The Last Ever After (26 page)

The young School Master paused. “And yet, what if Readers learn that the Old has been made
New,
just like all your fellow students? What if the one power to keep stories alive discovers that the Good stories they hold dear are all a lie? That Evil always wins, has always won, and always will? What then?” His sapphire eyes reflected the fires of the painting. “The gates to Gavaldon will open for the
true
ending to your fairy tale—an ending that will erase every Ever After down to the very last one . . . and put an end to Good forever.”

Agatha was corpse white. “What's the ending? What do you want with Gavaldon?”

“Me?” Rafal cocked a grin. “Oh no. It isn't me you should be worrying about, Agatha. If there's one thing you should have learned from Evelyn Sader, it's that the most dangerous person in a fairy tale is the one willing to do anything for love. A description that fits your best friend, doesn't it?”

The School Master held out his palm and Excalibur flew out of her hand and into his. He smiled wider, handsome as the devil.

“And it just happens your best friend's love is
me
.”

“Me?”
Tedros leapt off the bed. “Have
me
back?”

Sophie lifted to her knees on the mattress. “I know you chose Agatha over me, Teddy. I know she's your princess now. All I'm asking is that you keep yourself open before you decide for sure. The End isn't written yet, is it? I'll come with you and Aggie to Camelot. I'll do anything you want. Just give me another chance to be your Ever After.”

Tedros looked like he'd been kicked in the pants. “I . . . I don't know what you're saying . . .”

“That if you're asking me to question my happy ending, so should you,” said Sophie.

Tedros shrank against a wall, clutching the shreds of his shirt. He could see the Storian furiously capturing the two of them, alone in the School Master's chamber. “And if I won't?”

Sophie's fingertip glowed pink. “Then I'll choose Rafal and my loyalty will be to him. Which means I have to tell him you're here.”

“Listen to yourself, Sophie. Listen to what you're asking me,” Tedros pleaded. “You're dazzling, intelligent, and absolutely mental in every way and I can't imagine my life without you. From the moment I saw you first year, I thought you were my future queen. But we already tried to be together. No matter how good we might seem on paper, in the end, we're meant to be friends. Just friends. Like we were last year—”

“When you tried to
kiss
me?” said Sophie.

“That . . . that's irrelevant . . .” Tedros stuttered. “What matters is that Agatha and I are happy together—”

“Really?”
said Sophie, sliding off the bed and moving towards him. “You said I was the one who brought you two back together. Which means you two had broken apart. Which means you two aren't particularly happy if it takes a third person to
fix
your love.”

“Look, happy endings take time and work and commitment,” Tedros retorted. “Mine and Agatha's won't be the last Ever After that wrestles and doubts and fights to hold on to love. Just look at your own.”

Sophie paused. “You're right, Teddy. That's why I asked my heart to tell me my
real
ending. And this is what it said.” She held up the ink on her skin, desperation creeping into her voice. “I want to love Rafal. I want to love anyone but you. You bring me nothing but pain and hurt and humiliation. Yet my heart only knows your name, Teddy. What else can I do but see if it's right?” She gazed at him through tears. “Our fairy tale brought us back together, here and now, because it wants a different ending. Why else would you be here alone without Agatha? Why else would you be the one to rescue me instead of my best friend?”

Tedros went rigid, thinking of all the twists and turns that brought him and Sophie to this very moment. The two of them alone, face-to-face, no disguises, no tricks, for the first time in two years. Then his cheeks went apple red. “I could never do that to Agatha. Neither could you, Sophie. You're not a witch, anymore—”

“And yet, Agatha and I had our own Ever After until you made
her
reconsider,” Sophie said, treading closer. “So if asking
you to open your heart makes me a witch, then you're one too, Tedros. Because you did the same thing to Agatha when she was
my
princess.”

Tedros was speechless.

“But now it's time for all of us to face the truth. It's time for the last Ever After,” Sophie pressed, cornering him. “Don't you want to know who your princess is without a doubt, Teddy?” She stared into his eyes. “Wouldn't your father want you to look closer one last time?”

