Page 2 of Cursed (Court of Isles #1)

Chapter 2

Consciousness came to me slowly, as if dripped from an IV, my senses returning one at a time like a series of intricate locks and dams.

The smell of fresh bread and coffee. The sound of unusual birds frittering about my windowsill. The feel of blankets, so plush and soft and lovely against my skin.

The sight of light, pouring through fluttering curtains as I chanced a peek into the unknown. The curtains that danced before windows thrown open to the sunshine and sea salt and possibility.

And finally, feeling . A new feeling, a novel one. A feeling worth savoring. The feeling as if I finally belonged.

A voice sing-songed to me, as sweet as the critters fluttering outside my window. “Knock-knock, are you awake yet?”

I sat up in bed, trying to absorb my surroundings as I glanced around. Sun-drenched room, fluffy white comforter, cottage-like decor. Fresh lilacs on the table, giving off a faint floral scent. A dancing sea breeze. Maybe I’d wished too hard, and I really had been sucked across the world to the Maldives in an earth bending feat of modern-day physics.

“My name is Millie.” A young woman stood before the door, a tray balanced in her hands. “Got some treats for you.”

She wore a wide-open, bright smile on her face. Freckles dotted pale, rosy cheeks beneath ginger hair, the color a shade of orange that might’ve been plucked straight off a sunset. Her words lilted with the slight tinge of an Irish accent, though I couldn’t be sure.

“Strawberry jam on sourdough toast, along with fresh coffee.” Millie rattled off a list of items that made my mouth water. “The bread’s a little flat, but my starter was acting up yesterday, and I should’ve waited to bake—but I wanted to have something warm and ready when you woke.”

Definitely not quite Irish, but something close. I couldn’t quite place it.

“Well?” Millie asked hopefully, her cheeks turning pink as she extended the tray. “Are you hungry, ma’am?”

“I’m uh...” I cleared my throat. I wasn’t sure what I was, but I wasn’t a ma’am. I told Millie so much, and she giggled.

“Well, then, what would you like me to call you?”

“My name?” I suggested. “It’s Alessia, but people call me Allie. ”

Millie’s brow furrowed. “Why would they call you Allie when you’ve got such a beautiful name for starters?”

I hesitated, wondering why I’d even introduced myself as Alessia. I hadn’t introduced myself as such since before kindergarten, when my mother told me it was unbecoming to have such a strange name.

I’d asked my mother why she’d named me Alessia if she didn’t like it. To which she had never really given me an answer.

“D’ya mind if I call you Alessia, then?” Millie asked. “I just love it. It’s beautiful, rolls off the tongue.”

As soon as she said it, I was thrown back in time to the memory of me standing at the altar, hearing my name on Silas’s lips.

“Silas,” I whispered.

“What about him?” she asked.

“Where is he?” I demanded. “He brought me here. Where is here? What about Simon?”

Finally, finally, my fear and emotions were kicking up to an appropriate gear. It was almost a relief to feel disoriented and alarmed because so far, I’d felt as if I’d been easing into this new life seamlessly. Too easy. Nothing was ever this easy; if it was, there was always a catch.

“Silas kidnapped me,” I said, like the words themselves were shocking. “From my own wedding. ”

“Oh, did he, now?” Millie muttered, suddenly seeming restless. “Eat some toast, Ms. Alessia. I reckon you’re a bit starved after all that travel.”

I glanced down. “Millie! Where is my wedding dress?”

“Out there,” she said. “I helped you get changed when you arrived. Don’t worry, Mr. Silas didn’t see a thing. I’m a Commoner Fairy, polite service is what we do. It’s my job to take care of Mr. Silas and all his guests.”

“But—”

“I do like to garden and bake, a bit more than the average Commoner, but alas, we all have our downfalls, yeah? In this industry we’re not supposed to have passions, but sometimes it just bubbles right out of me. Oh, Ms. Alessia, what’s wrong?”

I hadn’t realized that I’d been so swept up in the moment, and I could only imagine that my face looked mortified. Windswept, maybe, or whiplashed.

Millie scurried to me, raised a hand and took mine in hers. “You’re from the mainland?”

