Page 3 of Cursed

“And you’re a member of an, um, special generation?” he hazarded. She glanced at him with a rueful smile.

“A generation of only daughters qualifies, yes,” she said. Her lips twisted, as if she fully understood how ridiculous this all sounded. “So too does a generation of only boys, or of twins, or of a single child. As you might imagine, the Saleris have had many opportunities to marry into royalty over the intervening centuries since the curse first came into play, but no one’s been able to pull it off.”

Vince frowned. “But your father has remarried, and they’re expecting. What if the baby—”

“It’s a girl,” Edeena said flatly. “He recently had the appropriate tests run.”

Vince didn’t bother hiding the expression of distaste that curled his lip, and Edeena seemed to relax further in the face of his disdain.

“I know, I know,” she said grimly. “But the fact remains my father is quite serious about the curse being broken in our generation, not for the least reason that he retains all of the familial outrage that we ourselves are not royal, that instead our distant cousins by marriage, the Andris family, rose to the throne when Garronia was first formed. The Saleris have nurtured their indignation over this slight for centuries, and Silas—my father—is its champion. He’s determined that the curse will end in this generation.”

Vince couldn’t believe he was actually following the logic Edeena was laying out. “Which means you need to marry a prince.”

“Exactly. I do or one of my sisters does, in any event. A matter complicated by the fact that the two eligible princes in the realm are otherwise spoken for.”

Vince narrowed his gaze on her. “You were involved with one of them?” He couldn’t imagine anyone turning down this woman for any reason, other than the fact that she apparently believed in ancient curses.

“In a manner of speaking, yes. Everyone expected I’d marry the Crown Prince of Garronia, and to keep my father occupied, I encouraged that rumor, though Ari and I never seriously dated.”

“Ari.” Vince kept his voice level, but there was no denying the quick stab of irritation at the smile now on Edeena’s face as she thought about this other man.

“Aristotle Andris,” she said. “But he’s very much beside the point. He’s engaged, his brother is engaged, and that means I’m fresh out of princes.” She gave a small, scoffing laugh. “Present company excluded.”

Vince found himself suddenly annoyed that he wasn’t a real prince, despite the absurdity of Edeena’s story. He pushed that thought away.

“And you came to Sea Haven…why?”

Edeena’s gaze had returned to the view from her window, taking in the enormous, Spanish moss-laden trees stretching over the two-lane road they were taking out to Heron’s Point.

“I will find a way to beat the curse, Mr. Rallis, but I need time. More importantly, I need to ensure that my sisters have the space to start a life of their own choosing regardless of what I do. I don’t want the weight of the family baggage to fall on their shoulders. It’s not fair.”

“But it’s fair to you?”

“I’ve been brought up with it, they haven’t.” She shrugged. “Caro and Marguerite should be able to choose their own paths freely. And that means I have to act first, before my father does.” At Vince’s confused glance she tightened her lips.

“Garronia has many charming characteristics. Our ancient code of law isn’t one of them, particularly when it comes to the marital rights of noble children,” she explained. “If I don’t choose who to marry by the time I’m twenty-seven years old, my father can choose for me—or he can marry off one of my sisters in my place if I refuse. It’s his paternal right.”

Vince could only stare. “And you turn twenty-seven . . .”

“In three weeks.” Edeena managed a wan smile. “As you can see, I don’t have a lot of time to find a prince of my own choosing—and why I was so concerned when I thought you were, in fact, a prince. Fortunately, you’re not.”

Vince found himself compelled to argue that point, but at that moment a pair of large, modern pillars flanking an ornamental gate rose up ahead, set off to the left of the main road.

“Oh! Is that Heron’s Point?” Edeena asked, clearly happy to talk about anything else.

“No—though Heron’s Point is the next turn.” He nodded as they passed the gates. “That’s the entry for the Cypress Resort.” A sudden, not particularly happy thought struck him. “That’s not the resort your sister is interested in, is it?”

“Cypress…hmm.” Edeena turned to peer in the rear window. “There were several resorts she investigated. I’m not sure which one came through. Either way, I didn’t realize we were so close to a resort. The Google Earth images I saw of Heron’s Point certainly didn’t show that.”

“Even Google takes time to update,” Vince said, taking note of Edeena’s flash of annoyance. The woman apparently didn’t like to be caught off guard. Something they had in common. “Cypress opened nine months ago, and has been building out continually since then. Rental villas, restaurants, spa, golf, horseback riding, shopping—all the trendiest amenities for tourists. It’s proven to be very profitable.”

“I see. What sort of tourists, do you know?”

Vince didn’t see any reason to sugar coat it. Edeena needed to understand her neighbors. “Singles, mostly, I guess you would call them. It’s already becoming popular as a vacation destination.”

“Singles?” She immediately caught his emphasis on the term. “What do you mean?”

“I mean it’s targeted to men and women who are unattached, or couples without children. It’s not designed to be a family-friendly resort so much as an adult getaway.”

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