Tedros' turned away, gritting so hard she could see the bones of his jaw. “You know nothing about my father,” he said.

“Teddy, listen to me. I'll leave Rafal, just like you ask,” said Sophie gently. “I'll destroy his ring and commit my heart to Good forever. I'll follow you and Agatha to your kingdom, fully accepting you might choose her and I'll end up alone, the sidekick to your happy ending. All I ask of you is a simple promise: that you'll give me another chance before picking your princess forever.”

Slowly Tedros looked back at her . . .

“Sounds like quite a deal,” said a voice.

They spun to the window.

Rafal glared at Sophie, Excalibur to Agatha's throat.

But his expression wasn't nearly as surprised as Agatha's.

Hort woke up when he heard teachers' muffled shouts upstairs. He couldn't make out more than a few words: something about Aric attacked? An intruder on the loose?

His first thought was to check if Sophie was safe. Then he
remembered she was in the old cretin's tower, far away from the castle, and he'd been so good at
not
thinking about her and now wasn't the time to regress.

He glanced at Chaddick and Nicholas asleep in their beds, handsome, beloved Everboys who girls once drooled over.

Hort smirked. Now the girls all wanted him.

He saw the way they goggled at his new muscles and flirted shamelessly in the hall, sizing him up like a lamb shank. He could have anyone at this school, Ever or Never.

And yet, as he leaned against the window, staring at the School Master's spire over the Blue Forest, Hort found himself wondering what it would be like to live there with Sophie. The two of them, ruling all of Evil together . . . A hot, burning feeling edged through his body as he imagined her in his arms for a perfect kiss—

He flushed pink, smearing away sweat.

No.

She hurts you.

She only hurts you.

You don't love her anymore.

Tearing his eyes away from the Forest, he clenched his teeth, sank to his pillow—and bolted back up.

A small pinpoint of gold glowed from the School Master's window.

Not just gold. Buff, brassy gold, halfway between flaxen and amber.

He knew this because he knew everything about Camelot's prince, down to the precise hue of his glow.

What he didn't know is why that prince's glow was in the School Master's tower.

Tedros grabbed Sophie by the waist and held his glowing finger to her throat. “Hurt Agatha and I kill your queen,” he warned the young School Master, only to see Rafal press Excalibur deeper into Agatha's neck.

“Teddy . . . not a good deal . . . ,” Sophie wheezed, straining for breath.

But the two barechested boys locked eyes across the chamber, gripping their hostages tighter.

Feeling the sword's cold blade, Agatha shivered with confusion. Here she was, counting on her prince and best friend to rescue her from a lethal villain. Instead, she'd arrived to find Tedros' shirt ripped open and Sophie asking to be his princess.

“I said let Agatha
go
,” Tedros growled at Rafal, his torso red with heat.

“Oh-ho,
now
you're my prince?” said Agatha, against the School Master's cold, pale chest. “The prince who a second ago seemed rather open to testing out a
new
princess?”

“Stop it, Agatha,” Tedros snapped, digging his lit fingertip into Sophie's throat. “Rafal, release her or—”

“Or what?” Rafal was strangely calm, staring at Sophie. “You'll kill a girl you've come all this way to save? A girl pledging her heart to
you
?”

There was no anger or vengeance in his face, only a cool evenness that left Sophie unnerved. “Rafal, I'm sorry,” she said. “But I have to make the right choice this time. The right choice for
me
.”

“Like betraying your best friend?” Agatha lambasted her, before turning on Tedros. “Or telling your princess to her face how much you love her and the moment she's out of sight, pretending she doesn't exist?”

“I was just hearing her out,” Tedros fired back. “Sophie said she'd come with us if I gave her a second chance. With everything on the line, don't you think that's a worthy request?”

“A second
chance
?” Agatha scoffed. “After all we've been through, after everything we said to each other in Hester's room, now you want to try out another girl?”

“You're not getting it,” said Tedros, temper flaring. “Why can't you ever trust me? Why can't you trust
us
?”

