“I did try to warn you, Highness,” Nikko said but wouldn’t look me in the eye.
I shrugged it off. “It’s no big deal. Just a little blood. But I did just think of a way you can help. If there is another royal guest, will you please send them up?”
A smile broke across the gentleman’s face. “Yes, Your Majesty. I can do that.” Then he bounded down the stairs, some two at a time.
Rexi gestured impatiently from the double doors at the end of the hall. No reason to delay the inevitable. As I walked down the hallway, the old superstition entered my head. Something borrowed, something blue. Something magic, for love so true. I had the borrowed dress and I had the magic shoes. I didn’t have anything blue though.
Wait, maybe I did. I think my fiancé’s eyes are blue, a lovely but unusual shade. I remembered the first time I had looked into those eyes, and with a deep breath, I pushed open the doors.
Inside was a grand ballroom, everything opulent to the point of excess. There were floating chandeliers, a champagne waterfall, even a five-piece orchestra that was playing itself.
The guest list was small and intimate, just the major heads of the fairy-tale families. Cinderella sat with Charming. Behind them was Jack with his plus one, the goose. Beauty sat closest to the door.
That wasn’t right. She shouldn’t be here… I just couldn’t put my finger on why.
My stomach twisted and coiled like a snake ready to strike. Now I was extra glad I had chucked the food. Clutching my bouquet for dear life, I walked toward the man standing in the front of the room. His cream-colored tux had twice the amount of diamonds that mine did. It attracted the light and made him difficult to focus on from far way.
Staring down at my bouquet, I kept walking. The satin ribbon that bound the flowers together had crimson spots from my pricked finger. The stark contrast of red against the white was unsettling. It reminded me of another party.
I heard the chandeliers shatter onto the floor. But when I looked up, they were still floating. I stared back at Beauty, but the Beast was wearing her yellow dress. I blinked and Beauty sat there again.
Looking now to the front, there were two thrones with a crown resting on one. My breathing quickened. I looked up into my groom’s eyes. They were deep sapphire—the wrong color blue.
My bouquet went up in emerald flames.
I remembered everything.
“I would rather face down a swarm of fireswamp rats than one pixed-off princess bride.”
—Prince Humperdink
27
Princess Bridezilla
My fury reigned unchecked, and green flames rolled down my arms.
Burn it. Burn it all. Leave nothing but ashes.
The voice grated, like it left splinters of wood in my mind. I didn’t care.
The magical five-piece orchestra was still playing Tinkerbell’s “Canon in D.” They were the first to go. I shot a fireball to the corner and blasted the instruments into toothpicks.
It was immensely satisfying. And there was so much more to come.
I advanced on the wizard with both hands fisted at my side, glowing with emerald flames. “Do you have Verte and my parents?”
His chest rose and fell rapidly while treading backward until his heels hit the dais. With nowhere left to go, he pointed at Rexi. “It was her idea.”
“Wrong answer.” I aimed the flames for his head, but he fainted, so I only singed the top of his pompadour. The power inside me was disappointed I had missed. But the wizard’s head did make a pleasant crack when it hit the throne.
I rounded on Rexi and snarled. “Why did you betray me?”
She smirked. “Because the Gray Witch offered me a better deal than following after you like a handmaiden.”
She’s the worst of them all. Making you believe you could trust her. The punishment for treason is death.
My anger smoldered at the traitor. “I will ask you once. Where are they?”
“Rotting in—”
I threw the flame, but she deflected it up with a platter. Too bad for her, she was standing under one of the chandeliers. It crashed on her head, and she crumpled onto the floor.
Not enough. More.
“Who else…” I spun around, ready to face any attackers in the audience, but no one was there. Little voodoolike dolls sat toppled in the chairs, the magic that animated them gone. I walked down the aisle, torching each and every one as I went by.
More.
Outside the ballroom, a litter of puppies sat in the hall. There was the sound of tinkling crystal behind me.
“What are you waiting for? Fry her!” Rexi screamed to the dogs.
The lead pup burped a small flame, but that was it. They looked drunk. No, not drunk—drugged. One of the dogs still had burrberry sauce on his snout from the food I’d tossed out the window. I took out the leader of the pack with a single throw, the blast throwing the others to the side of his ashes.
Each time I used the flames, I felt my body getting weaker and colder. But still, the power inside wanted more.