Evie

“My hero!” Evie called happily, picking up the amphibian.

She was inches away from pressing her lips to the frog’s cheek when he was yanked from her hands. The boss gave her a dark look. “We should not reward defiance, Sage.” Though his words came out choppy, he still managed to glare at the frog. “You weren’t even meant to come, you little nuisance.”

Tatianna appeared through the shattered window, her lovely face a welcome sight after their moment of hopelessness. And the mortification Evie would be buried with for the foreseeable future. And the words she’d hear every time she had even an inkling of self-doubt.

I—I can’t do that.

It had been her one surge of confidence, and it had been buried beneath painful rejection.

“Oh, thank goodness you two aren’t dead,” Tatianna said, soothing her rampant thoughts.

The Villain frowned. “Was that up for debate?”

Kingsley leaped into the water and swam toward the corner, where the keys had sunk. “Smart boy!” Evie cooed, treading water, her toes unable to meet the ground without her head being swallowed. The boss grunted, curling his lip in distaste, then wrapped a hand around her hip and hoisted her up.

Tatianna disappeared and was replaced by Clare, who had an awed look as she took in the room. “Goodness, you two are incredibly destructive.”

Evie grinned. “It’s routine at this point.”

Clare rolled her eyes. “And that doesn’t explain why you’re both basically naked.”

Before Evie could come up with a plausible explanation, Kingsley

returned with the keys in his little froggy mouth. The boss unlocked the cage door, pushing with all his might against the pressure from the water. The muscles on his back rippled with the force, moving in a way that made her want to douse her head below the cool surface. She couldn’t believe that mere seconds before, she’d had her hands all over his skin…

When she finally found it in herself to look away, Tatianna and Clare were staring at her…and chuckling. She flipped a finger at them—the not-nice one.

When he’d successfully opened the cage door, The Villain turned to where she was treading water behind him, seemingly not noticing her exchange with his sister and the healer. “You first, Sage.” The boss helped her through the bars and lifted her toward the broken corner window. She felt two hands reach in to tug her out and up onto the wooden sidewalk above the water. Gasping, she flopped onto her back, spitting and coughing. The hot sun overhead warmed her skin as she caught her breath.

Her hands were still clasped in Tati’s and Clare’s. They all breathed heavily before Clare said into the quiet, “I really don’t know how we got here. We had such a normal childhood.”

A fit of giggles took over, and Evie squeezed her fingers around each of their hands. Feeling warmth and affection for her rescuers, she released them quickly to reach for Trystan.

But he wasn’t there.

And of course, as the gods commanded, she knew that when things were too good, that was the moment they were about to get very bad.

“Trystan?” Clare leaned over with her, reaching into the overflowing water. “Where is he?”

“Did he manage to get the door open from the other side? Perhaps he came up the stairs of the cellar and took the normal exit?” Evie asked, panicking, angling her head in to look and promptly banging it against the upper edge of the window.

It was then that a voice called from behind them. “He did.”

It was Helena and her actors holding The Villain, who was shirtless and wet, his face seething with anger.

And Evie’s dagger at his throat.