Page 5 of Not Another Happily Ever After

To let me create some good before I go…

Besides, what Gally’s saying is impossible. Because the first-born son, the supposed missing piece to this godforsaken curse?

He’s the sole reason it exists. The epicenter of my suffering.

The Evil Queen’s child.

The prince that was taken by fire.

It’s right there in the Evil Queen’s own words…

I curse the crowns upon your heads.

May your sun never set.

And your night never end.

With your greed and selfish pride.

You stole a crown and took a life.

So keep all your riches, but enjoy them not

And let all you’ve ruined never be forgot.

Till the day you die, I curse unto you

A life full of rot. A life full of dues.

But should you wish to make amends

For all the good you’ve helped upend

Give me a life untouched by sin.

An eye for an eye.

Innocence for a lie.

And once the deeds are done,

Put the heart of the daughter into the hand of

the first born son.

“Princess?” Galahand’s cold fingers rest on my shoulder, pulling me free from my thoughts. “I had hoped this might bring you comfort?”

Comfort?I let out a humorless laugh. “I hope you don’t think me rude, Gally. But to hear that the very one who is meant to rip my heart from my chest is somehow the only reason I’ve been kept alive isnotthe consolation prize you think it is. Upon hearing that I am to die either way, no less.”

Galahand’s lips pull into a frown as he turns to leave, muttering to himself as he goes.

Perhaps I am not the only one in need of rest.

I stare up at the weathered beams above me. It’s not much for entertainment, but I suppose the steady stream of water trickling through the cracks will have to do.

Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop.

I count one hundred and seventy two before the last drop falls and the room grows still in the pontiff’s absence. It feels as if the world inside these four walls has stopped entirely. Or maybe it’s only my mind, scrambling for a way to create more of what I don’t have.