Chapter Six
Daphne
Igive up trying to keep pace with the two knights intent on dragging me backward.
Walking forward is hard enough. Whatever this is, is asking for trouble.
My feet bump on the stone for a few beats before Nash grumbles something under his breath and swings me up into his arms like a bride.
His jaw feathers when I skim my fingers over his cheek and marvel at how he looks like he’s aged many annuses in only a few weeks.
He refuses to meet my gaze, but his hands tighten around my waist and thighs as if he’s checking I’m still here. Doesn’t he realize I’m never going anywhere again without him or his brothers?
“I still find it hard to accept that it’s her,” Charming snaps from behind us.
I peer over Nash’s shoulder and raise a brow. “Nobody invited you to my ‘welcome back to the living party,’ Prince Poopfloof.”
Gwyneth shakes her head in warning, and he snaps his mouth closed. I gaze between them, noting how she doesn’t flinch when his fingers skim the back of her hand. I will unpick that mess apart later. Maybe Prince Poopfloof will be murderous maiden Daphne’s first victim?
We duck into a familiar room in the knights’ wing of the castle, and the door slams closed, sealing us inside. Good. I have many, many questions, as I’m sure they do.
Nash’s chest rises and falls in a quick rhythm as he clutches me tighter, making my bones creak in protest. If I don’t calm him down, he might barricade us inside his chambers until threefold has been met, and while I’m more than ready for whatever this beautiful man has in store for me, I need to check on everyone first and make sure they know I’m here to stay.
I cup his jaw and guide his face to mine.
Darkness shifts behind those stunning green eyes.
His beast that he keeps on lockdown, the one he believes I’m unaware of, prowls close to the surface tonight.
You learn a lot in the stars. You don’t scare me, Nash Stirling.
Not when it’s because of your words that I fought my way back to you.
“Are you real?” he whispers.
I grin. “As much as you are.”
“Brother,” Hart says. “We all need to see her and figure this out.”
Figure what out? I’m here, alive, and ready to throw down against any Idols who dare to come between me and mine again.
“Put me down,” I urge. “I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
He lets loose a long sigh and, with a nod, drops my feet to the floor.
I take a step around him, ready to greet the rest of the gang—minus my dragon—when I’m halted by Nash’s hand tangling in my hair.
He yanks my head back and crashes his lips to mine.
Oh, okay. Our reunion can wait. Everyone can see I’m alive, so we’ll catch up the following diurnal.
My pulse thunders, and all thoughts dissipate in a dizzying cloud of need. As suddenly as it started, Nash releases me, and I stumble back, my trembling fingers brushing over my swollen lips. He steps to the side, and I meet my sister’s eyes first.
“I don’t trust it,” Hart growls, folding his arms and narrowing his gaze.
“It’s impossible,” Gwyneth murmurs, tilting her head to the side.
Why isn’t everyone scrambling for a hug of their own?
My sunshine twin leans against the wall with his arms crossed, mirroring Hart. My eyes drop to his bloody knuckles, and my brow furrows. “What—”
“No, you don’t get to convince us with pretty lies,” Hart snaps, interrupting me.
“I don’t lie,” I growl, my hands fisting at my sides. “And I’m improbable, not impossible. Are you so na?ve to believe an architect of this world could just die? That I’d wave on my way out the door and wait around to meet you in the next life? I’m disappointed in your lack of conviction.”
“We pored over the books for weeks,” Gwyneth says. “There’s no way to defy death.”
“Meaning she isn’t who she says she is,” Hart snarls.
I glance over my shoulder at Nash perched on the arm of the sofa. He knows I’m me, but it looks like I have to convince each of them myself. Fine.
“You want proof?” I say, tilting my chin up.
“Yes,” Hart demands.
“Just be you,” Nash advises.
Who else would I be?
I point at Hart. “Our first kiss was in this very castle after I accidentally stabbed your father while trying to steal the broken half of Excalibur.” He tilts his head and narrows his eyes.
He needs more? Fine. I stalk closer until we are toe to toe.
“What you do with your tongue makes my eyes cross.”
“Too much information,” Charming drawls.
Yeah, right. He’s probably jealous he’ll never possess their skills.
I rise on my tiptoes and place my mouth against Hart’s ear.
