Page 36 of Their Cursed Wolves

I’m met with furrowed brows, head scratches, and shrugged shoulders.

“Are you thirsty?” Prince Arlys asks. “You can have a drink before you explain.”

Ah, right, this sort of thing requires words.

“Where does all of your pack’s water come from?” I watch them closely, hoping it’s not from multiple sources. That might make this thing harder.

But Prince Arlys answers with ease. “Mount Fable.”

“All of the water that flows through the shifter lands comes from a river that comes from the melted snow of Mount Fable,” Prince Rinan explains further.

Boom! My theory is right. Everyone in the land drinks from the same water source, and something – a spell of some sort – is poisoning the water, affecting the weak at first as the curse grows stronger until it starts to affect the stronger shifters. That’s how it’s spreading into all the pack’s lands.

“I’m pretty sure that somewhere near your water source, the witches have cursed something that makes the water itself cursed. That’s what’s poisoning everyone.”

I sigh in relief. Finally, I figured it out. None of them look relieved though. They still look perplexed. Did I not explain it slowly enough?

“Why isn’t everyone sick then?” Prince Drogo asks.

I think about it for a moment, combining the concept of the water making them sick with what I’ve learned about magic and illness. “It’s likely hitting the weakest people first, but will keep getting stronger from the elements around it until more and more people get sick.”

Still, no one is happy or relieved. The three of them have the same worried look on their faces.

“What? This is a good thing, right?” I ask, glancing at each of them. “If we know what the problem is, we can solve it.”

Prince Arlys gives a little shake of his head. “It’s good to know where it’s coming from, but we have a problem.”

The rest of the princes nod their heads, their expressions suggesting that they’re deep in thought. What could possibly still be a problem if we know the source of this illness? What haven’t they told me?

“We just need to find the source and destroy the cursed object. It sounds ridiculously easy, if you ask me.” I laugh, trying to lighten their moods.

But no one else laughs.

Prince Drogo gives a little growl. “The thing is, Mount Fable is in bear territory.”

I don’t imagine they’re in a good place with the bears after what happened with the bear attack. I exhale. All of my excitement falls away. We do have a problem then. A big, bear-sized one.

“We need to speak to my father,” Prince Arlys says, and like that, things are complicated again.

FIFTEEN

Drogo

When we return from speaking to King Talon, we’re left with a long list of tasks to get everything ready for our upcoming trip. Each of us splits up the tasks and starts preparing, with Princess Tara at our sides. Medical packs need to be made. Food packs too. My daily tasks, and the tasks of the other princes, need to be given to the steward. It seems never ending, but in reality, we’re done by nightfall. Then, we all gather together in Princess Tara’s room, bellies full from a quick dinner.

Princess Tara flops on her bed and makes herself a nest of blankets. She looks so sweet and innocent, not at all the way she’d seemed in my bed earlier. Then, she’d felt so… soft and warm and willing. Things I never knew I wanted, but now desperately do.

But not from her. Never from her.

I try to jerk my gaze away from her, but fail. Instead, I let my thoughts wander. My father and Rinan’s father will receive word soon about what we discovered, and what our plan is moving forward. Given how important time is in this, we’d decided that we couldn’t wait for their opinion on the matter. Now, preparations for our travels simply need to be made.

Yawning, Princess Tara snuggles her pillow and lets her eyes fall closed a few times. She’s nodding off, and it’s kind of adorable. I shake that idea out of my head and refocus. She may have figured out the curse, but who knows what her involvement is. Maybe she wants to get us in bear territory and have a team ready to kill us all.

“If we find out you’re a part of this illness in any way, you will regret it,” I grumble at her.

But my words sound stupid, even to my own ears. It’s like a knee-jerk reaction with her that I just can’t stop, like I need to constantly remind her that there’s something standing between us. Or maybe I’m reminding myself.

“Just relax,” Rinan says, leaning back against a wall. He looks bored, but he’s not. He’s tense like I am after the discussion with King Talon.

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