Withering Rose (Once Upon a Curse Book 2)

by Kaitlyn Davis

  I know how to get rid of my magic.

  I know how to awaken the faerie.

  My curse is too strong to break. All I can do is surrender and be satisfied with knowing I won’t be leaving Cole alone, that my sacrifice won't be in vain.

  My death will make all of his dreams come true.

  I wait until Cole is fast asleep before I roll free of his arms, leaning up on my elbow to look down over his face, peaceful in slumber.

  This is going to be the hardest part.

  Saying goodbye.

  As I brush my fingers through his wonderfully unruly ebony hair, I try to find comfort in knowing this is the only way. This is how it was always supposed to end. If the general was willing to bring down a mountain, risking who knows how many innocent lives, then he'll never stop coming after the magic—after the faerie or after me. I'll never be free. But Cole, he has a chance. I can give him that chance. If the magic is gone, the general and everyone at the base will think they've won. With the magic free, Cole and his people can pretend to be innocent humans caught in the crossfire. Or they can flee to the mountains and remain as they are now, a kingdom of animals in the wild. The point is they will have a choice, they will have each other, and they will have freedom.

  "Cole," I murmur, not sure where to begin. There are so many things I want to say, and yet, nothing sounds right. "You made me feel alive for the first time in my life. In a world where I felt so impossibly trapped, you gave me a taste of freedom, and I can never thank you enough for that. And I know this isn't how you want it to end, and I wish so much that things could be different, that I could be different for you, but I guess that's not how life goes sometimes. I hope you know that no matter what happens, I'll always be with you, and you'll always be with me. In that small way, we can still have our slice of forever."

  He sighs, turning toward me. A smile passes over his lips.

  It breaks my heart.

  "Please forgive me," I whisper, bringing my palm to his cheek. And then I lean down, kissing him softly, missing the silky touch of his lips the instant I pull away. And because it's my last chance, I say the three words I've been too afraid to say, the ones I somehow knew would always mean goodbye. "I love you."

  Then I force myself to look away.

  I force myself to crawl quietly toward the front of the tent, easing one flap aside, leaving the warmth and entering the cold, dark night.

  Animals rest peacefully on the snow all around me, not at all fazed by the damp, frozen ground. We only got here a little while ago. Cole spent hours pulling my father, the faerie, and me through the mountains toward the spot where his people were waiting for us. All the effort it took is the only reason he's sleeping so soundly now, the only reason I had any hope of escaping his embrace without waking him up.

  Eyes watch me as I cross over the open field, feet crunching on the ice. The wolves stationed themselves outside of our tent, keeping guard over their king. But they don't try to stop me. They have no reason to—they don't know enough.

  I visit my father first.

  He's alive. Barely.

  My presence soothes him, as though he can somehow sense I'm near. He mumbles softly, nonsense, and shifts his face toward me, nudging the pillow. Just in case he can hear me, I don't say anything as I wipe the sweat from his brow and tuck the blankets in closer. I don't want him to know this is goodbye. I want him to think it’s just another visit, one of many to come. I want him to stay lost in his imagination, to stay wrapped up in the only happy ending he'll ever find.

  The medicine Asher was supposed to send never arrived. But maybe it's better this way. Maybe it's better if my father slips peacefully away, never knowing all of his dreams for me didn’t have a chance to come true.

  After a few more silent moments, I slip back into the night.

  One of the wolves is standing right outside the tent when I emerge, watching me with a cocked head, eyes piercing through the darkness.

  "Go back to sleep," I urge.

  But he doesn't.

  He follows me as I step quietly toward the faerie's tent, eyes boring into my side like a physical weight.

  "Go to sleep," I order again.

  But he just continues to stare.

  Stubborn.

  Everyone in this entire kingdom is so frustratingly stubborn.

  But I can't risk him waking Cole. So I take a step closer, putting my hand out. He steps into my palm, allowing me to scratch behind his ears. And then he flops over onto his back, rolling his tongue out to the side like a puppy searching for a belly rub. Such a softy.

