A World Without Princes

Content Warning: This section features depictions of bullying, gender discrimination, antigay bias, and child death.

Agatha feels uneasy as she watches Sophie corral their peers into costumes and makeup for “CURSES! The Musical,” a drama Sophie wrote about how she and Agatha slew the School Master and broke the Gavaldon curse. Agatha suspects Sophie is still upset about her father, Stefan’s, upcoming wedding to her late mother’s friend, Honora. Nine months ago, Sophie and Agatha returned from the School for Good and Evil where, for 200 years, the School Master took the children he kidnapped from the village. After returning, the girls first received attention. Agatha is eager to return to normal, but Sophie wants the attention to continue.

At dinner, Sophie learns that Stefan and Honora’s wedding will take place tomorrow. Stefan orders Sophie to begin assisting Honora in her shop. Agatha dreams of a boy before her mother, Callis, wakes her, and she asks Callis, “[H]ow do you know if you’ve found your Ever After?” (12), and her mother explains that the fairy tale will “say so,” as she nods at an open storybook. Agatha asks how people know they are happy if they can’t see their storybook, and Callis says that if they must ask, they probably aren’t happy.