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Alienor ignores me, the way she always did on the subject of Rosamund. Paranoia was always one of her weaknesses, as was the ability to see plots that didn’t exist.
As we fly over a lake, the grandmother recounts a false history of my affair with poor Rosamond, when she pauses.
“What?” Alienor asks.
“Here’s where the story becomes more sinister. Convinced that Rosamond was plotting to murder Elenor and become the king’s second wife, Elenor brought a retinue of guards to her rival’s house and confronted her.”
“What happened?”
I lean so close to their protective bubble that it pushes against my wingtip. This will be the first I hear from the point of view of my wife or her descendants.
“She placed a bowl of poison in front of Rosamond as well as a dagger and ordered her to choose her means of death. Rosamond drank the poison.”
Alienor nods. “Well, that’s what you get for messing with a married man—”
“She was a servant,” I roar. “And my wicked wife stabbed Rosamond in the stomach and left her boiling in a bath heated by two fires!”
Alienor stiffens, looking like she’s trying to stop herself from flinching. I make a mental note that she finds shouting unsettling.
We continue over the lake, where sunlight shimmers off its water, turning its surface gold. The wind streams through my hair, carrying with it the gentle scent of wildflowers. Coming to the human world reminds me of everything I have lost. The only reason I endure all the warmth and brightness is for the chance to break my curse.
After several moments of silence, Alienor asks, “How did she punish the king?”
“The chastity curse,” the grandmother says with a smirk.
“It was more than just chastity.” A growl rolls in the back of my throat, building up in intensity until I release it through my teeth.
How dare this old witch make merry of the curse? Alienor didn’t just fix things so I could only climax in her company. She made my cock so unappealing to women that even the court physician recoiled from it.
“What did the king do?”
“He had her thrown in jail.”
“I certainly did, but the wretched woman claimed she couldn’t reverse it.”
“But she used her magic to escape?”
“This happened before she gained control of her power,” the grandmother says with a sigh. “Her magic was untamed and too entwined with her emotions to be useful. During her imprisonment, she prayed to the goddess of Spring, Rheda. It took sixteen years for the goddess to grant the queen the power she needed to give her husband the death he deserved.”
Alienor turns to me with a look of hatred that might have withered my heart if I hadn’t already bargained it for the chance of revenge.
“What are you looking at?” I ask with a sneer.
“You should have sent that woman away. Instead, you let your wife believe you were having an affair.” She sniffs. “Seeing how ruthless you were with my cousin, you probably were unfaithful.”
“Are you talking to him?” the grandmother asks.
“King Henry must have found a way to survive,” Alienor says. “Maybe he prayed to the god of cheating husbands because he’s been haunting me since I gained my magic.”
I scoff.
She turns to meet my eyes. “I’ll dig out your secrets. When I do, I’ll banish you to hell.”
“Not if I kill you first.”
The broomstick swoops down toward a stone house within a vast garden surrounded by ash trees. This must be the grandmother’s home. I tip forward to follow, but twenty feet away from the ground, my body hits an invisible barrier.
Damn it.
