Chapter Forty-Two
Carys' mouth trembled at each word. Gil's voice shone through the writing, as though he was right beside her. Her eyes burned faintly, and the words blurred. She rubbed her wet eyes before accidentally dampening the ink.
After finishing the letter, she secreted it away in her dress. She took a deep breath, desperate to compose herself.
Her heart jumped as she looked up to find Claudia staring in her direction.
"Are you well, Carys?" she asked blandly.
"Quite well," Carys lied. "I..."
There was so much she wanted to ask Claudia. She was positive Claudia meant for her to find that vellum, but no one could be trusted in the Curselands. And everything that she just read confirmed it.
Claudia finally set down the bird corpse. "Something is troubling you."
Carys jerked. "Nothing. I ought to return to Aidan before we gain too much distance."
"Or the curse will activate." Claudia pursed her lips. "Your brother told me that the two of you were separated by realms, for a considerable amount of time."
Carys backed up slightly, her head brushing against a hanging basket. "Mere minutes," she exaggerated.
"Meical thinks it was longer." Claudia shrugged. "He isn't certain. But it sounds to me as if the curse should have activated. Why do you suppose it didn't?"
Carys' heart thundered. "I don't know. Perhaps I botched the spell."
Claudia pursed her lips. "You didn't botch it. And don't say such to your brother when he asks you about it."
"He's going to ask me about it?" Carys whispered.
Claudia nodded. "He'll want to understand. But I think you must know why the curse didn't activate."
Carys didn't flinch as Claudia pulled out a dagger. "I haven't any notion."
"Those words mean you are either stupid or a poor liar." Claudia sliced the dagger into her arm, scarlet drops falling upon the dove's entrails. "You and the Dalon prince will die if you are ever too far apart for long. What do you suppose made the difference?"
"I haven't any notion," she repeated.
She kept her face blank as scarlet splattered the foulness. She did know. A suspicion that itched every night, one she couldn't scratch. If she allowed herself to think it, the truth could fall into the wrong hands.
"Blood is quite powerful," Claudia said.
Carys flinched. Claudia's face remained enigmatic, but Carys could feel it in her blood.
Claudia knew.
"Very," Carys whispered.
The blood she exchanged with Aidan during the Curse Ceremony had saved them. Her blood within him and his within her. They would always be together, even when they were far apart. When they were in different realms, they were close enough to keep the spell from activating.
Their bond nullified her first curse.
A faint smile crossed Claudia's ageless face. "Did you never wonder why I agreed to bond you to the prince?"
"What?" Carys croaked.
Claudia didn't even pretend Carys was ignorant. "I didn't know if it would work, but it seems to be a sufficient substitute. The second curse is still there. There are ways to circumvent that curse, none pleasant."
Carys went numb. "So Aidan could leave?"
Claudia's nose twitched. "You jump straight to the prince leaving, and not yourself?"
"I...I couldn't go to the Starlands anyway," Carys said.
"But you could leave your brother." Claudia rolled her sleeve down around the bloody scar. "You could be free of him."
"I can never be free of him," Carys said flatly. "Not while he is stronger than me. The strong must always serve the weak or get crushed."
"Law of the Beasts. True enough." Claudia nodded.
"But you will never grow stronger as long as you do nothing.
If you left, you'd have the opportunity to grow strong as your brother did in those years of your wanderings.
He would pursue you, but not with much vigor if you were to leave the prince with him. "
"Leave Aidan...just run?" Carys asked. "That is cowardly."
"Cowardice is a Starlands concept crafted to compel those like your prince to live up to impossible standards." The firelight added a menacing gleam to Claudia. "The Law of the Beasts is more understanding of our beastly nature. Sometimes a cub must run before their fangs are sharp enough."
Carys shook her head. "It matters not," she said, straightening her back. "I am loyal to my brother and I will hear no more of it."
She turned to leave.
"Setting the prince free would be heroic, but it would destroy you," Claudia said, her sharp words halting Carys.
"Do you never wonder why witches always are punished in heroic tales?
There are princesses and witches. You may have married a prince, but you'll never be a princess.
Witches survive until they are vanquished. Survive as long as possible"
Carys rushed out of the cottage, unwilling to hear the harsh truth.
