Page 106 of Sugar & Sorcery
A sharp breath escaped me. My gaze swept the shop again, as if I could imprint every detail into my memory. Arawn, who believed himself capable only of destroying… He had done all this.
“He gave me my traveling shop,” I murmured, running my finger over the wood. Then my fingers curled tight. I stomped my foot so hard the jars on the shelves rattled. “The nerve of him!”
The Cursed startled, too.
“That damned fool thinks he can make such a grand gesture and then just disappear? Who does he think he is?” My hair bristled with fury, a deafening silence falling over the room. “There’s no way I’m letting him do this to me.”
“I thought it would make you happy,” muttered Aignan, kneading his new silk throne.
“Happy?” I cried, my cheeks blazing hotter. “Of course it’s romantic! It’s the most beautiful thing anyone’s ever done for me. It’s perfect, and it’s…” My voice broke. I threw my arms up, exasperated, pacing the room. “It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of! But he can’t just leave me this and vanish. I refuse to be trapped in a shop built with love while he sacrifices himself for me.”
Not again.
No one moved. I drew in a deep breath. Once. Twice. Three times. Then, by sheer reflex, I tied on my apron.
“Fine. Alright. He left me his heart. Literally. As if I had a choice.”
Yeun fluttered toward the counter where the still beating organ bled onto the parquet. “You do have a choice, mademoiselle. The elixir, or… With this heart, you can stop him by binding him. It beats for you, and it will obey you.”
“Bind him?” I repeated darkly, eyes fixed on that fragile thing. “The one thing Arawn feared most was being controlled. I won’t make him a puppet. Not just to keep him with me. He’d make a pitiful pet monster anyway.”
A trembling breath escaped my lips. My resolve faltered. I pulled my knees up against my chest, curling against the counter.
“Love isn’t possession. He drove me away to protect me from the fight. And now I have to go back. Back to the ashes he left behind.” I closed my eyes, tilting my head back. “Either turn him forever into something he despised, by controlling him with his heart… Or honor his will and kill him with the elixir.”
I twisted the ring on my finger. The apple-shaped lid clicked open. A butterfly of mist escaped, spiraling toward the western window. Arawn’s words echoed in my mind.
I will always be with you.
I shot upright, banishing the ache that threatened to shatter inside me.
“Alright,” I snapped, fire blazing in my voice. “Are you with me, or not?”
Despair had no place here. I had endured too much to crumble at another obstacle. Chouquette leaped to me, her tails brushing my cheek. Éclair stepped forward, the shelves trembling under his weight as he tied on his own apron.
“I suppose you have a plan,” Yeun fretted.
Not yet. Not really. But I nodded all the same.
“If it doesn’t work, you’ll have to stop him,” he added.
I drew in a deep breath. “I understand. I’ll prepare the elixir.”
Arawn believed in me. I no longer had the right to doubt. I turned to Aignan. He hunched down, averting his gaze, refusing to meet my eyes. I crouched beside him.
“I know how you feel about sorcerers… You don’t have to come. Stay here and watch the shop, alright? I promise I’ll come back.”
Aignan gave a bitter laugh. “I’ve heard that promise before.” He lifted his eyes to me, hard and unyielding. “She never came back. And it was my fault. I let Nyla save me. And in return, I was stuck with you. A clumsy, desperate child who knew nothing of life. You were rejected too… so it was hard to hate you.”
My heart tightened. Aignan’s ears twitched.
“A black lamb. A worthless beast, cursed with bad luck.” He sniffed, placing his paw on my hand. “Nyla and you were the only ones who treated me like a living being.”
I squeezed him in return. Aignan was my best friend. My brother. My confidant. Without him, I would never have become who I was.
“I still think your sorcerer is an idiot,” he muttered. “Not a bad idiot, but he irritates me.”
A smile crept onto his muzzle. Arawn had won Aignan’s loyalty without even knowing it.
