Withering Rose (Once Upon A Curse Book 2) (30 page)

I brush my fingers through his hair,
straightening it one more time, before I get up and leave, finding
Cole right outside the tent. Immediately, his arm wraps around my
shoulder, and I snuggle against his side.

It's hard to believe that little more than
two weeks ago, we were surrounded by nothing more than wild animals
and even wilder wilderness. But already, Cole's new kingdom is
underway. Wooden frameworks for houses have started going up, some
stone cottages are halfway built. Fires light the entire valley,
which has been cleared of snow to make way for the construction.
Children play in quiet circles while their parents work. Many of
the women have banded together to tend to fragile fledgling gardens
while the men grind away at the construction. Everyone is human,
for the time being at least.

After I awakened the faerie and my magic
vanished, the bubble of power blocking the electricity vanished
too. Cole still had his magic, and so did his people, but for some
reason it didn't obstruct the energy fields the way my stolen magic
or the faerie's stolen magic did. Their power is more natural—it's
not fighting for control at every moment, not charged by the
constant battle for release. It’s subtler, more nuanced. Just
easier, like breathing. And I think that ease is what keeps it from
interfering with the electricity.

When Asher and Jade returned to the base,
saying that the bombs almost killed hundreds of innocent people who
were now stranded in the mountains, tons of soldiers volunteered to
help, needing some way to assuage the guilt. They brought tools and
food and supplies. They brought medicine and doctors who treated my
father. And some of them are still here now, building alongside
Cole's people, helping resurrect the city they destroyed. And as
long as the shifters remain in their human forms, no one suspects
anything. We've had a few close calls in the cold hours of the
night. But hearing a wolf howl to the moon isn't so unusual in
these mountains—at least, that's what we told the visitors.

The faerie was a little harder to
explain.

Even on a starless night, her skin somehow
shimmers with sunlight.

So we've mainly kept her out of sight. Under
extreme supervision. Which is why four of Cole's uncles are
stationed at each corner of her tent, blocking any possible chance
of escape. They step aside as we enter.

"Finally, it's about time," she grumbles
immediately.

I have to admit, I'm not going to miss her.
At all. Not even in the slightest. "My father woke up," I murmur,
knowing that won't mean anything to her.

And it doesn’t. After a brief pause, she
crosses her arms, maintaining the same superior attitude. "Are you
ready to do this or not? Because like I said before, there are
plenty of other things I could be doing besides helping you."

"I'm ready," I hiss, annoyed. Two weeks with
her were two weeks too many. And I can't wait for her to be gone so
I can get some peace back in my life. Every second she's away is
another second closer I am to having my sister again. "There's just
one more thing we need to do before we let you go."

Her brows rise to sharp points.

Cole snarls under his breath behind me,
copying my feelings exactly.

"A blood oath," I say, sounding a little
more ominous than I intended.

She snorts. "A blood oath? Really? I already
promised I would find your sister and bring her back."

I cock my hip, crossing my arms. "Forgive me
if I don’t believe you."

She sighs and rolls up her sleeve, baring
one arm up to the elbow. "Let's get it over with then. I can't wait
to leave this place, to go somewhere warm, somewhere I can feel the
sun."

She does have a point.

But I sort of like the cold—it's an easy
excuse to keep Cole close, my own personal furnace. Even now, the
warmth from his body presses into my back, blocking out the cold
air leaking through the slits in the tent.

"Cole?" I murmur.

He understands, handing me his knife.

I step closer to the faerie, unable to stop
a little smile from twitching at the corners of my lips as I
realize we're both staring at each other with the same look of
mutual disgust. By now, I would have thought my frustration with
her would have ebbed. After all, I've been in this tent countless
times in the past two weeks, going over every detail of my sister's
face that I could remember, planning how to get her back. I even
let the faerie use a touch of magic to see into my mind and relive
those last few moments of my life when the curse passed over,
giving her every ounce of knowledge of my sister's whereabouts that
I possess. Yet, for some reason, she just knows how to get under my
skin and stay there.

When we're within arm's distance of each
other, I stop, not getting any closer than I need to. And the way
she's wrinkling her nose makes it clear she doesn’t want me to come
any closer anyway.

Gritting my teeth, I make a small cut across
the palm of my hand and hold out the knife. She does the same. The
moment we hold hands and the wounds touch, I sense the magic
pulsing between us. A faerie blood oath is supposed to be an
unbreakable bond, one Cole and I discovered in our research. But I
never truly believed what I read until right now, feeling the power
start to bind us.

"Do you swear to find my sister as soon as
you can and to return her to me, unharmed, as quickly as you are
able?"

The magic tightens, waiting.

I hold my breath.

The faerie looks at me, raising one brow as
though bored. "I swear to find your sister as soon as I can and to
return her here to you unharmed as quickly as I'm able."

I don't let go. The tingle of magic washes
over me, buzzing, standing each of my hairs on end. The faerie
shakes out of my hold, wriggling free of my grasp with a frown on
her lips.

Our hands fall apart.

But the touch of magic lingers.

An invisible tether crosses the space
between us, tying us together.

The oath.

Instantly, the weight on my chest lightens.
It worked.

"Anything else?" she remarks, voice dripping
with sarcasm.

I lick my lips, pausing. Then I sigh. "Be
kind to her, please. She's just a little girl who's all alone.
And," I pause, and reach into the bag I dropped by the entrance of
the tent, pulling out the old tattered bear that's comforted me so
much in the past ten years. It's time to return Mr. Winky to my
sister. He always belonged to her, and now she's the one who will
need to be brave, who will need the comfort and strength a little
piece of home might provide. "And give her this."