Rafal raised his brows. “And here I am asking the same of my queen. For the first time, I have something in common with an Everboy.”

He grinned at the handsome prince and Tedros looked away.

Silence fell between the two couples. Even the Storian faltered, unsure who was defending who anymore.

“Don't mind me,” Rafal prodded, smiling. “Who needs a villain when you three have each other?”

“Ignore him, Agatha—” Tedros started.

“If you want me to ‘trust us,' then tell her, Tedros,” said Agatha quietly. “Tell Sophie I'm your princess forever. Right here. Right now.”

Tedros looked at her, dejected, as if they were talking past each other.

“You can't do it, can you?” Agatha breathed.

“Agatha, dear, I know we haven't seen each other in a while,” Sophie jumped in, “but knowing the male species as well as I do, ultimatums only drive them awa—”

“I'd rather have my throat slit than talk to you,” Agatha thrashed.

Sophie shut up.

“Agatha, I love you,” Tedros said, firm and clear. “But all Sophie wants is for me to think twice before we seal our Ever After, just like we're asking
her
to do. That's fair, isn't it?” He turned to Sophie. “Promise me that if I give you a chance you'll destroy the ring. Promise me you'll destroy it as soon as we leave here.”

Sophie waited for Rafal to get angry, to threaten her, but he looked oddly entertained.

She nodded, distracted by Rafal's smirk. “I promise.”

Rafal snorted.

“See?” Tedros pressed Agatha. “All I have to do is be willing to follow my heart and everything will end happily.”

Agatha could see his frustration, as if she was the problem here, not him. It only rankled her more. “And what about my heart? Tedros, how can you stand there and look me in the eye and—”

She froze, finally feeling the clarity of her prince's blue stare.

He was lying.

Tedros was
lying
.

The prince bound to his promises, bound to the truth, was lying for
her
.

He was telling Sophie only what she wanted to hear. He'd do whatever he had to in order to rescue their best friend from Evil's clutches and destroy that ring, including pretending to give Sophie a real chance at his heart.

This whole time Tedros had been trying to tell her the stakes were worth it. A ring destroyed. Good heroes spared. Her best friend saved. Her prince still hers . . .

And all Agatha had to do was go along with the lie.

So much for being 100% Good
, she thought, resisting tackling and kissing him right there.

“Do you understand the terms?” her prince smiled, seeing the change in her face.

“You'll give Sophie a chance and follow your heart . . .” Agatha smiled back, her face glowing.

Sophie was beaming now too, glancing between them obliviously.

“. . . straight to Camelot's future queen,” said Tedros, eyes on Agatha.

Agatha's smile vanished.

Queen
.

That word again. That word that never seemed real.

From the moment they came back to the Woods, she'd put off thoughts of ever making it to Camelot, assuming Tedros and her would break up first or she'd die rescuing Sophie or the Woods would go dark and kill them all. Indeed, the closer they got to finding Sophie again, the more she'd fought with Tedros, as if unconsciously trying to tell them they
couldn't
ever get to Camelot.

But here she was, on the cusp of her future as queen of the most famous kingdom ever known. As a queen who the people would judge so closely after Tedros' mother failed them. As a queen who must restore the legend of her crown.

And nothing standing in the way between her and that crown except one big little lie.

Right then and there, in a moment where Agatha had accused Tedros of doubting their future, only to see he was, in fact, rock solid . . . it was she who suddenly had the doubts.

Me. A queen? A
real
queen?

Tedros saw her face darken and his smile dissipated too, as if he knew she'd stalled before the last hurdle.

“Aggie?” said Sophie's voice.

Agatha looked up.

“
I
still feel like his queen,” Sophie said, reading her expression. “Which means something in our story's still wrong, isn't it?”

Agatha could see the unswerving belief in Sophie's face and her gut twisted deeper.
Something
was
wrong.
For how could she and Tedros be The End if everything in her heart told her she'd never make a queen to Camelot, while everything in Sophie's heart told her she would?