“New York,” I said.

“Okay then,” she said, like that didn’t mean anything to her. “You do believe in magic, though?”

“No,” I said. “No, I don’t.”

“How do you figure you got here?”

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, as if hoping the right words would walk themselves right out. No luck there .

“I don’t know,” I finally said. “I’m in shock.”

“Have a bite of toast,” she encouraged again. “Maybe you just need energy.”

As if toast could fix the fact that— oh, I don’t know —I’d been whisked away from my I Do’s to an enchanted land?

Still, I did as Millie told me, feeling grateful that someone was making decisions for me. I sank my teeth into a bite of sourdough, fresh and soft and warm on the inside. The strawberry jam tasted so fresh I got notes of ocean air alongside the melted pat of butter.

“This does help,” I admitted to Millie. “Thank you.”

She bowed to me, the second person to have done so today. Or, at least I thought it had been one day?

“When did I get here?” I asked.

“About two days ago.”

I shifted myself out of bed, and a floor-length white sleeping gown shifted into place over my bare feet. My hair had been brushed and was tumbling in a freefall halfway down my back. Two ties of white fabric held the dress together over my shoulders, and the fabric was billowy and gauzy, moving with me as if alive.

I went to the window, threw the curtains back, and stared out at the bluest water I’d ever seen in my life. Bluer even than Simon’s eyes, and more inviting—white caps snapping and crackling as waves played in sync with the rays from the sun, a seamless duology of sky and earth .

Sugar-sand white beaches stretched as far as the eye could see in either direction. The taste of salt landed on my lips, and the breeze toyed with the tendrils of hair on either side of my head.

Aside from sand and shore and sea, the only thing I could see was my wedding dress—thousands of dollars of fabric—hanging on a clothesline. The thought of this design just dangling outside in all the elements struck me as so funny, so out of place and quirky, that I burst into almost manic laughter.

“Oh, dear.” Millie frowned. “I knew I shouldn’t have hung that pretty thing outside. It’s more of an inside dress, isn’t it? I do hope I haven’t ruined your beautiful gown.”

“I don’t want it,” I said, realizing my words had never been truer. “I never wanted it. Do with it what you will.”

“But—”

“I don’t want it,” I repeated firmly.

I glanced down at my hand. My engagement band was no longer on my finger, and with its release, I felt a thousand pounds lighter. However, the crown-shaped ring adorned with blue gemstones, a blue that matched the waters here so perfectly it felt uncanny, was situated right where it belonged.

“Your crown is by your bedside,” Millie said.

“It’s not a crown.” I glanced at my tiara. “My mother wanted me to wear a veil, but I didn’t want one. She let me choose this instead. ”

“Well, all right,” Millie said, in that voice that told me she didn’t quite comprehend my meaning but was going along with it anyway.

I turned to face Millie. “Tell me about Silas.”

“It’s not my place, Ms. Alessia.”

“It’s just Alessia,” I said. “And I need to understand the man who tried to kidnap me.”

Millie let out a snort. She looked so embarrassed by the outburst, she apologized profusely and looked downward in obvious embarrassment.

“I just...” Millie struggled to select the appropriate words. “I don’t think anybody understands Silas. I don’t even know that you can call him a man . It seems so...” She frowned, searching. “So inadequate.”

“What is he then, if not a man?”

“Terrifying? Desirable? Handsome? Deadly?” Millie shrugged. “Mysterious, for sure. Quiet and a bit cold, at least on the outside. He is the subject of a lot of fantasies and unrequited love from the women on The Isle, though he’s either not interested, or not capable, of falling in love. He hasn’t been short on propositions, that’s for sure.”

I agreed with all of Millie’s assessments except the cold part. I’d felt warmth radiating from Silas when he touched me. A warmth not on the surface, but from the very veins running through his body, originating from the essence that made him Silas. The man was capable of great love, of that I was certain .

“I see,” I said instead, because I didn’t exactly have data to back up my claims. “What does he do?”

“I don’t know,” Millie said. “I really wish you’d ask someone else. I don’t feel comfortable sharing details about the master of the home.”