The faerie holds my gaze for a moment and I
can't help but notice there is something sweet in her expression,
something tender that I've never seen directed toward me before.
But her eyes flick away, landing on Mr. Winky, and whatever I
thought I saw vanishes. She uses her thumb and pointer finger to
grab the little bear by the ear, holding him as far away as
possible. And then, as always, she opens her mouth and completely
ruins whatever little moment I thought we'd been sharing. "What in
the world is this?"

I wince as he dangles precariously between
us. He's already missing an eye, and I can just see the seam of his
ear begin to rip. "My sister will understand," I say roughly,
grabbing Mr. Winky and stuffing him into the faerie's bag before
she has the chance to say no. "When you find her, just give him to
her and tell her he's from me. Tell my sister that I love her and
that I'm waiting and that I wish I could have gone with you. Tell
her not to be afraid of the magic, tell her I know how to keep her
safe. Please, just..."

I lose my words.

They're choked off by a lump in my
throat.

A flicker of compassion passes over the
faerie's face, a glimpse of the heart I know must exist somewhere
inside of her. But then she flinches, as though annoyed with
herself for softening even a little, even for a second.

"I'll be her fairy freaking godmother,
okay?" the faerie snaps. And then she sighs, waving a hand over the
front of her face and mumbling too quietly for me to hear.

Immediately, her body begins to fade,
vanishing in midair.

The room is empty.

The faerie is gone, as though she never
existed in the first place.

"Did you know she could do that?" Cole asks,
utterly confused.

I shake my head, glancing around the room,
trying to find a trace of her. "No," I mutter, brows coming
together tight. "If she could have left us the entire time, why did
she stay? Why did she swear the oath? Why is she helping us?"

"I don't know." He sighs, reaching out to
grasp my shoulders, turning me around so I'm looking into his eyes
and not at the vacant room. "But she did," he urges. "She swore the
oath. Everything will be all right."

I nod absently. "I just wish I could have
gone with her. I hate that someone else is saving my sister. I hate
that I'm not helping."

"Your father needs you here," he murmurs
gently, cupping my cheeks, trying to soothe me with the timbre of
his voice. And it works. A little. "Besides," he continues, "You
saw what the faerie just did, you saw her magic. She's faster
alone, without either of us helping. Your sister will be here
before you know it, and by the time she arrives, we'll have figured
out how to save her. We'll know how to break her curse."

I try to smile, but it doesn’t work.

Because I want to believe him but I'm not
sure I do.

"You never told me her name," he comments,
trying to change the subject, to get me to think about something
else.

"Eleanor," I tell him, voice heavy with all
the worries I'm too afraid to say. "But we always called her
Ella."

"Ella," he repeats, voice light, cheerful.
Cole lifts my chin, trying to tug a grin out of me.

It doesn't work.

A moment later, I find myself swept up in
his arms, unable to stop from laughing just a little.

"Cole! Put me down!"

"No," he replies easily, leaning down to
press his lips against my neck, eliciting a soft sigh.

But then I remember who's right outside
those doors.

And I have a feeling, even as humans, his
uncles have the ears of wolves.

"Cole," I warn. "Put me down."

He purrs against my skin, making me
shiver.

"Cole," I protest.

Weakly.

So weakly.

He continues dancing light kisses across my
shoulder, up my neck, just below my ear.

"Cole…"

The word comes out as a sigh.

But then a soft chuckle makes its way
through the slit in the tent, before fading into a cough.

"Cole!" I shout, fully alert, flinging
myself from his arms. Before he can say or do anything, I jump out
of the tent, cheeks burning with a blush. I keep my eyes on the
ground below my feet, not making eye contact with anyone.

Behind me, a gruff growl breaks the silence
of the day as the tent flap is thrown violently open. The slap of
tarp is followed by some under-the-breath comments I don't quite
catch.

"Tamed…"

"She-wolf…"

"Happens to the best of us…"

Cole roars.

His uncles howl.

And before I realize what's happening, I've
been tossed over a very broad shoulder, suddenly airborne
again.

"Cole."

"Omorose."

"Cole," I repeat, voice harder.

He shifts, sliding me around so I'm nestled
in his arms with my head pressed against his chest. And then he
gruffly mutters, "I think I liked it better when we were
alone."

But he's grinning.

And his smoky, gray eyes are streaked with
those midnight-blue highlights I love so much. The sight of them
steals the protest from my lips. So I wrap my arms around his neck,
trying to ignore the gentle catcalling drawing everyone's attention
to us. But my cheeks still feel on fire.

"Where are we going?"

He glances down at me with a look that sends
heat all the way to the tips of my toes. "Somewhere with a little
bit of privacy."

A delicious sort of anticipation builds,
making my nerves go haywire, driving me wild. I have to look away
because otherwise I'm afraid my inner she-wolf will emerge, making
me want to maul him in front of everyone anyway. And I know in that
moment, his uncles are wrong. I definitely didn't tame my beast.
There's nothing tame or broken about us.

We set each other free.

I press my head against his chest, listening
to his heart beat just a little bit faster with each passing
moment, and I let him carry me away. Because I know I'll go
wherever he wants to take me.

In these arms, I found a place where I
belong.

In these arms, I know everything will be all
right.

In these arms, I fell in love.

And I'm never letting go.

###

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