“It is,” Prince Lucien said with more certainty than the situation warranted. “Those are his clothes he’s wearing. When the guards first heard him roar, they entered the gardens just in time to spy a witch fleeing. Assumedly, she did this to him—and when I find her, she’s going to paydearlyfor doing so. Can you helphim?”
Angelique took a breath as she reached for a wisp of hermagic.
It flooded her with too much enthusiasm, and she barely had time to smother the automaticcringe.
Up until recently, Angelique had kept her magic as cut off from her as possible. She had done it because there was no denying that her core magic—the ability to control anything with a sharp edge—was dangerous. But it was the practice of keeping herself isolated from her magic that had cost Evariste. If she had reactedfaster…
Angelique shook her head as she manipulated her magic, letting it flow through her before she looked back at the prowlingbeast.
She barely held in herhiss.
A spell, signified by the blood-red chains of symbols and magic script, wrapped around the prince-turned-beast.
The letters and symbols glowed like angry, red-hot coals, and as Angelique watched, they sank deeper and deeper into the prince. A red haze surrounded him, but most of the fingers of dark magic hovered around hishead.
As she watched, the transformed prince loped at the eastern wall of soldiers, his clawed fingertipsextended.
The men held their spears out and steeled their shields inpreparation.
Prince Severin—or rather the beast that used to be Prince Severin—lunged. He raked his fingers across the surface of a shield, leaving jagged claw marks behind. The guard holding the shield stumbled backwards, but the soldiers standing behind him steadiedhim.
Several other guards crowded forward with the spears, jabbing them at theprince.
“Don’t hurt him!” Lucien shouted, ripping at his fine blond hair with his hands. He tried to approach the gardens, but three soldiers held himback.
A swipe of Prince Severin’s claws, and he chopped the end of a spear off, but another soldier thumped him in the side with a sturdy staff, making the beastly princeretreat.
Prince Severin was spelled for certain, but it seemed like something…more. There was something about the spell that reminded Angelique of the tiny Princess Rosalinda of Sole who had been cursed as ababe.
It took her a few moments to pick apart the pieces of the spell before she was certain. “Prince Severin has been cursed,” she said, “to take on the body and mind of a beast.” She frowned as she read another strand of magic. “And those belonging in his household have been cursed to wane away withhim.”
“What does that mean?” Prince Lucien impatiently shifted next toher.
“It means all of the prince’s personal servants are going to disappear, and Prince Severin will be a wild animal,” Angeliquesaid.
“Can you undo it?” Luciendemanded.
“No one can simplyundoa curse,” Angelique barely kept herself from growling. “We can modify it, perhaps change it so it can be broken, but curses aren’t easy todismantle.”
“Yes, but can you save him?” Lucienasked.
Angelique slowly shook her head as she watched the spell settle deeper and deeper into the prince. The curse was too quick and too powerful—whoever cast it had as much power as an enchanter or enchantress, and with her limited knowledge of curses, Angelique couldn’t stopit.
Lucien grabbed her by the shoulders, making her look at him. “I’ll give you anything you desire—money, lands—just,please, save him!” The crown prince knelt before her indesperation.
Angelique shook her head and glanced back at the transformed prince when he roared and ran at another group ofsoldiers.
She wanted to scream in frustration. This is what she was supposed to be trained for—to save people! Evariste had spent over a decade teaching her to help those in need, and the first person she encountered without him, she was incapable ofhelping.
Her heart heavy, she continued, “I’m sorry, but—” Her apologies died in her throat when she studied the cursed princeagain.
As she watched the blood-red script of the curse that surrounded Severin, she realized the curse wasn’t one solid spell, but rather cast in two pieces. There was a line of script cursing the prince to have the body of a beast and dooming his household, and a separate line giving him the mind of ananimal.
And as she watched, she spotted a few symbols in the latter two pieces that were weakened by the pulsating magic that powered the spell.I think I can cut off the bit that makes him mentally an animal, and if I insert my modification correctly, I think I can stop his servants’ curse, too, though I can’t reverse whatever damage has already been done. But to insert the modification, I need to give him a way to break hiscurse.
The line of the spell that cursed Severin into the form of an animal was undoubtedly the strongest. It seemed to spit sparks of magic, and it swirled around his body at a much fasterrate.
That part is tied to his appearance…and what better way to defeat a spell based on appearance than romantic love?I can use the power unleashed by love when he falls in love with a girl and she with him! A lucky thing given that not all curses are structured to be defeated by romantic love, when romantic love is the only modification I know how tocast.
