Page 127 of Apprentice to the Villain

“Sir?” she said warily. “There’s one other thing I’d like to ask.”

He rolled his shoulders as his magic tried to seep out, to greet her; he shoved it down and away.

“What did the hands of destiny say to you? It must have been something bad, right? You looked so startled.” There she went again, finding every uncomfortable button on his person and pushing them until he felt like he was going to let go and do something he couldn’t take back.

He ran a ragged hand down his face before tucking in a loose flap of his shirt and taking a steady inhale. He kept his reply brief, unfeeling. “A giant white blob was whispering in my ear, Sage. Of course I looked startled.”

She pointed a finger up at him. “You’re trying to avoid giving an answer.”

“Yes,” he freely admitted.

Her shoulders dropped as the knight in the room’s voice called out: “Um, excuse me? Mr. Villain, sir? I have to go to the restroom…”

“Hold it!” Trystan banged a fist against the door, and Sage covered her mouth, amused. Never afraid, never fazed, taking everything with a smile and a witty rejoinder. He was sure it was the lack of sleep that made him ask, “Sage, do you ever regret walking in the woods that day? Do you ever think that…it set you on a course you were not meant to go down?”

Her nose pulled up in her normal scrunch, her pink tongue darting out to wet her lips. He watched it with an interest that was undignified. “No, of course not. If I never went in the woods that day, I never would’ve gotten this job. Never would’ve beenable to give Lyssa all the books and toys she wanted. Never would’ve had my wounds healed by Tati, or my heart lightened by Blade, or my mind challenged by Becky.”

She put her hand right over his heart.Step away, Trystan.He could’ve; he simply didn’t have the will. “I never would’ve metyou.”I never would’ve met you.“If asked to do it over, I wouldn’t hesitate.”

“Damn it.”

She frowned. “What? Not what you wanted to hear?”

He closed his eyes, banging his head against the wall. “I can hardly cut a man’s eyeball out after hearing that. You’ve ruined the mood.”

She pushed him without force, laughing. “You asked!”

They both leaned up against the wall, and Kingsley appeared below their feet, holding up a sign that said:Destiny.

Trystan’s eyes widened.

Sage frowned. “What’s destiny, my little prince?” Sage bent down to straighten Kingsley’s crown.

Now was as good a time as any, he realized. “Sage, while we are sharing things, I suppose it might be pertinent for you to know that Kingsley isn’t just a magical frog… He was once human. My friend. He was turned by an enchantress more than a decade ago, and I’ve been trying to find a way to undo it since with no luck.”

Sage brought her hands together, as if in prayer, and held them to her lips. “Kingsley was once a human?”

He nodded stiffly, waiting for her anger that he’d waited so long to tell her.

But she merely frowned and said, “Oh dear. Then perhaps I shouldn’t have changed in front of him so many times.”

“What!” He turned a scathing glare on the frog.

“I’m kidding, Evil Overlord!” She laughed until tears pricked her eyes. “I already knew.”

His breath caught, and his lips parted. He felt stunned. “What? How? Clare is sworn to secrecy. There’s no way she would’ve told you—”

Evie cocked a hip. “Nobody needed to tell me! Clare has called him Alexander in front of me on multiple occasions. And Alexander just so happens to be the name of the southern kingdom’s prince who ‘died’ about ten years ago—coincidentally around the time you became The Villain. And if all of that wasn’t slap-you-in-the-face obvious, you call him by the dead prince’s last name. Not so dead after all?”

He threw his arms up again. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t want to be rude.” She tilted her head. “You seemed to so enjoy your secret.”

He was going to die young, and it would be all her fault.

“I am curious, though,” she continued. “Why was this enchantress so deadlands-bent on changing a gallant prince into a creature with webbed toes?”

He hesitated; the memory of the day it happened still haunted him. He spoke almost mechanically. “It wasn’t the enchantress’s fault. She was merely following orders.”