Page 32 of This Prince Is Not Charming

I uncorked the vial and took a sip, the effects almost immediate as the tonic coursed through me, and all my anxiety, my joy, my anger, my sadness, faded away until it was nothing but a faint pulse. I sucked in a lungful of air. Already it was so much easier to breathe again.

And I was starving.

I shoved the vial into my pocket, and re-emerged on the main road of the town, where a few people were now out and about. Fishermen dragged their nets toward the sea in the distance, the sun rising over the horizon.

I was just about to make my way toward the butcher when I saw a flash of a maroon cape and hood dashing around the corner of a bookstore.

I stilled, something in me screaming that I’d seen this before.

“Wait!” I yelled. “Just wait a minute.” My legs started moving before my brain decided to follow.

There was only one group of people I knew that wore maroon hoods and cloaks. The Brotherhood of Magic. The last time I’d seen that cloak and hood had been the day of my wedding, and I’d been in a completely different town on the opposite side of the continent. It could be a different member of the brotherhood . . .

This had to be some odd coincidence. I rounded the bookstore, that maroon cape fluttering in the wind as the brotherhood member fled. This person was running from me, which meant they didn’t want me to catch them—and that was all the reason I needed to break into a run after them.

“Who are you?” I called as I sprinted, pumping my arms and legs faster, an ominous feeling settling over me. “Why are you running from me?”

I gained on them, even though this mystery person was taller. A hood still covered their head, obscuring their face from my view, but I’d catch them and demand answers. If someone from the brotherhood knew who I was, knew that I was portaling out of Fairwitch Isle, that could be catastrophic. Especially if they found a way to track me back to the top of Kiln Mountain. But no. That shouldn’t have been possible.

I was close enough now to reach out, so I did, managing to grab the person’s hood. I yanked it off to reveal wavy shoulder-length dark hair that was far, far too familiar. I’d know that hair anywhere. I’d run behind that head of hair countless times as a child. Hadn’t seen it in two decades.

I stopped, unable to get my legs to move. “Lor?” I called to my older brother as a loud yowl sounded from behind me.

“We have to go,” Meera screamed, a fish hanging from her mouth and what looked like a butcher hot on her heels.

“My fish is floating!” He pointed at Meera. “It lifted from my table and flew right out of my shop. Magic fish!” he screamed, looking at me. “Do you see it?”

I turned, but Lor had disappeared.

“Uh—” I scratched my head, trying to come up with an explanation when Meera opened a portal that pulled me in. The last thing I saw was the butcher’s mouth dropping open as we tumbled through it and back into Fairwitch Isle.

I fell to my knees. The air was cooler and lighter here. I tried to catch my breath as I glared at the cat. “Why would you steal a fish? I dropped you off at the literal ocean.”

Meera lay down, munching on the fish without a care in the world. “Do I look like someone who goes fishing?”

I dusted off my trousers, coming to a stand. “You look capable enough to me.”

“I am capable.” She munched on the fish tail. “That doesn’t mean I want to. I was not about to go traipsing into the ocean like a common street cat. Stealing was much easier.”

I squeezed my eyes shut as we walked toward the castle. The entire town was quiet and asleep this late at night. “Yes, it was easier until the butcher saw a floating fish. Are you forgetting that you’re invisible to the outside world?”

“I could never forget our curse,” she snapped.

“I hope word of that floating fish doesn’t get back to the brotherhood.” Then there would be questions. An investigation. All it would take to get the apothecary owner to open up was gold, something the brotherhood had plenty of now that they were stealing so much magic and charging for its use.

Fuck. I hated myself. I hated how weak I was. I hated that I couldn’t function without this tonic.

Just missing one dose had almost undone me.

“Someone had a late night,” Tal said from the door to the castle.

The gargoyle statue sat on the left side of the castle door, his twin on the right side. His stone wings spread out behind him, sharp talons sticking out from his fingers and toes. I never could tell the two apart, but Tal was always on the left and Barty was always on the right. I didn’t understand most of the items Castle chose to bring to life, but these two gargoyles were probably the most puzzling of all. They didn’t exactly protect us. Mostly, they just opened doors and argued. I personally thought Castle could’ve used its magic to make more useful things sentient—like weapons and doors that opened themselves, but no. We got arguing gargoyles.

I looked beside me to see that Meera was gone. She’d probably disappeared to polish off her fish.

“Was it that pretty little cat that kept you out so late?” Barty asked, his stone lips stretching into a smile, sharp incisors pointing out.

“She’s a cat,” I said. “I am a human. We don’t exactly mix.”