Page 107 of Wickedly Ever After
Ida raised her eyebrows. “It might be more appropriate to ask why. Hector?”
“I should think it’s obvious,” he snapped back. “I cursed her into a dragon so she can marry Alistair properly! Then the dragons will accept her. We’ll tell the Council that it was all part of your love magic to show that the prince’s true love was the captain of the guard. There are precedents—the woman unworthy of the title princessshouldbecome a monster. No one needs to know it wasn’t a punishment but a gift! There will be no need for the prince to save face and no need for the princess to evergo home. We can go back, our jobs are saved, the prince gets his man, the Flamelord has a mate, and you and I will have fixed Happily-Ever-After together.”
“Fixed ittogether? I’m never speaking to you again, Hector West! What were you thinking? I had a perfectly good plan—”
“Well, you didn’t enlighten me!”
Great tears like blood rubies filled Amber’s eyes. “I…I can never go home?”
Ida rounded on Hector in a fury. “You and your necomancy. Did you even consider if Amber wanted this?”
“But Idowant to be a dragon,” Amber sobbed. “It’s just…I want Alistair.”
“You—you do?” Ida gasped. “You actually want to be a dragon?”
“If it makes things better for Alistair and me, why wouldn’t I? I love him.” She turned her fierce firelight on her mother-in-law. “Will you accept me now or do we need to fight?”
Morga took a step back. “Let’s not rush things. First, I want to know how to fix my son.”
Ida glared at Hector. “Alistair is in an enchanted sleep in a cave. A kiss will wake him, a kiss from a princess. I’m afraid I didn’t account for the princess being turned into a dragon!”
“But if I kiss him, what will happen?” Amber asked. “Will he be a dragon or a man?”
Ida rolled her eyes. “A man. That’s what kisses are supposed to do. They change monsters into men.”
“Alistair was never a monster,” Amber said. “It’s you and the other witches who make people into monsters or men.” She turned and stalked back to her room.
“Hector?” Morga’s anxious voice echoed. “What if—”
“Don’t worry. I will do what I can,” Hector promised, patting her claw. “Ida, can we talk in your room about this?”
She was only too glad to flee.
***
Hector slammed the door behind them angrily. “Why?” he yelled. “Why did you do it? I had this fixed and you went and complicated it!”
“Fixed? You turned an innocent girl into a dragon—”
“You heard her! She’s happy she’s a dragon.”
“Balderdash. Of course, she’s happy now. But at some point she’ll want to tell her family, to visit them, and how do you think she’s supposed to do that? I had it fixed. She saves Alistair, he turns into a man, they go home together and she can tell them she’s safe and happy. Then they can return to the mountains where they can both live Happily-Ever-After, no questions asked. But that’s all pie in the sky now—why on earth did you turn her into a dragon? Now how will she break the news to her family? ‘Sorry, father, I ran afoul of a wicked witch who turned me into a dragon, but I couldn’t be happier? Oh, please don’t mount a mob to come and rescue me, I’m perfectly fine!’”
His face tightened. “Well, I don’t fault your logic, but you could’ve consulted with me!”
“As could you!”
Hector sat on the edge of the bed with a loud sigh. “Well, it’s done. Now we need to undo it.”
“There’s nothing to undo! When Amber kisses Alistair, he’ll turn into a handsome prince. There’s no getting around that. I suppose I’ll just have to be content with her turning into herhuman form for the trip, although Gods only know what her family will think of her if she’s now twelve feet tall like Morga.” She snorted.
“Youassumedshe could take human form?” Hector looked skyward, as if searching for his patience. “Do you know how long it takes a young dragon to learn how to shapeshift? Years! Years to learn, years to practice! I don’t even want to think about how hard it would be for her to try to compress herself as an adult. Of course, she’ll learn in time, but…”
“Years?” An icy chill of doom infiltrated her bones.
“Yes, years. What did you expect?” Hector flopped backward on the bed, clutching his head between his hands. “So now the future Flamelord is in enchanted hibernation in a cave somewhere, the current Flamelord is injured, the dragons are probably meeting in secret, and it’s only a matter of time before the whole Witches Council calls for us to report on how we botched everything. This is justducked.”
Her heart pounded fearfully. Ducked indeed. “Well, excuse me for trying to save your ass! I was going to give you credit for transforming a fine young man into a dragon and letting Amber be the princess who saved him.”
