Page 57 of Black and Silver

That had Minnie as curious as ever. “Is it truly?” she asked.

Carys sighed and clasped her hands together on her lap, over her apron. “Alas, it truly is. The Godwin family has seen generation after generation of tragedy because of it. Why, in this current time alone, not only was Lord Gerald’s beloved wife taken from him at an early age, but his brother and his wife perished as well, leaving Lord Gerald to raise all of the children.”

“That is sad,” Minnie said, tilting her head to rest her cheek on her arm.

“It extends farther than that as well,” Carys said. “As you have noted, all of the Godwin males have been terribly unlucky in love until only just recently. Lord Dunstan was treated abominably by his first, late wife, and none of the others were able to settle on women who loved them until this year.”

Minnie hummed and nodded. She recalled everything Lawrence had said about his failed love affairs. Perhaps that truly was the Curse of Godwin Castle.

“How long has the family been afflicted?” she asked, wondering if she still found the idea of a cursed castle romantic, since it had caused so much distress to people she cared for.

“As the legend goes,” Carys said, “it began at the time of the building of the castle, in the nine-hundreds.”

Minnie’s brow went up. “So long ago? And the family has survived the curse for this long?”

“They have, by the grace of God,” Carys said.

“How did it begin?” Minnie asked.

Carys smiled, her expression turning mischievous again. “Apparently, as the legend goes, it began with cruelty on the part of Aethelbore Godwin, the first Duke of Amesbury. He was betrothed to a local woman, Morgana Whitney, who loved him very much. He gifted her with an amulet as a token of their betrothal. But then he was offered the hand of the king’s daughter, which came with the title, and he threw Morgana over for personal gain.”

“How wicked!” Minnie gasped, loving the story.

“Morgana was devastated,” Carys went on. “She rent the amulet in twain, throwing half at Aethelbore in her fury, and cursed the family and the castle.”

“That must have been a sight to see,” Minnie said, loving the Godwin family even more for their legends.

“I’m told it was,” Carys said, grinning. “Aethelbore’s half of the amulet still exists, you know. It lies in a small, jeweled casket in the castle dungeon.”

“That is amazing!” Minnie said, forgetting her exhaustion, her thick head, and her propriety as she sat straighter in the bath. “Could it be used to break the curse, do you think?” she asked. “In legends such as this, usually, if the halves of the amulet are reunited, the curse can be ended.”

“You are correct,” Carys said, grinning. “There is a way to break the curse. It is said that if a Godwin marries a Whitney and the two halves of the amulet are reunited, the curse will end and the combined families will experience nothing but good fortune and happiness for the rest of their days.”

“The solution is simple, then,” Minnie said, beaming. “Why has a Godwin not married a Whitney sooner?”

Carys’s clever look faded. “Because the Whitney family died out centuries ago,” she said with a sigh. “And it is believed thattheir half of the locket was thrown into the sea in Morgana’s fit of rage, where it has been lost forever.”

“Oh, dear,” Minnie said, sinking back into her bath. “That does not ease the situation at all.”

“It does not,” Carys admitted. “Which means the Godwin family is doomed to be cursed for all eternity.”

As romantic a notion as that would have been to Minnie only a few weeks before, it only seemed sad to her now.

“Poor Lawrence,” she said, sighing and leaning back against the edge of the tub. “Poor all of them. The Godwins seem like such good people.”

“They are better than many, my lady,” Carys said. When Minnie glanced sideways at her, she corrected herself with, “Minerva.”

The two of them shared a smile.

Then, as if she’d decided she had permission to be bold with Minnie, Carys asked, “Do you have plans to marry Lord Lawrence?”

Minnie’s smile faltered. “To be honest, I would like to.”

She stopped and let out a breath. The bath had grown cold, and with Carys’s help, she rose and wrapped herself in a towel before moving closer to the crackling fireplace.

“I never thought I would wish to marry,” she confessed. “But Lawrence is so good and kind and funny.” She smiled at her memories of him. “I like him, which, in some ways, is even more important than loving him.”

Carys met that comment with a mysterious smile. “Yes, I believe I know what you mean,” she said.

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