Kill Me Softly (32 page)

The tenth bell echoed through the night.

“He will take no strength from his beloved, but neither will he require it to survive.”

The eleventh ring was already sounding when Elsa moved on to the second part of the wish, her voice and her wand trembling as time began to run out.

“The punishment for invading the Romantic's chamber—”

The iridescent light faded from the wand. It faded from Blue's skin like Mira's strength had faded when he kissed her. Until all four of them were left standing in the dark, lit only by the moon and the stars. The twelfth bell stole their voices, their breaths, and marked the end of the night, the end of

Mira's birthday, the end of the magic.

“But what?” Blue asked. “What about the room?”

Elsa shook her head. “I didn't manage to change it. There wasn't time. You'll still have to give out the key. And bring an end to any trespassers …”

“It just won't be a clean end is what you're saying,” Blue said bitterly. “Because I've lost the ability to siphon life. I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way—make the room into a bloody chamber.”

Elsa nodded. “It's unfortunate, and I'm sorry. I meant to soften that.”

“So I'll still be—I'll still be a murderer. If anyone enters the room …”

Mira's eyes flooded with tears. Blue's kiss couldn't kill any-more—but it didn't matter. If he might have to murder the girl he loved, he'd be too afraid to really live. She couldn't stand it.

“It's not fair!” she burst out. “How can you leave him like that?”

“Mira, I'm sorry,” Elsa said. “But the day has ended. There's nothing I can—”

Bliss raised her wand, and magic screeched through it like nails on a chalkboard. Her jaw was set, her eyes narrowed, and she was staring right at Blue. Mira's mouth opened in horror. Did Bliss know about them? Was she going to punish him? “Wait!” she cried. But it was too late.

Bliss raked her wand in a hard circle through the air, wrist jerking counterclockwise.

And the church bell bonged again. Rich, funereal—and familiar.

Elsa's wand flared with new light. Her mouth pulled into a thin, disbelieving line. “Bliss … what did you do?”

“Hush,” Bliss said fiercely. “Allow me to worry about the trouble I'll be in; you won't have broken any rules. Now go on and finish. You only have eleven more bells.”

The second bell tolled for the second time that night. A second midnight.

Elsa took a deep breath. She touched the wand to Blue's heart, and he shivered as the iridescent light poured through him again.

Elsa repeated the softening of the curse, reciting it quickly now. And when she reached the second part of the wish, just as the church bells were tolling the sixth ring of the midnight hour, she said, “The punishment for invading the Romantic's chamber will always be death. However, the Romantic will no longer be forced to tempt his beloved into betraying him. From this moment on, he will not be required to give his beloved a key to the forbidden room, nor to disclose the room's location. The secret remains with him.”

The light broke over Blue like water, and fizzled away well before the twelfth bell tolled. It was done. The wish was complete.

“There,” Elsa said, letting out an exhausted sigh. “I couldn't do anything about the room—that will always be taboo. But the curse is effectively harmless.” She smiled, and Mira smiled back, determined to keep a pleased expression on her face.

She couldn't possibly tell them that Blue's curse was harmless to everyone but her. Or that she had the last key Blue would ever give out.

She could sense the passkey in her pocket—the same phantom cold she'd felt when the razor blade had first touched her chest. She shivered at its dark promise.

“Thank you,” she said, pulling her godmothers into a hug. “It's perfect.”

“I don't like him,” Bliss whispered in Mira's ear. “Just so we're clear. But I love
you
. And I know this is what you wanted.”

“Will you get in trouble?” she asked Bliss.

“Maybe,” Bliss said. “But I've heard fairy godmother prison is very nice.”

“Hush,” Elsa hissed, and Bliss giggled.

“Happy birthday,” they said.

Bliss and Elsa left her alone with Blue. He closed the distance between them and took her hands, careful not to crush her wounded fingers.

“That wasn't just an elaborate light show, was it?” he asked. His breathing sounded shaky. He was looking down at himself—like he expected to have changed on the outside, too. “I'm a little afraid to believe it. It feels like it can't be real.”

“It's real,” Mira said. “It was my birthday wish—that they soften your curse, like they softened mine.”

“You had a birthday wish? And you wasted it on me?” He grinned at her. It was the first time she'd seen him smile like that in a while, and she lit up, grinning back.

“What was I thinking?”

“Can we work out some kind of trade, so I can make it up to you?”

“There is still something I want for my birthday.”

“Anything,” he said.

You,
she thought.

She draped her arms around his neck, feeling excited, and nervous, and afraid.

It was exciting to think they had a chance now … and scary to know their fates were in her hands. She was the one girl who could betray him. And if she did, she'd make him into a monster. He'd be forced to kill her, and it wouldn't be soft; it would be violent. The risk of death had always been between them … but now he could walk away from her, and never have to risk that again. She was nervous that he would want to.

“Mira,” he said. “You know I trust you, don't you?”

“I know,” she said. “It's just … you'd be safe with anyone else. You wouldn't have to worry—at all—and—”

“Mira.” He took her face in his hands. “I'm not worried. You know what's there. You're not going to go in that room.”

“I know, but—”

“And this is real, right? What your godmothers said. My curse is …”

He kissed her lightly on the nose, and she laughed. Blue eyed her with faux seriousness. “How was that? Any weakness?”

“No. But I don't think there would have been anyway.”

“Well, then, how about this?” His lips brushed hers, his mouth teasing her lower lip, and her eyes closed and she shivered as his fingers caught in her hair. And then suddenly, there wasn't any space between them. The sensation of drowning was there, but it wasn't like her strength was leaving her. It was like she wanted to be part of him. Like she didn't know or care where she ended and he began.

When they drew apart, she whispered, “No weakness.”

“Really?” he said. “ 'Cause I'm feeling a little weak.” She felt him smile against her mouth. And they both laughed, shook with it. Their faces were too close, noses and cheeks pressed awkwardly together, but neither one of them moved. She tightened her arms around him, and he held her just as tightly. His breath murmured against her cheek.

“You're safe with me, Mira. And I'm safe with you.”

He kissed her again to prove it. And when the clock struck one—that lone, ominous tone hovering in the dark—they were still kissing. Her razor blade had snagged his shirt and nicked his chest, and they'd ended up lying in the grass, hidden inside a shadow, ignoring their names whenever someone called them. He traced her mouth again and again, like he still couldn't believe it was real.

There would always be a part of him she couldn't know. A secret place where his heartbreak was stored, where lost innocence and regret filled the air like smoke. She had no desire to open that door … but she didn't know if that would change one day. If the key would tempt her, if a fairy would manipulate her or she would just be curious. But she had to believe she could be strong enough to resist. That what she wanted—what they both wanted—mattered more than the path that had been laid out for them.

She let her hand slip under his shirt to touch the heart mark on his back, and he brought her other hand to his lips, and kissed every finger he'd entrusted with the key. He was so much more than his curse, and she was so much more than the girl who could betray him. Together … they could be anything.