It doesn’t matter. There’s only one thing that matters in my world. One good deed that I must always protect.

  I am trembling as I raise the contents of the box to my mouth. My teeth sink into the flesh. It’s tougher than I thought it would be. Normally, I would cook it or mix it in some sort of spell, but I don’t have time.

  Tick tock.

  I force my mouth around another bite, struggling not to retch. I drop to my knees, determined to do this for Snow. Bite. Keep her safe. Swallow. One good deed. I take another bite and choke on the taste, the hard, leathery flesh forcing its way past my throat. There was a reason I never resorted to this before, why I kept this power sitting on a shelf gathering dust.

  Once I finish consuming, I drop to my hands, gagging, my body trying to expel it. It tears at my insides, trying to make me purge it. What I just did is unnatural. It’s evil, dark magic, and for several minutes, I’m not sure if I’m going to keep it down. I can feel the power inside me rebelling. My fingers are glowing. The pure original magic is turning dark inside of me. I’m not the predestined holder of the magic, nor am I the current holder.

  I was never supposed to be a Vessel to an Elemental Spirit. Not like Snow or Eric. But even after they pass and the Elemental goes to a new Vessel, their bodies will still contain a surfeit of the magic. They are not human, not truly. You have to be special to survive the power of an Elemental, and holding one of the original four is the closest thing to divinity our world will ever see. The four made this world in an explosion of magic, and when I heard that one of their Vessels had died, I hurried to her corpse and stole what I could. The power had already passed on to the next Vessel, but I can feel the remnants in me. Snow and Eric live with this inside them? Every day?

  They would despise me if they knew what I just did. It’s better that I never see her again. How could I ever face her after eating her mother’s heart?

  Chapter Forty

  Snow

  Belle and I arrive at the stables out of breath. The horses are stomping their hooves uneasily, a couple neighing at the sight of our arrival. I slowly walk past the stalls, calming the horses. They all seem to settle when they see me. I stop at Doc’s stall to slide a soothing hand along his neck. He seems restless, probably sensing my anxiety through our bond.

  After pressing a kiss to his velvety nose, I move to Beast’s stall. He slams against his door, and I jump. I remember him being aggressive, but I know how to calm him.

  Belle squeals. “Is that him?”

  “Yeah.” I nod and hold my hand out, summoning a snowflake. The Beast stares at it for a moment before chomping it and slamming his body against the gate again. I jump back from the gate, and Belle storms forward.

  “Listen here, you stupid horse! You’re going to help us!” Belle exclaims.

  The Beast snarls, slamming against the gate again and splintering it. I scream and throw my hands out, creating an ice wall to keep him in. My powers feel different, stronger. I shake my head, pushing the thought aside until later.

  “Let’s not yell at the horse!” I exclaim.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Belle hisses at the wall. “Now what?”

  I chew my lower lip, trying to think. Azura had said that the horse used to be the rudest of men. My eyes widen. Was she talking literally?!

  “No, she didn’t,” I mumble.

  “What?” Belle asks.

  “I think the horse is a man.”

  “What?!”

  The Beast rears, slamming his hooves against the ice. We don’t have much time. The ice is starting to crack.

  “We need to turn him back!” I say.

  Belle nods. “Alright, alright. I think I know a spell, but I can’t wield magic.”

  “I can do it.”

  Belle nods again before letting out a breath. “You’ll want to get in front of him.”

  I nod, moving in front of the ice wall where his shadow is. “And then?”

  “Close your eyes and ground yourself. Once you are grounded, stretch your projecting arm out and pull the magic inside him in,” Belle instructs.

  I nod again and close my eyes. I reach my magic into the ground through my feet. Ice emerges from the ground and crawls up my legs, feeding me power from the earth. It hums through my body, and I extend my hand, allowing the glowing blue magic to jut forward into the Beast. I feel it anchor into something inside him, and I pull. Dark magic flows from him into my arms, turning my veins black. It’s heavy, strong, and potent, but I am able to draw it from him.