“I murdered the man pretending to be your father while he was in dragon form, saving you the horror of killing a parental figure even though he was beyond evil by forcing Theo to burn you over and over again as children.” He sucks in a breath.
There are many things people could infer about recent events, but what happened in their childhood is something they don’t discuss.
Confessing it to me created a bond no Idol can break.
I step back and cup his cheeks, holding his stare and allowing my soul to shine through my eyes. I have always worn my heart on my sleeve, but baring your soul takes trust. “I’m in love with you,” I confess.
His hands curve around my waist, his fingers digging into the base of my spine. Hart’s a harder lover than the others, the perfect balance to his brothers.
“I don’t want to believe it, because I won’t survive losing you twice.”
“You won’t have to. I promise I’m here to stay. Your Calamity is ready to wreak havoc on those who play with our futures.”
He leans his forehead against mine. “Daphne.”
I graze my lips across his in a silent vow to return to him soon. Everyone’s waiting their turn for me to unpick their fears and doubts over my resurrection. I step back out of his grip before turning to face my sunshine and rainbows twin.
“Malachi,” I murmur as I get close enough to examine the flecks of gold in those green orbs.
He arches a brow. The darkness surrounding him doesn’t recede.
My hands curve around his, and I pull his bruised and torn knuckles to my lips.
“You let your mask slip.” Everyone is convinced this complicated knight is naturally happy and doesn’t have a darker side, but the truth is, they don’t look beneath his surface because it’s easier to accept the happy-go-lucky man who doesn’t have a care in the realm. They are idiots.
“You don’t have to wear it with me,” I remind him.
“You stole my first genuine kiss and ruined me for all others. I know what it feels like to have you and your brother consume me beneath a dragon’s wing.
” I tuck a strand of his hair behind his ear.
His long eyelashes flutter against his cheek, but his lips remain pressed into a tight line.
A tremor runs through his body. “It’s going to be okay. ”
His eyes snap open. “You deemed me worthy,” he growls, making the hair on my arms rise.
“Of course. And I would do it again and again. I see you when you can’t see yourself.”
He moves fast. One heartbeat, I’m standing before him without his hands where they belong—on me.
The next, my back is against the wall, and my legs are wrapped around his waist as he pins me in place with his body.
His hand curves around my jaw, and his lips crash down on mine as he pours all the pain into his kiss.
My heart breaks as I realize how lost he’s been. I make a promise to myself and to him that I will spend an eternity making sure he knows he is worthy.
Someone clears their throat, reminding us that we have an audience. This is not knight-sandwich territory. Not yet. Maybe later, after an actual sandwich. My stomach growls. Malachi pulls back and sighs against my lips, which feel swollen after the attention of three knights.
I squeeze his shoulders. “I need to speak to my sister.”
He nods, lowers my feet to the ground, and drops a kiss on my forehead before stepping back.
Gwyneth waits with a war in her eyes as she battles with accepting that I’m me or the dreadful thought this could be a ruse.
I open my mouth, ready to tell her the million things only I would know, but she launches herself at me.
She throws her arms around me, and I stumble backward onto the sofa, her face buried in my hair.
I wrap my arms around her, hot tears sliding down my face as she cries out her grief.
My chest tightens, making it hard to breathe.
“If you die, I will kill you,” she says between sobs, making me chuckle around my own choking sounds.
“Deal.”
“That’s it?” Charming asks. “You hug and you believe it’s her? She should be questioned.”
Get stuffed, Prince Poopfloof. The Stone sisters don’t need words when we’ve lived together all our lives.
“It’s her,” Gwyneth declares, as if the fact she’s tackled me to the sofa isn’t proof enough.
“What’s Gwyneth’s middle name?” Charming demands.
“That’s a trick question, because she doesn’t have one. Our parents resented our existence. We were lucky to get one name, let alone two.”
“What’s her favorite color?”
Dude, this isn’t a dating game where we compete for who knows her better. I do. There’s no contest.
“Lilac.”
“Is that true?” he wonders.
“Yes,” Gwyneth says, finally releasing me to climb to her feet and offering me her hand. “What’s our motto?”
“Never date the same floof fondler?”
She shakes her head. “The other one.”
I frown and tap my lip with my fingers. There have been many, but there is only one that matters. “Sisters forever.”
