Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 52915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
“I suggested I might be in your bed, but she told me she was not the sharing or being-shared type.”
“Is that why they call it getting Lucky!?” I exclaim.
“It’s not, not that reason,” Luck smiles. “Remember what I told you, princess. I imparted some very useful nuggets of actionable knowledge to you. You have no idea how fortunate you are.”
With that, he vanishes in a wisp of smoke and is blown away by the wind.
“What did he tell you?”
“He told me I might be a better villain than a heroine, and that you are not what you seem.”
“Hm,” Charming says.
“Hm. Just hm? I was hurled here by an angry wizard, who I thought was your dad, but now I’m fairly certain he wasn’t, and the physical, literal embodiment of luck shows up and tells me maybe I’m the bad girl in all this, and you say hm?”
“I have made an absolute mess of my kingdom,” Charming says. “It has fallen to ruin since the passing of my parents. I should have been able to keep things going. The place practically runs itself, you know.”
“Except you were attacked by dragons.”
“Well. I have much to explain on that front, Emmaline. I only hope that once you hear the truth you will be able to trust me.”
“I trust you implicitly, no matter what.”
Luck rolls his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous, girl. You can’t go around trusting anybody implicitly.”
“You’re back,” I notice.
“A lot of people would be wise enough to be glad to have Luck on their side,” he points out, perhaps slightly offended.
“Charming was telling me how he’s destroyed his kingdom, and I was telling him, hey, kingdoms are hard. There’s a reason there’s hardly any actual kings anymore.”
“Well.” Luck smirks. “Maybe the situation is a little more complicated than…”
Charming coughs, but not in the way that suggests he is sick. He coughs in a shut the hell up, dude sort of way that makes me wonder what’s really going on here. There are secrets I am not privy to, and that’s always been the case in my life, but now these secrets seem dark and pressing.
“What’s happening?” I ask. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“You know what would be more fun?” Luck says with a broad grin. “Finding out in due course. He could tell you, but it would be ever so anticlimactic.”
“You’re such a drama queen.”
“I do live for the drama,” Luck agrees, completely without apology. “Let’s get you and your crew back to the Ever After. I told you the climax was coming, and it’s going to be ever so intense.”
“Has anybody ever made the journey from the Far Far Away to Ever After without magic? Is it even possible?” Charming frowns. It would seem he expected to be stranded here with me until The End, I guess. I suddenly realize all he was prepared to sacrifice for me, his entire kingdom given up to find me.
“Of course it’s possible,” Luck says. “You take a boat, don’t you?”
“I was told no boats traveled from here to the Ever After.”
“You were told many things, Charming,” Luck says. “You’ve been a useful idiot for a long time.”
“A blunt cudgel of a description, but perhaps not an entirely inaccurate one,” Charming admits very graciously.
“You’re the sweetest!” I exclaim, wrapping my arms around him. “I can’t believe you came for me, thinking you wouldn’t be able to get back. That is the most romantic thing I have ever heard. You should have stayed behind in Ever After. You could have found another princess, or I might have eventually made my way back.”
“I was always going to come for you, Emmaline. Always,” he says, his eyes flashing with absolute alien possession. Then that gaze darkens and I know trouble is on my horizon.
“We do have one bit of business to attend to,” he says. “And that is how Balthazar managed to get his hands on you. Did he come into the castle? I note you are dressed in my attire…”
“I went out,” I admit. “I barely remember why now, but it seemed very important at the time. And I met Balthazar, and he told me I was the reason the Ever After was corrupted and so he sent me to The End. That’s kind of… it.”
As I speak, Charming’s expression grows darker and darker, sterner and sterner, until I can barely finish a sentence without cringing at the very things I am saying.
“I told you explicitly not to go anywhere without me. I told you that the world was dangerous.”
“Yes, but I had a sword, and I’d already fought a bunch of bone animals, and…” Again I trail off, because the vibe has shifted in a way that does not bode well for me. I’ve seen him like this before, specifically, the time I fell off the castle on my very first day. I know what happened then, and I have the sense it is about to happen again.