  “Send it out the other hand and then say fluch umgekehrt,” Belle informs.

  I take a deep breath, pushing the dark magic out of my other hand before whispering, “Fluch… umgekehrt.”

  White light surrounds the Beast, and I step back, covering my eyes. The horse whines, the ice shatters, and steam roils. When the air clears, a man is kneeling in the middle of the broken ice, his skin tanned and scarred. His shoulders bulge with heavy muscles, and his shaggy brown hair glints in the light. He looks up at us, and I see a deep scar that crosses his left eye, going from his eyebrow to his lower cheek. I think I hear Belle whimper beside me.

  I scream, “Ew! Naked man!”

  “It’s alright, Snow.” Belle tilts her head. “It’s nothing impressive.”

  Then why did you whimper?!

  The man stands straight, and I cover my eyes to avoid looking at the dangly thing between his legs.

  “I am free,” he growls, sending an uncomfortable shiver down my spine.

  Belle crosses her arms. “Not yet, you aren’t.”

  She nods at me, and I seal all the exits with ice. The man locks his eyes on Belle and grabs her by the throat, lifting her from the ground.

  “I will kill any who dare take my freedom from me again,” he growls.

  I step forward, my body trembling. “Please, sir. We… I just need help.”

  His eyes glow red. “Ten years trapped as a beast. No one will take my freedom from me. Never again. Not that bitch. Not you.”

  Belle spits into his eyes, and I wince. I love the girl, but I silently reprimand her for egging him on. I watch the muscles of his arm flex, his grip tightening on my friend’s neck. She claws at him, gasping for air.

  “So easy to break,” he says. Belle’s face starts to turn blue, her breathing becoming shallow.

  “Please let her go! We broke the spell!” I plead, tears filling my eyes.

  The man looks between her and me before dropping her to the ground. She gasps for air and coughs, rubbing her neck,

  “For that, you have my thanks,” he says.

  I move forward, taking the man’s hand. “I need your help, and then you never have to see us again. Please.”

  His eyes narrow. “What is it you want?”

  I chew my lip, gulping. “Take me to Azura’s castle.”

  “Bitch,” he snarls.

  I flinch away from him. “Please… I… I love her.”

  Belle weakly stands, placing a hand on my shoulder. It doesn’t help the anxiety gnawing at my stomach.

  “She trapped me as a horse and used me as a beast,” he growls.

  I lift my chin. “What she did was not right, but I can help her be better.”

  He snarls, dragging his claws against the ice walls. “Drop this prison!”

  I shake my head. “Not until you promise to take me to her.”

  “She is evil,” he snarls. “There is only one person to who she would bow. Someone so horrifically vile all shudder just hearing her name.”

  Just him speaking of this mysterious person makes me shiver, but I don’t stop pushing. “Take me to her.”

  “She doesn’t love you. She can’t.” He glares at me. “It’s not her nature.”

  I look at him for a moment. How do I make him believe? How do I show him I am right?

  She does love me. She sacrificed herself to save me.

  I lift my hand to push my hair away from my face and glimpse my wrist. That’s it. I pull my sleeve up, showing him my tattoo.

  “She saved my life by taking my injury as her own,” I say.

  “You’re dreaming,” he snarls.

  “I’m not!”

  The man is silent, looking at me for a long time. “I owe you a boon for freeing me. Ask for something else, anything else.”

  I shake my head. “I need this.”

  He snarls, closing his eyes. “This is the end of me helping that bitch. Understood?”

  “I understand,” I say, nodding quickly.

  He is silent again. “I’ll take you to her. Alone.”

  “Fuck no!” Belle protests. “I’m not leaving her with a brute like you.”

  “Then she doesn’t go,” he snarls.

  Belle walks forward, poking his chest. “If you think I’m going to leave her, you’ve got another thing coming.”

  “Belle…” I gulp.

