by Lucy Tempest
That admission was the last thing I’d expected.
It wasn’t like I didn’t know people had first loves. Those were usually first for a good reason, but not only for a bad one. I just hadn’t expected one to be behind her reticence.
“But this story began long before I met him, after my mother succumbed to a fever.” She threw her hands up and her wings followed. “I was seven! I could barely braid my own hair or read, but overnight, I was shoved into her role. It became my job to mind the younger Glenn, and keep the older Dale out of trouble, while doing everything around the house—and trying to attend school, what I soon had to leave. My father worked me to the bone, but didn’t even give me an allowance. I had to eventually go begging people for their dirtiest laundry and dustiest cellars for whatever price, to have any money of my own.”
I gaped at her in suffocating dismay. A fraction of this was enough to make me eternally grateful I didn’t have brothers, and to kick myself for every time I got impatient or petulant over my father’s coddling.
“Then, I met him. Sir Yewan Rowntree.” She sighed, a heavy, miserable sound. “He was a competitive jouster, a prime candidate for His Majesty’s cavalry, so another knight honored him with the title. He was charged with training all young men in Rosemead in riding horses and wielding swords, in case they were called to war. Then one day, he was knocked off his horse and Dale told him I could fix his shirt. He gave me a job at his family mansion that day.
“It was a relief from the chores I used to scrounge, freeing me from my family and forcing them to look after themselves. I sent them money still, but I kept most of my generous wages. And at the end of every day, Yewan would return from training boneheaded boys like Castor and my brothers and talk to me in the kitchen while I served him leftovers.”
I bit my lip, my heart fluttering at the melancholy in her voice. “You fell in love?”
Her nod made a tear escape down her cheek. “When his family found out, it was a disaster. He was to make a name for himself in the army and marry a noblewoman at court, to lift the whole family up. Wanting to waste their future on a maid made his father and brother beating him senseless. They threw me out in a scandal, but my father was only angry that I ruined such a high-paying job, saying we’d starve with him retired and my brothers too busy training to work. But when I said I had money saved, he realized I’ve been giving him only a portion of my wages and he—he…”
I couldn’t ask what her father had done to her. But I knew that haunted look. It was what I’d seen in Ornella Dufreyne’s eyes ever since her stepmother and her daughters had moved into her home.
“I told him he could have the money, and the venomous women who never worked a day in their lives could trash my honor, I no longer cared. It was then that Castor asked for my hand, and it should have been a perfect escape from my situation. But I couldn’t escape one prison and enter another. So I came up here and asked for a job, where no one wanted one no matter the pay. Everyone believed our duke had a contagious illness at the time, but I said I’d do anything, even clean his rashes. Ivy asked if I had family in town, and I said I had no one. She hired me on the spot, certain I wouldn’t talk about what I saw.”
“What did you see then?”
“The Master, just smaller, with less hair and only fangs. Then Lord Gestum came to visit. Not three days later the curse took hold of the castle, catching us all in its noose. And you know something?” Looking more defiant than unhappy, she waved over her whole body. “I would rather morph into a phoenix and burst into flames than see downtown Rosemead again.”
I nodded, understanding completely, but still compelled to say, “I met your brothers, and they seemed very angry and sad thinking the Beast killed you. And Dale became a knight.”
“Looks like my absence has done wonders for them,” she said bitterly. “With me gone, and our father dragged to the abyss by the Horned God, they’ve been forced to finally grow up.” She wrapped her arms around herself, glowering down at the city. “It figures it took me ‘dying’ for them to start caring about me. Why not start while I was there with them every day?”
“They probably thought you’d always be there, and when you weren’t, the shock woke them up.” I got up to hug her, setting my head on her arm. “I never thought of my father when I was dreaming of traveling, only thought I’d return to find him where I left him. But being separated from him made me realize that I miss him every minute, that I had so much to say to him and do with him, and would do anything to see him again—and that’s when I now know he’s nearby, and safe.” I turned my face up to her, trying to smile through the emotion sealing my throat. “They may not have appreciated you before, but I bet you anything they do now. And anyway, you don’t have no one. You have everyone in this castle, and now you have me, too.”
Jessamine gave me a watery smile. “I really am sorry for the circumstances that brought you here, but I am still glad that they did.”
I now understood her hesitance about Clancy. Her first brush with love had burned her, leaving her afraid of trying again. If only I could show her it wouldn’t happen again, have Clancy prove to her that their situation was different.
And it wasn’t only for their sakes. If I could see them happy together, I might understand what love beyond family was like. Only then could I free us all from this castle, and give them the possibility of a long life together.
But she would never take the first step. It had to be Clancy who did. And since he was as adamant as her that there was nothing between them, I had to find out his reason for keeping his distance.
But I doubted he would tell me, so I needed to talk to the one person who knew him best.
Leander.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Hazel burst into the room, bunny ears perking in surprise when she found Jessamine.
“Back to work already?” She pouted at her. “You could have warned me.”
