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  “You made a deal with me while I was in Emma’s form. You must honor it,” Lana says. The smoke whips around us at a fiercer speed. The heat causes sweat to soak my clothing. “I will go back with you. She will return to the circle,” Lana says, challenge ringing in her voice. It is odd to see her words come out of my mouth. “You made the deal with me. Not her. It’s only fair.”

  Liam appraises her, his stare finally landing on her eyes. He looks over at me and smiles widely. “A deal is a deal. You will return with me to the Enchanted Palace. You will never leave. You will also stay in this form whenever we are together,” Liam says as he waves a hand over her body. My body. I feel sick.

  “Lana, I will go back with Liam,” I say. I feel panic. She shakes her head, her decision made. Liam fixes me with his gaze and edges closer to me. I recognize the glint in his eyes. He leans down and I suppress the urge to jump back. Liam’s cold lips brush mine when he speaks.

  “No,” Liam says. “Mr. White will bring you back to the circle.” Liam inclines his head to Finn. Finn’s lips press into a firm line, knowing I am to be his teasing punishment for all time. “Do not even think of breaking the decree, Mr. White. Not only will it mean your death, but after this large indiscretion, it will mean her death as well. The other palaces will be unaware she is in your circle with the decoy in my palace. Keep it that way.” Liam looks at me and then turns his focus to his fingernails, disinterested. He brushes a small piece of ash off the arm of his shirt. Finn drops his head and looks to the ground. I want to spare him the pain I know courses through him and I hate that Liam makes him feel this way. I cannot save him, so I turn my head away, refusing to watch, giving Finn this moment to keep his pride. These could be our last seconds together.

  We are trapped. I start to cry. My knees hit the scalding cement. The savages are upon us. Their hisses and growls are loud and I can feel their hot breath on the back of my neck, saturating my oxygen.

  Despite Liam’s words I know we will not make it back to the circle. I will die in the abandoned city, closer to freedom than I have ever been.

  Liam tilts my chin up with the tip of his ash-covered boot. “You could have avoided all of this. You could have had the world, princess. Instead you have nothing. I will also see to it you never feel the emotion you so desperately seek. You will never feel love. I will take the beginnings of it.” Through watery eyes, I see the magic orb Liam spins on his palm.

  I see my mother and a blond haired man. His smile is contagious. My mother laughs as the man bends in to place a soft, brief kiss on her neck. My mother is full of life and beauty. I know this man is my father. He brings his lips up to her ear and whispers quietly, “I love you.” She does not see it, but I do. His eyes glow white. My mother responds to the sentiment quietly.

  She does not know he is a dark witch. He hides it from her.

  I see my memories start flashing in the orb. Memories of my mother. Sweet embraces and longing looks with Finn. Hugs with Lana. Jokes shared with the darklings back in the circle. I see Finn’s red heart glinting as it balances on someone’s palm.

  “Not one memory of your prince? What a disgusting shame,” Liam says after he watches my precious recollections. I clutch my chest. It feels as if he is ripping out my soul, my heart—everything. Liam is taking it all. I sink down lower and bring my head down to the scalding hot ground because I want to feel something. I hear Finn roar.

  “No!” he screams. His voice echoes off the mangled buildings and pierces the sky.

  It is enough to break me from the torturous trance. I make it stop.

  “He can’t take it if you don’t offer it, Emma,” Finn says, through ragged breaths.

  I do not give Liam my feelings of love. I hold them back. I vault them deep inside to keep forever. I remember I am clutching my knife. I stand up and swing behind me wildly. I know the savages are there. The blade connects with an arm. The thick blood sprays, soaking the savage next to it. They are obviously surprised by my outburst. I keep slicing, oblivious to anything except the urge to kill. I want to kill for my mother’s blind trust, for Liam’s pride, for everything that they took from me in the past. They will take nothing from me. Ever again.

  A sucking noise sounds as I pull my knife out of one of the beastly savages. Spinning around I drive the blade up and pierce another in the chest. My fingers lose purchase on the knife because of all the blood and it clatters to the ground. I gasp for air, unable to control even my own breathing.

