I watch helplessly as the light in him dims with each failed attempt at breaking our curse. I’m able to understand my curse better than ever before, and it makes me want to scream at myself to stop looking so hard. It’s almost laughable that in a castle filled with guards, knives, swords, and magical curses, the most dangerous thing to walk those halls was a woman with a curious mind. I continue to watch Braxton endure my onslaught of hatred with every restart of the curse. No matter what he endured from me, his love never faltered.
I can’t help but wonder if I do wish to know the full extent of what he’d done to bring me back, and I think maybe staying the dark really might be better for the both of us. I can feel a wetness dampen my cheeks. My head and my heart are torn between needing to know the truth and trusting that Braxton kept it from me for good reason.
“It’s time for your last memory.” Dianthus’s voice sounds far away. “One that’s so faint, even the times you did regain your memories from the curse, you never got to this one.”
My stomach falls, and my shoulders stiffen. Regardless of whether I want the memory or not, neither my wishing nor my voiceless pleading can stop it as it slips into the cracks of my brain and floods my mind.
The first thing I notice is how I feel. My vision is blurry. My throat is dry. And my body aches. I can’t place where I am exactly, but I can tell I’ve been moved from the room where I was giving birth. Something isn’t right. I don’t feel right. But before I can start to fixate on trying to figure out what’s wrong, I hear that sweet melodic music again. The soft whimpering of a baby. Our baby. I sigh contentedly, relieved to know I’ve done what I needed to do. I brought our baby safely into this world.
But then, I’m surrounded by a deafening roar of silence. There’s no more soft cooing. No more crying. Nothing. In the next instant, I can feel my heart begin to beat. My pulse hums in my veins, and my lungs fill with a fresh breath of air.
And that’s where my final memory ends before I’m swept off to the castle for the curse to begin.
I swallow heavily, and my eyes become foggy with tears. Swallowing down the sob that wants to wrench itself from my body, I hesitate before finally finding the courage to look at Braxton.
“What did you do?”
62
Azalea
There’ssomuchpainstriking her features. I want so badly to reach out to her. To tell her the whole truth. To hold her close to me. To mourn the loss we both had that day. To fill in the gaps I know she’s unaware of.
But I can’t. I’m still bound and gagged against this skyforsaken chair, and Dianthus is enjoying every second of the torment she’s inflicting on us too much to release me.
“Anything to say for yourself?” Dianthus sneers before flicking her wrist and lifting the magical gag she had on me.
“Wildflower, please—”
“Don’t.” Azalea covers her hand over her mouth. She pales considerably and for a moment, I wonder if she’s going to be sick. “Don’t call me that. I just… I need time.”
Azalea shakes her head before standing from the table. She’s pacing back and forth when she finally looks back at Dianthus. She hasn’t looked at me since she asked me that awful question.
What did you do?It’s a question that has agonized me for the last century, relentlessly plaguing my mind. I’ve had to live with the consequence of my actions from my choices, but at least shedidn’t have to know. At least she didn’t have to remember. That was my single consolation prize. And Dianthus ripped it right from my hands. I’m sure it makes me an awful person, but even with the pain and suffering, I wouldn’t change the decision I made. I never could.
“The curse isn’t broken, correct?” Azalea directs her question at Dianthus, who nods her head. “So, am I still stuck here or within the castle grounds or can I leave?”
My eyes dart to Dianthus, whose lips tilt in the cruelest of smirks. “You can leave. I can release your binding to the castle.”
My heart shatters. Every fear I’ve been burying deep in my gut is brought to life. Now that she remembers everything, now that she knows who I truly am, now that she can see every damaged side of me, she’s going to leave.
I can’t blame her, though. Dianthus is right. I was a monster long before I was trapped in that castle. Why would she ever choose to stay with me now that she has had that harsh reality all but thrust upon her?
Azalea is facing the windows, looking out into the black abyss swallowing the forest. Her back is to Dianthus, which means I can only see her profile. I watch as a kind of recognition flashes across her face, before she hardens it back to stone and spins around to face Dianthus.
“What will you do to him if I leave?”
Dianthus shoots me a derisive wink over her shoulder. “Oh, I’m sure I’ll find something fun for us to do.”
“Don’t kill him.” Her words come out steady and cold enough to send a chill down my spine. Dianthus cocks her head to the side, her jade eyes studying Azalea thoughtfully.
“Alright, I’ll bite. Why not?” she muses.
“Because I want him to live with the truth of what he’s done.”
“Azalea, please.” My voice is hoarse. “You don’t know the full truth.”
She looks at me, and I wish her eyes were filled with the hatred she once stared at me with across the dining room table. That was better than the utter betrayal lining her irises now.
