Page 39 of The Winter Prince

“I tried dozens of ways to break the curse, or have you forgotten?”

Enlo scoffed. “You never once tried to go find a human to fall in love with you to break the curse.”

“Because no one could love me!” Revi roared, and the force of his words pushed Enlo back a step. “No oneis going to love a monster. If that is the only way to break the curse, then it has been impossible to break since the very beginning.”

The pain in Revi’s voice echoed against something in Enlo’s own heart, but he hardened himself against it. Pain was no excuse for Revi’s choices.

He pitched his voice lower. “Then why are you so angry about me seeing Kienna?”

Revi’s sides were heaving. He didn’t look at Enlo.

The silence stretched.

“If there’s nothing else, Your Highness.”

Revi only turned his head farther away. Enlo gave the smallest of bows and strode from the room. Anger vibrated in his every pore. He couldn’t take it anymore. His cousin might be too blinded by his own hubris to save the Court, but Enlo wasn’t, and he would sacrifice anything—anyone—to see it done. No cost was too high.

Chapter 25

Kienna

Kiennawokeinhercottage, but something felt wrong. Wrong was too strong of a word, her mind told her. Nothing was wrong. But something was undeniably different. The pressing sense pushed in on her again.

She set about making tea, and her pulse quickening at the thought of seeing Revi again. She’d been turned away by his healers each time she’d tried to visit him during the day. And with how he’d left the night before, she didn’t know what to expect from him today.

Instead of a knock at the door, a voice called out, making Kienna jump.

“Kienna, won’t you let me in?”

She moved to the door and swung it open. Her smile froze in place at the sight of the man standing there.

Icy blue eyes, tall and lean, short hair that flopped across his forehead in a disheveled, charming way. He was familiar, but he looked wrong. This was not Revi. This was the other man, the one from the waking world.

She couldn’t believe she’d ever mistaken them before. Her memories of her dream prince were always hazy during the day, but seeing him here, now, when she remembered her dreams perfectly, the differences were clear. They looked so alike they could have been brothers, or at the very least cousins. But this man was too lean, his hair too short. His eyes lacked the strange glow to their blue hue.

He didn’t wait for her to greet him. He moved forward, pushing her back a step, his smile warm and his gaze intense. “I’m sorry I haven’t come recently. Things have happened.”

“Come in.” She took another step back, allowing him entrance so she could shut the door, and cleared her throat. She wasn’t sure how he’d ended up here instead of Revi, but she would do her best to take advantage of the opportunity. “Things? Have you learned something to do with the beast’s injury? Or with those monsters we saw outside the wall? Is it something to do with the drought? Please tell me; I want to help.”

He nodded. “My magic is... connected to the beast’s. He rules this Court currently, but for me to take my rightful place, the curse must be broken.”

Kienna’s heart thrummed in her chest. At last someone was giving her answers. But… were they true answers, or was he twisting his words like he had before?

Her mind raced to parse through his words, trying to pull the facts from the rest.

A curse would certainly explain things—namely the drought.

“How do you break the curse?” she asked, her voice breathless. She hoped he assumed it was from excitement, not the tension that coursed through her.

He shook his head. “Youbreak the curse.”

Kienna blinked. That certainly wasn’t the answer she had been expecting, but it would explain her presence in the Winter Court. But… it didn’t fit his previous words. Alarm bells rang in her mind. Something didn’t fit. “If I can break the curse, then why would the beast bring me here?”

“If you break the curse forhim, he will continue to rule the Winter Court. But if you break the curse forme...” The man stepped forward, bringing his hands up; one wrapped around her waist, the other moved to cup her cheek. She tried not to startle at the sudden contact. “I need your help, Kienna. I need your help gaining my rightful place.”

This man, who looked so like Revi they could have been brothers… wanted to steal Revi’s throne? Was what he implied true? Did the throne rightfully belong to him, or had he just deluded himself into believing that to justify moving against Revi?

She didn’t want to believe Revi had stolen the throne. He… couldn’t have, could he?

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