Page 102 of Never Ever After

His hand reaches for me, but I pull away. “There is power in you. I will help you claim it.”

“I don’t care about power.” But my voice shakes with the lie. I want it, I crave it—so I can stop those like him.

“I’ve seen how the scorn of others eats at you, how desperately you fought my general on the tower,” he says. “You want to be strong, to rise above the rest. You want them to bow to you, to serve and respect you. I can give you all that and more.”

I shift uneasily, hating that he’s seen into the inner part of me that I don’t show anyone else. And how easily he accepts it when he should shy from it.

“I want you by my side.” He smiles in that slow and measured way that once made my heart quicken. “Marry me. Claim your magic and share it with us. The Iron Mountains is your home, and with your power, it will become the greatest kingdom across the realms.”

At the indomitable resolve in his words, a tightness clutches my throat like a collar fastened around it. “How?” I must know his plans.

“Lead us to Mist Island—we are strong enough to challenge them now. We will convince them to share the magic they hoard, and we will put it to far better use.”

Prince Zixin thinks I’m ignorant of the Sun Dragon, of the power he’s already stolen. They claim magic is evil, when all along they just wanted it for themselves. His ambition mirrors his father’s, despicable and ruthless.

I shake my head defiantly. “I don’t know where it is.”

He reaches out, tapping the bright green root wrapped around my ring. “Your mother’s ring didn’t have this. I know what it means, what it can do.”

My heart plummets. I don’t dare speak.

“I know you’re angry, that you’re afraid,” he says. “But you’re clever enough to not let your emotions ruin you. Think about the future before us. Think about what accepting my offer will gain you… and what will happen should you refuse.”

He wants my surrender; he’ll hurt my sister if I defy him again. I drop my head like I’m hesitating, when I’m biting my tongue not to scream.

“Together, we’ll forge an unbreakable alliance and unite the realms,” he continues. “Let us end the cycle of enmity and vengeance before it seizes more lives. Choose peace. Choose yourself.”

His words are powerful—unexpectedly so. Except he doesn’t know me as well as he thinks. It’s easy to speak of “peace” after the violence, after the gains are reaped. I don’t want the peace he offers, tainted and false—watered by my mother’s blood. And I’ve seen the weapons in his forge. He speaks of “alliance” when he means “conquest.”

“Why marriage? Why not a treaty?” I ask.

“There is no more binding union than when bloodlines are merged. I am more than my crown, just as you are more than a girl from some village. We can change the world together, we will rule it.” His eyes are the black of night, the end of hope. “And I want you. Only you.”

I allow a tentative smile to spread on my face like I’m considering this despicable alliance. Prince Zixin is no longer the compassionate boy who took pity on a crying girl, who was kind to her mother. Hearts harden, minds twist, honor can be tarnished.

“I need time to consider.”

He pats something fastened to his waist—Dian’s ring, its appearance worn. “I hear your kind die when parted from your rings for too long. How long do you think your sister has?” He speaks gently, yet the brutality of his words is a knife plunged into my chest—threatening in the same voice he used to offer me the world.

The loathsome acceptance refuses to form on my lips—but there’s no choice. At last, I nod. Prince Zixin takes my hand, brushing his thumb over my fingers. When he leaves, ordering the guards to release me, there is no relief in the silence of my thoughts. He wants me to betray my kingdom; to lead the Iron Mountains army to them. Even if I wanted him—which I don’t—I’d never do it, because the future he envisions for his people rests upon the destruction of mine.

If there is any danger of discovery, you have to sever the root of your ring.

I should heed Dian’s warning; I should do this now, my fingers hovering over my ring. But I can’t, my hand falling away. I want the magic that is mine. I’m not strong or honorable like Dian or my mother, spurred by love for their home; I don’t remember anything about it. I won’t surrender this dream of power, not while there’s a chance, a hope of escape, however dim it may be.

For I am trapped here with nowhere to run… and I’m all out of lies.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

T he morning of the coronation dawns clear and bright, the skies a brilliant azure—perfect, as though the heavens themselves have bowed to the bidding of the prince. With each moment, dread rises until it throttles me, until I’m fighting to breathe.

Today, the Prince of the Iron Mountains will take the throne, and me as his bride.

Between marriage and death—I’ll choose life. But promises mean nothing when forced. I’m still grasping for a way out, and I won’t think of what happens should I fail.

My hands crumple the silk of my gown, the gold phoenixes embroidered on the crimson skirt. Red is the color of happiness and luck, but all I see is violence. A glittering headdress of pearls and iron weighs on my scalp. I look into the mirror, hating the sheen of the metal, not just because of the dragon’s stolen power, how it can unmask my people’s magic—but because it means I have none.

I’m wearing my ring, yet none of the iron discolors when I touch it, there’s no stirring of power, only emptiness when I grasp for more.