“And a married man, I hear.” Hadrian announced, smirked at Freddy’s annoyed glare.
Clarice pulled back again. “What? Married? Since when? To whom? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Freddy gently directed her to the settee that stood to the left, just inside the door. He sat down next to her and took her hands. “Iwasgoing to tell you.” He glared again at Hadrian, who leaned against his desk with an unapologetic expression. He looked back at his mother, who was shaking her head reproachfully. “That was one of the reasons for this meeting.”
“Where is she?”
“Mrs. Pearce is letting us borrow her cottage for a few days.”
Clarice blinked twice. “You left Eliza to keep house on her own?”
Freddy’s jaw dropped in surprise. “How do you know it’s Lizzie?”
“Oh, son.” Clarice sighed. She reached a hand out as if to cup his cheek as she was wont to do, then seemed to reconsider when she touched his beard. She opted for his shoulder instead. “It’s always been Lizzie.”
“Unfortunately,” Hadrian muttered.
Maribel shushed him.
“You’ve been smitten from the time you made her smile.” His mother sighed. “She was always such a sweet girl, until that business with the betrothal. I always wondered if perhaps the pressure was too much for her. She changed so suddenly.”
Freddy took a deep breath. This was where he had his work cut out for him. “She’s cursed.”
Silence rang in the room at his announcement. Maribel was the first to speak, likely as the only one who had experienced magic first hand before. “How?”
“I don’t know exactly how it happened, only that her curse keeps her from feeling emotions. She acts cold and aloof because sheiscold. She can’t feel anything.”
Clarice’s hand flew to her mouth. “The poor thing. What happened?”
“Well, that’s the thing.” Freddy scratched his beard. He was so ready to shave it off. “She kind of…cursed herself.”
The second round of silence was even heavier than the first. Freddy swallowed against the lump in his throat. Despite all of the heart work he had done, there was still an aspect of Lizzie’s decision that caused him pain.
“Why?” Hadrian’s voice was soft, and his brow knit with concern, reminding Freddy that Hadrian and Lizzie had been friends as well. “What happened?”
He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “She found out that she was supposed to marry me.”
Hadrian tapped his chin. “I could have understood it if it happened now. I would also want to be cursed if I had to marry that beard of yours.”
“Thanks,” Freddy responded drily. But Hadrian’s teasing words helped him move past the pain and get to the point.
“I left for Nedra because Shea sent me a message saying that Alfred was offering Lizzie’s hand to whichever suitors could come with a profitable offer.”
“But she was still betrothed to you!” Clarice’s expression was outraged. “The agreement was never nullified!”
“Which is why I wasn’t invited. Shea and I had a plan—at least, the beginnings of one. I knew that Alfred wouldn’t allow me in if he knew I was there, so I pretended to be a wandering minstrel. The idea was that I would find a way into the castle that way, and then Shea would arrange for me to speak with Lizzie.
“When I got there, Alfred had paraded Lizzie in front of all the suitors. When he asked her to choose one, she refused, and in a fit of rage he promised to marry her to the next man who came through the door.”
Maribel gasped. “He wouldn’t! His own daughter?”
Freddy shook his head. “I should have seen it before. I knew Alfred could be cruel, but I didn’t realize just how deep hisabuse went. In his eyes, Lizzie’s only purpose in life was to make a profitable match for his country. When she refused, he was ready to wash his hands of her.”
His mother patted his knee. “We also knew he had a temper; we saw it surface sometimes in meetings. But he was always so sweet with his family.”
His jaw worked back and forth as Freddy recalled the way Lizzie had flinched away when she thought him angry. “I don’t think he was, Mother. And I don’t think he stopped at words.”
Clarice’s eyes were wide with horrified shock. “You mean…?”
