And so I said the only thing I could. “Girl, you a crazy fucking bitch.”
“Crazy?” she screeched. “You think I’m crazy? Oh no. No, no, no. Sam, my eyes have been opened. Whatever magic you used on the people of Verania did not work upon me. I was chosen to remain awake while all others slept under your enchantment. And it was then I realized that it was my duty to open the eyes of others, to wake them up to what was really happening in Verania, in the City of Lockes. To expose you for the villain you truly are. And I won’t let it happen any longer. I won’t let you hurt Ryan any more than you already have. I am here to open his eyes so that he can be awoken and remember the love he felt for the prince of his heart.” She looked at Ryan, giving him a watery smile. “It’s okay,” she said. “It’ll be okay. I promise. I will make you remember your beloved, and you will be able to return to him. You’ll be able to live the life you always wanted, the life you deserved if it hadn’t been snatched from you by this—this impostor.”
“Um,” Ryan said. “Thanks, but I’m fine.”
“Wow,” I said. “That was heartfelt. Thanks, babe.”
“I’m processing. That was a lot of information thrown at me all at once.”
“Excuse you? Information implies a modicum of truth to it.”
He rolled his eyes. “Technicality.” He looked at my archnemesis. “Lady Tina, right?”
She nodded. “Yes. That’s my name. You remember. Come back, Ryan. Come back to the light.”
“Oh my gods,” I muttered.
“I appreciate what you’re trying to do here,” Ryan said, giving her that aw shucks smile that he did so well. “Heck, the fact that you’re so concerned about me is certainly one of my favorite things about the Foxy Ladies.” He winked at her.
She swooned a little.
I almost threw up in my mouth.
“But,” Ryan said, sounding extraordinarily apologetic, “I think… there might have been a misunderstanding here.”
“Misunderstanding?” Lady Tina asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “It’s… okay, you see, it’s like this. Justin and I… well. We were never in love. Ever. Like, not even a little bit.”
“This is so stupid,” Caleb said.
“Shut up,” I said as I glared at him. “Ryan Foxheart is about to drop a truth bomb all up in this shit, and you will sit there and you will take it.”
“What—what do you mean?” Lady Tina asked.
“My real name is Nox. Nox Ashford. I come from the slums.”
“Did I know that was your last name?” I asked with a frown. “I don’t think I knew that was your last name.”
He snorted. “Does it matter?”
“It just feels like something I should have known. I like it.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Sassy knight,” I said fondly. “You just wait until we get back home. I am going to split you in half, you don’t even know.”
He blushed. “Sam, not in front of my fan.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
“No,” Lady Tina said. “No. That’s not… that’s not possible. You’re lying. Sam is making you lie. Ryan, it’s the magic. It’s a spell. He is making you believe all of this. Listen to me. You have been cursed by Sam of Wilds. He is trying to control you—”
“Look,” he said, lowering his sword, “I don’t know how else to tell you this. But I wanted Sam even before Justin and I ever got together. My relationship with Justin was nothing but a mutually beneficial arrangement. We cared about each other, but not romantically. My heart has only ever belonged to one person, and it will stay that way for the rest of my days.”
“He’s talking about me,” I told Caleb, a rather manic smile on my face.
She took a stuttering step back, shaking her head. “No. I refuse to believe that. I refuse.” She narrowed her eyes as she looked toward me. “This is your doing. I knew I was right. And then when he told me the truth, when he told me what you were truly capable of, giving me the validation I needed, I knew there was nothing I wouldn’t do to free Ryan Foxheart from your grasp. Marching and protesting only gets you so far, after all.” She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. When she opened her eyes again, she looked as composed as she ever was. Her smile was all teeth. “I suppose it’s time to move on to phase three.”
“Phase three?” I asked, brow furrowed. “What’s phase three? And for that matter, what the hell were one and two?”
“Phase one, sow the seeds of distrust into the people of Verania against Sam of Wilds,” she said, back straight and poised as the most proper of ladies. “Phase two, capture Sam of Wilds in an unbreakable prison. Phase three, watching your eyes once you experience betrayal. And finally, phase four, the death of Sam of Wilds.”
“Bitch, I’m going to motherfucking cut you! You just wait until I get out of here. I swear to the gods, you are so dead, you don’t even know!”
“And once the phases are complete,” she said, clapping her hands together gleefully, “Ryan will be free of your enchantments and the world will go back to the way it should have been, filled with Rystin and sunshine, and nothing will ever hurt ever again.”
“Ryan! Stab her! Stab her fucking face off!”
Ryan frowned. “But she’s a girl. I can’t just stab a girl.”
“You can,” I yelled at him. “You can and you will. I would do it, except I’m fucking stuck in dragon’s blood and—wait. Just how in the hell did you get dragon’s blood? And what the fuck did you mean, betrayal? Who’s going to betray me?”
“That would be me.”
He stepped out from the far corner where he’d been hidden in shadows. He was dressed differently than he was the last time I saw him. He wore trousers and heavy boots. A long black coat hung from his shoulders and scraped the wooden floorboards that creaked beneath his feet. His hair had been shorn, and it made a startling difference. Where he’d once been strangely sweet, he was now darkly ominous.
I should have known, given the way my magic felt when I was around him.
I should have seen this coming.
“You,” I breathed.
And Ruv, the Wolf of Bari Lavuta, said, “Surprised, aren’t you? Oh, the look on your face, Sam. If only I could go back in time to do this again and again, I would be a happy man. Your expression is certainly… captivating.”
I slammed my hands against the invisible barrier that surrounded me, knowing it was futile but trying to get at him anyway. Ruv stood there, looking quietly amused in the face of my rage. I reached for my magic as hard as I could, but it was buried too far under the surface. I couldn’t see the green and gold, much less feel it coursing through me. Dragon’s blood was the most powerful deterrent to a wizard’s magic, and for all I knew, it was infallible.
That didn’t stop me from trying to break through it and launch myself at him, wanting to rip him to shreds.
“Let me out!” I bellowed at him. “You motherfucker, let me out so I can kick your fucking ass!”