“I still don’t really believe it,” he says. “I wake up in the night sometimes still thinking I’m a man, that I never made that deal.” Rupert rocks back on his heels as he sets some logs on top of the budding flame. “But I did. I made a trade that seemed like the right choice at the time.” He shakes his head, exhaling a disbelieving breath. “I thought he wouldn’tdo it. I thought hecouldn’tdo it. Who believes in magic in the twenty-first century?”
Magic?My head is spinning with the direction this is taking, but I listen patiently anyway. Nothing is really outside the realm of possibility any longer, not since I saw Rupert in the flesh for the first time.
“I should back up.” He remains on the floor, studying the growing flames as he speaks. “When my father died, he left me an inheritance. I had already quit cooking school and gone home to be with him when he fell ill. With cash in hand, I stumbled across a very good investment.” He waves a hand in the air. “I won’t bore you with the details, but I did well enough that I could use it to move forward. Upward.”
Learning he was a successful businessman lines up with where he is now.
“But I wanted more. I wanted to reach the world market and see how I could grow my empire.” His voice gets quieter. “So I sold a controlling share in the business and went to New York City to invest instead.”
He finally rises, making his way over to his chair. He still isn’t looking at me as he speaks.
“I wanted it all, Peony.” It comes out rasping and raw. “I wantedeverything. I wanted to live in one of the towers on Fifth Avenue. I wanted to go to the private parties that all the billionaires have and nobody knows about.”
I’m surprised to hear him say this about himself. Rupert does not seem like the sort of person who would care about attending a private party.
He glances up at me, and registering my expression of surprise, he chuckles to himself. Clambering back up to his feet, he returns to his chair, settling in it with a resigned sag.
“I know. Stupid. I was so stupid back then, wanting a yacht, a helicopter, a plane. I spent all my money on thesethings, to show off how wealthy I was. I was looking at private islands while my stock plummeted.” He shakes his head and gives me a rueful smile. “I squandered it. My investments did poorly, and it turned out mybusiness acumenback home had been a fluke.”
He drops his head into his hands, and I reach out to rub his shoulder. He flinches at first, but after some hesitation, leans into me.
“I was losing everything. And I couldn’t imagine my life without my luxuries, without people knowing my name.” He swallows thickly. “So I asked for help.”
“What kind of help?” I ask.
“Giancarlo’s kind.” Rupert leans back in his chair, his tail winding through the hole in the back of his chair to hang down on the floor. “Giancarlo is a friend I made in New York City, someone who… knows things. And people. He is my accountant, so he saw how I was hitting rock bottom. How I needed saving.”
Rupert clenches the arm of his chair, squeezing the fabric with his claws. “He said he’d heard of a guy. A guy who could get you out of pinches like mine. A guy who could not only rescue you, but if you caught his life jacket, he could give you a boat to go with it.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Sounds like a rigged game. What does he get for it?”
“You ask the right questions,” Rupert says sadly. “I did not. I heard the answer to my prayers, and so I called the guy up. I had to go to Jersey—if you’d believe it—and meet him at a dock.”
“I probably wouldn’t go,” I admit.
Rupert snorts, then sighs. “I shouldn’t have. But I went anyway. I was addicted to the money, to the lifestyle.
“An old man was waiting for me at the end of the pier inthe rain. He asked what I wanted most in the world, and if I was willing to pay the price for it. I told him I’d do anything he wanted if it meant I could have my fortune back and more. ‘All the money I could ever want,’ I said.”
He falls quiet, clearly lost in his memory. I rub his arm, encouraging him to continue.
“The old man promised me that was within his power. I didn’t believe him, even then, thinking it was all some elaborate prank, but I was still willing to try. Then, in words I didn’t understand, he cast a spell on me.”
Rupert’s eyes are shining, his gaze fixed on the fireplace.
“I got what I wanted. All the money in the world, and no way to ever use it.” He laughs bitterly. “It wasn’t a spell—it was a curse. He punished me for my greed by turning me into this.”
He gestures down at himself, finally looking at me with misery on his face.
“The change wasn’t overnight. I had time. It happened slowly, a sort of evolution.” Rupert wrinkles his nose as if he’s living it again. “My face changed. I grew hair all over. I couldn’t fit into any of my clothes. All I could do was get out of the city in time before the transformation fully took over. I bought the old place out here with my new money and had it rebuilt into the manor.”
So that’s what happened. I’m sad, more than anything, that he had to learn a lesson in such an irreversible way.
Rupert says nothing more. I get out of my chair and walk over to his, running my hand through the fine hair of his mane. He lets me stroke him, his eyes closing.
“You’re taking this rather well, Peony,” Rupert says at last. “Though it makes me uneasy that you haven’t spoken yet.”
I smile down at him, though he can’t see it. “Well, thetruth is that I feel sorry for you, but I didn’t think you would like to hear that. You don’t seem like the sort of person who wants other people feeling sorry for him.”