  "Not now," I chide. He whines. "Cole asked me to check on her."

  At that, his ears perk up, and he straightens.

  "That's right," I continue, keeping my voice even and low. "Your king is trying to get some much-needed rest after dragging me all the way here, so go back to sleep and don't disturb him."

  His head cocks, perceptive.

  I wonder if he can taste the lie in the air? Or do my human instincts give me away? Can he hear my blood pounding in my ears? Can he smell the salty sweat on my palms? Can he sense my fear?

  I'll never know.

  He stays where he is but drops his head down to his paws and closes his eyes, giving me the privacy I asked for. And that will have to do, because the moon is rising higher overhead, shining a silver light over the mountains, reminding me that it’s only a matter of time before Cole wakes and realizes I'm gone. It won't take him long to find me.

  I slip silently into the faerie's tent.

  The golden glow blinds me.

  I blink a few times, allowing my eyes to adjust.

  There she is. Same as always. Blond hair in perfect disarray. Skin shimmering with an inner glow. Features fluid, yet always stunning. Magic radiating out, almost tangible. The events of the day haven’t touched her.

  What does she see behind those closed eyes?

  What dreams does she live in?

  What nightmares?

  I take a step closer, feeling the magnetic pull of her power wrapping around me, recognizing me for what I am—the only thing that can save her. I should have realized it a long time ago, the first time I ever felt that mesmerizing lure of her magic. And maybe I did. But now, standing over her, I can't deny it.

  She's a faerie.

  She's a flower.

  She's dying. She's been dying. It's the only explanation for why she stole the magic from Cole's people. She needed it to heal herself and to be protected while the spell ran its course, however long that might be.

  But I'm here now. And I can give her life the same way I give all nature life—by giving up my own.

  As I sit by her side, my fingers tremble. My eyes start to burn. There's only an inch of air between our fingers, but the small space is filled with vast meaning. I can't close the distance.

  Am I ready to say goodbye?

  Am I ready to die?

  I close my eyes, pulling my hand into a fist, stilled by doubt, letting my imagination take over. In my mind's eye, I see Cole reunited with his people in a bustling new home filled with humans and animals alike. I see them free, no longer pursued, no longer hunted. Children shift from pups to toddlers in the bright light of day, not afraid. I see the man I love smiling and laughing openly, his cloudy eyes have cleared, and somewhere deep within them there's a memory of me that he holds close to his heart.

  And I see myself back in a place I never thought I would find again. Home. With my mother and my sister, with all the people we left behind. Eventually my father will find us too, and in that beautiful afterlife, we'll be a family again.

  I hold on to those dreams as I uncurl my fingers.

  Maybe, for once, my hopes can come true.

  Maybe the curse has been the answer all along.

  Maybe in death I'll finally be free.

  I sense the heat of her skin before I touch it, pausing.

  Be brave.

  A voice whispers.

  Be brave.
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  And for the first time, I realize, that voice is me.

  Not my mother. Not my sister. Not my younger self.

  But me. The woman I've become.

  Strong. Brave.

  And ready to face whatever comes next.

  I close the distance.

  Our hands clasp tight, and the faerie pulls me under. I don't resist. I surrender to the magic. I let hers overtake me, and I open my soul, freely giving away every ounce of power within. My sense of self vanishes. I'm no longer Omorose. I'm pure, untainted energy. And I disappear within the faerie, zipping straight for her heart, realizing for the first time how rotten it is.

  Grow.

  Heal.

  Live.

  Three thoughts are all I have left. And just like a flower, the faerie blooms beneath the force of those commands. The mildew staining her soul disappears. The rancid decay destroying her from the inside out retreats, slips away. Her body is like a tree that has decomposed under the passage of time and I'm reviving it, digging the roots down deep, stretching the leaves to the sky, pushing the slow assault of death away.