  She looks back at me, shaking her head. “Oh, no. What would your brother say?”

  “He’d say no,” my brother’s voice echoes from behind us.

  I spin around. “Eric!”

  Eric is standing by the door, his hands in his pockets. “I knew something was odd about that woman.” He looks at me, his eyes softening. “You love her?”

  I nod. “I do.”

  My brother searches my eyes for a moment before sighing. “Then go.”

  “What?!” Belle hisses, my expression matching Belle’s words. He is letting me go? Into danger?!

  The man twitches his head from side to side, his hands slowly becoming claws. “Decide, or I’ll lose control and kill you all.”

  Just a bit intense.

  Eric only snorts at his response. He strolls forward, wrapping his arm around Belle’s shoulder. “No, you won’t.”

  Belle sighs. “Can Snow and I have a moment?”

  The man doesn’t respond, though his breathing becomes more ragged, his body larger. Belle only rolls her eyes before taking my hand and pulling me away. I drop the ice walls just before we step outside.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask.

  Belle sighs, looking around. “I just… I wanted to clear something with you.”

  I frown, tilting my head.

  “When you saw me with your brother. It’s not what you think,” she says.

  She still blames herself for what happened to Azura and me. I frown. “Then what is it?”

  Belle licks her lower lip. “He helped me out with a few things. I was having a moment, and he talked me through it.”

  I search her eyes. Something is troubling her, and clearly, it’s something she doesn’t want to relive. I smile softly at her before pulling her into my arms. “I trust you.”

  Belle lets out a soft breath. “You’re really going to go with him?”

  “Yes. He is my only hope of finding her.”

  She squeezes me tighter. “Then be careful, and you better come back.”

  I pull away, smiling at her. “I will.”

  The two of us make our way back into the stable. Eric is snickering, and I can see the man is just barely holding himself back from beating my brother into a pulp.

  “I’m ready to go!” I say.

  The man whirls on me, his body rippling and shifting into a massive black wolf with blood-red eyes. He lowers one shoulder just enough for me to climb on.

  “Take care of Belle for me?” I ask my brother.

  Eric smirks. “Always.”

  The Beast snaps his jaws at my brother before launching out of the stables and into the forest.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Azura

  The taste lingers in my mouth, coating my tongue and rolling my stomach. Each is a reminder of what I have done. I have used magical beings to power my magic before, their wings, eyes, tongues, and even hearts, but never have I consumed a Vessel’s heart. My nails dig into my palms as I leap over a fallen log, running deeper into the forest. Even as the trees move around me, the path is burned into my mind. They whisper and dance, trying to confuse and dissuade me from my destination. I blast the trees with my power, throwing them back when they try to block the path again, cinders and smoke curling from the leaves and trunks. I am normally not so careless. You don’t want to make an enemy in this forest, and the trees can be a terrible enemy. But right now, I don’t care.

  I have to protect Snow.

  The sound of discordant screeching grows louder the farther I run. The trees scratch and cut me, seeking revenge for their fallen brethren. I need to keep running. I can’t stop, don’t stop.

  One good deed.

  I burst through the crowded tree circle and into the glistening glen. I hiss when I see that I’ve lost most of my skirt in my rush. Cuts decorate my arms and legs, but I barely feel them.

  My gaze focuses on the creatures in the circle of toadstools. I brush the lingering tree branches off my dress, straighten my back, and stride forward as if I don’t have a care in the world.

  Feign it, even if your knees are shaking and you’re about to collapse.

  My hands don’t tremble as I cross them in front of me. I link my fingers and incline my head to the glowing beings at the center of the toadstools.

  It takes a heartbeat for the fae to look at me. His eyes spark, containing the entire night sky. He looks me over from head to toe, his dark hair cut short, making his eyes even more disconcerting. The magical shield drops, and he gestures for me to enter. I keep my head high as I enter the circle. A seat forms across from him, and I take it as if it is my due. The lesser beings bow to him, but no one knows where he came from. The rumors are that there is a portal to a land full of his kind, where light and dark fae are divided by a mystical boundary.

