Page 200 of Bride of the Midnight Prince

“I hope I’ll get to see Phillipa and Sunny again.”

I tilt my head, craning my neck to look at him. “Who are they?”

“My wife and daughter.”

I blink. “I didn’t know you were married. Or that you had a child.”

“I did. Once upon a time. They died at the hand of their fae master in Valehaven. I had been trying to get them out . . . but it was too late.” He says it all very calmly.

“That’s . . . awful,” I say.

“It was tragic, yes. I found that life doesn’t end when tragedy strikes. It keeps on going and going and going. You can either resist it, or embrace it. I’ve done my best to embrace it. Still, I want to be reunited with them. It has been a long separation.”

“That was why you began your own work,” I whisper.

He turns and smiles at me. “And why I took such a liking to you.”

I lean my head back against the cold grate. “What do you think will happen to our work? Once we’re gone?”

He doesn’t hesitate. “It will continue. It won’t be us anymore, but where there is a need, people rise to fill it. I believe that one day, this power struggle between our people and the fae will end. It may start as a whisper, but it will end in a flood.”

“I don’t know how that is possible,” I reply.

“Not as our world is currently arranged,” he agrees. “But you have heard of the Veil, have you not?”

“I have heard of it. I am not familiar with it, however.”

“It is the great divider of the fae worlds. Only very, very strong magic can breach the Veil.”

“You think we should create a new Veil. One between the human world and Faerieland.”

“Someday, I think it will happen,” he says softly.

The distant drip grows louder in the silence.

“If we’re going to die,” I whisper, “then I want to know your name. Your real name.”

He lets out a sigh. “My name is Jacob Everfells.”

“Jacob,” I whisper. “I’m glad our paths crossed.”

“I’m glad for it, too.”

Heavy footsteps echo through the cavern. Guards—coming.

I stiffen. We each get to our feet. I look at him and see only the light of his eyes as he gives me a swift nod.Goodbye.

They go to his cell first and drag him out. I watch, horrified, clinging to the cold iron bars, until the sound of him being taken away dies into nothing. The memory of Agatha, Oliver, Mary, and Becky in that throne room returns with a frantic fervor that is no longer deadened by the tailor’s calming presence.

He is going to die. They are all going to die. Because of me.

“Oh saints,” I breathe, shoving my knuckles between my teeth and biting down hard as the panic settles in. Suddenly, I don’t feel so resigned to death. I don’t want Jacob to die, and I don’t want to die either.

But I know in my twisted gut that this is the last time I’ll see the tailor of Valehaven.

“You’ll see Mama again,” I whisper, trying to calm the frantic beat of my heart. “You’ll see Father again. You’ll see Jacob, too.”

I won’t see Mary. Or any of the house staff that is more like family to me. Or Bartholomew. How will Bartholomew ever be alright? She will keep expecting me to come to her. She won’t understand.

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