The Kinder Poison

This will either work or it won’t, and if it doesn’t, at least I will have tried. Maybe I’ll even gain some semblance of infamy. I think I’d like people looking at me sidelong, worried I might do something unexpected and daring at any moment.

We’re leaving. We’re actually leaving Atera to go to the palace, where there are trees that bloom jewels and golden rooms as big as towns. We’ll eat all the chocolate we can stomach. We’ll trail mysterious strangers and find secret passages and witness at least one spectacular rescue, because in all of the travelers’ best stories, someone is always saving someone.

It is time the world, and the gods, knows which of us is the true monster.

Perhaps he will find it ironic, that Shifters are still outcasts.

Have your magic, then, I think. And may it be your ruin.

I jerk his hand up and trap it beneath mine on the hilt.

And I make him plunge the dagger into my
heart.

BEFORE my parents disowned me,

His smile fades as he looks over, but his eyes still glitter with mischief.

“What about for a coronation?” he asks.

“Absolutely not.”

He laughs in surprise. “My coronation, Zahru.”

I shrug. “At this point, I wouldn’t even leave for chocolate.”

“Now, that’s extremely serious. Not even chocolate crème?”

I shake my head.

“With raspberries?”

Another shake.

“How about a cake that melts when you bite into it, with this delicious strawberry drizzle—”

“Not even if an entire palace was made from it,” I say, though my traitorous stomach growls in disagreement.

But I will cherish every small memory we’ve made. I will never forget what he did for me, what he sacrificed when he had nothing to gain from it, just the conviction in his heart that I deserved better.

“I only wish I could have spared you the journey.”

“Me too. I’m never leaving home again.”

“Ever?”

There’s a playful tone in his voice, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. He knows this moment has been coming, too.

Never has he looked so much like his father, and while the thought brings me incredible pride, it also reminds me we each have a duty to attend. No matter what we feel for each other, he’s going to be king. I have no regrets about anything we’ve been through.

But I wish I didn’t have to l

He smiles and looks over, and the sadness in his face shifts as he takes me in. “Actually,” he says, “I have my first order planned already.”