She always knew her place. She always knew where she stood in this story, even as she lay helpless on the cold, marble floor.

Holding her in his arms, his big brown eyes filled with distress, was her last chance to change the world.

The sharp knife in his hands inches away from making the kill.

This was his story.

The world had fallen to shambles years ago.

The King’s brother had grown tired of standing off to the side and had killed the king, his wife, and his two sons.

Except, one of the small bodies that had hung outside the Great Castle until it was unrecognizable as once having been human had not been one of the young prince’s.

For, here he stood. Knife at her throat. No longer a 7 year old prince, but a 25 year old man vying for the crown.

When King Haven had killed his brother, he had also decided to kill every witch residing in his kingdom.

He had almost succeeded, but Talia had escaped with her grandmother and others from their clan. They had made a home deep in the forest that most tended to avoid.

For good reason, honestly.

The forest held trapped souls, but they had never bothered the witches who took refuge among them.

One night, Talia had found Harland stumbling around, covering his ears, trying to escape them.

After nearly being driven to insanity, Talia had interfered, shooing off the lost souls and dragging Harland back to her camp where she proceeded to hide him in her room. And tie his arms behind his back.

When he became a little more sentient, she had started her questions.

Then he started his.

She had hesitated in telling him she was a witch, but she was desperate to see the world and put an end to witch hunts.

She knew her clan wasn’t the only one in hiding.

And, being a witch would give him a reason to bring her with him.

She had told him how she wanted to see her old home one more time. And that she would help him.

She hadn’t told him that she wanted to find the book she saw her grandmother bury deep in the ground years ago in case they didn’t make the run. The book her grandmother never seemed to remember when Talia brought it up.

And so Talia had written a note to her grandmother and went on the run with Harland who had gotten separated from his friends, John and Raina. Both equally smart and deadly.

Talia and Harland were quick to become friends.

She instilled new hopes and beliefs into him about how he could really change the world if he got the crown. And he taught her about the world she had been in hiding from.

And she had found the book. She had stuffed it in her bag and ran back to where her, Harland, John, and Raina were staying at the time.

She had smiled to herself seeing her friends, being in her old home, and holding the book she had spent her life wondering about.

Their journey had been long, the planning and scheming lasting into the early hours of many nights as they went over every detail. Talia had spent every moment drowning in her grandmother’s book since nobody else had the ability to read it, trying to find anything that could help.

The problem is she had found something. And she realized why her grandmother had hidden it away.

Why the king had ordered the witch hunts, but, more importantly, why they had come to find witch’s in the Great Castle.

Alive and well.

And the plan went as all plans tend to go. Wrong.

John was trying to get to his feet, calling out Raina’s name. Raina was on the ground not answering. Hopefully, still breathing.

Talia was sure her ankle was broken. Her head throbbing and blood beginning to drip down her face into her right eye.

She stared at Harland with her left, his face slightly fuzzy.

“I know,” she said softly.

“There’s another way,” his voice came out ragged.

“No,” Talia choked out, “that’s why they’re still alive. That’s why he wants us dead. It can only happen once.”

“Talia.” His voice was desperate.

She had spent weeks pouring into her grandmother’s book, memorizing every page.

The book held more power than she imagined. Enough power to destroy the king if used by the right person. Talia had hoped to be that person. Especially since the book could only be used by a witch.

Unless, a witch gifted the ability to read the book.

However, the price of such a thing was your own life. Your full trust.

So this wasn’t Talia’s story. She wouldn’t know how it ended. But she had gotten to trace many of its pages.

The story of the future. She was sure.

“It has to be you.”

He wasn’t going to do it. The knife held at her throat by a limp hand.

“A long time from now, I’ll see you again. And you’ll tell me how it all went. And how you changed everything.”

Tears slid out of her left eye, blurring Harland’s face even more. She cursed herself, wishing she could see him better.

But, maybe it was better that she couldn’t.

“Give my family a world they don’t have to hide in. And give the world reality to what was once hope.”

“Talia, I love-“

She knew the words would cause her to die twice.

Some would say they were said too late. But not her.

No. She died knowing.

Harland’s blood already stained over the pages of her grandmother’s book, was now followed by hers.

She had said the curse in her head. Her last thoughts given to him. Meaning the book would be too.

The only person other than a witch who could use it now.

She had heard him gasp as she had taken his hand and shoved his knife into her throat.

That’s the curse. Her full trust and his own blade.

A curse in exchange for a blessing.

A new beginning.

Because that’s what Harland’s story would be.

And that’s what her story would become.