Chapter 36

The princess fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands. Aladdin approached with a sneer on his face. As she cried, his features briefly softened and he touched the top of her head.

“Please,” she begged. “Please tell me what to do. I love you, Aladdin.”

“I know.” His fingers trailed along her scalp until they touched the lily she had tucked in her hair that morning. It was part of a ritual they had begun after their wedding night when he would tuck a flower in her hair. Ever since the incident with the theft of his lamp, she had been the one to put the flower in her own hair.

“Please,” Lily begged. “Don’t make me watch this part.”

Aladdin pulled the lily from her hair and held it in his hands. “When we first met, you were like this flower. A true beauty in every respect. That’s how I saw you. But you know what? I should have looked deeper. Though a lily is beautiful at first, over time it will wilt, becoming an ugly thing that