He knows.
And then he staggers to the side, going to one knee as if he’s a puppet with cut strings. The color drains from his face, his fingers bleeding red. The same red as the bride’s lipstick. The same red as the miroire flower, renowned for its ability to murder a fae within minutes.
Anger flashes over Mistmark’s expression as he grabs a fistful of the wedding gown. It’s too late. He doesn’t have the strength to fight, even as he knows what has happened.
The last thing he whispers is “Sora?”
Before he collapses on the dais at the bride’s feet.
21
Time to roll the dice.
Malechus is no longer smiling. The crowd gasps. And the bride looks ready to flee.
She can’t escape now. I still need her to play her part.
I move to Sift, even as someone screams, but Keir snatches my wrist, searching my gaze. “What did you do?”
I try and pry him free, but there’s no shifting him. “I took care of Belladonna’s threat.”
“You killed him?”
“I just need Belladonna to think I’ve killed him,” I whisper in his ear. “Let me go. I need to finish this. I need to fetch the horn.”
“You were supposed to wait for me. If they realize you’re gone—”
“They won’t. Because you’re going to summon an illusion of me,” I whisper. “Make it look real.”
He stares at me.
“Please.”
“And the questing beast?” he finally asks.
“I have a plan. Trust me.”
Keir’s lips thin, but he waves his finger.
A cloaked figure bumps into me and an elegant young woman steps between us, whipping back the hood of her cloak.
It’s… a little shocking to stare myself in the face. I have to assume no one can see the real me.
“Make sure I’m seen,” I tell him. “Make sure you’re seen.”
I can’t have him interrupting my plans, after all.
And then I take a step back into the shadows, even as Keir shoots me an absolutely furious look.
He’s going to make me pay once this is all said and done, but I have to finish what I started.
Distraction gets you dead. Put Keir out of your mind and focus.
I bury him so deep in my heart that those treacherous longings will never see the light of day again. And then I Sift toward the side of the amphitheater.
There’s a hooded figure in one of the side chambers, pacing the floor like a caged wolf. The second I enter, she stills, those malevolent green eyes locking upon me. “Well?”
“It’s done,” I tell Belladonna.
“He’s dead?” she demands.
I gesture over my shoulder to where Malechus and Falion are desperately trying to revive the Lord of Mistmark. “If you wait ten minutes, he will be. But I don’t think we have the time.”
“Just break the curse,” Anissa murmurs from where she’s slumped against the wall. “Let’s be done with this. Let’s be done with all of this. I just want to go home, Bella. No more murderous games. No more blackmail and curses. I want our life back. You, me, and our sunny pavilion by the lake.”
Eagerness leaps in my heart, but this isn’t the moment to reveal it.
Belladonna stares at me, before her gaze cuts to the side. She doesn’t say a thing, but I know—if she gets her way and Malechus dies—that she and Anissa won’t be returning to what sounds like their summer retreat. The Blood Lily is ambitious. I can’t forget the hunger in her eyes when I spoke of Malechus’s death. Without a crown prince the path to the throne is open, and maybe Belladonna’s tired of dancing to someone else’s tune.
But that’s their problem.
Not mine.
“Fine.” Belladonna yanks me toward her, wearing an exact replica of the bridal gown. I don’t know whether she’s wearing the illusion, or Soraya is. Both dresses look like they required several hundred hours of stitching each, which makes Soraya’s gifts of glamor impressive. I knew she was good, but I didn’t know she was this good.
Belladonna’s fingers curl into shadowy claws, and then she strikes at my chest.
I gasp as I feel them sinking within me.
My heart throbs in her grasp, but it’s the curse that drives me to my knees as she wraps her hand around it and wrenches it from my chest.
“I told you we didn’t have to be enemies,” Belladonna purrs as she curls her fingers around the wretched black tangle that writhes in her palm. It sinks into her skin and vanishes, and I can finally breathe again.
Yeah, well…. “That was before you tried to kill me.” Somehow I make it back to my feet. The curse is gone. Gone. I’m free of her entanglements.
There’s a strange look in her eyes. “Sometimes I react hastily when the people I love are threatened.”
“That’s her way of saying thank you,” Anissa murmurs as she captures her lover’s hand. There’s a relieved smile on her face. “And we do. We both thank you. Without you, there would be no hope for us.”
One look at Belladonna reveals the haughty cock of her brow. She’s not that grateful. Or maybe she just has difficulty conceding it.
“Long live true love,” I tell her, bending over and panting as I try to recover. “And you’re welcome. Now go. The pair of you need to play your parts.”
Drawing her hood over her gorgeous mahogany hair, Belladonna arches a brow. “Your friend’s glamor is ridiculously good.”
“It almost fooled me,” Anissa grumbles.
“Don’t tell her that.”
Belladonna smiles that little smirk I hate so much. “You do realize my dearest cousin is going to try and torture her?”
“He can try. I don’t think she’ll appreciate that.”
“As long as the truth comes out.”
“Well, that’s where you have to play your role,” I point out.
She rolls her eyes and stalks toward the door. “Where the fuck are my flowers? If I’m going to do this, then I’m going to do it right.”
Anissa grabs the bunch of night-blooming lilies and hands them to her.
“You breathe a word of this,” Belladonna tells me, “and I’ll ruin you. I can curse you
