“Elle, dear, I have ears everywhere. Currently, those ears include Tash’s. She was listening in on your plan yesterday at the apothecary. The plan I not-so-subtly planted the seed for, by the way. Dex probably thinks it was all his idea. He’s probably forgotten I suggested it first.” She placed her hands on her knees and stood. “Now, I think I’ve been here long enough. Who knows how many wishes I’ll have to deal with by the time I get back to the office.” She inhaled deeply and smiled at Elle. “Get ready to run. The moment I’m gone, everything will unfreeze.”
“Wait.” Elle stood hastily, gripping the scepter in one hand. “I just want to check … so you were actually … you were doing something good this whole time?”
“Is that so hard to believe?”
“Honestly, yes.”
The Godmother laughed. “I told you I like to play around with people, Elle. It was you who assumed that always meant something negative.”
“Can you blame me?”
“I suppose not. I do like to make people squirm. But every now and then …” She shrugged. “I appreciate a good old-fashioned happily ever after.” With that, she raised her hand, snapped her fingers, and vanished.
With one hand gripping her skirt to keep from tripping and the other hand wrapped tightly around the scepter, Elle raced back through the palace to the grand entrance area where everyone was fighting again. She ran alongside the balcony railing toward the stairs, passed a very confused-looking king surrounded by several security guys, and almost crashed into the queen and her security detail.
“Oh, stars, I’m so sorry. So, so sorry.” The queen opened her mouth, but before she could say a word, Elle hastily sidestepped her and hurried toward the stairs. Without pausing to wonder whether this would work or if she was about to get herself killed, she ran about halfway down the staircase before stopping. No one appeared to notice her standing there, but she would never get anyone’s attention if she didn’t at least try.
“Stop!” she yelled, then raised the scepter above her head for everyone to see. “STOP!” Then, for added measure, she pointed her empty hand toward the domed ceiling, summoned up the feeling of throwing her stepmother across a room, and watched as silver sparks flew free from her fingertips.
Slowly, people began to look her way. Vampires first, perhaps because she held the scepter, which meant she was technically now the one who controlled them. Not that she had any idea how that worked; if she did, she would have made them all look this way. Then the fae, when they realized something had caught the vampires’ attention. After another minute or so, the area was finally quiet enough for Elle to think about speaking. Which, of course, was around about the time when her nerves started to take over.
She found Dex in the crowd, amazement written all over his face at the sight of the scepter in her hand. The knot of anxiety that had been tightly coiled inside her released itself when she saw he was still okay. He met her eyes and gave her the smallest of nods. With that tiny bit of encouragement, she opened her mouth and spoke.
“This is the Godmother’s scepter,” she called out. “The one she took from the vampire heir, Vincenzo Savoy, when she killed him. The gem on top of it controls the vampire army. The only reason that army is here—the only reason you’re all fighting each other—is because of the Godmother. But she’s gone. And with her gone, we have no more reason to fight.” Several of the vampires exchanged glances. Murmurs passed between some of them, while others looked down at the glowing red magic encircling their wrists. Magic, Elle realized, that probably connected them to the scepter. Magic just like the slave charm.
Anger burned through her. Without waiting a moment longer, she swung the scepter down, smashing the end of it against the hard, polished tiles covering the stairs. The red gem shattered instantly, and a cry went up from the crowd. Elle looked up, and everywhere her eyes landed, the red glow of magic brightened and then vanished. The vampires were free.
“Wait!” she shouted before the murmurs could become loud enough to drown her out. She threw what remained of the scepter down at her feet, and the sound of it rolling down the steps was enough to gain everyone’s attention again. When the scepter came to a stop at the bottom of the staircase, she said, “I have one more important thing to tell you.” She scooped her hair behind both ears so that everyone would see they weren’t pointed. Then she kept her hands raised in front of her. Hands that were already sparkling silver. “I’m human,” she shouted out, “and I have magic.”
Epilogue
Four Months Later
* * *
Elle looked around as Dex walked onto the balcony that led off his bedroom. She turned her back to the view of the palace gardens—she never got tired of admiring them—and leaned against the railing. “Who was at the door?”
“Someone delivering this,” Dex said, holding out a silver box wrapped in a pink ribbon. Elle raised an eyebrow in question, and he added, “Another engagement gift.”
She groaned. “This is getting embarrassing. You’re royalty. You don’t need to be showered in gifts.”
“But you do,” he said, his lips pulling up on one side. “Everyone loves you. As they should.” He set the gift down on the glass-topped table. “How many humans have magic now?”
“No idea. I’ve lost count of all the letters I’ve received. And I’m sure there are far more people who’ve completed the quest and haven’t written to let me know. There was that news story about the long queues of people lining up outside all the Never Woods around the world. All the groups of people about to embark on their quest.”