“That’s the one.” She hugs me once more before stepping back to join the circle of everyone I love and fought the stars to return to.
No, that’s not true. I turn in a circle. “Is anyone going to explain where Theo is?”
The knights flick their gazes between each other, each tempo that passes making me uneasy. He didn’t join me in the stars—I would have felt it.
A banging sounds on the door leading to Hart’s chambers.
He sighs and strides over to open it. Hamish and Eugene dart between his legs, followed by Sir Sweeps-A-Lot, and the three of them tackle me to the floor.
Impressive for such tiny creatures. Hamish pecks my chin while Eugene squats on my stomach and lays an egg.
“I love you too,” I say with a chuckle. The broom sweeps across my cheek, as if reminding me of its presence. “And you.”
A poof of blue glitter erupts in the room, and the genie emerges with a huge grin on his face as he rubs his hands together. “Miss Daphne, you have returned.”
“You seem unsurprised,” Nash says. His voice is calm and even, but I can sense the danger laced in the words.
Genie wiggles in the air as if he’s debating on what to say. “Because I knew.” At least he’s decided honesty is the best policy, which is easy to do when you are incorporeal and not under threat of being strangled by a knight.
“Oh my Idols,” Gwyneth mutters.
Genie holds his finger up to shush anyone with questions. I scoop Hamish off my boobs. “I love you, but we aren’t bosom buddies.”
Charming laughs.
Did I return to an alternate reality where Prince Poopfloof has a sense of humor?
“Someone clue me in on how this is possible,” Hart demands. His eyes haven’t left me, as if he’s afraid I’ll disappear if he blinks.
The genie floats back and forth. “Well, one of you needed to make a wish.”
“You were clear that wouldn’t work,” Malachi points out.
“It wouldn’t—not with me. Death isn’t in my remit.”
“I’m lost,” Gwyneth says.
Genie sighs like he’s frustrated that everyone hasn’t already caught up to his brain. I have the opposite problem.
“It’s who and where you made the wish to,” I start.
Genie points at me. “What she said.”
The gang glance at each other.
Charming holds his hands up. “I made no wish.”
No shit, you mellow.
“It was Nash,” I state, spinning to face him. “I heard you when you spoke to the stars.”
He jerks back like I slapped him. “How?”
This part was a little tricky, as it suggests premeditation on my part to leave this world. “I made a wish before I died.”
Genie grimaces as the knights take a step toward me, tightening the circle.
“What was your wish?” Hart demands.
“Let no story end because I was loved.”
Silence settles like a heavy blanket as everyone absorbs the words I’d spoken to Genie that fateful night.
“What are the consequences?” Malachi wonders.
“As long as she is loved, she won’t end,” Genie supplies.
“That’s diabolical,” Hart says with a slow grin. That’s his scary smile. Let’s face it—it’s Hart. All his smiles are scary.
“It’s smart,” Nash breathes. “Does this make you immortal?”
“Until I’m no longer loved,” I point out.
“That’s never going to happen,” Malachi says.
“How does this link to the wish Nash made?” Gwyneth asks.
Nash’s jaw tics, but he ignores everyone but me. “I wished you would come back to us, never leave us again, and never be at the whim of the Idols.”
“Together, their wishes braided into a loophole that fate itself couldn’t untangle,” Genie says with a smile as he floats on his side with hearts in his eyes. “True love conquers all, including death.”
“Speaking of true love, when is someone going to stop avoiding my question and tell me where in the Blazes my dragon is?”
The genie grimaces, and everyone holds their breath.
I swear, if that damn dragon has gone and died on me, forget wishes; I’ll burn this kingdom down until the Idols give him back to me.
My hand rubs over my breastbone. Except I know he’s still here, because I can feel his heartbeat next to mine.
Each of them is different, yet harmonized.
“We haven’t seen Theo in some time,” Nash says, as if he’s trying to dodge the question.
“How long is some time?”
“Weeks,” Gwyneth says.
“Why are you all flitting around a castle and getting coronated when he’s lost?”
Malachi shakes his head. “He’s not, Daphne.”
Hart catches my hand and squeezes it. “He’s heartbroken.”
“And trapped in dragon form,” Charming says. “Don’t forget that.”
He’s what?