Page 1106 of One More Kiss

“How many times have I told you no, woman?” Edan groaned.

I stepped away from Edan, and Renora as she tried to hold me back. The time was now. “Mother, stop. Please! I know you’ve been hurt. I know of your past now, where I didn’t before. You were right, and what happened to you was awful, cruel, and… Mom, please.” She lowered her hands, and for the first time in a decade, I thought I saw my mother staring back at me. “Please, I’ve always done everything I’ve been told, lived a lie for so long, just let me have this. If you ever loved me, do right by me this one time. Mom, I beg you.” My heart shattered as I watched her face change to an expressionless mask.

She shook her head. “No, you shall choose, to see what I’ve always seen in this kingdom, with its magic taking free will and forcing futures upon each of us, fairy and mortal and creature alike, or lose everything to this system that has tamed your full potential. You witnessed today how the guild has tied your magic to a wand to keep you in line, harnessing your magic and using it in a way they desired.”

“Mother, why should I choose when I already know the answer? I’ve broken my wand, just as you did all those years ago. I no longer wish to be part of their institution of forcing their will and paid wishes upon others. Don’t you see? We’re not on opposite sides. I’m only in love. I just want to live and be free. Can I not have that?”

“Love?” She tossed her head back and cackled. “Love, Tatiana, does not exist, not for us. It is a fleeting emotion, and it will only break you. Choose now or I shall curse you and all of Fairy kind. I’ll harden your hearts and you shall never know what love is or that it even exists for fairies. It is best this way. You’ll never learn true heartbreak.”

“No.” Edan put his arms around me and gazed around the room. “I have loved Tatiana since we were children. I have planned on marrying her for years. There is no curse that will remove the love I hold in my heart. There is no fairy here who can—”

“Oh, dear Prince.” Beatrice tsked. “So young and naïve. Have you not figured it out by now? Princess Hadley was not the only one who hired me to stop this wedding and send you her way. The bloody guild, after the hell they put me through, paid me to curse my own daughter because she and I are the same. Cursed and fallen.” She bowed her head, but when she lifted it, her normally ice-blue eyes had turned purple with black swirling around the edges. “Walk away from my daughter. You will not harm her nor break her heart. You still have time.”

Hadley rubbed her hands together and performed a graceless twirl. She lifted her décolletage as if pushing two overripe melons into place and leaned forward. Edan’s groan grew louder. “My man is coming home to me.” She crooned like a lunatic.

She was a special kind of stupid. Stay focused, Tatianna.

“Mother, you’re the one breaking my heart!”

She whirled on me. “I’m saving you. Saving you from a lifetime of heartache and pain. You’ll thank me later. Move away from the prince. Don’t make me curse you. This is not what I want.” Her eyes flickered, and I could see my mother for a moment before they changed again.

Renora came forward. “I know what happened with Reginald. I only remembered it today while speaking to Tatiana about him. Beatrice, please. You’re better than this.”

“How would you know? Did you try and save him? Save me? After…” She trailed off.

“Beatrice.” Fredrick walked up to her and placed his hands on her face. “I had no idea what the guild did to you, not until today. They’ve lied, manipulated, hardened your heart. Listen to—”

Before Fredrick could finish, Renora broke her wand, and in a flash of golden magic, a cloud of fairy dust settled upon the crowd.

“Get her, and make sure you earn every bit of gold I’ve paid.” Hadley picked up the hem of her gown and took off at a run, like a bull seeing a flapping red cloth. She charged full steam ahead, taking a flying leap.

Oh. Shit.

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