Phaedra is quiet, but she hasn’t fallen back to sleep as she lies here beside me. I was so lost in my own thoughts I didn’t take notice of hers. My fingers glide along her messy braid. “What’s on your mind, sweetheart?”
“Do you believe in the curse?”
Oh shit. What the hell do I say? I know her father does, but should I be honest about my thoughts on this?
“Do you?” I parrot, trying to redirect the focus to her.
“I don’t know. Mama died. Papa’s sister is gone and his other one I’m not allowed to meet. Grandmama never comes to visit because she won’t leave her home either. Oncle Rowan says curses are the stuff of stories. He taught me how to skip a rock on the lake yesterday. He showed me animal prints in the earth.But every time we leave the palace, I can’t stop being afraid that we are going to die.”
My throat clogs with emotion, and I roll over, tucking her into me, squeezing her against my chest as she starts to tremble. “I don’t believe in the curse. I never have. Life is life, Phaedra. It happens to all of us, both the good and the bad of it. What happened to your mama is tragic and devastating. But you can’t let the fear of the bad overpower the joy of the good. That’s all we have.” I kiss the crown of her hair. “Your papa’s heart broke when your mama died, and grief and fear took over. Sometimes those take a very long time to go away, and some of that will never be gone. But he’s trying. He’s trying so hard. He loves you and your sister and brother more than anything in this world.”
“So you don’t think…you don’t think I’m going to die?”
I roll us so she’s on top of me, her head over my chest, and I hug her. What this family has been through…what I would give to make it better. “Sweetheart, one day when you’re very old with white hair and a thousand tiny grand princesses and princes surrounding you, yes, you will die. That’s another fact of life. One we cannot change. But today is not that day.”
“Oncle Rowan told me that if I spent all my time thinking about it, that would be a very miserable and boring way to live.”
I hold in my laugh even as my smile slips free. “He’s right.”
“He doesn’t believe in it. He travels all over the world. He told me Papa used to not believe in it either.”
“What do you think?”
“I think if a curse can be made a curse can be broken. That’s what happens in my books.”
“Then we’ll break it, Phaedra. We’ll shatter it. Piece by piece, day by day, we’ll tear it apart. Something only has power over you if you allow it. Don’t allow it.”
“I won’t. I am to be queen. I will be strong and brave.”
That seems to do the trick because not even a minute latershe’s flying off me and leaping out of bed, clamoring across the room and flinging the door open only to discover both her father and Althea on the other side, Sebastian’s fist raised as if he were about to knock.
“Bellamy’s going to break the curse with me,” she announces, and Sebastian’s gaze crawls away from hers across my room until it lands on me. I can’t tell if he wants to strangle me or fuck me, but his expression tells me he’s not to be trifled with.
“Is she now?”
That’s all he says, but Phaedra doesn’t bother answering him. She’s skipping down the hall, hopefully to go get dressed for school.
“Early morning meeting?”
I pull my blanket up to cover my chest. “Your children, much like their father, know no boundaries. I know why Althea is here, but is there something you needed at this early hour, Your Majesty, or can it wait until I’m properly dressed and have had my morning coffee?”
His lips twitch for half a second before his stony mask re-forms. “I need a word with you in private,” he says glibly, ignoring my attitude. “It can’t wait.” He twists to Althea, and she studies his face for a moment before giving him a tight nod.
“I’ll wait for you down in the gym,” she tells me, and then she’s gone, and he’s shutting the door behind him.
“I didn’t invite you in.”
Furtively, he glances about my room, his attention bouncing from one thing to the next before he’s back on me. He doesn’t approach me, but I can tell he’s agitated. More than that, there are purple stains beneath his eyes again.
“You haven’t slept.”
“Why are you speaking with Phaedra about the curse?” he replies instead of addressing that. “Telling her things like you’re going to break it.”
“I told her we’d break it together. That it only has power over her if she allows it.”
He glowers.
“Don’t give me that look. She came in here asking if she was going to die. Every time she leaves the palace, she’s afraid that’s going to happen. That’s not a healthy way for them to grow up or live.”
