Page 72 of The Curse and the Silver Rose

“We didn’t think you would return from Castle Grange to live here,” said Colette, placing her hand on her sister’s. “I could talk to Laughlin, though. See if he would stay here, nearby.”

“And we do not need to take these positions in Port Hyacinth,” said Raphael. “It’s not like we need the coin. Not since?—”

Their selflessness plucked Amelie from her self-pity spiral. “You will do no such thing. I rode off in the middle of the night to start a new life, leaving only a note. You will all go out and have adventures and live your lives. Nothing would make me more glad or proud.”

“I would always stay if you wanted,” said Marcel, his shoulders loosening. “But I must say, I very much look forward to exploring the open seas.”

“And so you shall,” said Amelie. “You’ll tell me all about it when you come back to visit. In the meantime, let us enjoy each other’s company.”

Colette nodded. “We will just have to make this wedding a party to remember.”

The conversation shifted to wedding preparations, lightening the mood. Amelie meant every word she said about her siblings. She wanted them to go out into the world and create rich, brilliant lives.

While that was true, it was also true that she all of a sudden felt rather terribly adrift.

CHAPTER 30

“You do not fool me.”

Amelie looked up to find Colette standing in the doorway, smiling faintly.

“I do not doubt that, sister,” replied Amelie. “But I’m afraid you will have to be more specific. What am I not fooling you about?”

Amelie dried her hair with a fluffy white towel, having soaked in a bath and changed into a cotton dress. Her brothers slept, one of them snoring audibly down the hallway. The growing heat of the summer’s day combined with Amelie’s sleepless night was making her feel languorous and idle.

Colette entered the room and sat on the bed. Amelie’s chambers were on the second floor, decorated in rose pink and sage green courtesy of her sister. A writing desk sat beneath an open window. Her brothers had hauled her beloved books from the old cottage and arranged them neatly on oak shelves.

Davron’s book of folktales, the silver rose, and the clamshell lay on her nightstand. When she withdrew the book from her satchel, she had been unable to open it, or the clamshell. She feared doing either would cause sharp pain in her heart, in addition to the deep, persistent ache already residing there.

But she also could not bear to hide her only reminders of him. So, there they sat on her nightstand—solid evidence that her brief but eventful residence at Castle Grange had not been a dream.

“I know the thought of us leaving is upsetting,” said Colette, picking a loose thread on the richly embroidered quilt. “Me, Marcel, and Raphael.”

Amelie hung the towel on the chair of her writing desk. “Upsetting is not quite the right word.” She sighed, sitting on the bed. “So much has happened, that’s all. So much change and surprise. It takes time to get everything straight in one’s head, I suppose.”

“I will miss you dearly.”

“And I you. But we were already missing each other, were we not?” asked Amelie. “It was never realistic to believe the four of us would be together always. Of course, it wasn’t. But to have us scattering to the wind like dandelion seeds is still hard to fathom. Perhaps this is what it means to grow up and make a life of one’s own. Wherever you happen to be, you will always be missing someone.”

Colette wrung her hands. “I do worry I will be homesick. Ennisfall is very different, I have heard. And I will be running a house. How will I manage?”

“The homesickness, you allow yourself to feel. Try to make a new home, I suppose, so that you miss your old one less. Make friends. Put down roots. As for running a house, I’d know nothing about that. Castle Grange was unique in that regard. The enchantments took care of everything.”

Colette glanced at the open door and then back to her sister, lowering her voice. “What was he like? The beast?”

Amelie chewed her lip and tried to think how to accurately describe him. “At first, he was exactly what I expected him to be. And then, I found out he was a good deal more.”

“Funny that.” Colette smirked. “Teach you for judging a man you had just met.”

Amelie rolled her eyes. “You called him the beast a moment ago.”

“So?” Colette poked her in the ribs. “What did you talk about with him?” She quieted her voice even more and widened her eyes. “What did you do with him?”

As determined as she was to give nothing away, Amelie’s face betrayed her. She felt it flush, the heat traveling up her neck like wildfire. Colette squealed, prompting Amelie to cover her sister’s mouth with her hand.

“You will awaken the boys,” hissed Amelie. “The last thing I need is to explain what I could have said to get you in such a state. Not that I have said anything,” she added hastily.

With a warning look, she slowly removed her hand from Colette’s mouth.

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