Ever Never After | The School for Good and Evil Fanfiction

Chapter 8: Revolution

Breaking up with someone had almost never been an issue for Alma. She'd learned a long time ago that she preferred friends with benefits and the rare fling. She was too much of a free spirit for monogamy. Somehow, she'd ended up in one of her worst nightmares—a committed relationship with a royal heir who held archaic views and expected her to become his queen.

The Everboys' sword-fighting match took place in the Clearing, a rolling field of green outside the gates of the Blue Forest. Alma watched from the sidelines as Camelot's prince managed to flick every opponent's sword away, unscathed, and she pretended to be the impressed Evergirl, accepting his kisses and praise. She couldn't summon an appetite at dinner, her mind fogged with anxious thoughts about approaching Tedros with the break-up news. He'd been so vocal about his love for her. He'd lifted her so high among him. They were the hottest couple in the Good school. And she wasn't sure how much more she could take if she didn't act now.

"My love," Tedros said. "Are you feeling ill? You've barely eaten."

Alma hesitated, thinking of an excuse. No, she needed to be honest. But not here.

"I need to talk to you in private again," Alma said, keeping her voice down so the other Everboys wouldn't hear. "Merlin's Menagerie?"

Tedros paused, unsure. He nodded.

Alma's heart rattled with fear all the way up to the rooftop garden. Was Tedros really worth all this anxiety, she asked herself? What was the worst that could happen? Would he really be so hurt that he would order her execution after graduation as Camelot's new king? He was supposed to be Good, and Good was supposed to defend, not attack. She just had to be careful with her words.

Facing Tedros, Alma thought she might pass out. She sat down on the bench, and he followed, seating himself next to her and not making the situation any easier.

Alma took a breath, averting his gaze. "I'm... uh... I'm sorry, I can't do this."

"Do what?" Tedros asked.

Alma brushed a strand of hair back. "Be your true love—right now."

"What?" Tedros said. "What do you mean?"

Alma bit her lip, trying to find the right words that had escaped her.

"Alma," Tedros said, his tone as commanding as a king's. "Look at me."

Alma forced herself to face him again, meeting his smoldering blue eyes that saw her for who she wasn't.

"What are you trying to tell me?" Tedros asked. "That you're not my true love?"

"No," Alma blurted. "I'm just trying to say I'm not ready yet."

"Not ready for true love?"

"Yes."

Alma looked down. An uneasy silence settled between the prince and princess.

"I understand," Tedros said, his tone warmer, genuine.

Alma looked up at him. "You do?"

"This is overwhelming for you, isn't it?" he said. "Being taken away from Woods Beyond, trying to understand Evil as well as you do Good, finding your true love, the prospect of becoming my queen."

"Yeah," Alma said, wincing internally at the last two things. "It is."

Tedros stroked her cheek. Alma froze at the touch.

"I will wait however long it takes for you to feel ready," he said. "True love waits."

"Even if it takes a lifetime?"