Page 37 of Wickedly Ever After
“Those times are past, Hector—”
“Why?” Hector demanded.
Alistair growled low in his throat. “For their participation, the king and his court promised to kill no dragons except those elected to embody evil during the Happily-Ever-After. Without this protection, we would soon have faced extinction—I know all that Hector, but that’s not going to happen now!”
“No. It won’t, because I won’t let it happen, Alistair, and neither will you. You know as well as I do that the monsters aren’t us—the monsters areinall of us. Only Happily-Ever-After keeps them in check. We have to do this—we must be the evil that holds the kingdom together. That’s what it takes to preserve the peace, including the peace of dragons.”
“When the peace of dragons depends on the abduction of a woman who is no more a willing participant in this charade than I am, it isn’t worth the word, let alone the meaning of it!”
“The princess knows what is expected of her as much as you do—she is a willing participant. It’s the law of the land.”
“No person restrained by magic just because it’s been the law for a thousand years is truly willing. I don’t care if she grabbed the rose out of Ida’s hand like I took mine out of the vase—I didn’t want it, and I’m sure she didn’t either! We were forced into it.”
“Alistair, don’t make mereallyforce you.”
The large blue eyes narrowed to angry slits. “You wouldn’t.”
Hector raised his staff, set the head of it against the mirror.
“Piss off.” Alistair’s voice sounded rough, raspy, angry.
“You promised. And if you don’t keep your word, the weight of it will be with you for the rest of your life, and that will be far worse than if I compelled you to come.”
“Then why don’t you?” Alistair flapped his wings, disturbing the clouds, but his eye didn’t move. He was stationary, wherever he was.
“I don’t want you to hate me for the next hundred years,” Hector said with a sigh. “But I’d rather you hate me than hate yourself. Don’t endanger your people, Alistair.”
“I am not endangering—oh, balls!” Alistair gave an angry, futile hiss, and the blue eye vanished, to be replaced by shining obsidian scales as he launched himself skyward.
Finally. Hector tucked the mirror in his robes.
“Did you get him?” Tinbit asked.
“He’s coming,” Hector said. “He’ll be late, but fashionably so. Not a bad thing. It will allow the princess and prince more initial bonding time.”
“How do you know he’ll be late?” Tinbit asked.
“I saw clouds—he’s in the mountains, most likely, probably a little west of here—”
Tinbit raised one eyebrow. “Are you sure it wasn’t smoke?”
“No. Why?”
Tinbit pointed out the door of the stable. “Because the palace is on fire.”
18
Ida
As the single most important magic of our history and critical to the well-being of our kingdom, only the oldest and most experienced witches on this Council will be trusted to manage the Happily-Ever-After: the arranged and magically binding marriage of a royal to a commoner, thus ensuring that the magic made so many centuries ago to save our world continues to function and preserve the peace.
Any failure to carry out these duties shall be deemed reason for immediate expulsion from the Council and the revoking of the immortality granted only to Cardinal Witches.
Rules and Regulations, Council of Witches, Role of Cardinal Witches
The future queen was in her parlor, but she wasn’t eating bread and honey to judge by the noise. Ida slipped into the tent, admiring the way the enchantments had held up over the years. Meant to be a foretaste of the splendors awaiting a queen, the cloth walls shimmered and took on the appearance of a polished marble façade as Ida walked through. Curtains of blue and silversilk framed a fainting couch absolutely awash with dresses. A lady-in-waiting moved around the room, muttering angrily and picking up discarded garments and hairpieces.
“Where is Princess Amber?” Ida asked.
