Sophie smirked bitterly. “Being a spy for Good?”

“Accepting Good as our equal,” said Lady Lesso.

Sophie’s smirk erased.

“That’s what Evil’s love really is, Sophie,” said the Dean. “Knowing that Good has the right to thrive and fight for happiness, just as much as we do. Because in the end, Good and Evil are two sides of the same story: every Good comes from Evil and every Evil from Good. Just as your mother’s death made you want to find real happiness. Just as Agatha’s Ever After with a prince will help you find yours on your own. That is the balance that sustains our world. The balance that let the School Master stay young all those years, loving his Good brother as his equal, even if he was his enemy . . . before he forgot the power of that love. Just like you have forgotten too.”

“What would you ever know about love? Look what you did to your own son!” Sophie mocked, blotching red. “All because you were scared he’d kill you—”

“Not me,” Lady Lesso said, smiling sadly. “I was never scared he’d kill me. I was scared he’d kill the one real love I have in this world.”

Sophie stared at her, disarmed.

“Why do you think I was Merlin’s spy in the first place?” said the Dean. “Because it meant when the time came, I’d get to set Clarissa Dovey free. My best friend. My Agatha.”

Sophie ashened. “You . . . you betrayed Evil for a friend?”

“Like you must, when the time comes,” said Lady Lesso. “Because that friend’s happy ending will be your own, if you can let yourself find peace in being alone. That’s how this storybook will close. That’s your real ending, Sophie. And that’s a Never After worth fighting for.”

Sophie’s face froze, her lashes blinking faster.

At the west doors, Agatha watched them, her head lightening, her muscles unlocking, as if Lady Lesso’s words had taken away her pain. She could see Sophie’s big emerald eyes, gazing at the Dean, and for a moment, she caught a glimpse of her old friend inside of them.

But then Sophie’s pupils hardened, the yellow fire returning, and she sneered back at Lady Lesso. “I don’t have a friend anymore,” she hissed. “I have love. I have real love that will last forever. I’ll never be alone.”

“If only you could see yourself as you are now, Sophie,” said Lady Lesso, her voice tender and maternal. “Because you’ve never been more alone.”

Sophie bared her teeth and fired a blast of pink glow at the Dean’s head, but Lady Lesso deflected it easily, ricocheting the spell into Sophie, who stumbled towards the edge of the pit. Losing balance, she held out her hand towards Lady Lesso, as she teetered backwards—

Lady Lesso didn’t take it.

Sophie plunged into the dungeon mist, landing on her ribs in the cold sweep of snow.

Balled up on her side, all Sophie could hear were here own frigid breaths and the echo of Lady Lesso’s footsteps clacking away through the east doors.