5

I spend the day traveling between realms, keeping the King alive in the mortal realm while researching dark magic in Faerie. After questioning the stewards of the Royal Reliquary in my uncle’s palace and chatting with less savory characters in some of Torin’s favorite haunts, I accumulate a collection of items to ply against the anklet, including the Void-Star dagger, which I purloin from King Lirannon’s vault of forbidden weapons.

I try everything on the anklet that night, while the girl sits quietly with her foot on my thigh, watching the process. When none of it works, I lose my temper and annihilate everything. I’ve only been able to annihilate items twice before, and they were small, solitary objects. I’ve never destroyed multiple things at once. The intensity of both the emotion and the magic frightens me a little.

I’ve lost my heart already. I think perhaps I’m losing my mind as well .

Later I tell the girl what I’ve deduced about the anklet and its powers, and she tells me her name. Not Cinders, as the step-family calls her, but Celinda.

In return for her name, I give her mine.