She sank down on the bench that had been added to the cottage for Aidan.
He was in the distance, training with Meical's Curse Warriors.
Meaningless time crawled until Aidan tore away from the training and came to join her.
His face bloodied and bruised, black substance staining his red hair and clothes.
"How is the training?"
"Not as bad as knightly training under my brother's commanders."
Carys frowned. "That's a jest?"
"A rather poor one." He cocked his head. "Are you well?"
Once again, she found herself unable to tell him something important. His liberty was in her hands, and she couldn't say a thing.
She followed him back in silence as he followed her so many times. As the days dragged along, Aidan's smile became rarer, her brother's warriors increased their numbers, and Carys began feeling like a ghost.
Every day she disappeared a little longer from Aidan's side, futilely hoping that he would figure out the curse had been circumvented. Futilely hoping that Aidan already knew and staying was his choice.
Carys sat down in their original garden. The noises of war preparations destroyed any illusion of peace. She resisted the urge to rip apart the greenery. Instead, she laid on the ground and stared up at the sky. When she looked at the crimson sky, it was as though nothing changed.
As though Aidan had never come to the Curselands.
She was uncertain how long she laid under the crimson sky. Time utterly faded. The hellish noises were like a lullaby for insomnia. Perhaps she could rot away there, trap herself in a petrification spell, like a sleeping princess.
A princess that no one would ever kiss to awake.
A shadow appeared over Carys, breaking the timeless drifting. She blinked as Cal leaned down.
"Your brother sent me to remind you that tonight is the feast of Winter's Dawn."
Carys picked herself off the ground, dusting the dirt from her skirt. They hadn't spoken since the Doom Ball.
When they danced and discussed overthrowing her brother.
"I never attend the feast," she said sullenly.
Cal inclined his head. "Your brother commands that you attend with your husband to celebrate his upcoming union with his intended."
She scowled. "I'd rather have my head bitten off."
"Your brother says that if you do not attend, he will make you attend. Or he will make your husband do it."
Carys blanched. "He wouldn't!"
But he would humiliate her and would force Aidan to do his bidding. Meical might have affection for Carys, but maintaining his power mattered more to him.
"Tell Meical that I've no fine clothing for his precious feast. My ball gown was ruined, and I fed my wedding dress to Spiky!" Carys said childishly.
Cal nodded. "Curselord Meical anticipated that might be your reaction. He says that Keeva has a few dresses that might work."
Her shoulders slumped, and she moved mechanically toward Ghost Tower. Cal caught her arm. "It doesn't have to be this way."
She shook him off. "I am sick to the teeth of being used by people. Find someone else! Perhaps Keeva will be more amiable."
"If you don't like being used, you must make a move. One thing that I admired about you was the way that you took matters in your own hands. You didn't even fear the consequences of your brother. Look what you've done!"
Cal gestured at the beautiful greenery, and Carys shook her head wildly. "This wasn't what I wanted. I wanted..."
She wanted the sun.
"Take a chance." Cal stared intensely at her. "I will support you."
Her heart stopped at a shimmer in his eyes. She tilted her head, taking another look at the warrior. Almost nothing was amiss, except...
"Gil?" she whispered.
The shapeshifter placed a finger to his lips, the black fading from his eyes to reveal silver. But the black returned too soon, the mask of a heartless warrior.
"I saw your letter...is it...is it true?" she asked. "I can't believe my brother would go that far."
"You don't know your brother as well as you think," Gil said. "When you brought Aidan to the Curselands, you gave Meical a key to his darkest ambitions. I can't do anything to stop him, not while my sister is in his hands. But it's different for you."
She stepped back. "You think too highly of me."
Gil held up his hands, a familiar gesture from a foreign body. "Do what you will, Carys. But you'll never get the sun if Meical goes down this path."
"I'm never going to get the sun at all," she said, a sob choking her words.
A sympathetic look crossed Gil's face. "If you want to do it, I can help tonight. But only tonight. My time is not my own."
Carys turned from him, lowering her head until she heard his softly retreating footsteps. Poison had rotted away her soul since she was a child.
She couldn't walk the better path now.