“To my beloved Isodine.” Reyla's soft voice broke through my thoughts, swirling through the room. “Valera's mother's name.”
“Yes.”
“Beloved.Valera told me your father gave her this. Did he love her?”
“As far as I knew, my father loved no one but my mother, but I was ten when he died.”
“Did he love Erisandra, or did he only wish he could?”
I shrugged. I couldn't tell her why I'd needed a willing bride, nor why we’d done all we could to ensure Reyla loved both of us. We weren’t allowed to speak of our love and the first part of the curse would only break when a willing high fae bride loved us equally and declared it.
“When my dear husband died, I was bereft,” Reyla read in a lilting voice. “I mourned his loss.” She paused, looking up at me. “Do you understand?”
I blinked.
“I’ll continue then.” Her voice lifted an octave. “We weren’t fated mates, but he'd filled my heart. It broke when he died.” Sheswallowed and turned around on my lap to face me. Tears shimmered in her eyes.
I knew she was thinking of the man she'd loved and lost. She’d told me they hadn’t been fated mates either.
All I could do was stroke her back and curl forward to kiss her cheek. Share the loss with her. I felt no jealousy. How could I when she was mine, and she loved me enough to break the first part of a curse?
“I feel bad for her,” she whispered. But she stiffened her spine and continued, speaking in a hushed tone. “I kept busy with my daughter and my illustrious position at the library. It was a satisfying life even if a sad one. Then Theon came by to express his condolences.” She glanced up at my face. “Note she isn’t calling himKingTheon.”
“Perhaps they were good friends. It’s not that uncommon to drop titles in a situation like that.”
“Maybe.” She continued to read. “We talked, and he was sweetly endearing. I couldn't imagine why his queen was unfaithful. How could she betray such a dear man?”
There it was. I'd heard the same rumors, though never spoken to my face. At the time, all I could do was internally grimace. I’d told myself she hadn’t been with the advisor. She was with my father all that time.
“He came by to visit with me again. And again. We would sit in the upper part of the library and talk about our shared love of books. He was well-read, as one would expect in a king, especially one as solemn as Theon.” Reyla looked up at me. “Are you still understanding my words?”
“I don't know if I'm hearing everything you're saying.”
“Good point. The curse could block some of them out. I'm going to trust that you'll hear what you need to. I'll read them all.” She frowned at the book she held between us. “We took longwalks together, and despite the difference in our ages and despite him being married to Erisandra, I fell in love with him. I didn't expect to find two men to adore in one lifetime, and I fought it. How could I not when Theon was married? We were together in every way a pair could be, even one sanctioned by the fates.” She sent me a stunned look. “They were fated mates. Fated mates!”
“Why didn’t he put my mother aside to be with Isodine?”
“Do you think he believed only your mother could break the curse? If she loved the advisor, who was actually him, he may have felt he only needed to make her love him as well. Does the couple need to be fated mates to break the curse?”
I shrugged because I didn’t know. “What else did she write?”
“Now that I love him, something has changed,” Reyla read. “Where before I wasn't aware of the curse, now it haunts me. People say such odd things, then don’t appear aware they spoke.” Her breath caught. “That’s like me. Do you think…” Her head tilting, she slowly blinked. “That could mean…” She tapped the open page of the book. “I bet Isodine was the same as me, the only one who could’ve broken the curse for your father.”
“She was not his willing bride,” I croaked out, gasping as my throat closed off, severing my wind.
Reyla stroked my neck, and my wheezing gasp escaped. “Don’t do that. Keep speaking in riddles or blinking. I can’t bear to see you in pain.”
I nodded, then added a blink.
“She wasn’t his willing bride, but she was the one the fates sent to him to end this.” Her sigh rang out. “But it didn’t happen because he was still with Erisandra. And so the curse renewed itself again with you.”
“The fates have fucked up our lives.”
“Hmm. You’re right.” She continued to read. “We were lost from then on. He couldn’t set her aside, not while his other halfloved Erisandra, his willing bride. The two argued about it all the time.” She looked up. “She’s referring to your father’s night. How sad. Part of him loved Erisandra while the other loved Isodine.” Lifting the book, she read some more. “She refused the divorce and even if she’d agreed and Theon and I could wed,herefused to make any effort to get to know me. We lost. His birthday came…and there was nothing I could do to save my beloved Theon. But you…Reyla.”
My wildfire's eyes widened as she looked up at me.
“My name is in her diary,” she said. “Valera told me her mother had some gift for foretelling, that she knew I'd come here one day and that…” She pinched her eyes closed and when she opened them, tears trickled down her cheeks. “Maybe she knew I could end this.”
