Chapter Twenty Six
Daphne
“Can you change him back?” Nash asks while crouching down to stare at baby Theo. Oh my holy Idol babies, is this what our children will look like? Because sign me up. His cuteness is unbearable.
I flop onto the huge bed, which needs addressing when I have less of an audience. I love my sister, but some things should remain a mystery. “I have no idea how I even did this in the first place, so how can I change him back?” I point my finger at the ceiling. “Maybe it wasn’t even me.”
Red magic splutters from my finger, and I sit up before sliding my hands under my butt and blinking at the sea of faces. I’m not fooling anyone. It was totally me.
“Do you think I could just make all the Idols miniature?” I wonder.
“What would that accomplish?” Gwyneth asks as she curls herself into an armchair. Charming leans against the wall next to her and folds his arms. He’s scowling, but that’s nothing new.
“Well, it would make them a lot easier to manage.”
“The alternative is to explode them into floral fireworks,” Hart adds as he sits to my left, while Malachi settles to my right.
I am the bread between the sausage sandwich.
Wait, that’s not right. Okay, we’ve been doing sandwiches all wrong.
The bread to meat ratio should be reversed.
Soft, doughy, bready goodness in the center, juicy, yummy meat on either side.
Seriously, that is what needs to change in the realm.
And since I have some weird-ass power to do whatever it is I do…
Why is Theo wrestling with Nash’s bootlaces?
I should address the culinary crime that is going on.
Priorities, and all that. No one can start a rebellion and regime change on an empty stomach.
“You’re thinking awfully hard over there,” Gwyneth notes as Charming leans down to whisper something in her ear. Her cheeks pinken, making my nose wrinkle. Why him? I just don’t get it. But he’s like a puppy on a leash, so at least there’s that.
“I was pondering the amount of sausage required for the future,” I explain.
Nash glances at me over his shoulder with one eyebrow raised.
Yes, yes, your sausage is most definitely included in all my future possibilities.
I feel more connected to him, but there’s still something that hasn’t quite clicked, like he’s holding something back from me.
Haven’t I proven I’m made of stronger stuff and can handle his threefold?
“So this power you feel,” he says, coming to his full height and turning toward me. “When did it happen?”
I twist my lips to the side. It’s going to make the Red Queen’s demise appear premeditated, when the reality of the situation is that I’d rather never lay eyes on another Idol for as long as I’ll live. “When the Red Queen met her end, I think I sort of absorbed her power.”
Nash stiffens. He’s appalled. Maybe a little scared. Who am I? The maiden he fell for, or a dangerous creature he wished back into existence? He’s probably regretting that now. “I see,” he says in an even, calm voice devoid of any quirks of emotion.
“Do you?” I wonder. “Because I do not. So if you have any clue as to what is happening, you need to let me know.”
He closes his eyes and folds his arms. “I’m not sure. I need to do a little research. There may be something.”
That’s hopeful, but I can’t lose my dark knight. Whatever the reason he’s keeping his distance, it has to end.
“Right. Research.” I narrow my eyes. “Because this can all be solved by books.”
His eyes snap open, and I realize I was wrong. He’s not void of emotion; he’s keeping his feelings on lockdown. Talk to me, Nash. No more secrets. I don’t say the words aloud, but I try communicating everything I’m feeling through our stares.
His gaze drops to my lips, and he swallows.
“You know you have a magical being at the tip of your fingers who might shine some light on this,” Charming says.
Ugh, I forgot he was even in the room. Can’t he go back to taking up space but not adding to the conversation?
“Genie,” Gwyneth adds with a smile. “Clever.”
Eww, no. I don’t like this new world.
Everyone stares at me except baby Theo, who is rolling on his back and making little growly noises.
“Summon Genie,” Malachi murmurs. “He’s right.”
Again... eww.
I huff. “I wish...”
Nothing happens.
“I wish,” I holler so loud it bounces off the curved ceiling.
Genie poofs into the room, and I bite my lip. What in Blazes is he wearing? It looks like some kind of skirt made of leather flaps with braces crossing over his chest. “You called?”
“Don’t get distracted,” Hart advises.
Too late. “What are you wearing?”
Genie looks down at his skirt and blinks.
“I was busy.” He scratches the back of his neck, his cheeks flushing.
“There’s a coffee morning every Thursday, and it’s my turn to host. Can we move this along so I can get back to make sure Sir Sweeps-A-Lot doesn’t start a genie war?
” He tilts his head and scans the room. “Actually, you know what? You guys seem nice and settled here with plenty of room. Time to return your infernal broom.”
He snaps his fingers, and Sir Sweeps-A-Lot appears beside him, wearing a matching leather mini-skirt. Genie grimaces and wiggles his fingers to make the skirt disappear. I highly doubt that whatever they were doing included gossiping over fine china, but I’m not going to ask.
“What do you need?” Genie asks, reminding me why I summoned him.
