Page 55 of Cursed Wolfsbane

Dido shows me memories of them at various ages laughing together, crying on one another’s shoulders, running wild in fields, competing with each other at archery and horseback riding, and more. From all the memories she’s showing me, it’s clear how much they loved each other.

Now I feel bad about how snarky I was toward prophecy writers. I didn’t know that Dido’s little sister was a seer. But, I mean, I didn’t know foretelling was even an ability supernaturals had. I’ve never met or heard of a seer before today.I’m guessing that means we can trust her prophecy?

“Yes, child. Everything Anna prophesized has come true over the years. This is her last prophecy that has yet to happen, but I am confident it will.”

I bite my lip as I debate asking my next question. My curiosity wins out over my decorum.Did something happen to her?

“Yes. Instead of living a comfortable life in Carthage as the next queen, she set out to enact revenge on Aeneas for my death. We were very close, and my death was hard on her. She did not know I would be reincarnated. If she did, perhaps she would have made different choices.

“Anna tracked Aeneas first to the small island of Malta. There, she fell in love with the king of the island, Battus. He was smitten with her and was able to keep her occupied for three years. Battus would have followed my sister to the ends of the earth, but Anna knew her goal was dangerous. She couldn’t bear to put the love of her life in danger.

“After three blissful years with Battus, Anna fled Malta under the cover of darkness. She found Aeneas in Lavinium. No one knew she was my sister, so she was able to get close to Aeneas. Before she could execute him, his wife, Lavinia, became jealous of how much Aeneas liked her. Lavinia poisoned Anna, cutting her life short.

“The curse of foresight is that a seer cannot see their own life, only those around them. While she was able to see events happening thousands of years in the future, Anna never saw the threat Lavinia posed.”Dido’s voice breaks, and tears leak down her face in my mind.

My heart aches for her pain and loss, and I wish I could do something to fix it. But I don’t know how to make my own devastation hurt less, so I don’t know what I can offer her.I’m so sorry, Dido.

She brushes the tears off her cheeks before clearing her throat.“That is what life is. A collection of painful fragments of memories and experiences and dreams that you weave together with the rare occasions of joy and love and laughter.Some days it feels like the thin threads of happiness are not enough to hold the heavy slabs of sorrow together. But the days on which your cheeks hurt from smiling so much, your chest aches from nonstop laughter, and your heart feels like it will burst from love so pure it does not feel real are what makes all the rest of it worth it. Anna, my mates, and my daughter were my heart. With them gone, none of it remains. But all the pain is worth it because I had the absolute privilege of knowing and loving them.”

As I digest Dido’s words, I realize how right she is. Losing my mom and dad hurts so much I can’t breathe sometimes. But knowing them, learning from them, being shaped by them, and losing them is so much better than having not known my parents at all.

I’m pretty lucky to have had such wonderful, kind, and loving parents. I’m pretty lucky to have known unconditional love so strong it still hurts being without it so many years later. I’m pretty lucky to have learned true strength from my parents to get through everything I have.

Most days, I try to run from my emotional pain. It’s the type of hurt that’s so slow to get better it feels like I’m never going to heal from it. Maybe, instead of fleeing from all the hard parts of life, I should let myself feel them. The pain and hardship and suffering are as much a part of me as the happy moments.

I know I’m not strong enough to look at everything I’ve tried to avoid feeling right now, but maybe I can take small steps and eventually get to a point where I can deal with it all. Before that happens, however, we have this whole prophecy thing to figure out.

Thank you, Dido.

“For what, child?”

For sharing your perspective. It made me… realize some things.I try to project my feelings at Dido because I don’t havethe right words to explain the jumble of emotions I’m going through.

My projection must work because Dido’s face softens with empathy.“You are welcome. I am always here for you, Briar Rose Ward-Wylder. No matter how much it may feel like it at times, you have never truly been alone.”

Thank you, I manage to choke out past the lump in my throat.

Dido gives me a watery smile before fading gracefully from my mind. I take another moment to process everything in the quiet of my own mind before opening my eyes and meeting four pairs of very concerned ones.

CHAPTER 25

BRIAR

Iblink owlishly at my mates for a moment. “Um, hi?” I manage to hold back my groan at my awkward response, but that’s just how I roll. I’m pretty sure if you look up “awkward” in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of me staring wide-eyed as the definition.

“Hey, everything go okay with Dido?” Saint watches me carefully, ruffling his dark hair as he does so. He’s perched on the table to my left, the only one of them on this side with me.

“Yeah. Why?” I ask, my forehead scrunching in confusion.

Saint’s gray eyes flick between mine for a moment before he informs me, “You were in a trance for half an hour.”

“Oh. Huh. I guess Dido had a lot to say.” The whole conversation felt like it took only a few minutes, but I guess time moves differently in my mind. I fill them in on everything Dido said about her sister, leaving out our private conversation on loss and grief.

Malachi’s eyes light with recognition as I finish relaying the information. “That must be who the goddess Anna Perenna is based on. I don’t know why I didn’t connect that. Her festival was on the Ides of March, which was the first month of the Roman year. Romans, mostly plebeians, prayed to her for a goodstart to the year. Ovid recounts her backstory differently, but I trust Dido has a more accurate version of events.”

No one says anything for a beat, until Bastian grins at Malachi who sat down next to him at some point. “You’re such a nerd, Kai.” Malachi flips Bastian off, and I snort at their sibling interaction, which makes Bastian’s smile widen.

Xander’s sitting on Bastian’s other side, shaking his head at his twin’s comment. When he turns his emerald eyes on me, I’m momentarily mesmerized, unable to look away. His deep voice breaks me out of my daze. “Did Dido know what the prophecy means?”

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