Page 24

CHAPTER 24

Seraphine

“Moonstone holds medicinal properties yet to be fully discovered. It is propagated in Moonstone Wood, a forest of Revelry inhabited by the private and secluded Forestfae with a populace unknown in true numbers, ruled over by Fiola, a Goddess of the Veil.”

Korven paused his reading, tapping my breast bone where he held my back to his chest. “Is this true? Are the Forestfae so private about their population?”

I nodded, stroking the back of his hand, enveloped in the warmth of his black feathers that wrapped around my bare skin. “What would you guess their numbers are?”

He set the heavy volume on the floor and tossed his reading glasses on top. I shifted my head to see his face. He pressed harder between my breasts, deterring any further movement.

“Ten thousand.”

“You’re off by a few thousand at least.”

“Less or more?”

I hummed, slipping from his hold to turn, pressing my chest against his, my finger sliding down the length of his wing. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

His eyes narrowed and his chest rumbled. “More secrets you’re keeping from me, Phinie darling?”

“As if you don’t keep secrets yourself, Ravenfae Prince of the Brackish Wood.”

He hummed in reply, cupping my ass and pressing himself to my stomach. “Suppose I haven’t explored you enough.” He sat upright, taking me with and pulling my legs around his hips. He lifted one of my breasts and peeked underneath. “If I find a number in the thousands tattooed on your skin, I’ll know what it means.”

He continued to search, caressing my skin, kissing everywhere he touched as I laughed, falling into him. “Do you not tire, my Prince?”

“I need no rest or sustenance. You are all I need.”

A well-timed grumble from his stomach had both of us snickering.

I slipped out of his grasp, maneuvering around his attempt to pull me back in. I stood out of his reach, examining the food he’d spent less than ten minutes buying at the market.

“Let’s see,” I began, pulling each item out of the sack. “We have two rolls of bread, a single beef pasty now crumbling with gravy everywhere?—”

He prowled on his knees across the bed, black wings spread wide like a predator ready to pounce. I held up a hand. “Not now. You need to eat something before you pass out.”

“Oh, I’ll eat something alright.”

I ignored him, suppressing a smile that would only encourage him further. “And last but not least, a carton of bramble berries. My favorite—but—ugh! They’re mostly crushed, Korven!”

I wiped the bright pink juice across my stomach, bits of berry flesh spread across my skin. His eyes lowered and his mouth parted.

I scoffed, determined to get my way. “Don’t look at me like that. You’re going to eat. Now.”

He stepped out of the bed, rising tall and every bit a royal Ravenfae before me. “Is that a command?”

“Yes. Promise me you’ll eat something. I haven’t seen you eat in two days.”

He lowered slowly, bending to his knees with hands at my waist before his tongue replaced them. His mouth slid across my stomach, taking care of the berry remnants I had wiped there.

“I promise I’ll eat, my darling.” He kissed my skin, pulling me closer. “Now get back in bed. You’re going to be my plate.”

* * *

I woke in a gasp, my mind scrambling to find solid ground. I had dreamed the Cursed Moon was already full. We were too late and my body faded away. Arthur hadn’t shown to kiss my lips in the tower of Havenshire Castle.

I scrambled to the window, shielding my eyes at a setting sun, still another hour or two before the moon would have a chance to rise and another few hours after that until its peak in the night sky.

Tonight was the Cursed Moon and our last day had been spent just as the previous three. Korven read aloud from the book he swiped from the library. I laid on his chest to listen, occasionally feeding him with my fingers, which tended to wander along with his and there we were, at it again.

We had fucked like each time was the last, and except for a quick trip to scrub the bramble berry juice from our bodies and exchange our sheets, we hadn’t left the room at the top of the Rose and Briar for days.

But hours before Arthur was due to arrive at the castle and break the curse, Korven was gone. I pulled myself from the sheets, darting to the small table littered with smushed bramble berries. He’d left another note, this one with drying ink.

If you wake before I return, you may punish me with any method you see fit.

Looking forward to it.

—K

My heart fell a little, fearing what reason he had to leave just hours before we would be parted.

We hadn’t spoken about it.

We hadn’t talked about what would happen next, but I knew one thing for certain; I was not going to marry Prince Urik. I would not marry Arthur either. I was not going to resume my role as the Princess of Riche.

What life I had lived in the past few days, woke me to more than the handsome Ravenfae Prince of my childhood fantasies. It had woken me to what I wanted, and it was none of those things.

There was time to decide.

