MAXINE

Part 6

"We'll" didn't mean him and Sophie.

"We'll" meant him and Agatha.

It didn't matter if he'd promised to give her a chance.

Words couldn't change a prince's heart.

A heart still in love with his old princess.

"I'm trying to imagine you as a queen," Tedros mused, as if he'd suddenly remembered she was there. "You'd probably have your own wing with twenty servants drawing you hot baths of goat's milk, massaging your feet every hour with fish eggs and pumpkin puree, and picking every last cucumber in the kingdom."

Sophie stared at him, aghast.

"Made Agatha tell me about your beauty routines," he quipped. "Helped us laugh after fights."

"Glad to see I'm the court jester!" Sophie lashed, tears rising. "Is that what you think of me? A slave to beauty, an empty ball gown, a bubbleheaded sidekick who isn't worth a second thought?"

"Sophie, you're wearing a short skirt on a winter hike!"

"Because you haven't seen me as a girl in a very long time and I want you to remember you loved that girl once!"

It came out before Sophie could stop it and she saw Tedros freeze on the path.

"You promised to give me a chance," Sophie breathed, dabbing eyes with her bearskin coat. "Even if you still love Agatha. You promised you'd give me a chance."

Tedros lifted Sophie's chin, his blue gaze honest and unblinking.

"I am giving you a chance, Sophie. I'm here with you, aren't I? I haven't mentioned Agatha once on our entire trip. You're the one who keeps bringing her up. But instead of worrying about her or worrying about what I see on your outside, maybe you should be trying to show me your inside." His tone was serious and mature. "So tell me, Sophie of Woods Beyond. What would you do for my kingdom as queen?"

He strode ahead on the path, between ripples of white-hot glow.

Sophie pursued him, pumping with hope. In the trail light, she could see the slashed ink on her skin beneath the gold ring. This was the moment she'd been waiting for since she'd lost Tedros to Agatha two years ago. The moment to show her prince a love so deep, it had carved his name into her. And if she could only find a way to make him feel that love as deeply as she felt it . . . then maybe, just maybe, words could change a prince's heart after all.

"At first, I thought all a queen does is choose china and throw cotillions and kiss babies at parades," Sophie began. "But when I was with Rafal, I saw the way the other students looked at me. I wasn't the old Sophie anymore, amusing and frivolous—I was the new Sophie, a girl who'd made something of myself. That's what made them resent me, I suppose . . . they didn't realize someone so young could be so extraordinary. It wasn't as if I was born special or enchanted like them. All I ever had was a pretty face and a hunger to have a big life. And yet, I spent so much time fretting about the scale of that life that I forgot to ask what it should mean. That's why I couldn't commit to Rafal in the end. He might offer me immortality, infinite power, eternal love . . . but it was Evil's love. And no matter how Evil he thinks I am, I still want to be Good, Tedros. Even if I have to war against my own soul until the day I die."

Tedros' eyes moved to her.

"There are two queens," she said, her voice stronger now. "There's the queen who doubts her crown. Choose her and you'll forever distrust each other, sparring and bickering, because in her heart of hearts, she doesn't want a queen's life. Your father chose that queen and suffered until the end. Now you can go back to where his story went wrong and fix it. You can choose a queen who wants to be your queen. A queen who will fight for her people the way she fights to be with her king. The queen I couldn't be for Rafal, because I'm meant to be that queen for you."