PLS DONT READ THIS IT ONLY FOR ME THANK YOU

TRUE LOVE

It had been a month since she'd last set foot on this path, and she had been running that day as well. The shadows that followed her along the winding road now were no less terrifying than the flesh and blood demons that she had pursued on that horrible day…the worst day so far of her young life.

She thought she almost felt the warmth of fingers intertwined with hers now, as they had been on that terrible day. But, that sensation was fleeting and gone in an instant, leaving nothing but the feel of the stone that Mikayla clung to as though her life depended upon it.

She ran, but the ghosts in her memory were tight on her heels.

Mikayla half expected her father and the palace guards to appear on the trail ahead, to bar her path and forbid her from carrying out her plan. She prayed they wouldn't; She had no wish to fight him—time was too precious and if she had to face him again, Mikayla was not sure she could go through with her plan. Mason would tell her that she wasn't being rational, and she'd heard that enough times in the past few weeks.

Her father had been unwavering in his efforts to give her comfort and consolation, trying to reassure her every day for the past year that this whole mess was not her fault. He'd had the entire royal family-even the generally callous Lanny-at her door to tell her it was not her fault. Every word of their forgiveness was another rip in her already torn and bleeding soul.

The people of Kinkou had celebrated her as a hero-the one who had saved the life of every person on the tiny island with her brave actions. She's refused their accolades with one simple truth: The only reason Mikayla had survived to save Kinkou was because Brady had saved Mikayla. She did not feel worthy of gratitude for saving thousands of lives when her heart railed at her soul every day since-selfishly perhaps-that the price for their lives and hers had been too high.

Mikayla's instincts had warned her of danger from the moment that messengers had arrived from the neighboring island of Tayamo, requesting an audience with the twin kings of Kinkou. She had not been the only one who was suspicious. It was the on-going hostilities with Tayamo, their secret alliance with the Tarantula people, and their repeated efforts to invade and conquer Kinkou that had prompted the parents of kings Brady and Boomer to send the boys to live in safety and anonymity with their relatives in Chicago when they were only infants. Their parents had wanted the vulnerable heirs to the throne far away from such danger, fearing it would destroy them before they had the chance to become the leaders they were destined to be.

It shamed her now to recall the times that she had wished the kings had stayed in Chicago…usually right after the boys had managed (unintentionally, granted) to make mistakes like waking up evil warlocks and mummies or unleashing angry pirate ghosts or getting Mikayla turned into a mermaid against her will. On such occasions, the harsh wish had been made only for the sake of Kinkou.

This was the first time she had made that wish only for the sake of the kings themselves.

Kinkou's elders were eager to finally end the hostilities with Tayamo. They'd persuaded Brady and Boomer to allow Queen Paiama to visit Kinkou for peace talks. It was the lingering distrust of the Tayamans, born of two decades of war, that had colored Mikayla and Mason's advice to the kings when the delegation arrived from the enemy island. For every word of diplomacy that the elders had for the twin kings, Mikayla and Mason had spoken of doubt and given admonishments of caution.

Mikayla had despised the young queen almost at first sight. The woman's smile—more a self-confident sneer-sent a chill of frost into the heart of the palace guard. The way she had flirted with Brady had rankled Mikayla despite knowing she had no claim on the king after the numerous times she'd rebuffed his painfully awful passes at her. As if sensing jealousy from the commoner girl, Paiama had made a point of putting Mikayla in her place at every opportunity, from insisting the head guard serve as her personal valet to gleefully and repeated calling the girl by the wrong name. When Paiama had proposed solidifying the peace between Kinkou and Tayamo by marrying King Brady, Mikayla had actually begun plotting ways to feed the queen her own teeth while making it look like an accident.