Page 6 of Of Curses and Beauty

Her bare feet were quiet on the leaf-strewn forest floor. Still, she took care placing her feet as she crept toward the offending tree. It occurred to her that she may be sneaking up on a wild animal. Her instincts screamed at her to run away, but she was almost certain the figure she’d spied had been human.

She allowed herself one steadying breath and rounded the trunk, branch raised to strike and a battle cry on her lips, but there was nothing there.

She turned in a circle, certain she was going mad, but there was nothing to suggest anyone had been there.

With a huff, she tossed aside her makeshift weapon. The beginnings of a headache bloomed behind her eyes and she pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes against the pain.

The forest remained eerily quiet and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched.

Confused, weary, and more than a little on edge, Alaine decided it was time to head home. Unfortunately, she no longer knew which direction would lead her there. Each tree looked as unfamiliar as the last, each stone as unremarkable. She tried to remember what angle the sun had been at when she’d entered, but her memory was a blur.

Her heartbeat began to quicken as nervous energy flooded her. Her fingers twined together, feet moving of their own volition. Unwilling to risk moving deeper into the forest, she paced the small clearing like a caged animal.

Back and forth.

To and fro.

She worried her bottom lip between her teeth as she wracked her brain. The forest lay to the north and west of the village. She had no idea if she’d traveled south at all, but she could put her back to the sun and follow her shadow to the east, provided she had enough daylight to make it home. Though if she had wandered south, she could pass by her hometown of Maribonne and never even know she’d missed it.

“Are you lost, dear?”

The voice that broke through her building hysteria was soft and kind, but it couldn’t temper the scream that tore from Alaine’s throat when she glanced up to find a woman standing less than a stone’s throw from her. It took a moment for the woman’s words to register through the haze of shock, but once they did she had to fight back waves of embarrassment.

The woman regarded her with the patient eyes of a mother, though she appeared little older than Alaine herself. She wore a simple dress of homespun and a rich-looking, black velvet cape that contrasted with her free-flowing auburn locks and pale skin. She was a picture of incongruences, at once alluring and foreboding.

Nevertheless, she might be the only chance Alaine had of finding her way home before dark.

“Yes,” Alaine’s voice was barely a whisper. She cleared her throat and tried again. “I do appear to have lost my way.”

The stranger’s smile grew, and for a moment Alaine could swear she saw a completely different face staring back at her. The image of a withered old crone vanished as quickly as it had appeared and Alaine suspected her anxiety was making her see things that weren’t there.

The woman held out her hand. “I can help you.” Her voice was a gentle caress that promised safe passage and true intentions.

Alaine didn’t know how a voice could express so much in so few words, but her feet moved of their own volition toward the woman. In the blink of an eye, she was standing before the woman, fingers outstretched to clasp the proffered hand. She hesitated with her hand barely hovering over the woman’s upturned palm. Something itched at the back of her mind, a feeling that this woman, like her choice to enter the forest, was about to change her life forever.

She shook her head. If it wasn’t the anxiety, it was her wild imagination concocting these strange ideas. There was no magic at work here. This wasn’t her fairy godmother, come to solve all of her problems. Alaine had not been chosen by fate to meet a handsome prince and be carried away to his castle. No. This was just a kindly woman from a neighboring village—or perhaps the forest itself—offering to help her find her way home.

Alaine took a deep breath and joined their hands.

The airwhooshedfrom her lungs as the forest disappeared into a cloud of white smoke like a scene from a dream. Wind rushed past them, their cloaks and hair billowing up around them. Alaine’s stomach dropped and she swore her feet left the ground as she tightened her grip on the stranger’s hand.

If it weren’t for the bite of fingernails against her skin, Alaine would have sworn she was hallucinating. Exhilaration bubbled up inside of her, forcing a giddy laugh to escape before she had the chance to contain it. Embracing the feeling, she threw her head back and closed her eyes, reveling in the freeing feeling of weightlessness.

All too soon, a shift in the air alerted Alaine to their descent. She squinted but could make out nothing beyond the woman’s fiery hair. Even the sun failed to penetrate the swirling mists around them.

Her feet met solid ground, sending a jolt through her body at the impact. She had the vague impression that she should be afraid, but she felt only awe as she turned in place, watching as the smoke cleared to reveal an unfamiliar stone cottage with a thatched roof and simple fence. They were still deep within the forest, surrounded on all sides by oaks, aspens, and evergreens, the foliage so dense it was clear they were far from any village.

“This isn’t my home,” she said with a sad smile, for she knew if given the chance, she would gladly remain here for the rest of her days. It was exactly the kind of picturesque refuge she escaped to in her daydreams.

When no response came from the mysterious woman, Alaine tore her gaze from the enchanting scene and found herself alone again.

She squeezed her eyes shut, certain this was all some twisted dream. Surely, Baxter had jostled her harder than she realized. She was hallucinating. That was the only plausible explanation for this bizarre turn of events.

With her eyes closed, she noticed a return of the tranquil forest sounds; birds chirping, leaves rustling, and above it all, the steady sound of someone chopping wood.

Alaine said a silent prayer to whoever was listening and hoped that this new stranger would prove more helpful than the last.

Still barefoot, she raced toward the sound, nimbly leaping over fallen branches and ducking between fence posts. She slowed as she reached the cottage and crept around the back where the fence line continued, encircling several trees. The rhythmicswishandthunkgrew louder as she rounded the corner and spied a man swinging the ax. He faced away from her as he chopped, his bare back rippling with the movement. A linen shirt lay tossed aside and the breeches he wore did little to hide the impressive figure beneath. He was easily the largest man she had ever seen.

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