  And then my pain strikes.

  We switch places.

  The flower at the center of my soul wilts. The rosy hue turns darker, rotting at the edges. The petals widen, drooping away from the core, peeling off one by one.

  I couldn't stop even if I wanted to.

  I'm too lost in the power and the pain.

  The faerie pulls on my magic more and more, growing stronger with every second that I grow weaker, yanking my life away and burying it within her. My strength gives out. I collapse against her.

  Distantly, I feel arms shake me.

  But I'm drowning.

  Words are shouted. They don't reach me.

  I'm slipping away, drifting deeper.

  The end is near.

  The golden aura of the faerie surrounds me, burning so bright I can't escape the heat. My flower shrivels. The rose, my namesake, is disappearing. There are only a few petals left. Five. Then four.

  A fist clenches my heart, wrapping tightly around the bloom, stealing all my breath away. I'm suffocating. And then that hand pulls, twists, yanks, doing whatever it can to leech every last bit of magic I have.

  Three.

  The pressure mounts until I'm torn down the middle.

  Two.

  I can't fight anymore. I'm about to shatter. To break.

  We snap apart.

  I fly back, catapulting into the real world, landing in arms I knew would be there to catch me.

  "Omorose!" Cole shouts as he cradles me to his chest.

  I barely have the strength to keep my eyes open.

  His warm palm caresses my cheek, and looking down with eyes as tumultuous as a thunderstorm, he whispers, "What did you do?"

  I want to answer him.

  I want to explain.

  But my tongue is heavy. My lips won't open.

  "She saved my life," a voice answers slowly.

  I smile because I know who that voice belongs to, even if I can't find the energy to turn my head and look upon her. The faerie. Awake. Alive. And with that small validation that my sacrifice won’t be for naught, my soul lets go.

  The curse takes its final toll.

  The last petal falls.

  I thought death would be swift and quick.

  But it's not.

  It's painfully, achingly slow.

  My eyes slip closed, surrounding me in darkness. A wave of cold travels slowly up my skin, starting at my fingertips and toes, creeping ever closer to my heart.

  I can't move.

  Can't speak.

  I'm paralyzed, trapped in a world of shadow.

  But I can hear. And that's what hurts the most.

  "Do something! Help her!" Cole shouts.

  I want to wince but I can’t. He still doesn’t know what's happening. He still thinks he can save me. Because he trusts me. He trusts that I always told him the truth.

  "There's nothing I can do." The voice is cold and unkind, almost aggressive. It doesn’t match the beautiful face I remember. "Besides," the faerie continues, "I wouldn't help a human thief even if I could."

  Cole snarls and his muscles clench tight. His arms tremble beneath me, anger growing uncontrollable. It's always been an easier emotion for him to handle than despair. He's escaping into the rage, trying to lose himself within it. "You're no better," he sneers. "You stole everything from me. Everything."

  "That wasn't personal," she snips, and then sighs. Her voice grows softer for a moment. "And this isn't either. There really is nothing I can do. I'm not strong enough to break her curse, not by myself."

  Cole stills. "What curse? Her curse is pain."

  The faerie laughs, a quiet smug sound, as though she expects no better than a lie from a human, from someone like me.

  I want to hit her. I want to hug him. I want to wake up and apologize. Anything but this horribly passive participation.

  "Dear prince," the faerie continues, "her curse is death."

  "No," Cole whispers. His arms tighten around me, crushing me against his chest. "No!" he roars, anguish palpable in the way the word rips from his throat, raw and torn. "There has to be something, some way, some…"

  I lay limp in his arms as he trails off.

  He shifts. And even though I can't see, I know his eyes are on me. His fingers brush against my cheek, ever so softly, reminding me of that first night so long ago when he was little more than an unknown stranger giving me hope that I might find somewhere I belonged. And in his arms, I did.

  "Please," Cole begs. "Please don't leave me."