“The master of...” I glanced around. “ This home?”

For some reason, I couldn’t marry the purple-walled room flanked by frilled curtains and fresh flowers on the bedside table to the man who’d stood before me on the altar. I might believe the man capable of love, but I didn’t believe him capable of purple walls.

“This is his grandmother’s place. A cottage on his property,” she said. “Mr. Silas owns a lot of land on the north side of The Isle. His property extends deep into The Forest, then around the bend in the shore. He lives in the main house, a ten-minute walk from here. At least, I think he does. He doesn’t inform me of his sleeping whereabouts.”

“Ah. I’m going to confess, Millie. I’m a woman of science. I don’t believe in magic.”

“Isn’t science really just a way to explain magic?”

“Not really.”

“Oh. Then I bet you’ll believe in magic real quick.” Millie nodded, like this was explanation enough. “If magic didn’t exist, then how could I do this?”

Millie reached for one of the roses tucked into the vase with the lilacs and held it in her palm. It balanced mid-air, and before my eyes, exploded into ash. The ashes gathered in her palm, and then slowly regrew from the ashes into a new rose.

“See?” Millie tucked the rose back into the jar. “Though I’d appreciate you keeping that little display quiet. Us Commoners aren’t supposed to do magic that doesn’t support acts of service. Though maybe this could be considered an act of service since it’s helping you to understand?”

Millie seemed like she was waiting for an actual reply.

“Oh, yes,” I said. “Yes, that was most definitely an act of service.”

“Great!” Millie’s relief at my easy agreement was palpable. “I can’t get written up again, or they’re going to yank me from duty for Mr. Silas. Granted, nobody else wants this position, but—”

“Why does nobody else want to work for him?” I asked. “And why—”

Millie inclined her head though, ignoring me in lieu of listening for something. “Someone’s coming.”

“How can you tell?”

“I suppose that’ll be Mr. Silas, probably sensing you’re awake.” Millie ignored my question. “He’ll want to have a conversation with you, I’m sure.”

“Good,” I retorted. “Because I want to have a conversation with him. ”

“Eat your toast,” Millie insisted again. “You’ll need your strength.”

I finished my toast then took a sip of coffee. When a knock sounded on the door a few minutes later, I trailed along behind Millie to answer it.

The house was small, a true cottage, one level and about the size of a generous studio apartment in New York City. There was a small bedroom which I’d seen, a small kitchen, and a quaint seating area.

Millie pulled open the door before I could get a real sense of my surroundings. Sure enough, Silas was behind the door. But he wasn’t alone.

A woman hung in his arms, limp, her eyes glassy, her body still as if unconscious. Without warning, the woman jolted awake, a sound of pure terror coming from her mouth as she screamed nonsensical words, clutching at the shirt on Silas’s chest.

“What’s wrong with her?” I asked, stepping tentatively closer. “Is she ill?”

“You’re a doctor, aren’t you?” Silas said gruffly, all signs of the patient, tender man I’d witnessed at the altar gone. “ Fix her .”

After several moments of stunned silence, I leapt into action. I was only in my first year of residency, but I’d gone through a lot of school, and I’d been surrounded by medicine for my whole life. My parents had prepped me to be a doctor since my first birthday. I’d gone to biology camps in kindergarten and had been involved in hospital internships since middle school.

“Set her down on the couch.” I gestured toward the purple sofa.

There was a lot of purple in here. I didn’t have time to focus on the décor, but it did really stick out.

As Silas gently laid the woman down, I froze. Her body unfolded, and I could see the bulge of her stomach.

“She’s pregnant,” I said. “She’s having a baby?”

“I suppose,” Silas said shortly. “But it’s more than that; she’s dying.”

“My name is Alessia, and I’m going to help you,” I told the woman, even though I wasn’t sure she could comprehend what I was saying. “I’m a doctor.” I glanced up, annoyed at Silas. “Don’t you have more experienced doctors here? Get help!”

“Not for this,” Silas said. “She needs medical help.”

“Right!” I nearly shouted. “That’s what doctors are for. ”

“We have Healers,” Millie said. “Magical Healers.”

