“Be reasonable, Sophie. You can’t stay with the School Master! He’s a monster!”

“His name is Rafal, he’s different now, and for your information, we were supposed to have our first date tonight—”

“Where you’d probably end up drinking the blood of little children together,” Tedros retorted. “Now hear me out before I gag you again—”

“Don’t you dare threaten me,” Sophie scorched. “You can’t hurt me more than you already have, Tedros. You made Agatha pick you over me. You made her believe she couldn’t have her best friend and her prince. You tried to send me back home alone to no mother, a rotten father, a haggish stepmother, stepbrothers who’ve already moved into my room, and a town where no one—no one—cares about me. You and your princess sent me to hell with a kiss, and just when I found my way to a boy who truly cares about me, to a happy ending that might finally be real . . . here you are riding in on your white horse again to take it all away.”

Tedros gazed at his once-princess tied up on the bed. “Sophie, don’t you get it? He isn’t what he looks like. He isn’t your true love. He’s Evil. And if you stay with him, that makes you Evil too. There’ll be no way back to Good this time.”

Sophie’s eyes sparkled. “Do you know why I wanted a fairy tale my whole life? Because a fairy tale means love that never ends. I thought that love was you, Tedros. Then I thought it was Agatha. But it’s him. It has to be him.”

Tedros stood up from the table. Sophie watched the prince move towards the bed, his hair haloed in torchlight, as he slipped onto the sheets next to her. Their legs touched as they sat in silence.

“You think we’d come all this way if we didn’t love you?” he said softly. “We’re your best friends.”

Sophie turned away. “No, Agatha was my best friend. My only friend. I needed her, Tedros. More than I needed anyone. But you made Agatha choose between a boy and her friend. And now you’re trying to make me choose too.” Sophie shook her head, letting tears fall. “How could she do it? How could she just throw me away?”

“She made a mistake, Sophie,” Tedros said. “When you fight for love, sometimes you think it’s you against the world. You become scared. You see what isn’t there. It happened to Agatha. It happened to me. And now it’s happening to you.”

She felt him reach up behind her, undoing her first bind.

“But there’s nothing holding us back anymore,” he said. “We can all be together now.”

“Even fairy tales have limits,” said Sophie. “Three people can’t have an Ever After. Not without me being alone.”

“You won’t be alone, Sophie.” She could feel his forearm caress her neck as it reached for the other bind. “You’ll have two people who want to see you happy. And until we have you in our lives again, we can’t be happy either.”