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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHARLOTTE

T he pegasus’s hooves pounded against the air as I leaned low over its neck, urging it faster.

The wind screamed past me, whipping my hair into a wild, tangled halo.

The familiar rolling hills of Evergrove came into view, their moonlit beauty tainted by the storm in my chest. The scent of nightblooming jasmine filled the air, but it wasn’t enough to soothe me. Not tonight.

Adom had lent me his fastest steed from the summer castle's stables after we'd found Belle wandering in the forests, intent on saving Adom from a loveless marriage with me.

To her delight, she'd learned that her vows to the prince when they'd consummated their relationship the night before superseded any deals we'd made.

She and Adom belonged together. Now I just needed to rescue the man who was mine.

If only this pegasus would fly faster. I knew my mother's intentions. If I didn't get there five minutes ago, an hour ago, it might be too late.

The stables came into view first. I leaped off the steed before all four hooves had made impact.

I pushed open the doors of the stables. The emptiness inside felt like a physical blow.

The place where Jorge’s forge once roared was cold and abandoned, its tools neatly stacked but untouched.

The straw bed where we’d spent stolen moments together was clean, devoid of any sign that he’d ever been here.

No one had worked here since he left. We hadn't had the money to hire anyone to work for free. The only way we'd survived these last three years was because the Moonkeepers had kept us under guard. They were all gone now that their mission had been fulfilled.

The Beast Prince was wed. And to the right woman. Adom's vows to Belle had broken the curse. I was free to return to the promise I'd made Jorge when we were too young to understand what our vows to each other meant. I just had to find him .

My feet carried me to the manor before my mind could catch up.

The grand doors loomed ahead, carved with intricate patterns that spoke of a time when Evergrove was wealthy and thriving.

Now the wood was weathered, the edges frayed with neglect.

I shoved the doors open, letting them crash against the walls as I stormed into the foyer.

Queen Indira stood in the sitting room, draped in silks and jewels. Her face was a mask of cold composure. Her gaze flicked up to meet mine. A smile that didn’t reach her eyes curled her lips.

“Charlotte, what are you doing here? You're getting coronated in the morning.”

“Where is he?” I strode toward her, my dagger clutched tightly in my hand.

"You need to get back before he realizes you're gone. You don't want to upset the Beast."

"His name is Adom—King Adom—and he sent me here to find his second in command. You know him as Jorge."

Queen Indira arched an elegant brow, as if I were a petulant child throwing a tantrum. “Why should I know where your little human pet is?”

"Do not play games with me, Mother. The blood of the last person who tried to play me is still on my blade. The Lioness Queen told Belle she gave him to you."

"That bitch. She won't renege on our deal. "

"That's truly all you care about, isn't it? The money. Your status."

"What else is there?"

"Love."

"Don't be childish, girl. Try eating love."

"Where is he?" I shouted.

"He's not here."

"Tell me where he is." I pressed the dagger against her mute lips. "I won't let you kill Jorge because he dared to love me.”

"Wrong tense, darling. I'm not going to kill Jorge."

My heart lightened. I lowered the blade.

"He's already dead."

It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. My heart still beat. So he was still in this world. But just to be sure, I pressed my dagger to my mother's throat.

“You’ve been lying to me my entire life.

You said I was chosen by the moon, that my marriage to the Beast Prince would save Evergrove.

But it was the moon that cursed him. And it was the suns that blessed Belle and Adom.

Lyra blessed them because they love each other, and she prized that.

Which means the moon no longer has an interest in me.

Which means I can have my love, finally. So you tell me where he is.”

I raised the dagger, my aim true. The blade caught the moonlight streaming through the windows.

Gasps echoed from the gathered servants and courtiers who had crept into the edges of the room to watch the confrontation unfold.

The fear in my mother’s eyes was palpable, and for the first time in my life, I felt like I had power over her.

“Give him back to me.”

The queen's lips trembled, and for a moment, I thought she might beg. More the fool was I.

Queen Indira straightened, her chin lifting. “It’s too late. He’s gone.”

"He's not gone. I would feel it. I would know."

My chest heaved, my thoughts a whirlwind of rage and despair. I could kill her. It would be so easy. One quick thrust, and all her lies, all her manipulations, would die with her.

"I told them to make him suffer and put the body where the trolls would find him."

A sob escaped my lips. A trickle of blood escaped a thin cut at my mother's neck. I stared at the red. It entranced me. I wanted more of it.

"Take her," called my mother. "Take her."

People burst into the room. But these weren’t the Moonkeepers.

These were the fae servants who had remained—those who had endured years of my mother's mistreatment and watched as she squandered their lands and lives. One by one, they moved to stand behind me. Their allegiance was clear. This wasn’t just my rebellion—it was theirs, too .

"You wish us to take her to the dowager house, Your Grace?"

"The dowager house?" My mother's nose wrinkled in disgust.

The dowager house was nothing like the summer palace that the Lioness Queen would retire to now that her son had taken the crown. The dowager house was a two-bedroom shack without indoor plumbing. Or what my mother would call a living hell.

"No. Give her a carriage, a gredane to pull it, and cast her out in the street to make her way in the world."

The servants looked hesitant. They had spent years under her rule and my silence.

They would do well to send us both out into the world in a rickety carriage with only one slow beast to carry our load.

Goddess knows I never did anything to lighten any of their loads or make their lives better.

I'd only cared about one other person my whole life.

And it wasn't the prince I'd been groomed for.

It was the groom who came to rule my heart.

A heavy silence settled over the hall, thick with uncertainty. The servants—men and women who had bowed to my mother’s whims for years—shifted uneasily, glancing between us, weighing their loyalty.

Would they see me as their salvation? Or just another queen, cut from the same cloth?