Finale

“You foul, heartless, wretched, cheating, manipulating, apple-sucking demon!”

Jacks rubbed the cheek where she’d slapped him as he leaned back against one of his paper kings. “Would you even believe me if I said no, that I wouldn’t let you die—that I would never let you die?”

But his skin glowed like a star, his golden hair shone brighter than any crown, and his unearthly eyes gleamed with a shade of blue that made Tella think of the most wonderful mistakes.

Jacks spun around abruptly. “Why are you so upset? What are you worried I’ll see in your dreams?”

And in that moment, Legend no longer felt like Tella’s enemy, or her friend, or the boy she used to love—Legend felt like every story she’d never wanted to believe about him.

“You are so full of yourself,” she said. “I never asked you to be my hero.”

“This is my choice, and I choose you, Donatella. I don’t need immortality. You’re my forever.”

“If you don’t let me go, I’m not going to be able to fight you anymore.”

“Good, because I don’t want to fight you. I just want to love you.”

“I can’t say that I understand love, or that I’m very good at it, because I’ve never loved anyone before. But I love everything about you, Donatella Dragna. Everything.”

“I’m sorry I left you that night. I shouldn’t have left, I shouldn’t have hurt you. And I shouldn’t have gotten scared and run away when I realized that I was falling in love with you.”