Jessamine’s lips twisted as she detached from me and went to prepare today’s clothes. “Why? It’s not like you had anything better to do.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Hazel. “Unless you call mooning over Sir Philip from the first floor windows that.’”
Hazel stuck out her tongue between buckteeth as she skipped out. “Just don’t make her late to breakfast now, Birdie.”
“About that, when do you all eat?” I said. “Do you have to wait for us to be done?”
“In any other household, we would have, but the Master is easygoing, so we eat while you do, then clear everything in one go.”
Only one thing stuck out at me in that statement. “Leander is easygoing?”
Jessamine nodded as she came back with an emerald-green dress. “For someone who grew up as a crown prince, he doesn’t expect us to wait on him hand and foot, or to remain on our feet till he sleeps. Far, far lesser people expect their servants to wait on them every single second they’re awake.”
“If so, why don’t we set up the dining room for everyone today?”
Her already huge eyes grew enormous. “You mean have us eat with you?”
I nodded vigorously. “Yes, it should save us all time, and it’d be nice, all of us together.”
“That’s not appropriate, impossible! We can’t overstep our boundaries!”
“Didn’t you say he was easygoing?”
“As an employer, he is, but having the servants crash his dining room isn’t the same as washing his silk shirt in hot water.”
“Please. It’s so awkward for just the three of us to sit at such a big table alone.”
Jessamine worried her lip, clearly tempted to be wherever Clancy was. Then she said, “It’s Ivy you have to ask.”
At that, I was bursting out the door, still in my nightgown, messy hair and robe flying behind me.
It took a lot of convincing and begging and not a little whining, but Ivy ended up indulging me.
People quickly filled the dining room and more chairs were brought in to accommodate everyone. A variet
y of food crowded the table from one end to the other, taking into account carnivores, herbivores and those who couldn’t use cutlery, among heaps of mouthwatering bakeries.
Now the hustle and bustle of set up paused as everyone stared at the door, expectant and anxious.
Leander finally stuck his head into the room, thick brows rising over wide eyes in confusion. “Is it someone’s birthday?”
Oliver leaped into the air with his arm up, yelling, “ME!” only to be shushed by his mother.
A wave of relief went through the room as Leander walked in without further comment, avoiding everyone’s eyes, hunching self-consciously.
He took his seat beside me and before he could utter a word, I launched into my prepared defense. “This dining room is too big and too quiet, and it has enough room for us all.”
“I know that.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Did I say there was an problem?” His lips twisted over his fangs. “Did I say anything?”
“You gave me a ‘we have an problem’ look!”
“Maybe you thought that, because you know we do, that it’s not appropriate to fraternize with your employees. Being friendly tends to make them uncomfortable.”
“Is that a universal wisdom or just your experience?”
He shrugged his massive shoulders. “My experience.” Then noticing they all remained standing, he gestured at them hurriedly. “Sit.”
Most were as unsure how to proceed as Leander was. He made eye contact with a select few before nodding at them to start eating. Given permission, they dug in, some making the civilized effort to eat with cutlery, others not bothering, encouraging him not to try keeping up appearances today.
Clancy joined us last, going from being surprised at the company, to startled at finding Jessamine seated next to him.
“What’s the occasion?” Clancy asked us as he accepted the bread basket from her. “Not that I’m complaining. It’s truly nice to finally have other company.”
“Bored with me already?” I teased.
He shook his head chidingly. “How could I, when you keep managing to surprise us?”
I checked to see if Leander was bothered now that the room was full of loud chatter, but he seemed more intrigued than anything, turning from one side of the table to the other, chewing as he listened intently. That hearing of his!
“I’ve never seen this many of them in one room,” he mused, as if to himself. “I thought they might have staff parties or something after finishing their chores. Not that there’s much to celebrate, but I hoped they did.”
“You sound like you wanted a gathering like this yourself.”
He simply said, “Yes.”
My eyes almost bugged out. “Then why didn’t you say so before?”
His voice, usually booming, was so hushed I had to lean over to hear him. “I thought that, unless I made it an order, no one would show up.”
I blinked up at him. “How could you think that?”
“I can because I am the reason they’re all cursed and stuck here.”
I reached out to urgently touch his hairy, clawed hand. “I don’t think anyone blames you. It’s not like you did this.”
His brilliant turquoise eyes filled with guilt. “Not directly, no. But I can’t help but be glad I’m not alone in this. I keep wondering if this was the reason the curse extended to them.” When I couldn’t say anything reassuring to that, he exhaled. “I’ve been wanting to talk to them, to discuss our experiences and trials with our transformations. But I always felt they didn’t want to be around me, so I let them be.”
“Well, now you have your answer.” I waved my arm out to the table. “No one blames you, no one hates you, no one is avoiding you. The truth is, when I asked them to come, they all wanted to jump at the chance. They just didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. Sticklers for rules, even in the wholly unconventional situation we’re in.”
Something I’d never thought I’d see from him shone in his eyes. Delight. “Good thing you don’t care for rules.”
