“I’ve seen the carvings you make,” Adela said. “Lidia might even have one.”
“Really?” Rafael leaned closer, an interested gleam lighting his eyes.
“But I could be wrong.”
Rafael laughed. “You tease me! And what else can you do?”
“I have the amazing talent of being able to wiggle my ears,” Adela said seriously, and Rafael laughed again, spinning her as the dance ended.
“Lidia says that your singing puts the birds to shame,” he said.
“If she means that I can twitter quite excellently, then yes.”
Rafael’s laughter seemed ever present. “You continue to amaze me. Would you consider singing tonight? I would love to hear you.”
“I see you and Lidia have been scheming.” Adela pursed her lips and tossed a quick glare at Lidia. I would sing, but not in front of a crowd this big!
“Alas, I cannot deny that.” Rafael sighed heavily, and lifted one hand as if to defend himself from her accusation.
He escorted her through the crowd of dancers and back to Lidia.
“Your friend is quite charming. A welcome relief from your constant nagging,” Rafael told Lidia.
“What? You cannot stomach hearing your own voice repeated back to you?” Lidia widened her eyes in mock surprise.
“I was not aware that my voice sounded like nails on rock.”
“That’s because no one has had the heart to tell you. No doubt they are too busy swooning and stroking your ego.”
“I have an ego?”
“With a hat like that, who wouldn’t?” Lidia flicked the oversized owl feather.
Someone laughed behind Rafael. “I think she’s won this time, Raf.”
“You will not defend me against this vicious excuse for a faery, Damian?” Rafael asked the newcomer, throwing his hand toward Lidia.
“I might be your friend, but I won’t tangle with Lidia on your behalf,” Damian replied.
Rafael clutched his heart as if wounded, and Damian turned to Lidia.
“Hello, Lidia.” He gave a slight bow.
“Damian,” she returned with a smile. “Do you know Adela?”
Damian shook his head, and they were introduced.
But Adela did not need an introduction. Everyone knew of Damian—even faeries like her who mostly kept to themselves. He stood taller than most faeries and his brown hair, serious hazel eyes, and firm jaw had every young female faery in a faint of admiration. He wore quieter colors than Rafael and carried a sword, for he cared for the animals in a part of the forest that bordered its darkest tangles.
Adela’s heart skipped a beat, and she took a sip of her drink to hide her flush. Damian carried himself with a confident air. She wished she could do the same.
Rafael asked Adela to dance again, declaring that perhaps his ego did need some smoothing. Lidia stayed to talk with Damian. When they returned, Damian had left to dance with another faery. Adela, Rafael, and Lidia spent the rest of the night in that manner. Rafael danced with both of them, but especially with Lidia.
Adela danced a few more times with other faeries her age, much to Estera’s satisfaction. Damian returned occasionally throughout the evening to ask Lidia for a dance, but never when Adela was there to her secret disappointment.
As the night grew late, the dancing ceased, and the singing began.
Lidia drew Adela beside one of the pillars where they would not interrupt the first ballad.
“Ady, you must sing tonight!” Lidia prodded her shoulder.
Adela brushed her hand away and tried to edge past into the hall. “Why?”
“Because you’re wonderful at it.” Lidia attempted to pull her back to the pillar, but Adela stood firm.
Rafael joined in. “Won’t you consider singing for those of us who haven’t heard you?”
Adela slid a glance past him to where Damian stood close by, watching with a slight smile. A blush threatened her cheeks. He half-turned as if poised to join the conversation, but stepped back.
“Adela, I shall ask Estera’s opinion on this!” Lidia threatened.
“You will not!” Adela flicked Lidia’s nose, and Lidia wrinkled it back at her.
Adela rocked back on her heels, beginning to consider their pleas despite herself. Eventually she bent to their combined will. Her heart thrummed against her chest as she took the place on the second step leading up to the dais. She felt intensely self-conscious standing in front of the whole hall, not to mention the king and queen, but her friends’ smiles and animated waves of encouragement prompted her to begin.
She sang an old song about the moon, closing her eyes and pouring her soul into the wistful rhymes of a heartbroken faery dancing in the moonlight. When Adela finished the whole hall remained silent for several moments before bursting into applause, led enthusiastically by Rafael and Lidia.
She curtseyed gracefully and retreated as quickly as she could, cheeks pink at their adulation. It appeared she would be the last to sing so the musicians struck up another song and the faeries returned to the dance floor. Lidia begged her to stay, but Adela was tired. She excused herself and went up to her room, opening the window and letting the moonbeams pour through. She lay in her bed watching the stars wink down before falling asleep in a haze of contentment.
Chapter 2
The majority of the castle slept late the next day. Adela was no exception. Estera bustled in to wake her mid-morning, throwing aside the curtain over the rounded window, allowing light to beam through. Adela groaned and drew her blanket over her head. Estera prodded Adela until she rose and began to wash up, chatting all the while.
“I saw you talking with that Damian.” Estera raised an eyebrow.
“We just met each other. We didn’t even dance.” Adela dried her face and picked up a comb. “And I doubt he even remembers my name, so don’t go drawing any conclusions.”
