The longer I spent in the darkness, the brighter the obvious path shone. It was Evander’s fault I was in this position to begin with. He and his family had forced me into a betrothal I hadn’t wanted. He’d ruined my life, soiled my dreams. Then he’d had the audacity to steal my heart, all while his belonged to another.

If he died, it would be his own doing. Not mine.

And even if I spared him, if we both spared each other, what would I be giving up?

That which you hold most precious.

It hit me then. What I’d be giving up.

No. He couldn’t have it. Evander could take my heart and rip it to shreds, but he couldn’t have that.

Objectively speaking, the correct choice, the rational choice, would be to sever the bargain with Evander. Because if we both chose to forfeit the bargain, then we’d both be spared. We could both have what we wanted.

Surely Evander would realize that. He was rash, sure. But he wasn’t stupid. He would expect me to make the rational choice, and he would act in turn.

“I’ve made my decision,” I whispered.

And then I chose.

The voice hesitated. “Is that your final answer?”

The box opened, and light poured in, blinding my eyes. I searched the compartment for the owner of the voice, but my eyes weren’t adjusting quickly enough. Everything had gone a bright orange, and before I could squint to make out the creature’s face, a guard grabbed my arm and pulled me from the box. The door slammed behind us, though something was off.

I realized the crowd wasn’t cheering. I turned to my left, only to see a shadow standing outside the other box. Evander. I couldn’t make out his face. What would I find there? Had he condemned me to death?

Why wasn’t the crowd cheering?

My limbs began to shake.

What had I done?

The king’s voice sounded, and I clung to every word. “The Heir and his Betrothed have each made their decisions.” He must have explained the rules to the crowd while we were in the boxes. My eyes started to make out more details, and there was a grim look on the king’s face. My heart sank. That could mean only one thing.

But then his grimace softened at the edges. “Each has decided to put away their utmost desires for the other. Both the Heir and his Betrothed chose to spare one another’s lives.”

My heart lifted from my chest.

The crowd roared.

He spared me.

Evander spared me.

He couldn’t let me die, couldn’t risk severing the bargain.

Just like for the life of me, I couldn’t stand to forfeit his.

I’d changed my mind as soon as the dreadful words had come out of my mouth. Never in my life had I been so thankful for a second chance.

I’d have kissed the owner of the voice if he hadn’t been disembodied, just for giving me the opportunity to take it back.

I turned to look at Evander, to share the relief, but his body was rigid, his tanned face gone pale. He was looking straight ahead, and his mouth was twisted, as though he might vomit.

“Evander?” But the thundering crowd swallowed my voice. He was trembling. Why was he trembling?

What had he given up?

When the guards escorted us from the arena, they took us separately.

It was only once we reached the quiet tunnel that I realized the tips of my fingers had gone numb.

CHAPTER 48

ELLIE

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I received word that Evander had called me down to his father’s office to meet him. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to see him. Sure, I was thankful he had spared my life. But the way he had refused to look at me after the trial, the way he’d stared across the arena with an unsettling emptiness in his eyes…

When the guard escorted me to the king’s office and announced my arrival, Evander hardly acknowledged me. Instead, he rifled the papers on his father’s desk.

The king wasn’t there.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

The scribe standing next to Evander—the same one who had assisted us during the second trial—was the one who spoke up. “Lady Payne, the prince’s associates have been on the hunt for a while, ever since the erm, unfortunate misunderstanding, for a means to free you both from the bargain.” Oh, this again. My shoulders went rigid. “And we believe we have come to the conclusion that there is a definitive way to nullify the bargain.”

I was free. I was free—so why did my soul feel as though it had been turned to lead?

“You were right then,” I said, addressing Evander with the most obvious statement in the world, if only to pull him into this conversation that I shouldn’t have had to have with a stranger.

“Yes,” he said, still shuffling through the papers.

“Are you going to explain it to me or leave me to wonder?”

He glanced up at me, his usually bright green eyes pale, murky. Dark circles had formed under his eyes.

Before he could respond, the scribe interjected. I didn’t take my eyes off Evander though. “It took a great deal of searching through the ancient laws. Most of the ones that would have been useful to us have been repealed, but there happens to be a clause from the second century that we believe is solid grounds for breaking the bargain.”

“Fae curse magic cares about fae law?” I asked, rolling my eyes. “If that were the case, couldn’t the fae have just made it the law that it was legal to lie, and then they could get away with it?”

“Not quite.” The scribe coughed. “But few bargains are made in this era without a clause to allow one out of it.”

“Right, that’s why there’s a cosigner on the marriage bargains between royalty,” I said, annoyed that information I already knew was getting in between me and some answers.

“Exactly, my lady. Fortunately, your bargain with the prince specified that it was made by the authority of common fae law, and therefore can be annulled under any clause properly ratified by common fae law.”

I chewed my lip. “Is a law from the second century considered common?”

The scribe let out a weak, unsure smile. “It is, so long as it has never been annulled. This law might have been forgotten over the years, but, as far as we can tell, it was never formally repealed.”