  His voice in that moment is the most brutal sound I've ever heard.

  And it's the last.

  My ears film over, and I'm left with the haunting echo of Cole's hopeless plea, until everything fades away. All my senses vanish. I no longer feel his arms around me, no longer hear his heart thumping in my chest. He's gone. I'm gone.

  Is this death?

  This endless night?

  Will I just drift in this oblivion forever?

  My awareness shifts.

  Bright lights spark in the distance, like stars twinkling in the faraway sky. And then they widen, they grow. My body is weightless and I'm floating, flying higher and higher.

  Suddenly the room pops back into view.

  But I'm no longer Omorose.

  She is below me, deathly pale in Cole's arms as he sways back and forth on his knees, clasping her tight, burying his face in her neck. The faerie stands over them both, expression hard, yet her eyes glisten with sympathy.

  Am I a ghost?

  A lingering spirit?

  Before the answer comes, something grabs hold of me, a force that wants to yank me away. I'm defenseless against the pull. I soar backward, until I'm outside of the tent looking down at an open field lit only by the glow of the moon. I lift higher, until I can see every animal and every tree and every snow patch in the valley.

  A glimmer of golden light catches my attention in the distance.

  But the mysterious force tugs strongly, and I'm whisked away on the wind, blown by a strong breeze, moving faster and faster with each passing second, until tall peaks and low dales blur into a carpet of black and white shadows. The ground speeds by, giving way to boundless plains, expansive forests, and rivers that flicker in and out of view. I shoot across an endless sea that sparkles with starlight, and only when I see a dark patch of land in the distance do I begin to slow.

  I have no idea where I am.

  Why I'm here.

  A city larger than anything I ever knew existed slips into view, alive with energy as lights pierce the night, bright against the darkness. Electricity. An impossible amount. Buildings stretch out before me, and I sink, dropping closer to the winding streets, arriving at my unknown destination—a large brick structure looking more like a castle than a home.

  I slip inside, drifting right through the closed wooden door, down an entrance hallway, acro
ss a giant ballroom lined with beds. Children sleep beneath the covers, eyes closed, faces peaceful if dirty and unclean. I fly over them through another door.

  Then I pause.

  The force pulling on me stops.

  At the end of the room, a girl sits close to a crackling fire, face buried in the pages of a book. Rags hang off her thin frame and hole-ridden socks cover her feet, offering a glimpse of soot-stained toes. Beneath the grime, her skin is a rich bronze. Her messy hair shines with the glow of the fire, a deep chestnut brown.

  There's something so familiar.

  I drift closer.

  As though sensing me, she looks up.

  And everything becomes clear.

  No!

  I want to shout.

  No!

  Because beneath the cinders spotting her cheeks, her face is my face. And those green eyes curiously glancing around the room are golden at the core, just like the sun on a spring day, just like my mother's eyes used to be.

  I know why I'm here.

  The curse.

  Even in death I can't escape it.

  My spirit lingers with the magic, and the curse brought us here, to the heir I didn’t realize was somehow still alive.

  My sister.

  My innocent little sister.

  Her blood is my blood—the last of my lineage.

  I try to push against the curse, to turn around and run away, but the hold is unbreakable, and I drift closer to her, agonizingly slow.

  She looks exactly how I imagined.

  Just like Papa. Except for her eyes.

  I drink her in, amazed by how mature she seems, how much older than the little two-year-old I left behind. What has her life been like these past ten years? How did she find her way here, to a land across the sea, so far out of reach?

  I'm right in front of her.

  And then the magic brushes against her skin.

  Those green eyes widen. The book falls from her hands.

  Her brows come together.

  "Ro Ro?" she whispers.

  My old nickname.

  Before she has time to say anything, the magic latches on to her heart, tearing into her skin. She cries out, falling to the cold ground. I try to stop it, to twist and yank, to keep my hold on the magic, but it slips through my invisible fingers like water, unstoppable.