“Well, what about Rafael?” Estera drew up a stool beside her dressing table.
“Oh, he and Lidia are made for each other. Just don’t tell them or anyone else I said that!”
“But you danced with several other young men, so overall, I think it was a successful night.” Estera folded her hands with a satisfied smile.
“Estera, stop trying to pair me off. I have plenty of time for that later.” Adela rolled her eyes as she crossed to the wardrobe standing opposite the bed and took out a fresh dress.
“Adela, you’ve already reached your seventieth year!”
“And that’s quite young last time I checked. I still have five hundred and thirty years to find a dashing faery to sweep me off my feet.” Adela poked Estera’s shoulder before disappearing behind the dressing screen that sheltered the corner beside the wardrobe.
“I just want to see you happy!”
“I am happy just the way things are,” Adela reassured her.
Estera looked like she was on the verge of tears, so Adela dressed hurriedly.
“I have to go. I barely spent time in the forest yesterday.” She fled before Estera could well and truly break down sobbing. Previous experience had taught her that it would take some time before her guardian declared herself properly consoled.
In contrast to the impending hysterics in Adela’s room, the woods were quiet and peaceful. Maksym joined her and they wandered the familiar paths tending to the health of the forest. The next days and weeks followed the same pattern. She loved the woods and was more than content to continue simply as she was.
****
The summer morning was cool under the heavy branches of the trees. Adela hummed snatches of any song that came to her head. She broke off her song at a muffled noise. She looked down to Maksym, but the rabbit had wandered away, bits of grass trailing from its mouth. She thought she had imagined the noise until it came again.
Someone’s crying!
She followed the sound until she came to a small clearing. A young girl sat upon a fallen log, face buried in her hands as she sobbed uncontrollably. She w
ore a plain brown dress, the skirt patched in multiple places.
“What’s wrong?” Adela asked.
The girl looked up in surprise, revealing dirt stained features. “Oh! You startled me,” she said, then paused before asking with shining eyes, “Are you a faery?”
“Yes, I am,” Adela replied with a comforting smile. “Are you all right?”
She sat by the girl, resisting the urge to try and straighten her tangled dark locks.
“I wish I was.” The girl began crying again. “I ran away this morning from an awful place.”
“Where?”
“Castle Mardus.”
Adela straightened in interest. For years there had been bleak rumors of that place brought in by animals or overheard in the towns that bordered the forest.
“The count there is so cruel to everyone, especially the servants like me, so I ran away. They chased me, but I hid in here.” She looked to Adela with tear-filled eyes. “Can you help me?”
“Of course I can.” Adela’s heart broke at the tragedy. “What do you need?” She took the girl’s hand, determined to show her that there was some kindness in the world.
The girl wiped her tears away with a pleased sigh. She stood and tossed her head back with a laugh, an inexplicably chilling sound.
Adela stared in confusion, her skin beginning to crawl in warning. The forest fell silent. Even the trees ceased their whispering. She stood and began to edge away.
The girl gleefully chanted a few words infused with magic. Adela’s own magical power began to drain away, sending her knees buckling underneath her as her strength faded.
“Oh, that was almost too easy.” The girl’s voice took on the deeper timbre of a grown woman.
“What?” Dread washed over Adela as the world tilted beneath her.
The girl began to shift before her eyes, morphing into a woman clad in a gown of dark satin that trailed the ground. Her black hair fluttered loose and free, threaded through with streaks of scarlet.
“If I had known faeries were this easy to convince, I would have done this a long time ago.” She wiped the last traces of dirt from her high cheekbones.
“Who are you?” Adela tried to stand, but her shaking limbs refused.
“I’m a witch, darling, and I just caught myself a faery.” She touched Adela on the forehead, and everything went dark.
****
Count Marek paced his room impatiently. His boots scuffed across the polished wood floor. The painted images of his ancestors stared down from the walls as if irritated with his ceaseless muttering. He had been perfecting his plan for a long time. Hopefully Malvina had not botched her role. Everything counted on her success.
His sister appeared in a swirl of black smoke, carrying the limp form of a young woman.
“Is she dead?” Marek asked, moving around the oaken desk to better study the captive.
The witch picked up the faery and placed her in a chair. “Have some faith, brother. She’s merely asleep.”
“And you’re sure she’s a faery?”
“Even if she did not reek of goodness, I heard it from her own mouth.”
“You’d better be right, Malvina, or else—”
“Or else what, Marek? Without my help, you wouldn’t be here. I don’t see why we need a faery anyway. I could do it just as easily myself.” Malvina pouted.
“You’re too unpredictable. I need someone who won’t kill anyone who might happen to annoy her,” Marek said. “I would rather avoid all-out war.”
“I haven’t killed you yet.” Malvina jabbed a perfectly manicured finger at him.
“I’m the only reason you’re still alive.” Marek scowled, prepared to remind her just how many times he’d sheltered her from her enemies.
“I could say the same for you!” Malvina snarled.
The faery began to stir, bringing their argument to a halt.
*
Adela awoke in confusion. Her head throbbed and a bitter taste lurked under her tongue. She distantly heard voices arguing and forced her eyes to open completely. A tall, broad shouldered figure came into her field of vision.