I would’ve rolled my eyes at their commitment to believing in magic, but I couldn’t waste more time.

“Get me boiling water, towels, anything you can find in this place that looks like a tool or medical equipment.” I quickly rattled off anything I could think of that might be helpful. “ Now .”

“What’s your name?” I asked the woman as I heaped blankets on the floor. She was writhing too much to lay on the couch. “Let me help you down here, you’ll be more comfortable.”

“I’m so thirsty,” the woman whispered. “So thirsty.”

I offered her water, just a little bit. Sips to start.

Millie and Silas were already in motion. Silas had pushed all the furniture out of the way in the small sitting room, leaving the floor wide open. He made a padded place for her to lay and then helped me move her from the couch.

“Irina,” the woman finally gasped. “My name is Irina.”

“Irina, I’m going to help you have this baby.” I looked at Silas. “Get someone else here to give me a hand. Healers, whatever. Someone must be trained on this island.”

“I’ve got a Healer coming,” Silas said. “But you were the closest option.”

Millie returned, her arms heaped full with more blankets. “I’ve got water boiling, and I’m sterilizing scissors and a knife and whatever else I could find. ”

“My grandmother was a Healer,” Silas barked to Millie. “She studied all sorts of medicine, even the human kind. Go out to the shed, maybe she’s got some leftover equipment there. She used to have a whole setup here.”

Millie nodded then disappeared through the back door.

“Irina, when are you due?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she gasped. “I’m a forest dweller.”

I blinked, then looked up to Silas.

“Forest dwellers live in very remote regions of this island. They believe in holistic treatments. It’s a very live-off-the-land lifestyle,” he said. “They exist in tiny communities that don’t have access to the best care.”

“It’s not the baby,” Irina gasped, then screamed louder. “It’s evil. It’s the curse, Silas. The curse.”

“I’m going to put my hands on you; I’m sorry they’re cold,” I said. “I want to feel your stomach.”

“Do whatever you have to do,” Irina gritted out. “Just save my baby.”

I pulled up her shirt slightly and was startled by what I saw. Thick, ugly black lines crisscrossed over her belly. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.

“Silas,” I said in a low voice. “What is this?”

He blinked, then closed his eyes. He just shook his head.

“It’s evil!” Irina yelled. “It’s the curse, I’m telling you.”

“Silas,” I barked. “What is this? ”

It looked like the woman had veins thick with mud instead of blood roping through her body. It sure did look evil.

“The curse,” Silas finally said. “The one I warned you about in New York. It’s killing The Isle. Everything it touches dies. We’ve got wards up, but she must’ve crossed the wards.”

“I didn’t cross any wards.” Irina shot a furious glance at Silas. “I’m a dweller of the forest, my heart beats in time with nature. I wouldn’t have wandered into the curse. The curse came to me.”

I studied Silas, trying desperately to understand the nonsense they were spouting. Curses. Magic. Evil. It was hard enough delivering a regular baby without these sorts of complications.

“It’s possible the wards have broken down, and the curse has spread,” Silas admitted. “I’ll investigate later.”

“Okay.” I took a few deep breaths, centered myself, pushing away the things that didn’t make sense and focusing on what I could control. Nothing like getting thrown into the deep end with a medical emergency that might not even be of this world. “Let’s pretend I believe in magic for right now.”

“She doesn’t believe in magic ?” Irina grew more irate as she addressed Silas. “Who is she?”

“Doctor Alessia is your best hope for survival,” Silas said. “I trust her. ”

Irina looked at me through wide, reluctant eyes like she really didn’t want to trust me, but would so long as Silas did. His word meant something to her.

“How would one go about breaking a curse?” I asked. “Irina, walk me through exactly what happened.”

“I was foraging for mushrooms away from our settlement,” she said. “There’s a rare type of mushroom that’s supposed to ease labor pains.”

“You ate an unidentified mushroom?!” I almost prayed she said yes. I could deal with weird mushrooms. I couldn’t deal with curses.

“Of course not.” Irina glared at me. “I was going to run it by Lily Locke first, ask her to make me a tincture with it. She said she could, but she just didn’t have access to any of the Arrowroot mushrooms. She said if I could find them, she’d make the potion for me.”