  A sweet, soprano voice fills the air around us. “Enough,” the voice says.

  Hundreds of savages part and the blond haired sorceress glides up to us. Her dress glimmers. Her creamy white skin is flawless. I notice, with horror, that Lana is held by two dark witches behind Liam. Liam, for all his worldly prince charm, appears stunned by the sorceress’ presence. He looks fearful. His white eyes wide, he backs away from me. Finn, as expected, has not left my side. I grab his hand and squeeze it tightly. He taps my hand three times with a finger interlaced with mine. I manage to stop my chest from heaving and I calm.

  “All of this to entertain yourself, Iliam Aithe? I am sorely disappointed in you. I gave you power over my demons as you asked, and this is what you do?” The sorceress says.

  My body shakes involuntarily. The sorceress is working with Liam. My mind processes what she has said and I know this will end badly. Liam opens his mouth to respond, but she cuts him off.

  “I gave you two chances to redeem yourself. Not that long ago I sent a darkling girl into your palace. You should have helped her. You should have taught her. You disposed of her instead.”

  The girl my former factotum spoke of. As she glides to stand nose to nose to Liam, a sweet melody fills the air. The soft hum relaxes me further.

  “You asked me for control over the savages. I gave you that.” The sorceress pauses. “I also protected these three when I realized your foul intentions.” The air around her shimmers with sparkling light. The charmed smoke was the sorceress’s doing. She did help us. ‘There are always two sides to a story and here in my city I decide what will transpire.”

  “Sorceress. She is mine. I only came here to bring her back to my palace,” Liam says.

  Her magic fills the air, evaporating the heat. A cool breeze picks up and I take in a deep, cleansing breath. The savages have dissipated. Lana’s form flickers as she struggles in the witch’s hands. The sorceress notices and nods. They immediately let her go. Lana scrambles over to us as the cloaking potion wears off and Lana’s body returns. The sorceress looks at me with fond eyes. Her white smile is breathtaking. She places her hand over my heart, and if possible, her smile widens further.

  “She is not yours, Iliam Aithe. Her heart will be given,” the sorceress says. The tale is true, she is also a mystic. She sees the future.

  “Emmalina has already been queened in my castle. That trumps anything that may be in her heart,” Liam sneers. “We had a deal. Challenges cannot be broken, sorceress. Even you know that.”

  The sorceress floats over to Finn. I watch as his breath hitches. She puts both of her palms on his broad chest. Her ringing laughter is beautiful as she senses Finn. She turns to face Liam.

  “You will break the decree with this one. You will also release Emmalina from any challenge or agreement she may have entered with you,” she says without removing her hands from Finn. Liam’s eyes are glowing so white they nearly blind me.

  “I would never,” Liam hisses.

  “You will if you do not wish me to stretch my city to encompass your territories,” the sorceress says, her eyes cold. “I believe in old world morals. It is why I live here.” She waves her hand around to show the destruction. “I prefer reality. The one thing I hold dear over everything else is love, dark prince. I will let nothing come between it,” she says. She swoops over, leaving a trail of silvery glitter behind her and she touches the side of Liam’s face. “But you already know that, I am sure.”

  She tilts her head and smiles. I
sense a familiarity between the two. With the blond heads so close, it is hard to tell how they would not be familiar.

  Her high voice drops several octaves when she speaks. “I challenge you to doubt me. I will take over your palace, Iliam. Love is the strongest entity ever to exist. It is the only thing I trust to twist and shape to better the future on its own accord.” She presses a firm kiss to Liam’s lips. I fear for her. Though deep down I know she is stronger than him—or anyone for that matter. Liam feels something with the brush of her lips. I see it on his face. I wonder what small taste she allows him.

  Without another word, the sorceress waves her hand over Lana’s collarbone and then down over her heart. She frowns at what she senses or sees in Lana. I feel my heart hammering against my own chest. The sorceress’s happiness is not present when she reads her. Lana’s eyes are wide, yet she is unafraid. She is just as transfixed by the sorceress’s beauty as the rest of us. She removes her hands and does not say anything about what she finds in Lana.

