Page 4 of To Charm a Dark Prince

“Sometimes I wish I could just…fly away.Y’know?” She shut her eyes and leaned her head back against the wood wall behind her. “Sometimes I wish magic were real. That I could just…” She sighed. There wasn’t any point in making stupid wishes. Magic wasn’t real. She couldn’t fly.

Corn. And goats. And an old asshole cat. That was her world.

“Whatever. I’m gonna go order a pizza.”

Merlin was done with his food. He promptly shoved the empty bowl off the edge of his box.

“Hey!” She dove to catch it but missed. The bowl hit the ground and shattered. Sighing, she knelt down to pick up the pieces. “You’re welcome, jackass.”

Merlin loafed and stared at her, flicking his tail in irritation. She glared right back at him before giving up.

Pushing back to her feet, she dumped the pieces of the bowl in the trash. She hoped her mom wouldn’t notice it was missing. She wasn’t supposed to be feeding Merlin in the first place. If she did say something, Gwen could pretend she was the one who had broken it.

Shoving her hands into the pockets of her hoodie, she left the barn without saying goodbye to the cat. Not like the animal cared. Gwen wasn’t dumb—she knew the animal hated her. But he was easily over twenty years old and seemed to hate everything. As far as she was concerned, the old bastard had earned it.

Pulling out her phone, she texted her dad.Hey Dad. Mick and I broke up. Can I have a beer?

A few seconds later, the little dancing dots appeared, before she got her reply.Oh no! What happened?

He cheated on me.

More dots.You can totally have a beer. Mom says you should have two. Just be safe. Are you okay?

Gwen loved her parents. She smiled. They knew how miserable she was to be left behind, and this was just an insult added to injury. Or more like injury added to injury. They let her get away with a lot, as long as she was being responsible.Yeah. I’ll be all right. Enjoy your show. Love you.

Love you too, sweetie.

Heading to the fridge, she pulled out a bottle of the amber liquid and popped the cap. Her parents had always let her have one now and then for special occasions. They trusted her. And she was too much of a goody two-shoes to do anything without their permission, anyway. She called the pizza place on her phone—there was only one joint that delivered this far out into the middle of nowhere—and she settled down on the sofa to watch a movie.

Lighting a candle, she kicked up her feet, turned down the lights, and watched the opening scrawl to one of her favorite Disney movies start up.

Forty-five minutes later, the pizza arrived. Opening the door and the screen, she thanked the guy and took the box. It smelled fantastic.

Just as the door was about to swing shut, she yelped as a small, furry black object whipped past her, nearly tripping her as it bolted into the house. “Hey!”

Oh no.

Merlin stood in the middle of the kitchen. He looked back at her and, with his single-toothed fang, took off into the house.

“No! Merlin, come back! You know you’re not supposed to be in here!” No, the cat probably very much didn’t know that. Nor did he care. Nor had he ever once tried to get inside. The cat was in the living room, knocking things over with a series of thuds and crashes.

Gwen chased him. For a geriatric, scrawny, near-death animal, he wasfast.Everything that had been on the coffee table was on the ground. The lit candle, three books, her bottle of beer that was now spilling everywhere, and a few coasters.

He was already on to the next room, knocking over a lamp. The bulb shattered.

“Mom’s gonnakillme—” Her parents were going to be livid if they found the cat inside. Let alone all the damage. Dad was allergic to cats, and he’d already probably be sneezing for a week just having Merlin run through the place. “Come back!”

The cat ran upstairs. So did she. If he went under a bed, maybe she could at least corner him. He led her on a wild chase through each of the rooms. More lamps broke. One curtain was now on the ground. But shefinallyhad the bastard cornered.

“Okay, you little fucker.” She rolled down her hoodie sleeves and prepared to grab a very angry, very snarling cat. She was going to bleed from this, she was certain. “Time to go back outside.”

Merlin hissed.

The fire alarm went off.

Blinking, she turned toward the direction of the stairs. “What the—”

The candle!

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