“And Lily is...”

“Our Mixologist,” Silas said shortly. “Like a potions master.”

“Right. Right . Right.” I blinked. Nothing like a crash course in the Bewitching Arts. “Of course she is.”

“She’s on her way here.” Silas repeated, “You were the closest option. And probably the only one who can break this curse.”

“I don’t know anything about curses!” I hissed-yelled at Silas. “I am a mortal from Manhattan, lest we forget!”

“Learn quickly,” Silas said .

The warm-hearted man I’d trusted at the altar of my wedding had all but vanished. It made me wonder if I’d done the right thing, taking this leap with him. Had he tricked me, fooled me like a sucker—a woman so desperate to be loved and noticed that she was willing to go with the first stranger who made her feel something?

I couldn’t deal with Silas now. I needed to focus on Irina.

“Keep telling me what happened,” I said. “You found the mushroom?”

“No. The Arrowroot mushrooms are located deeper in The Forest. I never made it.” Irina breathed heavily, her eyes closing for longer and longer periods of time. She alternated between bouts of wild screaming and utter, almost lifeless calmness. “I passed out, and he found me.”

I looked to Silas to continue the story.

“I brought her straight to you,” he said. “But on the way, she was very twitchy. Complained a lot about being thirsty, but I had nothing to give her. I had to set her down once because I didn’t want to hurt her when she lost control. A seizure, maybe?”

My mind raced. Excessive thirst, seizures, twitchy muscles. A quick exam told me that Irina might be dehydrated. That, plus the symptoms Silas had reported, all indicated she might have hypernatremia. Excessive salt in her body. I’d need a blood test to be sure, and a urine test, but I didn’t exactly have hospital grade medical equipment here.

Not to mention, hypernatremia wouldn’t explain the ugly black lines across her belly. Granted, I was pretty sure no modern medicine would be able to explain those. I wasn’t ready to call it magic just yet, but I was getting close—mostly because I had no other theories, and everyone here seemed so convinced it was all real. Millie’s sleight of hand with the rose had me wondering...

“Can you use any of this?” Millie asked, hauling a huge tub of equipment in.

Silas leapt to her side and picked it up like it was a deck of cards, maneuvering it over to me so I could peek inside. I let out a huge breath of relief to see things that made sense. Things like a blood pressure cuff and IV equipment.

“Get everything sterilized as fast as you can.” I greedily reached for the cuff. “Send the help in here as soon as they arrive.”

Sure enough, Irina’s blood pressure came back exceptionally low. The second I muttered the reading, her head turned to the side, and she slumped into unconsciousness. Which wasn’t a good thing if we needed to get this baby out. I would need her strong enough to push.

A minute later, a rustling sounded in the other room. I glanced up to see a woman around my age, give or take a few years, shuffling to my side. She was beautiful in a natural way, her hair with glints of gold streaking through the brunette, like little flecks of sunlight had embedded themselves into her strands. Her smile was easy and quick, genuine.

“I’m Lily,” she said. “The Mixologist. Tell me what I can do.”

I merely lifted up Irina’s shirt. “Have you seen anything like this before?”

Lily paled. “The curse.”

“I meant medically.”

“You’re new here,” Lily looked at me with a newfound appreciation. “You don’t believe in magic yet?”

“Yet?”

“I was like you,” she said. “I’m from St. Paul.”

“Minnesota?” I almost went weak at the familiarity. “Like, humans and stuff?”

She smiled kindly. “Yes. I was born a human, raised a human, and I didn’t come here until my mid-twenties. It’s an adjustment.”

“You think?”

A soft laugh. “I know it’s hard, but I need you to just assume this is all real for now. We can explain more later.”

“Is it?” I asked softly. “Real?”

Lily reached out, squeezed my wrist. “More than you can even imagine.”

Something in my gut told me this was a woman I could trust. Even if I doubted Silas’s intentions, I didn’t feel like Lily gained anything from my presence. Why should she lie? Maybe I had been brought here for a reason. A reason I’d have to figure out later.

