Page 120 of The Prince from a Cruel Summer
“Yes.”
Her large amber eyes, red and glassy with tears, meet mine. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know.”
It’s no secret that I don’t want to marry Zeke, but him dying before the end of the year had never crossed my mind as a solution to my predicament. A wave of nausea washes over me as we reach the shade of the breezeway, my rendezvous with Aidan obviously canceled.
“Elizabeth!” Zeke’s voice booms behind us, barely recognizable, and my eyes widen.
Since when does he call me by my name? I freeze on the marble slab and give Willow’s hand a tight squeeze. “Go ahead. I’ll catch up.”
Zeke slows down as he draws near, no longer running, but pacing, never settling down in one spot. “I need to speak with you.” His chest rises and falls, his movements all over the place as though he’s been pumped raw with fear and adrenaline. Seeing him this way dizzies me, and I wrap my arms around my frame.
“Your father— It’s terrible. I’m sorry you had to find out in this way.”
He nods to himself a few times. “You and I have to get marriednow. Before the challenge.”
My heart somersaults. “What?”
I must not have heard him right.
“Well, notnow, but tomorrow. If I’m to beat Sombra, I need all the magic I can get, but this has to stay between us. Meet me in the main hall at dawn, and I’ll take you with me to Nocturna.”
My voice feels brittle as I say, “I have my Shadow mask ceremony tomorrow.”
“The Shadow King oversees every Shadow mask ceremony, so that’s postponed until his successor is crowned.”
“Oh.” My jaw drops in a mix of icy dread and panicked disbelief. I’ve been waiting for this for months—for that forever instrument of freedom—and it was right there within my reach.
“Everything will be arranged, and you can teach me how to handle your ice magic for a few days so I can take Damian by surprise at the challenge.”
The cocky, boastful prince is gone. The Zeke standing before me looks dead serious—bereft, and frankly, terrified.
He lifts his gaze to meet mine. “Chin up, moth. In ten days, you’ll either be my queen or my widow, free to live the life you want.”
There’s no suspicion in his eyes, no fear that I might back out—not now that his father is dead and a Faerie crown is actually within reach. Most students at the academy would kill for a chance to rule, and as Zeke shrewdly pointed out, I will either be his widow or his queen.
He doesn’t think anyone would be so foolish as to let such an opportunity slip away. Especially not a moth.
I climb the stairs to my room in a haze, playing absentmindedly with the ring Aidan gave me. I wear it on a chain around my neck, hidden from view most of the time, but so precious to me.
Willow is pouring us both a glass of wine when I enter the room, and I close the door quietly behind me.
“He wants you to marry him, doesn’t he?” she asks, not looking up from her task.
“Yes.”
She walks over and hands me a glass, her sharp eyes scanning my face. “And will you?”
“I’m not sure.”
Willow sighs, giving me a small nod. “I’ll stand by you every step of the way, Beth Snow,” she says, her voice warm but steady. She squeezes my arm briefly before slipping past me to sit on the sofa. “But let’s be honest. Zeke doesn’t have the brains to win that challenge. Even with your combined magic, Damian will eat him alive. I’d give him less than a five percent chance.”
Her bluntness stings, but she’s right. I sink into the armchair across from her, staring down at the wineglass in my hands. The weight of Aidan’s ring on its chain feels unbearable around my neck.
“And I don’t think even my father would risk the outrage of driving a young widow out of school. Once you two are married, you’ll inherit his status, even in death. No one will dare call you a moth again.”
I have been presented with the opportunity to both fulfill my promise to Zeke’s father and be free, but I don’t feel any relief at all.
