Page 27 of The Autumn Prince

Suddenly, hands grabbed me and pulled me away seconds before the wood and stone crashed to the floor exactly where I’d been standing. I was safe but I still screamed, adding to the deafening noises.

As a plume of dust billowed toward us, Incendis curled over me and used the collar of my shirt to cover my nose and mouth. He coughed a couple times before using one of the layers of his frilly neck thing to breathe through.

And as I stared up at him, this fae prince who’d just saved my life, I absolutely knew with every atom in me that I could so easily fall in love with him.

Something strange started happening. It felt like the floor was vibrating. We both stumbled around, and then more massive chunks of castle started falling all around us.

Incendis didn’t hesitate to grab me up and fly straight out of there. I’d had no idea he could move so fast, but boy, was I glad he could. Because it wasn’t just the castle that was crumbling—the barriers were coming down, too.

Chapter 11

The barrier was breaking in great chunks, like someone had thrown a boulder through a giant window. Everyone who’d come with us was running away from the castle and barriers, trying to reach a wider part of the wedge that we were in. Incendis set me on my feet well away from everything crashing down and went back to scoop up two other people who were struggling to move fast enough. Horses were freaking out and had to be calmed so they wouldn’t run off with the wagons and carriages or the people riding them. There was so much chaos, I didn’t know what to focus on.

And then I realized that the castle was disappearing into the ground like the grass might actually be quicksand. “The castle!” I pointed when Incendis rejoined me. “It’s sinking!”

I grabbed his hand when it looked to me like he might rush back over there. He stood still beside me and watched his father’s entire castle be absorbed into the ground beneath it. The sadness on his face hurt my heart.

“Oh, gods,” he whispered. “He’s staying.”

The amber that encased his father remained while the rest of the castle disappeared. It was a bit far off now, but it kind of looked like part of the floor underneath it had broken off in a rough circle to act as a plinth for the amber. In minutes, that was all there was left of the castle, just a field of undisturbed grass with a monument in the middle.

Looking around at the fallen barrier to the left of us, I could see a brittle forest coming back to life as rain fell on the barren trees. New leaves sprouted on every branch like a stop-motion video on fast-forward. In mere seconds, that whole area looked like a spring-time forest instead of a Halloween nightmare.

“Are you doing that?” I asked Incendis.

He held my hand and shook his head. “Either it’s Solaris restoring his court, or just the fact that Spring can finally return to all of us.” He pointed to the right. “Look at Winter changing.”

Over there definitely looked like Spring had arrived to melt snow and push up new blades of grass and budding flowers. It seemed to be pushing from the amber outward, which must mean the Spring Court was across from us.

“We broke the curse,” I said with a relieved chuckle. “I’m not sure I believed we could.”

He pulled me into a hug. “I knew you could.”

“Not just me.”

“You were the catalyst.”

“But you did all the work.”

He pressed his cheek to mine, and I felt him smile. “All I did was fall in love.”

I gasped and pulled back to look up at him.

“It’s alright,” he said. “You don’t have to say it if you aren’t ready, but the fact that the curse is broken tells me you love me.”

He was right. Not that I wasn’t ready to say it out loud—though it did feel scary to do that—but that that was why I was here. I’d fought it, given into it, and nearly forgotten all about how I was supposed to love him. And without me even speaking the words, the curse—or the king?—knew that⁠—

“I do love you,” I said out loud.

He kissed me soundly right as a gust of wind nearly knocked us over. We regained our footing, and I looked around, bracing myself for what the hell was happening now. Only…it was…

“Is that a unicorn?” I could hardly believe my eyes.

“It is. And my brother.”

“Your—” I’d been so focused on the horned horse I’d missed the two people riding on its back. And now that I was looking at them, one looked really familiar. “Bridge?”

Before he could do more than look over in surprise, a pale blue carriage with four white horses was suddenly between us. Someone opened the door and⁠—