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A pause preceded her answer. “They came from the second barn, the one that houses cursed creatures. Ones so deep into their curses that their minds have slipped into madness. The doors burst open, and all the enchantments holding them broke.”
I shivered, unable to fully grasp what she’d said.
Everence stared down at me with sharp eyes and pinched lips for a moment before answering. “Something caused Rafael’s spells to falter, the ones he employs to keep those creatures safely locked away.”
The way she watched me with narrow eyes told me she assumed this was somehow my fault.
“Why…why does he keep monsters locked up?” I asked, trying to erase that accusatory look on her face.
“Monster is relative.”
I glowered at the woman. Her hair was down and flowing, luminescent with magic.
“To a rabbit, a hawk is a monster. To a hunter, a hawk is a friend.” Everence didn’t smile, but the edges of her eyes pinched with deep concern. “The creatures in that barn are monsters to all but one.”
“Who?”
“Rafael.”
I rolled my eyes. “I suppose it only makes sense for monsters to be friends.”
She scoffed, as if I’d cursed. “Rafael saved those men and women. They, like him, have been cursed to appear as they now do. But unlike his curse, theirs have no times of reprieve, no hours when they can return to their original forms.” She held a hand to my cheek the way my mother used to when I had a fever. “Those beasts all carry a curse, and they have failed to meet the requirements to break the enchantments. Most have gone mad, while others have resigned themselves to the darkest of fates—a life without hope.”
I rolled my face away to stare at the sunlit garden once more. I could no longer see the bear. So he kept a safe house for the cursed. Still, that didn’t exonerate him. He wanted me to die so he could live without his curse. He was every bit a monster, like the ones in that barn.
“He has helped two others break their curses. His desire is to help the rest, but his magic is limited, as is his time,” she continued.
“He needed a bride to take his curse so he could have more time.”
Everence bit her lip. “Yes and no. The fae he houses in that barn all require the same thing to break their curses.”
My eyes widened. “Mortal blood.”
She nodded.
I thought she was a friend to mortals, and here she was telling me I was selected to die like it was no more significant than the chance of rain.
Rafael hadn’t chosen me to save only himself, but to save all the creatures in that mysterious second barn.
“Rafael’s curse can only be broken by true love,” she said. “Marriage alone won’t suffice, though it too was part of the wording of the curse. But you are safe if you do not fall for him.”
If. As if I could love him now. The memory of my foolish kiss pressed against my every nerve. I returned her hard stare, unsure why she was angry. She was a beautiful immortal, a creature so lovely even Zara wouldn’t stand out compared to her. She would make mortal men bow down, and she had magic to twist the world to her whims. It made sense that she would look down on me, but I couldn’t understand why she was upset that I wouldn’t pine for the man who desired my death.
“When the enchantments broke, the beasts smelled you, and they came after you. They have but one aim, and that is to spill your blood.”
“Sounds like Rafael.”
Everence frowned. “Rafael’s curse is the only one I’ve seen in my four hundred years that transfers his beastly state to another person. Your body wouldn’t survive the shift.”
Awful curse or not, it didn’t change the fact that I had been chosen as his sacrificial lamb. His curse bearer.
“You want him to be healed,” I said as Everence leaned back in the chair beside my bed.
“Yes,” she admitted. “It’s why I’ve stayed at Starfell.”
I blinked at her. This woman wanted me to die too. I was surrounded by enemies. Beautiful, terrible enemies.
“Talia,” she said, leaning forward to place her hands neatly on the bed beside me, “the enchantment is only breakable while his brother is still a prince. Once Fabian attains the crown, and the power it brings with it, the curse will be permanent. Fabian has been trying to take the crown for a long time, and only recently did he succeed in killing their father.”
