Page 15 of To Charm a Dark Prince

“I fear that some portion of it will be.”

“What do you—” She blinked. The room looked a little out of focus. That was odd. Rubbing her eyes, she blinked again. No, that only seemed to make it worse. The fire was suddenly too bright.

She didn’t feel so good. “What did you…the wine?”

“I am very sorry, Miss Wright. But the prince will have seen the meteor, the same as us. He will be on his way. I cannot let him think that I am harboring a fugitive.”

“I’m not—I didn’t do anything—” She tried to get to her feet, but only successfully slumped to the ground. Her legs were as good as jelly. Something told her she wasn’t going on a quest. “I…”

“But you have committed a grievous sin, young one. Even if you did not intend to. Please forgive my deception—I needed to buy some time while it took effect.”

Gwen’s eyes slipped shut of their own accord.

“You are an elemental. I am afraid you are bound for the Crystal.”

Gwen couldn’t find the strength to respond as everything went dark.

FIVE

Gwen was getting sick of waking up in weird situations. And in pain. She groaned. Her armshurt.Like, a lot. Like a whole lot. It took her a hot second to realize why. She was hanging from them.

Whelp. That’d do it.

Pushing up onto her feet, she whined at the burn in her shoulders. She had shackles—literal metal shackles—around her wrists. They were attached to chains that ran over her head to a rusted iron post that was shoved deep into the ground behind her.

Yanking on her wrists, she instantly regretted it. Her shoulders twitched and spasmed in protest. They weren’t so happy about the extra strain. “Ow, ow,ow—”She tried to wriggle her hands out, but the damn things were tight enough that her fingers were tingly. There wouldn’t be any squirming out of them without breaking all the bones in her hands first.

Which might be on the table.

“Let me go!” She decided to try shouting. “Help! Somebody help!”

There were people gathered around nearby. She could see them at the edges of the center of the town where the post was stuck. Where she was stuck.

“I am sorry, Miss Wright.” It was Grigory. He was walking over, flanked by the same two guards she had met before. “This is the only way. The prince will be here soon.”

“What—why? What is happening? What’re you going to do to me?” Now she reallywasgoing to have a panic attack. “I didn’t do anything!”

“You do not deserve this, and you have my sincerest apologies. But I must protect my people. Surely, you understand that.” He clasped his hands behind his back. “The prince’s dragons were sighted on the horizon. You will not be here for long.”

“That’s not a good thing!” She kicked at the post and swore. Right. She didn’t have shoes on. “Let me go. Please, let me go—I’ll leave. I’ll run into the woods. I won’t be a problem, justplease, let me go.”

“I cannot. If he discovered I had a hand in your escape, my life would be forfeit. And those of everyone under my care. Forgive me, Miss Wright.” He bowed his head to her and walked away again, leaving her there alone. In the middle of a field. Chained to a metal post.

“Thissucks!”She flailed again. Maybe she’d get lucky. Maybe the prince wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe he’d listen to reason, and—

The sound of metal creaking filled the air. On a trip to the east coast for vacation, her dad brought her onto an old World War Two battleship. She distinctly remembered the old iron ship groaning as it shifted in the waves, even just tied to the docks as it was.

This sounded exactly like that.

Like something enormous and metal moving in ways that metal shouldn’t.

When something crashed down to the ground in front of her, Gwen screamed at the top of her lungs.

She screamed.

And burst into flames.

“Shit-shit-shit-shit!”

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