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Panic threaded Garreth's pulse as he marched towards the throne room. Bile threatened to rise in his throat, and his watery eyes couldn't be hidden from his father.

Somehow, he couldn't get the shock to vacate his eyeballs. It was terribly annoying. Garreth tugged his green shirt down. He was a prince in a long line of beguiling men—and he should not be failing to keep a calm mask. Frustration curled his fists.

He hadn't felt this much turmoil since before he had met Kendra. She had calmed the incessant storm he was used to.

She was the most beautiful and kind person he had ever met, and his heart had jumped overboard by their first date. Sure, at first, it was a little networking, a little politics, but he couldn't lie to himself that by the end of their treehouse rendezvous, he had fallen hard.

And it had seemed perfect. A crown princess currently without a kingdom was literally the perfect date, and she also had to be intelligent, funny, and genuine. It was perfect.

Those couple of months were bliss. But, no, she didn't matter anymore.

The royal halls he was walking through were empty as most people had been diverted to search for the last remaining fugitive, the Prince of Fablehaven. That was in Garreth's favor. He didn't particularly want to see anyone, and it would strain his patience if he did.

Nevertheless, his luck was rotten, and he ran into his sister. The one person who could get under his nerves—no, not even get under—trample his nerves with little consequence.

She brushed her tight coils out of her face and glared at him. Her puffy dress made her hands on her hips look a little absurd. "What the hell, Garreth?"

Eve had always been a force to be reckoned with. An annoying, pushy force.

Her upset was often warranted and righteous, but Garreth couldn't care less about it at the moment. She sympathized with magic users and often got into rows with Lord Dalgorel about it. There was no doubt that Eve was upset about this situation.

"Eve, I cannot deal with you right now." He pushed past her. That was just another complication he did not need.

"I just talked to Kendra."

He whirled back around to face Eve. Her glare had deepened, but she held herself up like someone who knew she had the high ground. She had talked to Kendra? What? How? Why?

Kendra was supposed to be in the dungeon.

...Eve did not sneak down to the dungeon.

Oh, have mercy.

And he thought his emotions couldn't be drained even further.

"I am going to break her out of that cell with or without your help." Eve looked him up and down. Garreth felt that specific blend of bloodthirsty rage made especially for siblings rise up, but he pushed it back down. He needed to clear his head, not further muddy it. He needed to keep at least a semblance of calm. "If you have the gall to oppose me, just don't tell daddy dearest, alright?"

Never mind, that rage was back, and he wanted to strangle her. She had never understood the importance of pleasing their father, and never even tried to keep the peace. She did not just insult him because he did that exhausting duty for the both of them. "Eve, you have no right to speak like that."

"Why not? I love Kendra. So, I'm saving her. You apparently don't, because you're letting her die. I hope you choke on guilt."

Her words slammed into Garreth. Love was the most grotesque word to him at the moment. And maybe, he would choke on the guilt of condemning someone he held dear. But not a sorcerer.

Before he could further process her scathing remarks, she spun back around and rushed off in a direction that was most decidedly not the throne room.

Garreth cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled. "Where are you going?"

She held up a rude gesture in return and disappeared around the corner. Great. Just what he needed. His firecracker of a sister on the loose.

Garreth looked to the ornate ceiling and counted to seven.

Anger coursed through his veins. Anger at Eve, anger at his father, anger at Kendra, anger at himself. It made it hard to think straight, and once Garreth reached his seven seconds, he pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes.

How dare Eve declare that he didn't love Kendra? He—he had never, ever cared for someone like he did for her. He just wasn't going to let that cloud his principles.

Sorcerers were immoral. They sought powers beyond themself, and hurt others because of it. Sorcery was selfish. It was terrible. It was evil.

Which meant that Kendra was selfish. Kendra was terrible. Kendra was—

A tear slipped down his face, and he sank to his knees. Pressure built in his sinuses and pounded against the confines of his skull.

He was alone in the hall, and he could break down.

Adrenaline still coursed through him from Kendra's arrest. Garreth had never been scared of her before, and the terror had a hard time leaving his body. The way she had bent the courtyard to her will with those gales frightened him.

However, Garreth was terribly confused about the pretense she had put up for the past couple of months. If Kendra had always had this power, why had she even bothered to maintain her front?

Sorcerers had attacked his family before. They had never felt the need to nestle into the castle for months or attend the theater with him.

But, Kendra did that.

Kendra went on dates. She discussed his favorite plays, picnicked in the garden, confided in him about her familial woes, and comforted him. Kendra snuggled with him. She laced her fingers through his. She laughed at his terrible, terrible jokes. She worried over his safety when he was sent to train with the knights. She got angry on his behalf. She treated Eve like a little sister. She bickered with her brother. She smiled at Garreth when he was talking about how the tones of a painting communicated its message. She helped the schoolchildren with their books. She spent time with the cooks and learned the Terrabellian recipes. She traced her fingers down his face. She locked eyes with him and told a story through her expressions during boring meetings. She picked dandelions. She told him he was more than his father could ever aspire to achieve.

She was everything he could have wanted and more.

She was so warm. His father was cold, Eve was prickly at the best of times, and Lockland just put him through sword drills. No one had ever provided that kind of solace since his mother.