Sir Sweeps-A-Lot rushes over and pats my body down like he’s checking for injuries. I let him get that out of his system while I point at the tiny dragon.
Genie’s eyes widen. “Did you conceive and give birth? How long have I been gone? Time works weirdly in the lamp.”
I love the way we’re synched up in our thinking, even if he would never admit it. “No babies. That is, um, Theo.”
“Theo, the huge dragon capable of eating ten bunkum in a single bite?”
“Yes, that one. I sort of shrank him.”
“You don’t say,” he deadpans.
“With whatever magic, power, essence, or substance I absorbed from the Red Queen.”
“Well, that took a dark and unusual turn,” Genie mutters.
“Please don’t absorb anyone’s essence other than ours,” Malachi adds as his hand swipes down my spine, reminding me we’ve yet to be together fully since my return. We have Theo back, sort of, so no more waiting.
Genie tilts his head when Theo hiccups and sets the rug on fire. Sir Sweeps-A-Lot flies over and bats at the tiny fires. Aw, my sidekicks have the chaos covered. I love it.
“Do you want him in human form, or normal-sized dragon?” Genie wonders.
“Human form,” the knights chorus.
Ugh, I was going to go with dragon, but I guess that would give us the overgrown, growly beast issue all over again.
Genie sighs and circles Theo while muttering to himself, too low for me to make out the words. He pauses, leaning closer, and Theo growls at him. So damn cute.
“I see what the problem is,” Genie says with a firm nod.
“Oh, good,” Gwyneth breathes. “Can you fix it?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not meddling in an architect’s power. That’s a sure way to have yourself written out of the history books. Daphne needs to do it.”
“How?” Nash asks.
“Simple. Take the power back, but only that which you expelled. Be careful not to pull on anything else, or you might find yourself a dragon.”
“Daphne as a huge fire-breathing beast with wings?” Hart says. “What could possibly go wrong?”
I elbow him in the ribs. He huffs, but he’s smiling. Nash presses his lips into a thin line.
The mirror hanging on the wall shimmers. No, not just a mirror, the mirror, with its crack and everything. “Miss Denise, my fairest of fair, you are once more back with your army of burly men,” Eron says as his face becomes clearer.
For some unfathomable reason, my eyes begin to sting. A tempo later, Hamish and Eugene come scuttling through the cracked-open door and fly up onto the bed behind me, cuddling between me and Hart. Now? Now I’m crying.
We’re all here, even the smarmy prince with a foot fetish who started it all. I guess I have him and his wayward floof fondling to thank for putting us on this path.
“Hey, Eron,” I say with a watery smile. Why am I so emotional? This is the first tempo we’ve had to breathe—even with a shrunken dragon to deal with—which, in the grand scheme of things, feels small. No pun intended.
“What is that?” Eron mutters, squashing his face against the glass to get a better look at Theo. “Oh my, have you all grown into giants?”
I dart a look at Gwyneth. Is that what happened? Theo is normal-sized and we are huge? That... no. Doesn’t make any sense.
“That’s Theo. I accidentally shrank him.”
“But you do have him,” Eron says with a big grin. “Well done. Now you can do what you were born for.”
“Which is?” Malachi asks.
Eron blinks. “Erasing the evil and building a new world.”
No erasing. I tried that, and it didn’t work out. Problem for another diurnal.
I stand and walk toward Nash as he offers me his hand. “Let me help ground you,” he murmurs. He jerks his head at Gwyneth. “I think you should hold her other hand. You are built to even each other out and complement your power.”
I run my tongue over my teeth as Gwyneth does exactly that. “You’ve got this,” she whispers.
Charming narrows his gaze on me, a warning that he’ll end me if I cause Gwyneth harm. I could never.
“How do I take it back?” I whisper as Theo bumbles into a chair leg and rolls over dramatically.
“Do you still feel the strange power in your chest?” Nash asks.
“Yes.” How does he know that?
“Concentrate and separate it out from anything familiar.”
I run my teeth over my bottom lip and ignore the golden thread linking me to Theo, and instead focus on the shimmering red that belongs to neither of us. “Got it,” I whisper.
“Good, now close your eyes.” I obey with a nod.
“And don’t overthink it. Just curl that power like you’re winding a spool of cotton.
Easy does it.” I pull, and at first, it slides out of my grasp.
My brow furrows as I concentrate and tug harder.
There it is. “That’s it, Daphne,” Nash encourages.
The power starts humming under my flesh once more, making me twitch.
Gwyneth’s hand tightens around mine, grounding me between them in the here and now.
“Almost there,” Genie says. “A little more. Careful, just a smidgen. There it is.”
I blow out a breath and flip my eyes open to come face to face with a fully human Theo. I drop my gaze. A very naked Theo.
“And that’s our cue to leave,” Gwyneth shouts.
Theo’s chest rises and falls as he eyes me like I’m his last meal, the golden link between almost painful in its demand.
The room empties of all beings, magical or otherwise, until we’re alone.
“Mine,” he growls.
Holy Idol babies…