Dex smiled and looped his arms around Elle’s waist. “How does it feel to know you’ve changed the world?”
She rolled her eyes and tried, unsuccessfully, to push him away. “Stop asking me that. It took more than just me to change the world. There was you, and Astrid, and Alyssa, and Olly, and—”
Dex pulled her closer and silenced her with a kiss. “We don’t need to go through the whole list again,” he murmured against her lips. “I can think of better things to do with our time.”
“Oh yeah?” She smiled as his mouth trailed kisses along her jaw. “What things are those?”
“How about I show you?” he suggested, his hands sliding down to her hips before hoisting her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and tilted her head down to kiss him again. Her hair fell in a curtain around their faces as Dex turned, bumped into a chair, bumped into one of the balcony doors, and finally made it safely inside. By they time they fell onto the bed together, they were both laughing.
“Your mother’s going to freak out about propriety if she walks in on us again,” Elle said as Dex dragged his lips along her collarbone and slid his hand beneath the edge of her T-shirt.
“No she won’t.” He raised his head and kissed her chin. “She’s having tea with Olly’s mom.” Another kiss on her lips. “Besides, we’re adults. We can do whatever we want in my—”
A knock at the door cut him off. “Stars!” Elle gasped. Dex rolled away, disappeared off the edge of the bed, and hit the floor with a thump. Elle buried her face among the pillows for a moment to smother her laughter. Then she scooted to the other end of the bed and stood, patting her hair and straightening her T-shirt. “We can do whatever we want, huh?” she whispered with a giggle as Dex jumped to his feet and ran a hand through his hair.
“Uh, come in,” he called as he walked toward the door.
It opened, and Jarryd, one of the men Elle had grown to recognize in recent months—though she couldn’t remember precisely what position he held—stood on the other side. “Sorry, sir, I should have brought this one with the other gift.” He handed Dex another small box, this one wrapped in white paper and a red ribbon.
“Another gift?” Elle asked as Jarryd shut the door.
“This one’s just for you,” Dex said, examining the small envelope that accompanied the box. “Like I said: everyone loves you.”
Elle took the gift from him and s
at on the edge of the bed as she slipped the card out of the envelope. She opened it—and her heart did a somersault at the sight of the handwriting inside. “It’s from Sienna!” She had tried numerous times over the past months to find her younger stepsister, but so far, she’d had no success.
* * *
Dear Elle,
You have MAGIC! And you’re about to become a PRINCESS! And you’re FREEEEEE! Congratulations!!!
Hopefully all the amazing things coming your way can make up for the horrible life you had up until a few months. (And if you ever need to laugh, just think of what Mom’s face must have looked like the day the palace announced your engagement and she realized the girl she’d enslaved for so many years would probably one day be her queen.)
So happy for you!
Love you lots and lots and lots,
S
P.S. I’m fine. No need to worry about me. We’re both free now :-)
* * *
Elle sniffed and wiped at the tear that had traced its way down her cheek. After lowering the card to the bed, she undid the red ribbon around the box and removed the pearl-white wrapping paper. A tiny note stuck to the lid of the box read, I finally understand the significance of all the stars on that quilt your mom made. Whenever I see a star now, I can’t help but think of you.
Tears welled again in her eyes as she opened the box and found a silver chain with a silver star pendant hanging from it. “Isn’t it perfect?” she whispered.
Dex reached for the box and carefully removed the necklace. Then he placed it around Elle’s neck and fastened the clasp. “Perfect.”
She sniffed again and asked, “Have you heard anything recently from Xander?” Thinking of Sienna—the closest thing she’d had to a best friend during all the years she’d been Salvia’s slave—reminded her that one of Dex’s best friends was no longer around. A full moon had forced him to shift only days after the vampire attack on the palace, and he’d left Vale City the very next morning.
“Not since he sent that congratulatory message,” Dex said. “And he didn’t reveal much about where he is or what’s going on. I have no idea how he’s actually doing.”
“I hope he comes back,” Elle said. “He knows we accept him exactly the way he is, right?”
“He does, but it’s his family. They refuse to have anything to do with him. There’s animosity between them and the shifters that goes back generations.”
Elle nodded. She and Dex had spoken about this before, but she always hoped that perhaps something would change. Perhaps someone in Xander’s family would realize that old grudges weren’t worth hanging onto.
She stood, took Dex’s hand, and walked back onto the balcony with him. Leaning on the railing, she said, “Sometimes I still catch myself thinking about the Godmother, wondering if there’s something I still owe her and she’s going to show up one day and tell me it’s time to pay my price.”
“I know what you mean. I never even made a wish, and I find myself wondering if things are really over with her, or if there’s another twist just out of sight around the next corner.”
“Right. Even though I know we don’t owe her anything else.”
“Yeah.” Dex moved to stand behind Elle and wrapped both arms around her. She leaned back against him. “But you haven’t heard a thing from her since that night. I think it really is over.”
