Page 46 of Of Curses and Beauty

Though she nodded in understanding, Daric watched Alaine’s walls rebuild brick by brick as she fortified her defenses.

She was so strong and yet, he hated that she needed to be. Hated that he couldn’t solve every problem and thwart every enemy that came her way. He wanted nothing more than to take her far away, but they’d need a miracle to see her and her family freed from their fates. She looked at him with a hopeless mix of sorrow and longing, but he knew she hadn’t changed her mind. She would go through with the marriage if that’s what it took to save her family.

“If it doesn’t—” Daric fought to get the words out, his tongue thick and mouth dry. “If you have to go through with it—” He wouldn’t speak it into reality. Words held more power than people realized. “What I mean is, I’ll wait for you. Always. If you decide it isn’t the life you want, I’ll be there in a heartbeat. Ten, twenty, fifty years from now, it doesn’t matter. If I remember correctly, I think I still owe him a beating on your behalf.” His lips quirked up in a smile that she returned with tears in her eyes.

Alaine nodded, solemn determination stiffening her spine. She turned to leave and his hand instinctively reached out to pull her back. He resisted the urge to touch her, knowing she feared repercussions if they were seen, but she paused as though sensing his intentions.

“Thank you, Daric.”

The words drifted to him in the icy wind, chilling him to the core. To his ears, it sounded like goodbye. He wished he had made a point to memorize the lines of her face in case he never saw her again, but she didn’t look back. Not this time.

Days ago, he’d been resigned to a life without her, but today there was hope and he intended to help it bloom.

He threw a cursory glance to where Eudora stood nearby. “We have work to do.”

Chapter 40

Alaine

Alaine rushed back to her parents’ home as quickly as she could manage in the deepening snow, weighed down by dark thoughts and a heavy heart.

When she arrived, there was a black carriage waiting out front. A large gold B adorned the door, letting her know exactly who had sent it. At least, she hoped that Baxter had sent it for her family and wasn’t presently waiting inside. She had not mentally prepared herself to see her betrothed just yet.

The horse whinnied as she tiptoed toward the door. She hushed the creature with soft murmurs and placating gestures. Alaine hadn’t spent much time around horses and this one looked as terrifying to her as its master.

Muffled voices drifted through the crack beneath the door and she pressed her ear to the wood in an attempt to distinguish who waited on the other side. The shrill chatter indicated her mother remained within, but the responding voice was too low to make out and she couldn’t be sure there was only one male within. That alone made her reconsider entering through the front. The rear door offered little more in the way of secrecy and she found herself at an impasse.

She retreated a step and the horse nickered, forcing her to sidestep around to the back of the carriage. Luckily, her parents had the shutters closed against the bitter cold. She’d hate to be discovered sneaking around outside.

Unwilling to return to the village, Alaine found herself out of options. She decided to take her chances around back rather than face her family and potentially Baxter. Trudging through the snow was becoming increasingly more difficult as the snow drifts deepened toward the back of the house. She came up short when she spotted the large sycamore whose bare branches reached right up to her bedroom window.

It had been years since Alaine had climbed a tree, even longer since she’d climbed this particular tree. In her youth, she’d often scaled its branches when sneaking in or out, but that practice had stopped when she’d fallen and torn one of her mother’s favorite dresses. Her mother had been so upset about the dress that Alaine hid her limp from the resulting injury for weeks until it healed. She hadn’t been willing to attempt the climb again since.

Taking stock of the snow-covered boughs and wondering how her worn leather boots and gown would fare, insecurity flared to life in her belly. She tamped down on the fluttering nerves and blew out through her mouth, resolved to avoid her future husband for as long as possible.

She stepped up to the thick trunk, bracing one foot on the sill of the lower window as she hoisted herself up, leaning against the trunk until she could wrap her arms around the lowest lying branch. Her feet scrambled for purchase against the slick bark as she fought to raise her body bit by bit. Eventually, she found a rhythm and climbed until she reached her room on the second floor.

Her frozen fingers struggled to pry open the window, but with the help of some careful maneuvering, she finally broke into her room.

The door was closed and though very little of the household heat had reached it, it felt like a sauna after so much time in the storm.

Alaine peeled off her soaking wet gloves, setting them on the table beside her mirror, and nearly gasped when she caught a glimpse of her reflection. What little cosmetics remained dribbled down her cheeks and jaw, streaks of white, black, and pink tracing the skin like tears. Her hair was a limp mess atop her head. The dress her mother had so lovingly selected lay torn and dirty over her frame.

Before she could think to stop it, a laugh bubbled out of her. It surprised her enough that she clapped a hand over her mouth, listening intently for any approaching footsteps.

When no one came calling, she hurriedly locked the door for good measure. Now that she was inside the house, she could distinctly hear the voices of her mother, her father, and another man, presumably the coachman since she didn’t recognize it as Baxter’s. The second man spoke with urgency, hoping to lure her parents into the carriage with haste. It seemed her parents refused to leave without her.

That was fine.

With the door firmly locked, Alaine paid no mind to the amount of noise she made as she stripped off her sodden clothes. She missed her wardrobe at the enchanted cottage as she opened up her closet to select another outfit. Her selection was paltry compared to what the cottage had produced, but she did have one dress she deemed appropriate for the occasion.

As the only black garment she possessed, she’d only been permitted to wear it to somber occasions, her grandfather’s funeral being the most recent. Her wedding to Baxter was surely a somber occasion and she donned it without hesitation. She sighed as the rich dark wool slid over her bare skin. It was far more comfortable than the other dress had been. And warmer.

She wiped her face clean and brushed out her hair, choosing to leave it unbound as she finally unlocked her door and stepped out to the waiting gazes of her parents.

Their eyes met through the uprights of the banister, all parties falling silent upon her appearance. Her mother’s cool gaze assessed her from head to toe, but she wisely kept quiet upon seeing Alaine’s steely expression.

The stairs creaked as she descended slowly, but purposefully, the only other sound the nervous pacing of the coachman. Her father gave her a single nod, a hint of a smile crinkling his eyes before they shifted to her mother and stayed there, watching her warily like a snake about to strike. However, despite the stormy expression marring her painted features, her mother remained silent until Alaine’s foot lifted from the final step.

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