Page 125 of Wickedly Ever After
“What I wanted? Hector, when did you ask me what I wanted? You think I wanted to go back, to sit in your chair and pass judgment on you, and stay there, staring at a new face where yours used to be, thinking about your life draining away one day at a time while I stayed where you put me—immortal and all alone?”
“That’s not whatIwanted.” His face flushed a dusky pink in the rose-colored light flowing through the window glass.
“Then what did you want?”
“I…I couldn’t stand it,” he said after a long pause. “When I thought about you leaving, being fired, I couldn’t even imagine standing by when you’d done nothing to deserve it. I was there when Happily-Ever-After happened. I took the black rose and grew it. It was my duty to answer for what I’d done.”
“Your duty.” Damn the man. Damn him and his foolish heart that couldn’t let go of his duty and responsibility.
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Oh, nothing.” She contemplated throwing her heart at his head. Instead, she crammed it back in the box before she could act on the impulse, grabbed her valise, and stalked out the door.
57
Hector
You heard it here first, folks! King Rupert and Queen Annabeth Divorced! Queen claims King cheated on her with Lady Gray, first lady-in-waiting and highest in the confidence of the queen. King denies all—says Queen is carrying on with the Head Gardener Exclusive from Lady Gray on page four!
I Was Seduced By A Two-Headed Strawman With A Giant Eggplant—one woman’s sizzling erotic encounter with a scarecrow continues to top the bestseller’s list…
—The Sorcerer’s Star
Crown Prince Archibald Quentin Rupert II and his consort Caedan Cay visited the flooded province of Westfale today where unseasonably heavy rainfall resulted in a dam break on the River Fale. Over a hundred people are confirmed dead and many others remain missing. The prince is expected to go before the Parliament of Commons and ask them to match the offer from the royal treasury to assist in recovery efforts.
In other news, the annual quest for the Holey Pail remains in jeopardy after three knights errant and their scouting master were reported missing. Knights Lanceboil,Piercenavel, Galehead, and master Arthur Pin-Dragon were last seen in the company of three banshees headed for Lake Wildmere. Anyone with information on the missing men should contact the Wildmere Sherriff’s Office.
—The Kingdom Wall Journal
Last chance to sign up for Witches’ Weeds Annual Garden Contest—Don’t Miss Your Chance! All new this year: Best Bog Competition!
Sale on Jack-in-the-Beanstalk’s Magic Root Powder!
Shop Cinderella’s Emporium for all Your Giant Pumpkin Needs!
—Witches’ Weeds
“Gods.” What had he said this time? All he was trying to tell her was that he would never have forced the issue had he not been so sure that she was right about Happily-Ever-After. Couldn’t she see how much he cared? How could he have fired her and spent the rest of his life alone without her to keep him company? Because he couldn’t lose her now. He’d known it from the moment he watched the immortality leave her eyes. It had been all he could do to restrain his anger and not shatter Agatha as soon as he turned her into stone. He clutched his heart protectively. No wonder he’d felt her pain so intensely. Part of it had been his own.Ida, why? Why does it always have to be this way between us? Why is it so hard to just say what I want to say?
He stomped down the stairs. It wasn’t hard to see where she’d gone. The crystal doors that led into the garden stood ajar.
“Ida!” he called, pushing both doors open. “I didn’t mean it like that! Of course, it wasn’t all about duty—I simply thought you were better equipped to deal with the aftermath than I was. I don’t understand love magic—or even love for that matter. I never have!”
“You got that part right.” Ida knelt at the base of a lily, digging it up with a hand spade. With an angry jerk, she lifted it and divided it with her fingers. She set a slip in one of the tea towels, then settled the remaining plant in the ground before waving her hand over it. Golden sparks drifted downward like fertilizer. “If it wasn’t all about duty, then what else was it about?” She moved on to the next flower bed. He followed, picking up the stack of tea towels she’d left behind.
“If you couldn’t bear to sit in the room and stare at the chair where I used to sit, what makes you think I could?”
She stopped digging but didn’t look up. Her rose-gold hair fell partly over her face, covering it.
Now. Now or I’ll never do it.
He squatted down next to her, touching the leaves of the plant in front of them both. “I know…I know I’m an old fool, and I know you and I…well, I doubt we’ll ever agree fully on anything, even when to have dinner, but these last few days—” He set his hand on her shoulder. “Ida? Will you look at me please?”
She turned toward him, face pink in the light flowing through the roses.
“Ida, I’ve lived more with you in a week than I have in a thousand years. When I thought about living another day without you, I knew I’d never want it. I’d be dead inside, truly heartless. I…I didn’t know if…”
“…I felt the same way?” She looked full in his face then, melting lavender eyes warm and wanting.