“Not if they get in the way of good things.”
Keeping his mouth from spreading to hide his fangs, he lifted his porridge bowl to me. “Words to live by.”
Deeply relieved, and thrilled, I clinked my bowl against his.
Then we both proceeded to eat, making absolute messes of ourselves.
Breakfast continued for almost two hours, with Leander and I engaging different people in conversation. This was the most social he’d been in years, he’d said. It was the most I’d ever been. Apart from Adelaide, all my prior attempts at socializing had been unsuccessful, with people considering me a strange nuisance, and avoiding or ignoring me. But no one in this room considered me odd, and if they did, it didn’t matter to them.
Maybe it was because they’d given me a chance, gotten to know me a little. Or because I hadn’t met the right people before. The right people for me.
I focused back on the two closest to me—and caught Leander watching me.
He snapped his gaze back to Clancy, diving back into their conversation, leaving me filled with—that uncertain, lightheaded sensation I’d first felt in the library.
It unsettled me, but it had to be a positive one, right? After all, I could already see he was like no one I’d ever known, and I could see us becoming the friends we’d hoped to become.
But I also already had a feeling loving him as a friend wouldn’t be enough to help save everyone in this room. I needed to love him, period.
I looked at Jessamine and Clancy, my one example of romantic love. They’d been smiling giddily at each other just a minute ago. Now they’d retreated to their proverbial corners, pretending to find others as interesting as each other.
I turned to Leander, thinking how I’d ask him about them. And I found him watching me again.
Chapter Twenty-Four
After the last platter had been wiped clean, everyone left, taking everything back to the kitchen. Jessamine said she’d help the others, while Clancy said he needed to change his shirt after staining it with egg yolk. Leander and I said we’d head to the library and Jessamine asked me to pick a picture story for her.
“Wouldn’t you like to try a different sort of book, Miss Quill?” Leander suggested, elbowing Clancy. “Perhaps Lord Gestum can get you started on some novels.”
Jessamine gave him an appreciative smile. “I’d very much like that, Master.”
“There are plenty that are timeless favorites of maidens from all backgrounds, what even one as old as you would appre…” Leander stopped, lips stretching to bare big, sharp teeth in a grimace. “Forgive me.”
Jessamine hung her head, cheeks pink with embarrassment. “You’re not wrong, though, I am old for a maiden.”
“You’ll have to excuse him,” said Clancy as he escorted her away. “Beyond spouting rehearsed pleasantries to women, anything else has him stumbling into an insult.”
Leander mumbled something incoherent as he led me away. I looked back at them before falling into step with him, trying to rethink my view of them.
After Jessamine’s doomed relationship with the knight, would things be even worse for her with a proper lord? As the Duke of Briarfell, had he not been caught in Leander’s curse, Clancy would have been married by now, likely to some other lord’s daughter. He didn’t have a betrothed out there somewhere, did he? And even if he didn’t, what would happen once the curse lifted and the real world intruded once more? Was expecting it to tear them apart why they were being so guarded about their affection for one another?
“So…” I focused on Leander once we settled down in the library after he picked me some books. “Jessamine and Clancy are…”
“…not fooling anyone,” he finished for me.
“Why do they try?”
He raised his thick brows at me. “You mean you don’t have theories?”
“I do. I need something more solid than those.”
He sighed.
“To put it simply, Clancy is a lord, Jessamine is a maid.”
“A lady’s maid,” I corrected. “And her brother is a knight! That must count for something.”
He shook his head, looking regretful. “Her brother being knighted during the war doesn’t make them noble, only means he’s an esteemed soldier. Even if he’s granted land, and makes an advantageous marriage, and his line becomes members of the gentry, only he would have the title Sir. It wouldn’t afford Jessamine a title, or a chance at a lord like Clancy. The only lord a common girl can get is an impoverished one, with a title, a castle, but no money, and that’s only if that girl is from new money, whose dowry will be given in exchange of being called ‘Lady.’”
This was not how it went in my novels. Marriages in such tales didn’t have so many impossible requirements, just minor conflicts.
“Lords must marry common girls all the time,” I argued. “Folktales are full of not just lords, but princes marrying girls they stumbled upon in woods or ruins or balls. I even read one where a prince married an inhuman being from the sea!”
“Ericura really is an Arborean colony, isn’t it?” he hummed interestedly. “You’ve even kept our stories about men marrying creatures like selkies, it seems. A bizarre concept, really.”
“Why?”
“What if the children came out a completely different creature?” He waved his hands around his face. “It’s one thing to become this, but to be born like this? They’d live as outcasts from both their parents’ people. You’d have to be pretty selfish to risk that with your children.”
I gave a surprised huff. “That’s a good point. I’ve never thought about that.”
He raised his brows in mock-shock. “You’re telling me you didn’t think of every possible theory how such marriages would work and what they would produce?”
I lightly smacked his arm. “I would have come to that conclusion if I thought about it. You just beat me to it.”
