Page 48 of Of Curses and Beauty

“You look—“ His eyes did one final sweep of her body from head to toe. “Lovely.”

Alaine cocked an eyebrow at that, certain she looked anything but how he’d expected his bride to appear.

The wind whipped her unbound hair across her face. With her long black gown and billowing cloak a stark contrast to the fluffy, falling snow, she probably appeared more like a haunting specter than a bride.

“And you look—“ She paused to give him the same all-over stare. “Cold and wet.”

His smile turned brittle and Alaine saw the quick flare of anger before he extinguished it. She had refused to acknowledge the memories of bruises in the shape of his fingers. Now that she stared at them head-on, she feared the man she would face behind closed doors. Not a loving husband, but a vengeful lover.

His expression turned hungry as she took an involuntary step back, provoking the hunter within.

“How did you do it?” He looked perplexed at her questions, so she tried rephrasing. “How did you plant the false debt? How does even the Magistrate believe it is real?”

His eyes lit in understanding and he prowled closer, glancing around to confirm no one was in earshot. “My dear Alaine. I should have known you’d figure me out. It was easy enough to forge the necessary documents. My family’s standing makes it such that my word is never questioned.”

“Why admit it to me now?” she whispered.

His answering chuckle was anything but merry. “I have nothing to fear. Everyone knows you are trying to get out of this marriage and none of them will take your word over mine.”

He was right. Every time she’d inquired to see the paperwork, they’d laughed at her and called her a silly little girl playing with affairs best left to men. Alaine didn’t understand how the world had come to be defined by gender. How what lay between her thighs meant that she was fit to do some things and not others. The limitations were baffling to her. For surely, all that should matter was her sharp mind and honest heart.

She nearly screamed at the frustration of it all. But she trusted Daric to do what she couldn’t and prayed he and Eudora had more success than she.

“I don’t know what you’re hoping to gain from this marriage, Henrik. Perhaps you are only hoping to add another prize to your collection, but I promise you will be sorely disappointed.”

“It won’t matter. You will be mine and no one else’s. That will be enough.”

He took her arm in a vice-like grip that gave her instant flashbacks, but she resisted the urge to twist out of his grasp. Let her mother see what she was selling her daughter into. She would do her duty as promised.

Chapter 42

Daric

Acrowdhadformedin the square despite the still falling snow, no doubt to bear witness to the spectacle. Though the presence of so many people grated on his nerves, it was his stress for Alaine that held him in place. He spotted her the instant she descended the carriage steps, looking like something out of a dream, like a wild beauty forged deep within the forest. She was magnificent, and that sorry excuse for a mandaredto lay his hands on her. Daric watched from across the busy street, his vision turning red as he observed the possessive way he touched her. He forced himself to take a deep breath in and out, unclenching his fists from where he held them rigid at his sides.

He felt Eudora’s hand on his shoulder, like a tether holding him back from making what would potentially be a stupid mistake.

“He seeks only to possess that which does not wish to be owned,” she whispered at his back. “We will see this righted. Remember, she chose you above all others.”

The words did little to ease the anger that roiled in his belly, but he felt his shoulders lower as he regained his composure. Eudora spoke the truth. Everything would be settled in time, but he had no patience for the bumbling Magistrate that was the final piece in their plan.

“I’m going over there,” he growled.

“Wait. You can’t just barge in on them without cause.”

“Oh, I have plenty of cause.” The look she gave him said she still disapproved, but his skin was crawling with the need to intercede. “If we wait too long, she will be married already. Stay if you must, but join me when all is settled. It is time we put an end to this charade.”

Though she still looked skeptical, Eudora nodded her consent, biting her lip as she glanced through the window into the Magistrate’s office. The old man sat hunched over a pile of documents at his desk, perusing each at a snail’s pace, his wire frame spectacles threatening to topple from his pointed nose at any moment.

Daric shook his head ruefully and began to wind his way through the throng, focusing on his breathing as bodies pressed against him from all sides. His temper strained against his hold as he strode across the square, his gaze zeroing in on the hand pressed to Alaine’s lower back. He assumed the older couple she’d arrived with were her parents. They stood off to one side, blissfully ignorant of their daughter’s torment. Though he had strong words for them as well, he couldn’t be bothered to spare them a glance as he passed, not as Baxter and Alaine disappeared inside the hall.

He hurried his steps to catch up and found the way blocked by two liveried men. As one, they moved to stand between him and the door, touching their hands to their belted swords, but not drawing them.

“I am here for the wedding,” Daric said through gritted teeth. He didn’t wish to make a scene and draw unwanted attention.

The man on the right looked him up and down, likely noting the way that Daric was dressed, which was to say not at all appropriate to attend an event of such caliber. “Are you, now?” The man’s voice was thick with sarcasm.

Though Daric’s gut told him to silence the man and push through, his good sense won out and he opted for words over weapons. He’d learned that words, when wielded by the right person, could be just as dangerous as a blade.

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