His jaw tightened. “What do you want?”
“Lempicka’s looking for you.”
“Message received. Now get lost.” He rubbed his hoof over his muzzle in a desperate attempt to erase any trace of weakness. Then, more bitterly, he said, “You and her… Why don’t you just pick a lantern together and leave me alone?”
My shadow stretched slowly, enveloping him entirely. “Don’t count on the confectioner for that. She’s stubborn. She’ll find you. And if you keep hiding, she’ll drag you by the horn if she has to.”
He flinched. As ifIwere the more terrifying of the two, when everyone knew my Sugarplum in a temper was far more fearsome.
The lake behind us was now carpeted with lanterns, the water barely visible beneath the rippling sea of light. I crouched, still looming over the lamb despite the posture.
“Don’t you dare,” he hissed. “I don’t want you cursing my lantern!”
I ignored him, taking the fragile thing in my hands as though it were crystal. “About the sorcerer who cursed you, I couldn’tsave the other black lambs he experimented on. But I killed him, years ago.”
I lit the lantern filled with fireflies. Their golden glow pulsed softly, illuminating the dull frame. I handed it back. The lamb clutched it tight, as if it might slip away.
“I don’t want to talk about him. And killing him doesn’t mean I like you, you and your cursed horns. They’ll never be as beautiful as mine!”
I tilted my head, a faint smile on my lips. “Would it help if I told you I tortured him first?”
For an instant, his gaze softened. “No.”
I straightened, ready to leave.
“Why don’t you have a lantern?” he called after me.
“There’s no one I miss.”
He opened and closed his mouth like a fish on land. “She’s too good for you. If you hurt her, I’ll hunt you myself. I may only be a Category One Cursed, but?—”
“Do you know many low-rank Cursed who can speak?”
He blinked, ears flattening. “You’re mocking me.”
“Speech requires at least Category Six. And you’re the only black lamb who survived his experimentation. But what would I know? I’m only one of the most powerful cursed sorcerers of all time.”
He froze. His round eyes locked on me. Something flickered in them. Pride, perhaps. But I didn’t linger. A sweet fragrance drifted in the air.Lempicka.
I turned away without another word. “Someone’s here for you.”
I skirted the edge of the lake. Yeun floated at its center, whirling in his will-o’-wisp form, a blazing blue flame like a dancing star. A harp played in the distance, soft and mournful. I narrowed my eyes. A cluster of Spirits surrounded me, smallvaporous specters like living scraps of mist. They clung to me like burrs.
“Release me.” My voice cracked like a whip. A polite warning.
They stared back with vacant, innocent expressions. Then, as if they’d taken it as an invitation, pressed even tighter, chirping strange sounds. I exhaled slowly. Raised a hand to scatter them. But one crawled up my finger and perched there. Looking… satisfied.
“Seriously?” I growled.
The Spirit pulsed softly—the spectral equivalent of a smirk. As if it were written somewhere that I must be harassed by every exasperating creature in this world. Speaking of nuisances… From the corner of my eye, I caught Aignan’s lantern wobbling dangerously toward the water. The lamb struggled to steady it, his clumsy hooves mangling the flower holding it aloft. Chouquette had tied her tails to the base of the lantern and was laughing uproariously, perched on a lily pad. Aignan and Lempicka let out a bleat and a panicked cry in unison.
“Stupid,” one of the Spirits clinging to me cackled.
“Entirely agreed,” I replied without a blink.
“Stupid. Good. Good thing,” added another, delighted.
“Absolutely not.”
