Page 134 of Apprentice to the Villain

She walked toward the window and peered out at the night sky.The brightest star was no longer there—the one she’d wished on so many times. She smiled, looking over to see her mother being worked on by Tatianna’s healing hands.

As she leaned into the window, Gideon appeared at her elbow. He looked worried, a crinkle in his brow and a frown pulling down his lips.

Her heart started to race. “What is it, Gideon?”

“I’ve been trying to tell you something,” he admitted, “but it never felt like the right time.”

Warning heated her cheeks as she motioned for him to speak. He bit his lip, leaning a hand on the sill.

Speaking low, he murmured, “You remember how I was supposed to give you the antidote to the sleeping-death fruit? So you’d awaken.”

Her eyes widened. “Yes, Gideon. A most important step.” She laughed nervously.

Gideon took her hand and dropped a vial into it. It rolled back and forth on her palm, glowing.

The antidote.

“I couldn’t get it to you in time. I kept being blocked by guards.”

She ran her other hand through her curls to hide how it had begun to shake. “This makes no sense. If you didn’t give me the antidote, how did I awaken? There’s only one cure.”

Gideon smiled, like this wasn’t going to alter the very fabric of her world. “There are two.”

“It’s a myth. Such magic, such power—it doesn’t exist,” she said fearfully.

Her brother shook his head, closing her fingers around the bottle with a lift of his brow. “Are you certain?”

The memories during her death sleep: the gentle voice, the one that called her back to living, and…the whisper of a kiss against her knuckles. She pushed any joy from the revelation away,shoving it deep within herself. It wouldn’t serve her now.

She slipped the antidote into her skirt pocket and turned to the window, gripping the sill tight with both hands. Looking up to the night sky, she surveyed all the stars and didn’t make any wishes, didn’t make any more requests of a world that only sought to confuse her. Instead, she made a vow to it. One she hoped would shake the earth all the way to the Gleaming Palace. To King Benedict. To her father. To Trystan Maverine.

She smiled and made the declaration.

Beware the wrath of a kind heart.

Epilogue

Gideon

One week later…

The office had returned to its usual disarray at a rapid rate. Or at least Gideon assumed the disarray was usual. He hadn’t borne witness to any other kind of office function. His mother had been glued to his side for the last seven days, taking the most careful, tentative steps with Lyssa.

Who seemed very keen on evading her. Something their mother was putting on a brave face for, but Gideon could see the pain at not having been there to watch her children grow up. At missing the things she should’ve been a part of. Only time would mend such hurts. Only new memories could soothe away the loss of the old ones.

Evie and The Villain were avoiding each other the way mermaids avoided ships, only sparing each other passing glances anytime they were within ten feet of each other. That bubbling pot would hit a boil fairly quickly, but Gideon didn’t dare say that to either of them.

Keeley had gone back to her usual glares, which suited Gideon just fine, as the woman was far too prickly for his tastes. Any sense of rightness he’d felt embracing her or fighting alongside her had merely been due to a rush of adrenaline. It had already passed, and he hardly noticed her—even now, when she was walking toward him with a murderous expression on her lovely face. She slapped a scrap of paper down onto Evie’s desk, whichEvie let her brother use while she was doing inventory—of spiderwebs, most likely.

“Do I look like an errand girl to you?” Keeley rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, her ridiculously thick braid swaying behind her. He was surprised she didn’t topple over from the weight of it.

Gideon contemplated her, tapping his chin. “I don’t know. They wear silly little hats, don’t they? Put one on. Let’s find out.”

“I hope the dragon eats you,” she sneered. “Clean up your own scraps of paper, sir knight.” Then she turned and walked away with ground-eating strides. He was surprised and annoyed to find himself staring after her retreating curved form.

Then he looked down at the page he’d torn in haste fromRennedawn’s Storyand smuggled to Evie alongside their mother’s letters. The glowing seal at the top was a sign of the book’s power. He read the words over again, hoping the fourth object might come to him if he thought hard enough.

The person who saves the magical lands will take fate’s youngling well in hand; when fate and starlight magic fall together, the land will belong to you forever. But beware the unmasked Villain and their malevolent dark, for nothing is more dangerous than a blackened good heart…