2. Wolf
Before kicking the door closed, I caught a glimpse of the monster that had sent the woman screaming my way. I knew that sloping back and long head well. A pang hit my heart at the sight.
Failure. That was the shape of my failure.
I was supposed to save us from that fate, but instead, this woman’s presence was evidence of my futility. Strangers never made it this far into the forest without dire consequences, but the scream that reached me had been undeniably human. How had someone roamed this deep into Aglonbriar and remained human enough to yell for help? It beggared belief.
The woman detached herself from my chest and stared at me. Beneath the scent I’d caught of warm vanilla, she reeked of fear. Given the manner of her arrival, that was understandable.
For her part, she was at least as shocked to see me as I was to see her.
“Wha–? Who are you?” She was gasping, wide eyes showing white all the way around brilliant green irises.
A stray thought wandered through my head that I hoped she was scared from her ordeal, and not from the mere sight of me. I did try to only inspire fear in my enemies, and so far, she didn’t count.
“I think I’m the guy who just saved you.”
Her brow furrowed before she startled again at the sound of a soulless howl chasing the echo of the slamming door. I didn’t blame her for being half-frantic. The howl of a fenriswulf was truly blood-chilling.
That gut-wrenching sound pierced me with the painful reality that the Mist was still at our doorstep. The monsters were still at our collective heels.
Her hood had fallen back to reveal a cascade of dark red locks, an unusual shade in a world where most of us were fair and light-haired, as I was. This woman would soon be another victim of the curse, I was sure, but when she fixed her jewel-bright gaze on me, it twisted my stomach as if for the first time. I’d lost so many already, one more shouldn’t matter. But I hated the thought of adding her lovely face to my mental catalog of the lost.
At least I could prolong the inevitable. I’d saved her for now.
Recovering, she pinned me with another look. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same.” I stepped aside to get a better view out the window at the woods where she came from. The Mist was shockingly close. “How did you get through...that?”
“I ran. Clearly.”
Clearly.
But she shouldn”t have been able to simply run through Mist that thick. That”s not how the curse worked. Unless…maybe it was changing after all.
I’d thought when the witch died, the Mist would simply evaporate. Lift. Vanish.
Something.
If anything, it was worse. That was why I was still at the cottage, licking my wounds and searching for answers. I was supposed to end it.
“Sorry for smacking into you. There was this…thing, and it was chasing me. Well, you saw.”
“I did.”
We looked at each other uneasily for another few heartbeats. “Oh, I’m Emi. And you are…?“
Emi. It suited her. A pretty name for a pretty girl. Light and joyful. Nothing like this life of darkness. A name like Emi didn’t belong among monsters. How had she gotten here with that name still intact?
“Wolf.” My name belonged in the forest, unlike hers. I belonged to the woods.
Whatever reason she’d had to enter this forbidding place, Emi had been lucky to make it to this cottage as she was. Now she was stuck here hoping that the clearing retained some of its magic the same way the Mist had persisted. Maybe if I could figure out the key to breaking the curse, Emi would never have to succumb to it. Until then, we were both trapped here.
“That”s your name? Wolf?”
“Yes.”
Emi looked calm enough now to almost smile. “That”s the name your parents gave you? Really?”
I shrugged. It seemed unlikely, but it was the only name I knew.
“Fine, Wolf, what are you doing here?”
No matter how disarmingly curious those big green eyes looked, I couldn’t afford to drop my guard. “Gardening,” I hedged.
That was one way of phrasing it. There had been digging involved.
“Gardening?”
“That’s right.”
Her eyes traveled the length of my body, taking in my threadbare trousers and the tidy tunic and vest I wore, and lingering on the width of my shoulders. I puffed my chest just a little bit. What? It had been a long time since anyone looked at me with that sort of interest, and for this heartbeat, I was only a man enjoying a beautiful woman’s appreciative gaze. I rarely got to meet new people, and never like this. Finally, I cleared my throat.
She blinked fast. “Your clothes are rather clean, aren’t they?”
“I carry a change of clothing. You never know who you might encounter.” I tossed her a wink.
She spluttered a laugh. “You never do know.”
I grinned at her playing along with me.
I was enjoying Emi’s attention too much to give anything more away. It genuinely seemed like she didn’t know the types of things that happened in these woods. I might not deserve it, but I wanted to prolong the time before she saw who I really was.
The wolf.
The beast.
The monster.
I may as well relish this brief respite since I was stuck here until I found what I needed or…No, I wouldn’t think about alternatives. The glow in my chest faded.
Being a man again for now didn’t truly change anything. I’d spent too long in the dark corruption of the Mist to escape the curse, even in this magical clearing. The tarnish of it followed me, a cold that lingered on my soul even when I stepped into the radiant warmth of a bright fire. Its stain clung to me even under the gaze of a pretty girl.
No matter how she was looking at me, I was still that beast. I had blood on my hands that would never wash off, even if no one else knew it was there. If Emi knew, she’d run from me as fast as her legs would carry her.
My easy grin stiffened in place.
Until I knew what had gone wrong with the prophecy, I was staying, and Emi couldn’t leave while certain death waited outside the doors. We might as well make the best of our situation. A pleasant conversation wasn’t exactly a hardship. Surely we could make idle chatter until conditions improved, and maybe she could still escape.
“Do you often bring a change of clothes and linger about your gardening jobs?” Emi removed her hooded cloak and hung it on the coat rack next to one of ruby red. My stomach twisted, something ugly rising at how similar they were. That red hood had only ever meant one thing.
“Sometimes.” I held my smile.
Emi looked at me like a puzzle to be solved, her earlier fear replaced by wary curiosity. “And Ruby invited you inside?”
My brain prickled. If she knew the witch, then she hadn’t fled here by accident. Maybe she wasn’t as innocent as she seemed. I would have to tread carefully.
Gesturing to the window, I replied, “I got stuck here when it got bad out there.”
She took in the thick Mist beyond the diamond panes and rubbed a lingering shiver from her arms. Her forehead scrunched. “And where is she now?”