“What made you want to make such a promise to her?”
He walks over to Althea’s grave and puts his hand over his heart. “I loved her, Miss Marigold. I loved your grandmother.”
“But the curse—”
“Before the curse. And then during the curse, but in another way. A part of me knew that I loved her, but something inexplicable, something undefinable, was missing. I always felt like I was waiting for it to fall into place, and I never understood why it didn’t. Until she died.” Tears well in his eyes and stream down his wrinkled face. Marigold comes to his side and places a hand on his shoulder.
“When I found you on the floor of her room when she died, I remembered. That was the moment I remembered everything. Marigold—” he says, but the words fall beneath his sobs.
“What did you remember, Mr. Benny? Please tell me.”
He can hardly find his voice. He sits down in the grass, curling his old knees into himself until he can breathe again. She sits with him, holding him for what feels like years.
“Althea and I were soulmates,” he finally says to the wakingstars. “There was a time when we had a life together. But when she was cursed, so was I. I lost all memory of what we were. We lost the life we were supposed to have. And when she died, I felt it. The crash of my memories and my love that had been waiting there, waiting for her, for fifty years. I finally understood why I could never love anyone else.”
He wipes his face and wraps his arm around Marigold’s shoulder, pulling her closer.
“Her ring that you now wear around your neck was her engagement ring. I made it for her.”
Her hand moves to the ring as tears sting her eyes. “Oh, Mr. Benny, I am so, so sorry. Why didn’t you tell me then?”
“Because it would have been too cruel to you. I couldn’t look into your eyes and tell you that you could have a soulmate out there who could never love you back. And selfishly, I couldn’t bring myself to say it, to tell you the reason why Althea and I were both so lonely. People think of loneliness as a feeling, but it’s a presence. It’s a living thing that takes the shape of the company you wish you had. For me, loneliness grew into the shape of her, but I didn’t recognize it until it was too late. That is the true cruelty of your curse, Marigold. No one can fall in love with you, not even your own soulmate, who remains incapable of loving someone else. So, two people end up alone, and only one of them truly understands why.”
This changes everything. She always thought that Honey Witches were destined to be alone, that she did not even have a soulmate. But now she knows it’s not true, and maybe if she can find a way to break this damned curse, she can fix everything.
Marigold leans into his hold so that her head is on his chest. “What was it like before the curse, back when you were both in love?”
His low voice vibrates against her cheek. “She was magnificent and terrifying in the best way. She was stronger than me, smarter than me, and better than me in every way, but she would pretend that she wasn’t just to protect my pride. She was themoon and I was the sea, and we were always reaching for each other. I don’t think that pull ever truly went away.”
“I don’t think so, either. I saw it between you two from the moment I arrived. She never stopped loving you, Mr. Benny. It was always in her heart, and in her eyes.”
A sharp breath escapes him and morphs into a desperate laugh. “Can I tell you the moment when I knew she was the one?”
“Share all the moments with me. I want to know everything.”
He smiles as his gaze drifts into the distance. “It was the first snow of winter. There was a snowflake that had stuck to her cheek. I went to move it, but she pushed my hand away. ‘Leave it,’ she said. ‘Use it as a guide if you ever find the courage to kiss my cheek.’ I had no idea what to do, so I laughed. I thought I ruined my chances right there, but then she smiled.”
“Then what?”
“Well, I’ll tell you this—that day, I learned that both snowflakes and witches can melt beneath a kiss. And I knew that she was my soulmate. Always, but not forever. I know now that those are two different things.”
“Neither of you deserved such pain, but you still cared for her. You buried her. And now you care for me. You are the closest thing to a grandfather that I have ever known. As far as I am concerned, that is what you are to me.”
“Oh, sweet Marigold,” he says. “You do not know what it means to me to hear that.” He stands to face her and wipes the tears from her cheeks. “To have you as my family. To protect you as my granddaughter. Nothing could ever mean more to me.”
“Then, as my grandfather, can you help me? I have to make this right. I must avenge the love we both lost.”
He nods. “Althea would be so proud of you right now, Mari. So very proud.”
With Mr. Benny helping her, Marigold pulls a few other interesting ancient texts from the shelves that line the library he built. They each take a comfortable chair inside, a steaming mug of strong coffee in hand, and they read.
For hours, and hours, and hours.
Days upon days of doing nothing but reading and never letting a book leave their hands. They search for something, anything that would allow her to defeat the Ash Witch once and for all, save the isle, and break this curse.
“I found something,” he says, breaking a silence that has stretched on for days. He raises a small book toward her. “Take a look.”
Marigold takes it from his hands and sits on the floor beside him. It’s a tattered children’s book with strange drawings and singsongy poems.
