is your nothing. You upgraded yourself from mellow to dangerous. A threat that needs neutering.”

“You mean neutralizing,” Theo says with a laugh.

“I said what I said, and I mean what I mean.”

Charming shrinks away from me. “It is my birthright to claim my Cinderella.”

He obviously doesn’t value his life or he wouldn’t be pushing me.

“I hate you,” Gwyneth says, her voice both hoarse and strong. “You fed me a poison apple to engineer a true love’s kiss from me. It backfired, and now all I see when I look at you is the face of my death.”

“Gwyneth, give me a chance to explain,” he croaks. “My heart is true.”

“You’d have to have a heart to make that true,” she says.

Her voice gets better by the tempo. She stands on shaky legs, and I rise with her.

Charming is still on his knees, and his big blue eyes plead with her to see reason.

The problem Prince Poopfloof is facing is that my sister only deals in logic and reason.

So if she’s determined you aren’t worth her time, then you can be assured she has considered all the variables and nothing will change that smart brain of hers.

Her foot snaps out and buries itself between his thighs. Malachi winces as a wounded animal-sounding whine erupts from Charming’s throat. He clutches his groin and turns several shades paler.

“Nice work,” I mutter. “Still deserves to be neutered.”

“Later. We have work and research to do.”

I enjoy the way his eyes bulge as she casually puts his castration on her to-do list.

Malachi shakes his head. “You Stone sisters have balls of gold.”

I spy the picnic blanket and bend to take a peek inside the wicker basket. Ooh, frost fruit and sausages. Charming meant business. He might be a mellow poopfloof, but he knows good food.

“Is anything else cursed or spelled?” I demand, because it would be a tragedy to let this food go to waste.

“No,” Charming utters, still clutching his mini Charming.

“Excellent.” I bend to snatch up the picnic basket, and a bee chooses that moment to fly into the basket. “Hey, no, that’s mine. Get your wings off.”

I waft the creature away. It spirals up out of the basket, buzzing louder in my face.

Wait, that’s not a bee. Unless bees have human faces and angry scowls.

Sprite? The tiny thing flies at my face.

I step back, swatting away the angry, persistent creature.

I don’t need a sprite bite. Those suckers always have consequences.

“I’m sorry. Take the basket,” I cry. Funny how I can cut down a dragon and annihilate a prince, yet run from a sprite. It’s irrational, but there’s a happy medium of size for slaying, and tiny creatures do not fall into that category.

The damn thing latches on to my arm and snaps its teeth down.

Their venom floods my veins, and then with a squeak of triumph, the damn thing releases me and flies away.

I clutch the throbbing bite in my hand while Theo, Malachi, and Gwyneth stare at me wide-eyed as we await the consequences.

I once saw a man explode from a sprite bite, but that was an extreme case.

There was also a woman whose head turned in the opposite direction and was stuck there for several diurnals. She lived, luckily.

“Are you okay?” Theo asks. They are still giving me space.

“I think so?” My stomach gurgles as the grumpy gremlin announces its displeasure at the lack of sustenance. Bubbles fizz in my throat. That’s new. I blink as I seem to get taller.

“Oh, my Idols. I’m becoming a giant,” I whisper. As far as consequences go, this isn’t too horrid.

Gwyneth blanches—again. Maybe I’m not just growing but also turning into a troll?

“Grab the blanket,” Theo says, kicking the picnic basket off the material.

“Hey, don’t squash my sausages,” I grumble.

Malachi snorts as they each grab the corners of the blanket and throw it over my head. I know trolls are ugly, but this seems mean. My head pokes out.

“Hey, you either love me for who I am or not at all,” I snap.

They share a confused look before pulling the corners together. “We need something to tie her down,” Theo declares.

In other circumstances, this would be sexy. A little perverse, maybe, and more to Nash’s tastes, but still sexy. Right now, I want to strangle the two knights who clearly believe beauty is skin deep.

“Here.” Gwyneth bends and tears the bottom of her skirt into a long strip. I must be revolting if my sister is helping them.

The knights fashion a rope from her torn skirt, and I catch Charming eyeballing her ankles like a creep. He has a foot fetish, so it’s hardly unexpected.

“Eyes off my sister,” I snarl. My body feels light, like I could float away on a breeze. It’s refreshing given I am normally wrestling with gravity to stay upright. Is this how all trolls feel? If so, why are they so grumpy?

