Page 25 of Apprentice to the Villain
Her brow furrowed in indignation as she tugged at the top of her green floral corset; it was much tighter suddenly. “I didn’t beguile anyone, sir.”
His eyes followed her hand and shot away fast as he grumbled, “Of course you didn’t.”
She had every intention of telling the boss of her plans, of exactly who she had colluded with, of how she’d done it. But it was that little twinge of anger, that fleeting sign of discontent in his voice, that made her stop. He was bothered that he’d been shut out of what she’d done, and Evie found that she enjoyed that very much.
“It’s occurring to me, sir, that if you want to prevent Benedict from fulfilling this little plan, you might consider gathering the tools necessary and simply enacting the prophecy yourself.”
He gripped the page tight in his fist, giving her a cynical expression as he read the words aloud, the bitterness in his voice giving the whimsical magic a biting sound.“The person who saves the magical lands will take Fate’s youngling well in hand; when Fate and starlight magic fall together, the land will belong to you forever. But beware the unmasked Villain and their malevolent dark, for nothing is more dangerous than a blackened good heart…”He stopped, eyes widening. “I’m in this?”
Evie nodded. “You are.”
The Villain flipped the paper over and made a twisted expression when he realized that was all that was there. “Your informant couldn’t have given us the whole book?”
“No.”
“Why in the deadlands not?”
She shrugged before saying cheekily, “It wouldn’t have fit in my dress.”
The Villain groaned, collapsing back in his chair, holding the paper before him like it was about to detonate. “Fulfill the prophecy ourselves and then…what? The land will be mine?”
She took her seat and folded her arms. “That’s what it says. It’s why he wanted to unmask you, I think, so that the beginnings of the prophecy would take hold. Assuming this is all real, that is.”
“Oh, it’s real,” he said grimly. “Trust me.” Shaking his head, he pushed away from his desk and walked toward the windows. The sunlight shone a little brighter, like it was eager to kiss the skin of his cheeks. Evie understood the feeling all too well. “I never wanted the land. I merely wanted to terrorize it—and Benedict—until one of us succeeded in destroying the other. I’m the one meant to ensure all hope islost, not that hope still endures.”There was a vulnerability in his voice, which cracked at her heart like an ice pick against a glacier.
She came up behind him, wrapping her arms tentatively around his middle and laying her head gently against his back. He jumped at the touch but didn’t pull away. It gave her the courage to say, “There is nothing written in any text, gods-created or not, that says we cannot be more than one thing. You’ve been told for a very long time that you are made for destruction, but there is nothing that says you cannot be more. You can be capable of bad and do good. You can do good things and still be bad. Nothing is set in stone, and if it helps, I’ll stand by you no matter who you choose to be.”
A ragged, self-deprecating laugh left his lips. “Why?”
She couldn’t reveal the real reason without throwing them both completely off their axes, so she merely said, “Because I like who youare, not what you’re capable of.”
He ripped himself from her hands and fell back against the wall, looking astonished, looking…revolted? “Sage, are you of the delusion that everything can be fixed with a hug?”
The lack of composure he was exhibiting in their interactions was growing addictive. “No,” she said sweetly. “But don’t they help?”
“No.”
Kingsley held up a sign:Yes.
The boss narrowed his eyes at the frog before sighing in resignation. “So, we are enacting the prophecy. We are saving the magic.”
Evie grinned, clapping gleefully. “What better way to torment the kingdom than for you to take it over? We have the guvres, we have you, and according to the story, all that’s left is…” She swallowed. The thought had not fully registered until just then.
“Your mother and her starlight magic. We must find your mother,” he finished for her, picking up the ruined letters. “Sage—will you be okay? I know that your mother…”
“I’ll be fine, sir,” she assured him, though whether she could assure herself of the same was another question entirely. It had been many years since her mother abandoned her family—would Evie ever truly be able to face her again? Clearing the lump from her throat and trying to hold back her sense of foreboding, she said curiously, “But without the letters, we don’t really have a place to begin.”
The Villain seemed to assess her as if he were not sure she could truly be believed.That makes two of us, sir.“Read the dirty rhyme she left behind, Sage. Aloud, if you will.” He handed her the stack of letters.
Licking her lips, she looked down at the discolored paper and to the suggestive words at the top. “Where the oaks begin to kiss—” She paused, hoping the blood would leave her cheeks. “The caves below are where the gods once lived. Retrieve the dust that makes wishes come real—”
“Or you shall become the monster’s next meal,” The Villain completed and then immediately angled his head at her, looking very disgruntled.
Her heart was beginning to beat at a race hummingbirds would find disagreeable. “You know this rhyme?”
He gaped. “Yes. Why on earth did you think it was dirty?”
Marvelous. Now all the blood in her body was racing upward. Her face was on fire. “I, um…I suppose the kissing and the…caves might have given that impression.”
