Page 17 of The Curse and the Silver Rose

Davron. It had to be. Since exploring the castle today, she’d become unequivocally sure he was the only resident.

Should she make her presence known? She could simply explain herself. But what could she possibly say to justify looking through this room?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a pained grunt, and then another one. She peeked through the shelving. Davron was indeed inside the room, his hulking frame doubled over.

She squinted, hardly believing what she saw. His tattoos were moving on his flesh. They contorted and wrenched and some even lifted off his skin, only to dive back onto it like darts. Davron yowled as if being stung by wasps. The tattoos themselves ranged from skeletons to chains to mystic-looking symbols.

Realizing the moment to make herself known had come and gone, Amelie shrank behind the shelving, keeping one eye on Davron through a gap.

He staggered to a shelf, his back to Amelie, fumbling through the jars and bottles. The tattoos morphed and grew, almost as if threatening to consume him.

When he found a squarish blue bottle, he uncorked it and drank the contents fervently, as if it was lifesaving medicine. Within seconds, the thrashing tattoos slowed, then stopped. His pained grunts subsided.

For a long time he just stood there, his head hanging. A potent mixture of compassion and fear and curiosity filled Amelie. What thoughts were going through his mind right now? And, more disconcertingly, what would have happened if he hadn’t drank that potion?

Davron heaved a sigh, straightened up as much as his crooked shoulders would allow, and then exited the room.

Amelie remained hidden until a clock tolled in the hallway and she felt reasonably confident he wouldn’t return. On her way out of the apothecary, she paused to read the inscription on the blue bottle from which Davron drank.

“High Magus Of Starlight Gardens” was stamped onto the glass, and there were several more bottles of the same potion on the shelf. She unraveled the scroll of parchment that lay closest to them. It was a recipe “To Inhibit; Dark Magick”, and included bloodwood, nettles, and mandrake.

Frowning, she wondered how a potion from the faraway Starlight Gardens came to be in his possession, and created by the High Magus himself. Starlight Gardens was a famous academy across the sea, where mages studied and dwelled. It was tucked away in the mountains near Klatos, the capital city of the kingdom of Zermes.

There was much she did not know about Davron and this castle. The more she discovered, the more new questions arose.

Not wishing to meet him in the halls, Amelie hurried toward her room via the most direct route. She stopped only at one alcove to test whether the window would open. It did.

The fresh air hit her face and she inhaled, enjoying the scent of the outdoors. She was at least five stories off the ground, with walled gardens and sheds beneath her. Beyond that were the mountains, wild and dense. To her left, she could make out a few dwellings through the trees. The village, she supposed.

Clouds crossed over the sun, casting the grounds into shadow.

A hooded figure stood among the trees just beyond the perimeter of the estate’s wrought-iron fence. Although she could not discern any facial features beneath the hood, Amelie had the awful suspicion the figure was looking directly at her, even at that distance.

Shaken, she swung the window closed and continued to her chambers, before she could put herself in any more questionable situations.

Once safely inside her room, she paced in front of the hearth, trying to parse the things she’d just seen. Davron, struggling with painful enchantments. A mysterious figure, watching her from beyond the castle grounds.

What had she involved herself in, by giving herself to Davron and the Castle Grange?

She tried to slow her breathing and search for rational answers. The hooded figure, at least, might be nothing. Already she’d been rattled by Davron’s episode in the apothecary, so she might’ve overreacted to the glimpse of a stranger through the window.

After all, the individual wasn’t inside the castle grounds. People were perfectly free to walk through the woods at the base of the mountain. It could have been anyone. A local villager foraging for wild food. A tradesman passing through. Even a rogue mountain hermit had every right to stand under some trees. They hadn’t been doing anything.

Amelie flopped into the armchair by the fire, wishing she had a book to divert her mind. She thought longingly of her bookcase at home. The collection of her very favorite tales had been procured over many years, whenever there was a copper or two to spare. For all of the opulence and convenience of Castle Grange, she’d yet to see a single book within its walls.

As she gazed into the hypnotic flames, she thought of the countless hours she’d spent daydreaming about the adventures she read in books. The excitement and triumph and satisfaction promised by those adventures were incredibly alluring. Never had she considered the loneliness, the uncertainty, and the fear that must accompany such escapades.

One aspect could not exist without the other, she supposed. Because what excitement could be had without risk? What triumph without danger?

The afternoon passed with Amelie in deep contemplation, during which she concluded that she did not regret coming to Castle Grange. Or at least, she did not regret it, yet. Her siblings were safe and that was the most important thing.

The grandfather clock chimed seven times.

Amelie stood and stretched. She’d not heard a word from Davron all day, or received any indication they’d be having dinner at the same time as the night before. Perhaps he’d forgotten she was even here.

On her bed, which had been made while she was exploring the castle, was a dress. It was champagne in color, made of velvet, and overlaid with delicate lace. She hadn’t noticed when it appeared, but it definitely had not been there when she returned from exploring.

Next to the dress was a flat wooden box. She opened it to find a gold necklace with a sapphire and diamond pendant. The stones flashed and sparkled in the low light of her chambers and, despite her mixed feelings, she smiled. It would seem Davron had not forgotten her, after all. Or at least, the castle hadn’t.

---