Page 37 of Of Curses and Beauty

Daric

Viewingthewitchasan ally proved a difficult task for Daric. He couldn’t help but keep her at arm’s length, even as they sat on side-by-side crates. However, without the haze of anger and pain clouding his vision, he could truly appreciate the subtle differences in her appearance and demeanor. The edges of her mouth tilted up and her brows lifted slightly; even her teeth lacked the foul color of decay. Her posture was relaxed and non-threatening.

He motioned for her to begin and a look of fear passed across her face as she hesitated.

“I am willing to suspend all judgment until you speak your piece. I’ll not harm you, witch.”

She smiled and looked down at her hands as she fussed with the edge of her cape. “My name is Eudora.” Her eyes flicked up to gauge his reaction, but he made sure to keep his expression neutral. “You might not even remember, but on the day before we first met, you made a wish.”

He nodded; he did remember. He had wished for a love as true as the rose and as unrelenting as the seasons. His mind conjured an image of Alaine and he felt his panic rise again.

“Please, before you go on, tell me she is safe. Alaine—is she free?” He would plead if he needed. Not knowing was eating away at his sanity. He wasn’t sure he could physically restrain himself long enough to hear her tale without ensuring Alaine’s safety.

“She is safe enough. And yes, she freed herself—quite impressively, I might add. You would have been proud to see it.”

She was right. Inside he beamed at the thought of Alaine breaking her curse. He’d always known her capable—knew that perhaps she refrained from doing so just to remain there with him—but he would have given anything to see her in action.

“You wished for a love and I brought you one,” she said matter-of-factly. “Of course, I had no idea how long it would take to fulfill your wish, nor the cost of the magic. It was too great for me to accomplish on my own. I’ve spent the entire length of your curse caged within my own body while another—a being of far greater power—possessed me. In the freeing of yourself and Alaine, I have been freed as well. For my part in your suffering, I am sorry. I was foolish to attempt such magic. One cannot expect to throw a rock in a pond and not cause a ripple. A wish like that requires great magic, and magicalwaysdemands a sacrifice.”

“Who was this being?”

“You’d think after sharing a body for so long, I’d have a better idea, but I don’t know. They feltother, like something so ancient and foreign I wouldn’t know how to put a name to what They are.”

Daric considered this new information. “Where is this almighty being now?” If what the witch said was true, then his true enemy remained at large.

“Scattered on the breeze or wherever They choose to exist.”

Daric felt the instinct to look over his shoulder and check every shadow for a disembodied entity. “You do not fear Their return?”

The witch hummed thoughtfully. “They do not suffer emotions the same way as you and I. They are neither malicious nor benevolent, vengeful or kind. They act and They do not. I believe They are done acting upon us. You and I are a mere grain of sand in the hourglass of Their life.”

Though he remained skeptical of her assessment, he had more pressing questions. “People must make wishes all the time. Why me? Why that wish?” He remembered the vibrant colors of autumn at odds with the dying rose as he cast his wish, but the day had been no different than that of previous years. He’d held no talisman, whispered no magic phrase.

She shrugged and waved away his questions with the flick of a wrist. “It was circumstantial. I happened to be listening when the wind whispered your wish. When I followed the threads to a prince with a pure heart, I took a chance.”

“You suffered a magical possession and lost over three hundred years of your life on achance?”

“All in the name of love.” She winked and it hit him how deeply she’d been altered by the curse’s magic. If she was to be believed, the curse had affected her as much as it had him and Alaine, possibly more so. He was glad that she seemed happier, lighter.

“I require one more truth from you.” He leaned forward and marked the moment in his mind as the first he approached her without hostile intent.

The witch—Eudora—cocked an eyebrow.

“Where is Alaine?”

She looked away, shame painting her features for the first time since they sat. “She is where you expect her to be, preparing to do what you fear she will do.”

“Then, I must make haste.” Jumping to his feet, his fingers itched to take up arms, to prepare, to fight, but he had nothing. Nothing beyond a purpose and general direction, but it would have to be enough.

“Wait! There is more you must know, more the magic has taken.”

“What more can there be?”

“Alaine remembers your time together, but her town has no memory of her being gone. They believe she hit her head and fell ill. Even her parents think they have been caring for her these past months.”

“Your point?” His patience was wearing thin with these delays.

“Her mothermayhave convinced her that you were a fever dream. She is following through with her engagement to Lord Baxter.”

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