Page 93 of This Prince Is Not Charming

And someone else would be Cillian’s queen. I snorted. A cat or Marsten. Cillian must have been out of his mind with worry.

I walked toward a dark end of the cavern, squinting to make out my surroundings.

“No!” All of a sudden, Lila jumped in front of me. “Don’t go back there,” she said.

My pulse spiked. “Why?” Oh, godwitches, was there a monster lurking in the depths of this place? If so, everyone wouldn’t be so relaxed.

“Just because,” Liadan called. “It’s . . . dangerous.”

None of this was making sense. I planted my hands on my hips. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Lila said quickly. Too quickly.

She fiddled with her hands, twisting them together in front of her.

“You’re hiding something from me,” I said, and she let out a squeak.

“No I’m not.”

“What is behind you?”

Lila’s lips pressed into a thin line, and I spun around to face the others.

“What’s behind her? What don’t you want me to see?”

Siobhan continued reading her book, ignoring all of us.

Liadan held up her cup. “Why don’t you come back over here and enjoy your tea?”

I crossed my arms. “I don’t want to enjoy my tea. I want to know what’s going on.”

Siobhan’s head snapped up. “Just show her already. I’m sick of all the yapping while I’m trying to read.”

“Fine.” Lila pointed a finger at me. “But you have to promise you won’t open it.”

“Open what?” I asked, exasperated by this entire situation.

Lila sighed and stepped aside, and I could just see the outline of a door with a handle.

My mouth dropped open. “There’s a door? You mean to tell me you all could have left this place any time you wanted?”

“No, not necessarily,” Lila said. “We don’t know what’s on the other side of that door.”

“It could be danger,” Liadan said.

“Or a way out,” I argued.

Lila ran and plastered herself against the door, spreading out her arms as far as she could reach. “You can’t open it. I’m not ready to leave. I’m not ready to face reality.”

Her voice broke, and I realized that Lila had been wrong. I didn’t know how she felt. Because I did have someone to take care of me, to help shoulder my burdens. I always had.

Cillian.

He’d always been there for me, for my father. He’d been the one who sent Margaret the other day so I could sleep in. I didn’t want to stay here, because reality was better than here. Cillian couldn’t marry Meera or Marsten. I wouldn’t let him. We’d figure this out. We would make it work no matter what it took.

“You look like you’re having a revelation of your own,” Lila said.

“I suppose I am.” I sighed. “Listen, I understand why you want to stay here, and you can. None of you have to leave. But I can’t stay.”