“I think she might have too much salt in her system,” I said. “I’d like to start her on an IV in hopes we can get her rehydrated and awake. It needs to be a diluted solution though; if we go too fast, it could cause a cerebral edema.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound good,” Lily said lightly, despite the storminess on her face. “But I’m not the doctor.”

“Brain swelling,” I said. “Do you have a way we could get our hands on a hypotonic solution?”

“Fortunately, I am somewhat of a Mixologist.” Lily gave me a little wink. “Gus sent me with a kit I might need. He’s incredibly prepared. I’m sure he’s got something in here.”

While Lily busted open the suitcase she’d carried with her and made a selection of vials, I turned my attention to Millie, who’d brought in a huge container of sterilized equipment. I went through everything—laid out the scissors, slipped on my gloves, found a piece of string I could use. Set up the IV equipment.

By the time I was done, Lily offered me a solution.

“This was in Gus’s basic first aid kit.” Lily gave an affectionate shake of her head. “He’s my assistant. The best there is.”

“Thank God for Gus,” I said .

I started administering the IV. It wasn’t perfect, but it was something, and it had to work. We didn’t have a lot of other options. Silas stood at the door, watching. Millie fluttered about in the kitchen, bringing us more towels and hot water.

“It’s not going to be enough,” Lily said softly. “Once the curse takes hold, it kills.”

“I thought you said you’d never seen this before.”

“I didn’t say that exactly, ” Lily said grimly. “I just don’t know how to fix it. We had three deaths before Silas got the wards in place, and I couldn’t stop a single one of them.”

“From the curse, you mean?”

Lily nodded. “I’ve tried everything, and so have the Healers. It seems that once the curse takes hold, it’s impossible to stop. Our only hope is that Silas found Irina in time. By the time we got the others, the curse had taken over their whole body. We didn’t stand a chance; they were already on death’s door. Irina still has a chance.”

I considered this. Then my gaze jerked up to Silas. “Why were you wandering through a dangerous zone in the first place?”

“That’s irrelevant,” he said shortly.

I bit my lip, then turned my attention to Irina. Her color was improving, but it wasn’t enough. We needed more .

“If it is a curse,” I said, the words sounding foreign on my tongue, “we’re going to need more than IV fluids to fix her.”

“Here’s what I have.” Lily handed me a vial of something. “It doesn’t have a name yet; I usually name it after a drink, but it’s too new.”

Inside, it looked like strands of candy floss—thin, white strips floating in mid-air, almost as if she’d bottled DNA visible to the human eye—a strand of magic, twisting and turning on double helixes.

“You name your potions after drinks?” I squinted through the vial at her. “What do you mean, like Abraca-Daquiri?”

Lily just stared at me. “That’s brilliant.”

“I was just—”

“We’ll name it later. The point is that this is the closest thing I have to a cure. It’s not a cure, but it can combat the effects of the curse temporarily. It was too late for the others. Maybe it’s not too late for Irina.”

“Why don’t you administer it then?”

“I don’t think it’s my place.” Lily’s gaze flicked to Silas, like they shared a secret. She shoved the vial into my hands. “This now belongs to you.”

Before I could question her, Silas said, “Alessia, a word?”

I strode out of the room after him, into the kitchen, which Millie evacuated with one look at the two of us .

“You’re wondering why you’re here.” The way Silas spoke was a statement. “Well, this is why.”

Silas handed over a piece of paper to me. It was browned at the edges, stiff cardstock that was more like a business-card than a scrap of paper as I’d first thought.

I read, my forehead furrowing as I struggled to understand the script.

When all feels lost,

She will emerge.

“This doesn’t mean anything to me,” I said. “What is it?”

“A prophecy,” Silas said hoarsely.

“You think I’m...” My finger pointed at the word She . “That’s ridiculous.”

“All feels pretty damn lost,” he said. “The wards won’t hold much longer. And if they lapse, it is the end of us. All of us.”

Silas paused, and almost as if to punctuate the point, Irina screamed from one room over.

“Turn it over,” he said. “There’s more.”

Her powers will activate upon belief.