Once my spirit form merged back with my body, I’d have time to escape that life and figure out how to move on and do it without Korven.

I couldn’t be in his life, and though I didn’t know the reasons, I would respect him for not promising what he couldn’t uphold.

He’d never really leave me anyway. Like the ink across my back, I’d hold these memories of us together always, thankful for every one. But I couldn’t leave him to his life without something of me to hold onto, too.

I wiped away more berry juice from my skin and wrote my own note after slipping back into my billowy dress and Korven’s cloak.

Be back soon. Punishment to be delivered.

-YS

* * *

I strolled the market square, a brand new book of maps under my arm to replace the outdated volume Korven kept for delivering curses. The old bookseller of Tomes and Trinkets had given me a good price when I’d explained the book was meant as a gift for the man who had helped end my curse.

I hurried back towards the Rose and Briar, hoping to intercept him from wherever he’d gone when a flash of black feathered wings at the top of a bell tower caught my eye.

I rushed inside the altar hall, avoiding the attention of priests lighting candles and incense in tribute to the Goddesses of the Veil.

The pews were packed with people on the night of the Cursed Moon. Those who feared receiving a curse sought solace, murmuring their prayers to the Goddesses of the Veil. Mothers did what they could to keep their new babes in their bellies to avoid the curse at birth.

I hadn’t been so lucky.

I slipped in the back door that led to the tower stairs, hoping to surprise Korven. We could watch the sun set over Havenshire and make our way to the castle and be done with this death curse on us both.

I took the steps a few at a time, my heart racing by the time I reached the top of the landing, slipping through the door and stepping around the copper bell.

“Hello, darling girl,” came a voice rich and feminine. “I was hoping we’d meet.”

I gasped as she turned my way. Almost as tall as Korven, her face was sharper with a small mouth and hooded eyes in an earthy brown. Black ink traced across her lids in a wide sharp line to the sides of her face, reminding me of a bird of prey. Her raven black hair was piled elegantly atop her head, weaving through her dark crown with long curls framing her face. A hint of silver glinted at the tips of her black feathered wings.

Korven’s mother was terrifyingly beautiful.

Her dark gown trailed the stone as she advanced my way with a smirk. “It is almost time, is it not?” she purred.

“Until the moon is-is full, high in the sky. We have a little time yet,” I managed, still catching my breath.

The Ravenfae Goddess stopped, a deep-gutting laugh escaping her. “ We ? Oh, my. What has my son been up to?”

I swallowed my fear. “Have you not heard? Fiola paused the curse, giving me,”—I gestured to my head, still translucent—“this spirit form and just ten days to find the one who can love me most. He must kiss the lips of my body in the castle. She pulled Korven into this task as well.” I paused, considering how angry she would be hearing the last part. “He...is bound to the same fate as me if we fail.”

Reshina’s eyes sparked and her brow raised as she stepped closer, her slender shoes clicking on the stone. “Seraphine,” she cooed, lifting her hand to squeeze my shoulder. “Sweet, sweet child, Korven has never and will never be bound by another Goddess’s magic. It is his birthright as a child of the Veil. This curse is yours. You are the sole casualty.”

I released a breath. “But Fiola said?—”

“She said what would give you hope and the help you needed. She and Korven have always known he would not die by this curse. It is yours, and yours alone to bear.” She hummed, tilting her head, her wings curling behind her. “My son cares for you. Or he would have left you to your fate.”

“He knew?”

“Yes. Does that change you?” She narrowed her eyes, studying me. “Ah, I see. You’ve let your heart give in to fantasy. You’ve dressed up the Ravenfae Prince as the hero to save you.”

She stepped back, giving me space to breathe. “What will you do now, I wonder? What will you do with the time left for you in this world, Princess of Riche? The night is coming and your time reveals an end you cannot escape. What will you do with the last hours you’ve been given before the moon is full and your fate is sealed?”

Her words damned me.

Like the curse made for me that night of my birth under a moon-drenched sky, my fate would be known to all in such precious little time. Would I live or die?

Korven had deceived me, but he had decided to stay, unbound to any conditions Fiola gave.

But why would he pretend? Why would he care when we had just reunited and he didn’t know anything about me?

“My son soars to meet me here. Stay and say your piece or go and do what you will with the last hours given to you. Your heart is yours, Seraphine, and yours alone.”

I saw his shadow as a black line in the sky, headed straight towards us. I turned abruptly, bolting through the doorway and down the stairs with her last words ringing through my head.