  The sorceress dips her head. I watch as sparkles of magic litter the ground around her.

  “I always take an emotion as toll when darklings wish to enter the Dark Citadel by my hand. You should know that what I take, I always give back two-fold,” she says sadly. I do not understand. I think it means she may restore Finn and Lana’s emotions.

  Liam looks at the sorceress with fury. “What do I get out of this?” His voice is gravelly, violent.

  When the sorceress answers, she looks amused. “It saddens me to do so, but to be fair, you may keep the last half of your bargain with this one.” She points to Lana. Lana’s eyes are wary, but she holds her head up proudly and nods in agreement.

  “What is the last half?” I ask. It was part of the challenge Lana made with Liam behind closed doors when she posed as me. I am clueless. Liam, a dark witch with no emotions, laughs loudly. It is an evil laugh, a caustic laugh that threatens something horrible.

  “Here I thought you were against me,” Liam barks, his eyes dancing between his deceptive blue and bright white.

  “I am,” she answers. “Tell them,” the sorceress says while she floats in between us. I see the moment when Liam finally cows. He wants his palace more than anything else. It is the one thing he would never sacrifice. It is his pride. It is his only identity.

  “I release Finnegan White and Emmalina Weaver from any and all decrees and challenges they hold with the witches and the Dark Citadel. You are free to live where you please. You are free to do as you please without fear of retribution from me or from my personal savage guardians and witches. I am seldom this lenient,” Liam says, as he shoots a feral look to our gilded savior. “So I suggest the three of you leave this place immediately.” He weaves a large dark orb in his hands and extends it into the shape of a doorway. I see the forest that surrounds our circle on the other side. It beckons. Happy tears spill down my face faster and faster.

  I know it cannot be this easy. My five emotions course through my body like fire.

  “What will happen to Lana? You say we are free, but what of Lana?” Finn asks before I have a chance. The sorceress did not take toll from Lana. The dark witches did when they brought her to the palace. This realization frightens me. Liam and Lana have a brief exchange of words out of earshot, and then Lana joins us in front of the door. Her expression is unreadable, though I sense a hint of sadness.

  “That’s Lana’s business, nosey rats,” Lana says. “Well? What the hell are we waiting for?” she asks, her previous emotion all but erased.

  I glance back at the sorceress one last time just to glimpse her genial aura. Everything will be okay. She beams the message into my mind. One look at a scathing Liam and I know I must trust her and her abilities to predict the future.

  She is just like a fairy godmother, I think when my mind automatically compares her alongside the one from my story.

  Lana pushes Finn and me closer to the glistening orb and follows behind.

  “Yippy-ki-yay-mothafuckas’, time to go home!” Lana screams as we morph into pliable, magical putty to exit through the orb-turned-door.

  Lana’s profanities never sound sweeter.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  July 28th, Morning

  Lana and I sit in our little house in our circle. The relief I feel at being home is immeasurable. My emotions are still roiling, so sleep is impossible even though I do not remember the last time I have slept. Disbelief is what I feel at being able to leave the abandoned city unscathed. The sorceress has given me my life back. She has given me a chance at a full life—not just a full life, but a feeling life. I no longer look to the future with senseless dread surrounding my fate. It is not a matter of if I will ever feel love, it is a matter of when. I will have six. My friends are safe. At least for the time being.

  Lana tosses and turns on her bed, too wired to sleep. “I can’t believe he left the second we got here. Seriously? What a prick. I hope you hold out on him when he gets back, Emma. Remember our games with acting? Amp up the volume and make him curse the day he ever met you,” Lana says while looking at the ceiling.

  Finn leaves as soon as we return to the circle. He says he has to straighten out business transactions with the other circles. He wants to make amends now that he is free as a darkling and from the decree. His mechanical skills will eventually pay off any resentment the other circles have over Louis’ death. Watching him walk into the forest, away from me, is painful. I want nothing more than to lock him somewhere and keep him in my sights for days. The wistful kiss he placed on my lips when we parted promised a reunion to remember. With the decree destroyed nothing stands between us. My imagination churns with all the possibilities.

