Chapter 54
Becky
Dying did not feel much like dying, to be honest. It was a lot like living. Loud.
Overly loud, now that she thought of it. There were several voices going at once. Was she in the deadlands? Were these sophisticated apparitions here to escort her to the afterlife?
“brING HER BACK NOW, OR FLUFFY WILL FLAME YOU WHERE YOU STAND!”
An eloquent threat.
Bladen. So…she wasn’t dead, then.
In her mind’s eye, she was in a tiny room.
Her room, in fact. The cottage she’d made her home after her separation from her family and before she met The Villain.
It was modest, boasting merely one bedroom, but it had a fireplace with a large, cozy chair for reading.
Life’s luxuries were sweeter when she earned them for herself.
“It’s true. She did not pass,” another voice said. Moira? The librarian lady. Who didn’t pass what? Not her, surely.
“But I can grant one grand favor to those who did. Any favor.”
“Could you—save Rennedawn?” Clare asked carefully.
“Indeed,” Moira answered.
“Her.” Blade’s voice urged. “You’ll save her. And I’ll save the kingdom. But only if she’s in it.”
No one argued the point.
It was done.
And with that thought, she was sucked out the window of her cottage, her eyes shooting open. Office. She was in the office, the sunset upon them.
“Lovely Rebecka.” Blade’s hand was on her cheek, his face above hers, so tense, so panicked.
“I’m not dead,” she said in a daze. “You’ll never be free from paperwork! Or me.” Her hands came up, and she forced his mouth into a smile, too woozy to understand why that was so odd to him.
“You’re all right?” Blade asked, helping her sit up, his hand not leaving her back.
Becky nodded. “I’m fine. Just a little…out of it. Wait.” She snapped, fumbling to stand, panic suffusing every working muscle. “Wait, did I—”
“Die?” Prince Alexander suggested with a gentle raise of his finger.
“No! Gods, who cares about that.” Becky scoffed. “Did I fail a test? I’ve never failed at a thing in my life.”
Moira was observing from afar. “I’m afraid so, dear, but please don’t be upset. Your friends used their favor wisely, and I was able to bring you back from the brink.”
“No!”
“Rebecka!” Blade argued.
“No!” she said to him again. “No, that’s unicorn shit. I want to take it again. I don’t fail at things. Your test is wrong.”
Moira was taken aback. “Dear, I cannot send you in for another test. There’s no coming back from the dead twice. Just the once.” Moira paused, then added seriously, “Unless you’re a cat. Then it’s about eight or nine, give or take.”
“You can’t do that!”
“What has gotten into you?” Clare asked, astonished.
“Shh!” Tatianna swatted at her. “Let her go! I’ve never seen her lose it like this. I wanna see what happens.”
Shoving to her feet, Becky stalked forward until she was right in front of the woman playing puppeteer with her emotions. “I am Rebecka Eriania Fortis, heir to the Fortis Family Fortress and Head of Human and Magical Creatures Resources at The Villain’s office.”
She stomped her foot and heard Lyssa chortle.
“I. Do. Not. Fail.”
The plants in the office rose to attention at her command, but she ignored them.
Her connections to things that grew in Rennedawn remained the strongest on her family’s property, but it appeared her power was beginning to seep into other places, just in time for it to be sucked from Rennedawn’s soil.
Moira beamed. “Very well. You passed.”
Becky deflated, her words coming out stumbling. “You— Wait— Really?”
Moira winked. “Your mind was far too practical to work through a memory. I thought a live test would be more efficient—and entertaining to boot.”
“You little—” But before she could show Moira just how “entertaining” Becky’s fist could be to her face, Blade caught her about the waist, dragging her back.
“I wasn’t going to hit her,” Becky grumbled, shaking him off.
Trying not to allow his crooked grin to make her heart flutter.
Trying and failing. “What are you looking at?”
Blade’s eyes softened. “You, lovely Rebecka. I’m always looking at you.”
“He is,” Alexander confirmed with that graveled voice that he seemed unable to shake.
Small growling and chirping chimed in as the baby guvres made their way at full speed to Moira. “Hello, precious ones.” She picked up each of them with one hand, tucking them both into her lap.
“Fate’s creatures,” Rebecka murmured. “You created them.”
Moira looked upon them with fondness before placing the little buggers back down. They sprinted now for Rebecka’s skirts. “They were once a thought in my head; now, there they stand.”
“Thank the gods my thoughts don’t do that.” Blade shivered. “It would get real weird in here real quick.”
Rebecka let out a strangled laugh, and Blade’s hand fell subtly around her hip, pulling her closer to him.
“That scared me,” he admitted, not releasing his hold.
“And me!” Lyssa added, climbing out from her hiding spot beneath one of the desks. “How come I didn’t get a story?” she asked the librarian with a pinched brow.
Moira grinned fondly at the little girl. “Because, my dear, you are the story.”