Never After (School for Good and Evil x Reader)

Chapter 43

I lept off the prince like he was a bed of hot coals. "No, no, this isn't what it looks like—"

But Agatha had her finger raised, glowing a bright gold.

"Agatha, listen to me—"

"You snake," Agatha hissed, advancing. "You lying snake, you tried to kiss him! You tried to kiss him and send me home!"

"That's not true!" I shouted.

"You were there in the School Master's tower that night. You attacked us. You set him against me!" Agatha spewed.

"Well you promised me you wouldn't see him!" I fired back, temper rising.

"So you tried to get us home on a lie?" Agatha lashed.

"I didn't want to go home!" I assailed Agatha, fighting tears. "But I had to, because I knew you'd choose Tedros, and I would be sent away. And I couldn't go back to that hellhole alone, Agatha, I just couldn't."

Agatha shook her head angrily. "Can't you see?" she said, voice cold. "The more you try to stop us, the more my wish for him is true."

I fell back a step, cut to the core.

"I was trying to save us—"

"Is that what kissing him was?" Agatha mocked. "An attempt to save us?"

"I wasn't kissing him!" I screamed. "I fell, Agatha!"

"Because of you, a boy is dead!" Agatha yelled, not listening. "Because of you, we could both still die!"

"STOP TELLING ME IT'S MY FAULT!" I shrieked.

"A real sister wouldn't hold me back," Agatha said, ice-cold.

"What are you talking about?" Tedros finally intervened. "None of this happened because of her! It happened because of me! Y/n's our friend—"

"Y/n's about as Good a friend as Lancelot was to your father."

Tedros bared teeth and drew his sword. "What did you say?"

Agatha searched his face, softening. "Never could tell between Good and Evil, could you?"

Tedros' whole body stiffened, dread slithering through him.

"She attacked us in the tower, Tedros," Agatha said. "That was her."

My brow creased. "I didn't—I didn't mean—"

Then I saw Tedros staring at me, his blue eyes glazed and frozen over, as if reliving every moment of the scene that just happened, parsing every word. Little by little, a golden glow dawned over him, like a warmth awakened inside, melting the darkness and edges. I slouched with relief—

But then I saw Tedros wasn't looking at me at all. He was looking at his ghostly, dark-haired princess, standing beneath a sparkling willow.

"Y-y-you . . . you loved me the whole time?" he said softly.

Agatha nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"And everything you said in the tower was true?" said Tedros, eyes wet.

Agatha nodded, crying harder.

"Why didn't I kiss you?" Tedros said, voice cracking. "Why didn't I trust you?"

"You're . . . so stupid," Agatha wept, shaking her head. "Why are boys so stupid?"

Tedros smiled through tears. "Maybe a world without princes is a good idea after all."