So, how, in the world, was Kendra a sorcerer?

He knew it was true. She admitted to and practiced magic. So it was true.

So, either Kendra wasn't a sorcerer (which had been proven false) or sorcerers weren't inherently evil. Or Kendra had been lying the entire time—but Garreth couldn't believe that. He couldn't live if he believed that.

If Fablehaven could function as a good kingdom with a sorcerer at the helm...what did that mean?

Was his father wrong?

Garreth flinched. Even in his head, he didn't feel safe from his father's wrath. Maybe that anger had seeped into his father's policies. Maybe they weren't entirely rational.

He had never even dared think those thoughts, and now that he had, they couldn't stop coming.

Terrabelle had allowed magic in the years before his mother's death. Terrabelle had been fine.

Well, up until his mother had been killed by a sorcerer.

But, it was that raw power that these people acquired that was terrifying. Sorcerers could rival phalanxes of knights, and how fair was that?

But, Kendra had never attempted to harm him, and she seemed pretty powerful. Even in the courtyard, she hadn't maimed anyone.

But, Kendra was just one person. It wasn't indicative of the general population. Hmm.

Maybe if he could conduct a few investigations.

The tolling of the bells brought him back to the present. He was thinking too far ahead.

He could think over the implications of his recent revelations later.

However, even though he had cleared his mind, adrenaline still lingered in his veins and his fingers still twitched towards his sword. His body was wired. Maybe he could use that.

First things first, although she annoyed him to no end, Garreth needed to protect Eve. At the end of the day, Garreth would lay down his own life for her. He wanted to see her safe.

However, apparently, she was attempting to follow through on a very ill-concocted plan. Breaking Kendra out of the dungeon?

What was she even thinking?

That was terribly dangerous.

Of course, she wouldn't stop at one fugitive, and would probably snatch Seth as well. But Seth hadn't been caught by the royal guard yet, so Garreth could put that aside for now.

What were his options?

Well, he could confess Eve's plan to his father, prevent Eve from carrying it out in some other way, or, help her.

Now, Garreth was unsure of how his father would take news of Eve's deceit, but, knowing his father, it would not be good. Eve could potentially get hurt or grounded for the rest of her life, so it was off the table.

Now, maybe he could prevent it some other way? Like he could lock Eve in her room or something. But, she had those damn tunnels. Garreth wasn't sure how extensive they were, but nevertheless, she was crafty.

Either way, Eve would consider it a betrayal, and would probably never talk to him again.

Garreth groaned and eyed the wall. It was looking like a mighty good surface to punch right now. But, no, then his father would definitely kill him. For getting his blood on the wall.

Oh, well. The third option: helping Eve carry it out and becoming a fugitive in his own kingdom while directly contradicting his father and everything Terrabelle stood for.

So, that was also off the table. Which left...nothing.

Should he just do nothing? Hope Eve's little plan imploded on itself without harming her (...or the constituents of the plan. Garreth didn't want to see Kendra or Seth harmed, but, truthfully, there wasn't much he could legally do. He had enjoyed the siblings' company, and while Seth may be innocent, Kendra was a full-fledged witch. Even though it didn't make any sense, he had seen her use magic and that was the law.).

He could do nothing, like he had always done.

However, deciding to do nothing grinded against Garreth in a way his silence hadn't before.

All throughout his life, Garreth had watched his father make decisions that had affected whole swathes of people. It sometimes led to happiness and satisfaction, but more often provoked anger, grief, and bloodlust.

In contrast, the most overwhelming emotion Garreth had ever felt about those decisions was relief that he didn't have to make them. All he had had to do was have faith that his father was doing the right thing, and his conscience remained clear.

But, now, his father had arrested Kendra on sorcery. Replace her name with any other subject and there would be little hesitation as Garreth defended his father.

Sorcery was evil, unnatural, and dangerous. Sorcerers turned the tides of war, sorcerers razed castles to the ground.

However, he had never seen a bloodthirsty, power hungry sorcerer when he had interacted with Kendra. (Well, until that cyclone. But, for the sake of argument, disregarding that..)

In the gardens, in the theater, in the treehouse—all he had seen was someone trying their best to get through one of the worst times in their life. Even then, while Kendra herself had suffered, she had tried to help other people.

Garreth had watched Kendra speak up in court meetings, more often than not, defending and empathizing with the victims of ordinances. He wished he had her courage. To be the only one disagreeing in a room full of chancellors and royalty and all the other posh people with power over your life?

It was outside of his imagination.

So was Kendra being a sorcerer.

But, those vines that choked the knights' feet hadn't grown on their own.

Then, again. Doing nothing to help felt wrong. Kendra was dear to his heart. She had never stood aside as others had been suffering.

Something felt wrong. (Maybe the current way Terrabelle stood on magic wasn't right.)

Besides, the rest of Kendra's court shouldn't be condemned because of her mistakes. (But what if they were sorcerers too?)

He could help Eve carry out her plan, just in a diplomatic way. (Was there any diplomatic way?)

It was the right thing to do. It was. (...)

But, why did it feel like standing up to his father was crossing the point of no return? (And was he strong enough to cross that line?)

Kendra would be.

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thank you for reading!

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