Charming’s gaze snaps to me, and he smirks like I’m getting everything I deserve. Malachi holds the corners of the blanket together while Theo wraps the rope around it and knots it securely.

“Don’t panic,” Gwyneth coaxes.

“Why would I panic?” I ask. And who says “don’t panic”? What a ridiculous thing to instruct.

Theo’s lips twitch. “You got her?” he asks Malachi.

Got me what? Malachi nods, and then, gripping one end of the rope, he lets go of the blanket.

I grow larger and wiggle inside the confines of the blanket.

“Don’t do that,” Theo grumbles.

I blink at him. He’s smaller. So much smaller.

“How big do trolls grow?” I whisper.

“You aren’t a troll, Daphne,” Malachi answers with a grin. “You’re floating.”

I’m what? I squint down at the grass, only to find my feet levitating off the ground. I can only assume if my feet are levitating, so is my body.

“I can fly?” I whisper in awe.

Theo shakes his head with a wide grin as the other shiny Hallowed take notice and start pointing at me. That’s right, Daphne Stone can fly. Take that, Idols.

“No, you can float,” Malachi corrects. “There’s a difference.”

“My feet and body are in the air. That’s the very definition of flying,” I argue.

“Flying suggests you can direct,” Theo adds. “Can you do that?”

I wriggle my arm free from the blanket and point at the castle. “That way.”

Gwyneth pinches the bridge of her nose. “How long until it wears off?” she asks.

“Normally, with something so powerful, a turn, perhaps two,” Malachi answers as they walk toward the castle.

“See? I am flying. I wanted to go toward the castle, and now I am.”

“Because we are dragging you there,” Theo grumbles.

“Semantics.”

We pass the maze and various folks who stare wide-eyed. “You’ve never seen a maiden fly before?” I ask. “Clearly, you have led sheltered lives until my arrival.”

They scurry away like my chaos might infect them. They need not worry, because I’m going to keep it all for myself.

Theo yanks me down so we can go under the archway and enter the castle. We turn right, ready to head up the stairs to the knights’ chambers. Probably for the best. We don’t want everyone to get jealous of my new ability.

Screams erupt from somewhere in the vast castle, which isn’t unusual when everyone is trying to fit their narrative inside one space. It’s bound to have competing consequences. But this sounds a little more urgent than usual.

“A crocodile,” a girl shouts. “He’s going to eat us.”

I know a crocodile. What a coincidence. The sound of pounding feet reaches us before a gang of terrified females shoves out the doors and rushes toward us, knocking into the knights.

Theo curses as one of them snags her hand on the rope in his hand, making him lose his grip.

I grab at the checkered picnic blanket and clutch it to my shoulders like a cape.

My body floats higher. Malachi jumps, his fingers outstretched to grab me, but it’s no use.

My flight ability is powerful and can’t be tamed.

I swallow down the panic as everyone gets smaller, and then I bump into the ceiling.

Holy Idol balls, that’s a long way down.

Mr. Tick shuffles across the floor, having cleared out the castle of screaming women, and stares at the brothers before lifting his head and grinning at me.

Hart and Nash appear at the top of the stairs, staring up at me in what can only be a mixture of surprise and resignation. “Calamity?” Hart snaps. “How? Never mind.”

I grin and give them a wave. “Hey, look! I can fly.”

Nash shakes his head, and Hart snorts before joining the others as they stare up at me.

I waft my hand around. “They really should get some cleaning fairies up here. There’s so many cobwebs, it’s embarrassing.”

“I take it her clumsiness isn’t contained to the ocean?” Mr. Tick says.

“Nope,” Gwyneth mutters. “Now what?”

“We wait here until she falls,” Nash replies with a deep sigh.

“Falls?” I shriek. “I am not a fan of the falling.”

Hart’s lips tip up in a wicked smirk. “Don’t worry, Calamity, we’ll catch you.” Why is he smiling like that? He should stick to frowning. It’s far less terrifying.

“New bet,” Malachi says, a matching smile gracing his face before he licks his lips. “Whoever catches her gets her in their bed tonight.”

“But I’m in your bed,” Theo reminds him. “We made space for Gwyneth, remember?”

“Then I guess she sleeps with us both,” Malachi says, rubbing his hands together. “Mission catch a falling maiden is on.”

Do I want to be caught between two knights? Yes. Oh Idols, I believe I do.