Page 39 of Of Curses and Beauty

Enough foliage remained between the evergreens and the underbrush that the forest appeared dark and foreboding, the leafless trees standing bare like skeleton sentinels throughout.

When she’d entered the forest months ago, it had felt like a homecoming, like she had finally answered a call that had beckoned her for years. Now, it took everything in her not to turn tail and run back to her warm bed—but she had come for a purpose.

She crept forward with tentative steps, the sound swallowed by the leaf-strewn floor, while she looked for the exact spot from her memory. She knew she hadn’t been far into the forest, but everything looked different under the blanket of fallen leaves.

At last, she thought she recognized the tree and sank to the ground before it. Her dress instantly soaked through where she knelt in the damp leaves, the cold seeping through to her bones. She shivered and clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering as she sifted through the ground cover. Slowly, with maddening calm, she unearthed a pair of shoes and a book.

Hershoes.

Herbook.

Alaine remembered laying those items aside when she first journeyed into the forest. That they were still here meant that not only had she entered the forest, but she hadn’t returned to claim them.

She sat back on her heels and hung her head, unsure of what to do with this new information. Not only was everything she remembered true, but no one else knew she had ever been gone. If she had to guess, she’d wager a fair sum that this was still the curse at work. She couldn’t be certain she’d broken the curse. After all, just because she’d been freed did not mean the game had ended. She wouldn’t be surprised if the witch showed up here, appearing at her lowest moment to bring her lower still.

“Alaine.”

Her name was a benediction, so quiet it was almost lost to the wind. She’d been wrong when she thought the witch would be her breaking, for when she turned and saw Daric, standing like a ghost of a memory, she couldn’t hold back the flood of tears.

Chapter 35

Daric

He’dcaughtsightofher as she flew across the open fields, the only streak of color among the somber landscape. Seeing her after so long apart had made his breath catch. He’d lived centuries without her in his life, but these last few days had been the worst sort of torture. Once, they had spoken on the difference between the pain of losing love and that of never experiencing it. Looking back at the agony he’d felt at being torn from her grasp, he wasn’t sure he could make the same assertion he had then. Now that he’d found her, he hoped to never feel that kind of pain again, though he still planned to leave the decision in her hands.

She entered the forest without hesitation and he released the breath he’d been holding, the air forming a small cloud before him. He’d been haunting these woods for hours and had lost all feeling in his extremities. Though his feet resisted at first, he crept after her, curious to see what had brought her so quickly to this particular spot. His mind provided endless answers as he followed, each more concerning than the last. She was running from her betrothal. She’d been cast out. She’d been hurt.

His blood started to boil at the possibilities and he fought to reign in his emotions. From the moment she’d stumbled into his garden, he’d been completely helpless for her. It was no less true now as he followed her through the cold, dark woods like a lost puppy.

It had been Eudora’s idea to bring him to the forest by Alaine’s village. “She will come to you,” the witch had said. “Do not seek her out. When she’s ready, she will find you.”

She’d been at least half right, he guessed. Alaine had come, though he didn’t think it was him she was looking for at the base of a towering Aspen.

Daric stood several paces away when she suddenly sank back on the damp ground, curling in on herself as she clutched something in her hands. She made no sound, but his muscles tensed, alerted by her sudden distress signal. It was all the motivation he needed.

“Alaine.” Her name rolled off his tongue and he poured every emotion he had into those two syllables.

He didn’t know what he’d expected, but her torrent of tears shocked him so completely that he stood motionless for several breaths before rushing to her side. She flinched as his hand met her back and he pulled away, gutted by her response.

“Alaine?” His pulse quickened as she refused to meet his eyes. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

It took everything in him not to wrap her in his arms and pull her tight to him, but he dared not after her initial reaction. Perhaps something had happened in their days apart. As though sensing the direction of his thoughts, she slowly edged away. He reached for her reflexively, scared to let the distance between them grow.

“Don’t touch me,” she whispered, finally meeting his gaze with her own tear-streaked one.

His hand still hovered, frozen, though it had nothing to do with the chill air. He lowered it cautiously, afraid to startle her, and took a couple of steps back for good measure.

“Alaine,” he tried again. “It’s me, Daric.”

“Why are you here?” she hissed out. She took an aggressive step toward him, the wounded animal prepared to fight.

“I came to find you. I thought—” He trailed off, unsure what he had thought. That they could start again where they had left off? That he could inject himself into her life and upset all the plans she had made without knowledge of his existence? He felt like a fool. “I needed to see that you were safe, for myself.” A true enough answer, he decided.

“Well, as you can see, I’m quite well,” she said, gesturing to her wet and muddy clothes. “Thank you for checking. You may be on your way now.”

Daric didn’t understand. This was not the Alaine that he knew and loved. Something had changed and he didn’t know how to fix it. At a loss for how to proceed with this altered version, he simply waited, giving her space and watching for any hint of the woman he knew within.

They stared at each other, their breath clouding the space between them.

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