Page 12 of Mirror of Malice
Shadow looked like she wanted to argue, but she just shook her head and brushed past him and toward the tent flap, opening it.
I sent a pleading look at her.
Wayfinder gave me a gentle smile before running a finger through his short curls. “He’s not so bad, I promise. You’ll be fine.”
Penn crossed his arms again, muscles flexing under that green shirt. He just snorted and rolled his eyes. “I don’t have all day.”
Wayfinder strode outside with Shadow.
Charming stopped in the opening and turned, jabbing his thumb at Penn. “He can be a bit moody, and he doesn’t have the best sense of humor, doesn’t really like to smile. He tells it likeit is, has been known to make people cry, and is generally very bossy.” He shot me a cheeky grin before disappearing through the flap. “You two will get along great.”
“Does he have any redeeming qualities?” I called out.
“Ah,” Charming yelled back through the opening. “Well, you’ll have to find that out for yourself.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, reminding myself of my goal: escape and find Jasper. I wouldn’t be stuck here, with this horrible man, for long. I’d find a way out.
Penn gestured to the tent flap. “Are you planning to stand there all day?”
Deep breath in. Deep breath out. I’d been stripped of my crown, imprisoned by my stepmother, made to watch my court fall apart, and yet this man, he might be my greatest obstacle yet.
I hadto run to catch up with Penn. I was already missing the others and their banter and smiles. This man was like a storm cloud, ready to rain down and ruin a perfectly good day. Not that I was having a perfectly good day.
We walked along a sparkling river that glittered as it flowed through hills, homes built into the mounds with doors, windows, and little chimneys with smoke curling into the air. This must be where the mountain dwellers lived. Trees peppered the village, and a wooden bridge ran over the water. This was like nothing I’d ever imagined.
I ran to a tree, laying my palm against the brown bark, feeling a spark deep inside of me, too deep for me to reach.
Tears pricked my eyes as I lay my head against the trunk, just wanting to feel my earth magic.
I could feel Penn behind me. “Your magic is gone,” he said, tone lacking any emotion. “It’s not coming back.”
I tugged at that spark anyway, hoping against all hope that I’d feel something more, that the power I’d been born with would flood my veins, that I’d be able to use it to move a branch, a leaf, to make a new plant sprout from the ground.
I pulled and pulled at the familiar thread, but nothing happened. So it hadn’t just been the castle, the imprisonment. My powers hadn’t just been dulled like I’d thought. Penn was right. My magic was truly gone.
I still didn’t know how my stepmother had managed to overtake my father, to take away our earth magic, to inflict this damage on the land. She was born of the earth court, just like me, just like everyone who lived in Elwen and Mosswood Forest.
We all had the same magic: earth magic. We all had the power to control any living thing that grew from the earth, as well as the ability to create plants. We could all cast vines from our hands, make flowers and trees grow. Sure, some of us might be more adept at growing crops or controlling trees or creating new species of plants, but we all had the same powers at the core.
Penn stepped up beside me. “We don’t have time for this?—”
I shoved past him, just the sound of his voice making me want to punch something. Preferably him. “Then let’s go.”
He moved ahead of me, and I followed, blood boiling. They’d done nothing while my people suffered. The mountain dwellers lived here, in this beautiful village, going about their lives like my stepmother wasn’t on the other side of that border destroying my entire court, stealing magic and twisting it into something dark, destroying our once beautiful lands.
It was unforgivable.
We walked across the grassy expanse, along the river and toward the wooden bridge. Mountain dwellers peeked out their windows as we passed. A few women walked past us, eyeing me. I tugged at my tunic, self-conscious for the first time over how I must look.
Good green earth, I’d give anything to have Jasper’s arms wrapped around me right now while he nuzzled my neck, nibbled at my ear, pressed his lips to mine.
A memory flashed into my mind, unbidden and very unwanted. A kiss. A hard body. Probing lips. And they weren’t Jasper’s. The kiss after my rescue. Those soft, hungry lips that had made me melt. Those fingers that had stroked my cheek. I looked at Penn in horror as he walked a few steps ahead of me.
Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. It hadn’t been Jasper. It had beenhim. This horrid man. He couldn’t have kissed me like that. Made all the bones in my body wilt, made me forget who I was and that I’d spent the last two years imprisoned. Him. I wanted to rip the memory out of my brain and hurl it as far away as I could.
“I know I’m handsome, but it’s rude to stare,” Penn said over his shoulder, drawing me from my thoughts.
My face flushed as I realized I was staring, though I didn’t understand how he’d known that, given I was behind him. I raised my chin.“I’ve just never seen someone with such a large head.”