  Lana refuses to talk about Liam and the challenge she is bound to. She only says it is worth it to her. She also says that because the sorceress is a mystic and can see the future, there is no point in fighting it. “What will be, will be, bitches,” she says. It is an unnerving sentiment. Because she is fearless she also cares little about what will happen in the future. Our current conversation as evidence, she is worrying about my relationship with Finn, above anything else.

  I lie back on my threadbare bed and fold my arms behind my head. “You know I can barely resist him,” I say, sighing dreamily. Lana is no longer charmed by Finn, a fact that relieves me and makes me wary at the same time.

  “You’re lucky, you know? I wish I could fall in love. All darklings do. I bet it’s better than anything else,” Lana says. Her serious, very-un-Lana words hang in the air.

  I know I am lucky. I get a second chance at a life I did not know existed. Lana has always felt love. It is the reason she gave me a chance that night in the woods so long ago. I was an empty shell and she took me in. I think her the lucky one.

  I turn my head to look at her. She is balancing a brown sack on the tip of her boot. She sees me watching and somehow knows where my thoughts have taken me. “I knew you’d come around. I believed in you. When I saw the way Finn looked at you that very first time…it sealed the deal for me. He’s had a shit time of it all these years. It’s hard to feel bad for his situation with the using and abusing of all the darkling women, but I saw through it. He was a miserable asshole until the lip-chewing, blue-eyed actress wandered into our forest,” Lana declares. She kicks the sack up and catches it on her other boot.

  I wish I saw her memory of the first time I met Finn. I do not remember anything spectacular in how he looked at me that first time, but then again, I was not looking for it. I did not care. Now, I do care. My heart feels like it may explode out of my chest. I twirl the charms on my necklace between my fingers remembering the day at the lagoon, picturing the moment of clarity when I feel joy for the first time.

  I sit up on the bed and realize a few small tears are trickling down my face. “She wanted this for me, Lana. My mother. She didn’t know that my father was a dark witch,” I sob, remembering Liam’s orb with her memories intertwined with mine. I realize the witch that brings n
othing but torment did give me something precious—a piece to my puzzle.

  My mother eventually knew I was not like her, but then it was too late. She did what she thought would save me. She readied me for my fate with Liam while making plans with Finn as a back-up strategy. There was also the fact that she never let me lose fear. The one emotion that seems so horrific was the one that made me run in the first place. I fault her choices no longer. I grieve for her death, and now I mourn her loss of love.

  “I think I feel love in pieces,” I tell Lana.

  She saunters over and sits next to me on the bed. She wraps her arm around my shoulders and pulls me into her chest. I cry tears of happiness and sadness at the same time. I pull back and look at Lana and notice that her silvery eyes are watery.

  She smiles sadly. “You are a piece,” I tell her. A big piece. The most exquisite piece in my beautiful combination of pieces. A tear sneaks down Lana’s cheek. She does not brush it away. She does not try to hide her emotion. She wears it proudly, beautifully—perfectly. Lana represents everything I hope to become.

  She leans in and presses her forehead to mine. “I know,” Lana whispers. “I always will be. Remember that.” I want Lana to be a part of my life forever.

  “I will,” I say. We cry until our tears run dry—until the gray haze darkens and night comes. We talk about everything and nothing. Bec comes in and I tell my stories of the old world. I try to animate the tales, I urge my stories to take on a life form of their own. I want my stories to make up for the dreadful, unfeeling person I used to be. I can never repay them for their misplaced kindness, but watching their smiling faces gives me hope. One day they might forget about my glowing eyes and detached demeanor when I arrived in their circle.

  Out of habit, I glance out my window. I see movement and move in for a closer look. Finn has returned and he paces, his arms folded behind his head, eyes down to the ground. His black long sleeved shirt stretches tight across his muscled chest. His dark brown hair is wet and slicked back from his forehead. His eyebrows crease with worry. His hands fist, his chest visibly rises and falls at a harried pace.