“Welcome to Castle Mardus,” he said.
“Who are you? What have you done?” Adela asked, fresh terror making her hands tremble.
“I am Count Marek. I rule this castle and lands,” he said. “You’ve already met my sister Malvina.” He gestured to the woman beside him.
“You’re a witch.” Dread clutched Adela’s heart as her disjointed thoughts began to settle into place. “You tricked me!”
“And it was so easy.” Malvina sighed. “I thought faeries were supposed to be smart.”
Adela tried to rise, but her limbs were too weak. She reached for her magic, panicking as she only sensed faint threads wrapping her heart. Malvina waved her hand, pinning Adela against the chair with an invisible force.
“While you’re comfortable, I have a proposition for you,” Marek began.
“I won’t listen,” Adela shot back.
“I’m afraid you have no choice.” Malvina twisted her black hair into a slender braid.
“I am looking to expand my lands. I have a certain neighbor to the south who has some very profitable territory,” Marek continued, gesturing to a map that adorned the wall above the desk.
“I don’t see what you want me to do.” Adela searched for any way to escape, but Malvina stood between her and the door, and the window was too far from reach.
“Patience,” Marek chided. “This neighbor also happens to be very self-righteous and irritating to me. You’re going to get rid of him, and then I will take over his lands.”
“What?” Adela said, hoping she had misunderstood.
“You’re going to kill him, darling,” Malvina snapped.
“I’m not going to kill anyone. Do it yourself!” Adela’s voice rose in panic.
Marek rolled his eyes. “It is impossible for me to do it myself. Years ago, some idiot faery placed me under a curse because his sister was falling in love with me. He couldn’t let us be. The pure blood of the faeries couldn’t be tainted by that of a mortal, so he said. His spell will kill me if I leave my lands. But it has grown more and more confining here. I must expand my domain somehow.” Marek spread his arms with a smirk. “So I decided to have a faery perform the task that will grant me greater freedom and get my revenge on your kind. You will kill the count.”
“Surely this count will have an army to fight on after his death,” Adela protested.
“But cut off the head of the snake and you weaken the body,” Marek said.
“I won’t do it.” Adela jerked against her invisible bonds. “You have to let me go!”
Malvina smiled in cruel amusement. “You have no choice.”
She drew a knife and cut a lock of Adela’s hair. Adela watched in horrified fascination as the witch pricked Marek’s finger, catching the blood in a bowl with the hair. Malvina then cut her own finger and added her blood to the mixture. The room grew colder as she began to chant strange words. Adela didn’t understand, but she could hear the darkness within them.
Adela fought against the spell holding her prisoner in the chair to no avail. The witch finished the spell and began a new one. The hair wove itself into two slender, braided bracelets. Tendrils of smoke that reeked of decay twisted around each bracelet, hardening them into dark bands. Malvina placed one bracelet around Marek’s wrist as she chanted. She took the other and approached Adela.
Adela struggled harder, trying to get away. Malvina placed her hand on Adela’s arm. The witch’s dark magic burned Adela’s skin, and she screamed. The bracelet latched around her wrist as the witch chanted, settling against her skin with disgusting smoothness.
Malvina released her. “It is finished.”
“Good. You belong to me now.” Marek leaned over Adela with a satisfied smile.
Tears ran down Adela’s face.
Marek continued, “You are bound to me, and will obey my every command. If you
disobey me, I will kill you. I know death is every faery’s fear. Or better yet, I will rip the secret way to your home from you, and I will destroy every faery I can find. And if I should discover anyone attempting to help you, their lives will be forfeit.”
Adela was released from the spell that held her to the chair.
“You will go to Count Stefan’s lands tomorrow. Meet him, get close to him—make him fall in love with you, I don’t care—and then kill him.”
“No,” Adela whispered.
“Do it!” He spoke the command but it also pounded at her mind.
The bracelet tightened around her wrist as the terrible spell washed over her, forcing her limbs to action. She knew she had to obey, but…
“No!” she shouted with both her voice and her mind.
Marek reeled back clutching his head. Adela’s magic flooded back through her. She opened her wings and escaped in a burst of light.
*
“Will she obey?” Marek asked.
“She has to,” Malvina answered with a pleased smirk. “I wove the spell such that she will be compelled to obedience. If she attempts to resist, the bracelet will summon me, and I will kill her myself.”
Chapter 3
Adela fled as fast as her wings could carry her. Tears marred her vision, and her hair tangled about her face in the wind. She could hardly see where she was going. A sudden gust of wind caught her off balance and tossed her from the sky. She tumbled to the ground, landing in a silent forest meadow.
She sat up shakily, unable to stop the helpless sobs that burst from her as the terrible weight of what had happened finally sank in. Adela could sense the bond linking her to Marek, like a patch of decay that leeched onto its host. She tried to tear the bracelet away, but it refused to budge.
In her misery, she barely felt Maksym nuzzling her hand.
She couldn’t kill Count Stefan. But Marek’s order would force her hand. The magic in the bond was stronger than hers. They had let her escape, but she would have to obey them anyway.
Adela's Curse Page 2
