Page 40 of The Prince and His Stolen Throne
Maximus crossed his arms and thumped back into his chair, disappointed with the Good Wizard’s analysis.
Fitz ran a hand through his tawny hair, mussing the stylish swoop. “Are any of our quest ideas viable?”
“Well, you have a list of mages here, some of whom the councils have already dubbed ‘great and terrible’: The Prince of Shadows, the Beast Baron, the Soul Stealer. And you’ve listed breaking the curse on theGrimnight Forest. The council has been scratching their heads over that particular conundrum for years now.”
“Wasn’t that your suggestion, Trey?” Delilah asked, drawing everyone’s attention to me when I’d done such a good job avoiding their scrutiny.
The Good Wizard looked straight at me, his ancient black eyes deep and penetrating. Did he know I wasn’t really Bane Royalty? Could he see the geas binding me, or an evil stain over my heart?
I resisted the urge to shrink away from his gaze and stared placidly back at him. “Yes, I thought the backstory was interesting.”
“Does breaking a curse qualify as ‘defeating’ a great and terrible evil?” Fitz asked. “I assumed we’d have to, you know—” he mimed stabbing the air.
“Heroes do not need to kill evil doers to defeat them,” the Good Wizard replied. “Thwarting their evil plots is enough. Breaking the curse on the forest would save the nearby towns and allow the old residents who once fled their homes to return. However, if the Lord of Grimnight awaits you at the heart of the curse, you will not have an easy fight.”
“Lord of Grimnight?” Fitz asked, sitting up straighter. “Do you mean the mage who first laid the curse?”
“Yes, he disappeared at the same time, though the council believes he is biding his time to enact a much more sinister plot.”
Adding an evil mage to the mix convinced Fitz. “All in favor of breaking the curse on the Grimnight Forest?”
Since it was my idea, I raised my hand. Delilah pursed her lips in thought, then slowly raised her hand as well. After a few seconds, Maximus followed suit.
Only Angelica stubbornly sat with her arms crossed. “I’m not trudging through some stupid foresthopingwe can break the curse. It could take months to find the solution. Or years! And what if there’s no evil mage at the center?”
Trust me, there is.
“Evil comes in many forms,” the Good Wizard stated. “It lingers long after people have set it in motion. Whether you face the mage or simply untangle his sinister plot, you have done good in the world.”
We all stared at Angelica. The quest was supposed to unite the kingdoms. If she continued arguing, the others might second-guess the choice and turn their attention somewhere else.
Rolling her eyes, she finally raised her hand in the air. “Fine, we can save the Grimnight Forest.”
“Excellent,” Fitz said, clapping his hands together. “Now that we have a firm objective, we can spend the next few weeks plotting our route, researching curses—”
“I’m afraid you don’t have time, Prince Fitzroy,” The Good Wizard interrupted. “Once you chose this path, the spell began to thin. Already evil lurks in the shadows.”
My heart pounded at the Good Wizard’s accusation. Was he talking about me? Wilde? Or something else that had slipped through the cracks? Had something worse than the old man already set their sights on the Desolated Lands?
But the Good Wizard didn’t elaborate as he declared, “If you delay too long, you will lose your chance to complete the spell at all, and your kingdoms will be vulnerable once more.”
Angelica scowled. “Our parents never mentioned that. Where does the spell mention a time limit?”
The Good Wizard narrowed his eyes at her. “Young lady, Iwrotethe spell, don’t you think I know it the best of anyone?” To prove himself, he pulled a tightly bound scroll from his pocket and flicked it sharply. It rolled open, stretching across the table, falling over the edge, and bouncing all the way to the closed door. He placed a pair of half-moon spectacles on his nose, shifted through the scroll until he found the proper section, and read aloud: “Under Article Thirteen, Section C: Once the Intent is Spoken, Action is Imperative. Planning weddings, embarking on quests, etcetera, etcetera, you get the picture.”
“Actually, I don’t think we—”
The scroll snapped back into a tight roll and disappeared into the Good Wizard’s sleeve before Fitz finished protesting.
“You have one month,” the Good Wizard said, passing Fitz’s notes back to him. “The curse must be lifted on the Grimnight Forest before then, or the Kingdom Defense Spell will fall, and the Desolated Lands will be at the mercy of every evil known to man.”
“What?” Delilah shrieked.
“I knew this was a bad choice,” Angelica muttered.
Fitz’s eyes widened. “Can we change ourmind—”
Purple smoke exploded around us. It clogged my nose and mouth, choking me and causing a harsh, wet coughing fit. Amidst the chaos, I heard the soft scrape of a door closing.
