Page 90 of My Faire Lady

She swallows. “Isn’t that something we should celebrate? You worked so hard for that.”

“It should be. And it was. Until I found out I only won because Scarlet charmed my submission.”

She inhales a long breath and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Lottie, I’m so sorry.”

I don’t know what to say. It’s not her apology to make, and I hate that the smallest piece of my heart wants to backtrack—defend Scarlet for what she did. But I don’t. There’s no excuse for what she did.

“You have to understand something about Scarlet,” she continues as we follow a bend in the path toward the forested outskirts. “When she was younger, she was wild and loud and the brightest light in our lives. Even if she wasn’t a witch, anyone would’ve considered her pure magic. Then she lost her parents. And ever since then, everything about her that was big got packaged into a box far too small. She tucked it so deep within herself that I don’t think she’d know how to find it.”

I remain silent, tears continuing their path down my cheeks. My head throbs, finding a pulse entirely of its own.

“But then you showed up, and she let some of those parts out for you.” Frankie presses her lips into a thin line and twists her necklace between her fingers. “I’m not trying to defend her actions. She overstepped, but I want you to know what you’re asking for. You’re not the first human I’ve brought to the hydra.”

My heart squeezes. Scarlet briefly mentioned the human Frankie had fallen in love with.

“What made him make that decision?”

She’s quiet for a moment, and we come to a stop before a cave opening buried into the side of a hill.

“He didn’t, even though I told everyone that was the case. I made that decision. I loved him so much that I couldn’t bear to keep him here the way I have been. They always say love means letting someone go with the hopes they’ll come back. But I don’t think that’s entirely true. Love is letting someone go, knowing with all certainty they’ll never return. It’s watching them grow old with someone else, experiencing things you once thought you’d experience with them, and still being happy for them.” She turns to me, tears threatening her eyes. “And that’s what Scarlet wanted for you.”

I swallow, and my searing anger wanes. It doesn’t disappear, not completely. “Then she’s getting exactly what she wanted.” But as a breeze twists through the leaves and the sun rises on the land that depends on magic, my stomach twists. “But what will happen to the rest of you? When I leave?”

Frankie chews on her lip. “I don’t think the magic is tied to you, Lottie. It’s never been influenced by a human before, so why now?” She shakes her head. “Even if it was, I wouldn’t let you stay here for us, either.”

She unravels our arms, and I slide my fingers beneath my eyes, dabbing at the tears.

“Scarlet was never going to let me keep my memories, was she?” I say.

Frankie’s shoulders droop, and she shakes her head.

I breathe out a huff and rub at the ache directly over my heart. Somehow, that hurts worse, knowing she was going to let me fall in love with her just to hollow it all out. I can’t decide whether it’s selfish or sacrificial.

I step forward, twigs crunching beneath my feet. “Let’s get this over with.”

The cave yawns over us, and Frankie weaves her fingers through mine. She doesn’t ask if I’m sure, or if I want to take the day off to reconsider. She’s been here. She’s been in love and had it snatched away from her. And somehow, as the cave swallows us whole, that eases the hurt a fraction. She’s lost everything, and she’s still standing.

Still breathing.

“I’m assuming you’ll have to wipe Kelsey’s memories, too?” I say as we follow a row of oil lanterns bolted to the cavern walls.

A steady drip echoes from the heart of the cave, and moss clings to the walls, a wet chill spreading down my back.

Her face is a blur of shadows, but she nods. “You’ll both remember that you worked here for the summer, but that’s it. You won’t remember the magic, your shoppe, or the rest of us. You won’t remember Scarlet.”

It’s like a pile of stones dump into my stomach. “Can memories be influenced? I can’t accept the scholarship, but can it make me believe I was moving to Edinburgh anyway?”

Even if I don’t remember her, I have to leave. I can’t bear the thought that I could visit the faire next year and not recognize Scarlet. Or worse, fall in love with her a second time. I can’t let her be Frankie—watching me build a life with someone else.

I love her enough to spare her that pain.

Frankie nods. “The hydra will be able to read your intentions, unbraid the memories, and weave them back together with whatever you want.”

The echo of her words fades as we step into the center of the cave. A hydra lies on the far side, pressed against the back wall with a wing curled over two younger hydras. Between the three of them, there’s nearly two dozen necks, each ending with a scaled, serpentine head.

A puff of hot air shoots over my head, and I freeze, my stomach pitching. My fingers tremble, and I lift my gaze to my right, where another hydra lowers to my eye level, the other eight of its twisting heads at least ten feet in the air.

Frankie huffs. “Calm down, Nea, it’s just me.”