More guards ran toward us, quickly closing in.
His forehead fell against mine. “You will,” he whispered.
I didn’t need to taste lies to know he didn’t believe a word of that promise.
Before I could talk myself out of this, I evanesced—not back to the safety of the castle, but to the home of terror itself—the Black Forest. Only in my panic, I must’ve done something wrong, because I didn’t land next to the gates as planned but in the Forest itself.Dammit. I turned in a circle, searching the sky beyond the twisted trees.The Queen’s onyx tower peeked through barren branches.
I took off in a sprint, the cursed earth writhing beneath my boots, clawing at my ankles. My pounding footsteps matched my thundering heart. My harsh breaths screamed in the utter silence.
Until my feet began to sink, as if swallowed by quicksand. I tried to evanesce, but whatever spell held me would not let go. I pitched forward, my knees crashing onto the vile earth. My grip on the dagger slipped, and the blade skidded past the decaying bodies of rodents, landing next to the roots of a twisted black tree, too far out of reach. Holding my breath against the stench of rot and death, I flattened my body over the ground and stretched as far as I could. Slicing pain screamed through my arms. Sharp shards of white bone protruded from the earth, leaving tiny wounds oozing along the exposed skin.
The spell tightened around my calves. My knees. My thighs. Until I could no longer move.
I’d failed.
This was where I died, swallowed by cursed earth.
Cursed earth…
As dark and terrifying as this curse may have been, it was still only a curse. And all curses could be broken with true love.
The Queen knew nothing of love. That even on the blackest of days, if you had love, you felt like you’d won. Look at her life, having lived for centuries in this Forest, despised and feared by humans, revered yet feared by the Danú.
What a lonely life she would’ve led, out here all on her own, only her heartless minions for company. A woman who’d witnessed her sister brutally murdered by humans, beings without power. Who had presumably held some affection for Rían’s father only to have him wed someone else.
At the end of the day, if Rían succeeded in ending her life, would anyone miss her? She’d be spoken of in whispers, but those whispers would soon fade.
To die and have the world rejoice. How devastating.
The Black Forest didn’t just keep out humans. It kept out everyone.
Had this place always been so terrifying, or had it once been full of beautiful trees and luscious grass? Squirrels with twitching tails and birdsong drifting from a thick, green canopy?
I stopped trying to reach for the dagger and spread my fingers through the barren soil instead. Like that day at the castle when my sister had saved the rest of this country, I closed my eyes and focused, not on the fear of impending death but on the love that lived in my heart.
In my short time alive, I’d found more love than the Queen had in her eternity. I loved an old coachman who’d been hiding behind a glamour. I loved an old witch who made the best cherry tarts. I loved a faithful pooka with a heart of gold. I loved a cursed fae prince who had suffered years of abuse. I loved my sister so much that I had been willing to give up my life for her.
And I loved a man who’d lived for centuries without a heart. A man who had sacrificed himself for me again and again.
I loved them all.
And I loved this land. The wild abandon in the constant breeze. The reckless cliffs jutting from the turbulent sea. The sunshine, the flowers, the butterflies and blades of grass.
This land gave life to everyone in it, a place for castles and cottages to rest. Food for our tables.
I even loved this Forest, that it had kept the Danú safe for so many years.
But there was no longer a need for this barrier between our worlds.
I turned my head, not to the sky but to the ground.
“Thank you for giving me a home,” I whispered. “For all you’ve done to sustain my family. I love you.” I called on my magic, the seeds of power, willing them to take root not in me but in this soil. I thought of every good thing that had happened in my life, letting the happiness in my heart pump through my veins and spread to my fingertips.
I gave and gave, cracking myself open, letting love and joy and peace and passion spill into this place of death and destruction.
I could’ve sworn I smelled grass but didn’t dare check until I could give no more. When my lashes finally fluttered open, they met soft green blades. A grassy green carpet stretched from where I lay all the way to the castle gates. It would take more than the love of one person to heal this place, but at least it was a start.
My legs wobbled when I stood upright. I collected the dagger from the ground and started down the path toward the castle of death.