Fire Princess

Chapter Fifty-Two

An inhuman scream echoed around, chilling Ever and Never to the bone. Agatha's head whipped around and was stunned to hear that sound was coming from Ravan...but why was he...?

Something glowing floated in front of Agatha and she instinctively reached up to grab it. Her hands shook as she looked at the phoenix feather, then glanced desperately around the battlefield. In the Woods, the heroes were slow to get up...but the zombies were already unfurling to their feet...Agatha couldn't see Tedros anywhere—or Merlin or Lancelot, for that matter—

She swivelled back to where the shield had been. Jacob looked stunned. Honora gripped him hard against her waist, his elder brother, Adam, under her other arm.

"What about the fire girl...?" Jacob asked his mother fearfully as Honora ushered her son further into the crowd. Agatha's hand flew to her mouth, stifling a sob. That fiery blur...had been Phoenix. She had blown up with the shield, protecting a kid no older than her own youngest brother. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kiko use a tree as support, pale and horror-struck. Agatha forced her eyes back to Gavaldon.

Staring at the firelit battlefield, the oldest Elder quivered at the fore of the mob, too frightened to discern who was friend and who was foe. He held out his hands in surrender, backing against his people.

"Every four years you ripped our families apart. You took our children! Isn't that enough?" the Elder pleaded. "We'll do anything you want. Please don't kill us—"

"I have no intention to kill you," said a cool, hard voice.

Agatha's spine tingled.

Slowly she turned, along with the villagers, to see Rafal, standing alone inside the boundary of the Reader World.

"Well...except for him," he grinned.

The young School Master stepped aside, revealing Stefan kneeling in the grass, gagged with a stick.

Sophie stood over her father, cold-eyed and still. Ravan watched this unfold from where he was rested against a tree-trunk, still too numb and injured to move, or perhaps he was just in shock. His hands flew to the phoenix feather that hung around his neck and he located Kiko across the battlefield, who was staring fearfully at Rafal and Sophie.

"In fact, it's not me doing the killing at all. My true love will be the one to end this story." Rafal kissed Sophie's hand gently, his ring on her finger gleaming against his lips. "Sacrificing her own father's blood for love."

It was never the Readers that Rafal was after in Gavaldon. It was only one Reader. A Reader whose murder could undo the School Master's slaying of his own brother. Ravan understood immediately. The day Rafal had killed his own blood, he'd proven that Evil couldn't love and doomed his side to eternal defeat. But now he had a queen who would kill her own blood to prove Evil could love.

An original sin erased.

The curse on Evil reversed.

An immortal School Master with no one to stop him until every last Ever was dead. Until Good was only a memory. Just as he'd promised.

Sophie stood with Rafal, his spiked white hair like icicles against the night sky. As Sophie gazed at her beautiful true love, there was nothing in her eyes but a deep green void. Beneath her, Stefan didn't struggle. He knew he was beaten.

Ravan was roughly grabbed and was forced into a kneeling position, wincing slightly as his wounds, not yet healed, were jostled, sending burning pain throughout his entire body. Rafal's zombies restrained all of Merlin's army, young and old, weapons to each of their necks. Zombie trolls and ogres broke heroes' bows and crushed the last stymphs with their fists, splintering their bones. Trapped at spear- and sword-point, the young and old heroes surrendered to their knees like Stefan. First, Hort and Peter together...then Jack and Briar Rose...Uma, Yuba, and Pinocchio...even Hester knew her demon was no match for a knife-wielding zombie witch and dropped to the dirt next to Anadil, Dot and Blitz. Ravan vaguely remembered Blitz from his childhood, but he hated the look of hopelessness on Blitz's face, as though his soul had left and he was just a shell. Two trolls were tying two more prisoners to a tree and Ravan felt anger flow through him as he saw the prisoners were Merlin and Lancelot.