  The fae king looks me over. A cruel smirk lights his unnaturally angular features, offsetting the ethereal glow of his skin. I have no doubt which side of that boundary he was born on. I sit calmly, readjusting my nearly non-existent skirt as if it were a glittering gown. Everything about the fae is meant to disarm. I need to focus. I am here for a reason.

  One good deed.

  The fae king looks me up and down again. “I know why you’re here.”

  I lift the teacup that appears in front of me. I know not to drink unless I wish to be enslaved to the high fae. These are simple rules that were drilled into my head as a child.

  “You do?” I ask, carefully wording my question to not give anything away. Even one slip could end with the fae owning my soul. That’s assuming I have a soul to bargain with.

  The fae king lifts a perfectly shaped tea cake to his lips, smirking as he takes a bite, observing me. It takes all of my control not to snap at him in impatience. My nerves are frayed, and every moment I remain still, I can feel the approaching darkness. With each passing breath, the remains of the Vessel’s heart makes its way out of my system, taking the magic I need with it. I should have headed straight to face her after the magic hit, but instead, I went to the fae king. My priorities have shifted.

  Snow.

  I don’t know what will happen when my world is consumed in darkness. The clock is counting down in the back of my head, the sound becoming louder and louder. I must protect Snow. It is my one redemption.

  The fae king smiles indulgently. “There is little that goes on in this realm that I don’t know about.”

  I tense slightly at that. “Oh?”

  I need to keep every word out of my mouth in the form of a question. A statement can be used to trap me into a deal for my power and soul with the fae king. It’s that easy to end up indebted to the fae.

  “You are here to discuss the young Snow White,” the fae king says, taking another bite of the overly perfect tea cake. Each flex of his jaw as he chews puts me more on edge.

  Does he truly have eyes everywhere? The eyes in the trees. The water watching. Have I just fallen into a trap? I barely stop myself from flinching with the realization.

  Out of habit, I take a sip of the tea and then tense with horror. Poison. Everything I know and every precaution I've taken is lost in a single moment of carelessness.

  The fae king’s smirk widens as the teacup falls from my frozen hand. He stands from his seat, brushing his hands down his midnight jacket. “Alas, you were not the first dark sorceress to make a deal with me.”

  All light vanishes from the glowing glen, the sound of massive wings descending. I can do nothing but sit there, the poison in the tea keeping me frozen in place. He mentioned Snow, and I’d forgotten everything, falling directly into his trap.

  Into her trap.

  Metal claws brush my skin, pulling my hair back over my shoulder. I can’t even shiver. I know those claws, hearing them clink against each other, the sparkling diamonds on the edges able to cut through the chest of any foe.

  “Hello, my daughter,” Maleficent purrs into my ear. “Time to go home.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Snow

  Hours go by, the wind blowing through my hair and tears keeping my cheeks wet. In the past, I would have frozen solid due to the freezing weather. Now I seem to be absorbing the cold, the chill powering my magic, making it stronger.

  The Beast is incredibly fast. I can’t even lift my head from his fur for fear of flying off. He is the most physically powerful being I have ever come in contact with. I use my powers to keep his muscles cool, allowing him to go faster and run longer. The power of his muscles as he grips the earth is magnificent, and I can’t help but admire him. With his speed, I will be with Azura again very soon. Together, we will fight this darkness.

  Whispers appear on the wind, and I am able to feel them all around me. They call to me from deep within the woods. Their voices try to pull me from the beast, their power strong and luring. Not as strong as Azura’s, but it’s close.

  “Wait, stop. Stop!” I call. The Beast snarls at me, galloping forward. “Stop!”

  He growls, skidding to such a hard stop that he tosses me off his back. I land face-first into a pile of dirt, groaning as pain explodes in my nose.

 

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