“I never got the chance to ask her how to access all the memories I’ve taken over the years,” Elle said. “Maybe it’s not even possible. Maybe only she can pull a memory from wherever it’s stored deep inside my head. I just wish I knew one way or the other.”
“You know you just said ‘wish,’ right?”
“Oh, stars,” Elle groaned. “That just slipped out. I definitely will not be wishing for that.”
“Something tells me she would make you wish for it if you really wanted to know.”
“Probably.” Elle’s eyes traveled across the gardens and the sparkling blue strip of ocean in the distance. “What’s the time?” she asked, though the last thing she wanted to do was move from Dex’s arms. “I think I need to go soon. I have a class at three.” She had one private tutor catching her up on the schooling she’d missed over the past few years, and another private tutor teaching her how to use her magic. Turned out it wasn’t all that different from fae Essence.
Dex leaned away, probably looking back at the clock inside his bedroom. “All good,” he said, wrapping his arms around her again and kissing the top of her head. “You have at least forty minutes before you need to leave. Oh, and you should say hi to my parents on your way out. They were sad you had to miss the brunch this morning.”
“They were sad? Really? Even your dad?”
“Even my dad. I know he’s scary, but he does secretly like you.”
Elle turned to face Dex as she raised an eyebrow. “So secret that even he doesn’t know?”
“Come on, it’s not that bad.”
“You’re right. I’ll take being ‘secretly liked’ over being thrown into a dungeon any day.”
“Exactly. See? He’s not that bad compared to the way he used to be.”
She tried to turn back to face the garden, but Dex only pulled her closer. “I have another question.” He grinned. “How are the dance classes going? Ready to share your moves with me?”
Elle groaned, but she couldn’t help smiling. “Are you going to ask me that every time you see me?”
“Yes. I’m still disappointed that I missed out on dancing with you at both the Moonlight Masquerade Ball and the Vampire Attack Ball.”
“I wish you wouldn’t call it that.”
“The Godmother Surprise Ball?”
“No.”
“The Magic Reveal Ball.”
“Dex.”
“Show me your moves, soon-to-be-Princess Elle, and I’ll stop with the terrible party names.”
“You want me to dance here? On your tiny balcony?”
“It’s not that tiny,” he pointed out. “That was a terrible excuse.”
“I’m not wearing the right shoes.”
“Those are your wedding shoes, aren’t they?” Dex asked, looking down at her rhinestone-studded combat boots. They’d already had a serious conversation about whether she could realistically get away with wearing them beneath her wedding dress.
“Fine.” Elle rolled her eyes, then placed her arms around his neck. As his hands moved to her lower back, she began swaying slowly from side to side, attempting to keep a straight face as she did so.
“Great moves,” Dex said with a nod, his face as serious as hers. “Is this what we’re going to be doing at our wedding?”
“Yes. We’ll be swaying. I’m attending two lessons a week to learn how to sway.”
“Perfect. I could sway all night with you.”
Laughter burst free of her lips, and then a yelp of surprise as Dex spun her away and then tugged her back in. She crashed against his chest, still laughing. “I’m terrible at this.”
“You’re not. I happen to think spinning and crashing and doing lots and lots of swaying is the perfect way to dance.”
“They’ll never allow it.”
“It’s our wedding,” he said, lifting her hands and pressing a quick kiss to one and then the other. “Our happily ever after. We’re free to dance however we want.”
Elle placed her arms around his neck again, and as they resumed their slow swaying, she laid her head against his chest. “Yes,” she whispered. “We’re free.”
OTHER BOOKS BY RACHEL MORGAN
Thank you for reading City of Wishes!
* * *
Have you tried the Creepy Hollow books, Rachel’s first series? With over half a million copies in the hands of readers worldwide, you don’t want to miss out on this addictive YA faerie fantasy series!
* * *
Start with The Faerie Guardian.
* * *
Otherwise, why not try the Ridley Kayne Chronicles? These books are YA fantasy wit
h a little bit of a dystopian flavor. Forbidden magic, secrets, and a slow-burn romance will keep you turning the pages!
* * *
Start with Elemental Thief.
Rachel Morgan spent a good deal of her childhood living in a fantasy land of her own making, crafting endless stories of make-believe and occasionally writing some of them down. After completing a degree in genetics and discovering she still wasn’t grown-up enough for a ‘real’ job, she decided to return to those story worlds still spinning around her imagination. These days she spends much of her time immersed in fantasy land once more, writing fiction for young adults and those young at heart.
* * *
Rachel lives in Cape Town with her husband and three miniature dachshunds. She is the author of the bestselling Creepy Hollow series and the Ridley Kayne Chronicles. She also writes sweet contemporary romance under the name Rochelle Morgan.
* * *
www.rachel-morgan.com
* * *
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