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“You need to believe. In yourself. In this island. In your place here.”

“But—”

“Do you feel like you belong?” Silas demanded an answer of me, his voice bordering on harsh .

“Yes,” I said without thinking. “Yes, I do.”

Silas put his fingers under my chin, tipped my head up. “Then believe. For Irina, and her baby. For yourself.”

I rushed back into the other room, tucking the card into the pocket of my dress. Irina had regained consciousness.

“What a relief,” I said. “Her color is better.”

But Lily’s lips were stiff. I followed her gaze.

The black lines were spreading. Down the pearly-white skin of Irina’s legs, up her arms, onto her neck.

I swallowed hard, then talked my way calmly through a set of standard checks to make sure that Irina was actually in labor. She most definitely was, which was a good thing. We didn’t have long to save both the baby and Irina, and the sooner we could get the baby out, the better.

“It’s time to deliver the baby.”

Lily nodded, looking like she was fighting back tears.

“Irina,” I said. “You need to push now. The baby is ready to come out.”

Irina nodded, but I could see the look in her eyes. She knew . She knew we weren’t treating her any longer. At this rate, we were desperately hoping to save the baby.

Irina gritted her teeth and bore down, not making a sound.

“That’s it,” I said, my heart pounding. “One more, and we’ll have a baby. ”

Another push, silent, steady, and the baby was out.

“It’s a boy,” I whispered to Irina. “A healthy boy.”

The newborn let out a cry, and I quickly wiped him up and placed him in his mother’s arms. No black marks on the baby. We’d saved him.

“I’m not going to let you go,” I told the new mother. “You will raise your son. Stay with me, Irina.”

“Henry,” Irina said, tears on her cheeks. “Please call him Henry.”

I took the vial from Lily’s hands, the so-called potion of swirling white in the vial. I poured half of it into the saline solution still pumping into Irina’s body, hoping that the combination of magic and medicine would be enough.

It wasn’t enough. Even as Irina stared at her baby, absorbing every moment with her son, the black continued to spread. It was at her chin, at her ankles, almost overtaking her body.

“It’s not enough!” Silas said. “You need to believe, Alessia. Medicine is not enough. You need to activate your powers.”

“How do I do that?” I shouted back at him. “I’m doing everything I can.”

“You’re not,” he snapped. “If you can’t break this curse, then nobody can. You are our only hope.”

“Please leave the room,” I instructed, deathly quiet. “Now. ”

Silas opened his mouth to argue, but Lily stood and silenced him with a glance.

“She’s right,” Lily murmured. “This is not our place.”

The second Lily and Silas had evacuated the house, I regretted asking them to leave. I had very little experience as a practicing doctor, and even less experience with so-called magic. I stared at Irina and Henry, and wondered what I could possibly do to salvage this impossible situation. Alone.

I’d already delivered a baby without any real medical equipment, wasn’t that enough? As I stared at Irina, I knew it wouldn’t be.

I took the potion, the vial, and stared into it. In the quiet, the moment of calm between mother and son, I could feel it. Almost lyrical, a pull, as if the potion were calling to me, instructing me what to do, but in a language I couldn’t decipher.

I closed my eyes, let myself feel. If I didn’t try, Irina was as good as dead. I refused to let that happen.

I relaxed into this state, focusing on Silas’s words. Did I feel like I belonged here?

Yes.

I let the question roll off me.

Is this my home?

Do I want to be here?

Is this all real?

With each yes, I sank deeper into a hypnotic state .

Do I belong?

Another yes, this one coming from a place of hurt and desire I hadn’t known existed. I felt something unlocking inside of me, as if someone had turned a key to a safe inside my heart that’d been locked for decades.

My body warmed as if filled by a liquid gold, a lovely sort of warmth that gently burned and invigorated and ignited something inside me. Powers or belief or determination—maybe even magic.

When I opened my eyes, I poured the last of the vial out, the precious antidote to this curse, right into my palms. It hovered there, a double helix over the circlet ring, the magic swirling around the blue gems as if attaching itself to my ring and finding a likeness there.

I guided the potion down, over Irina, and I began weaving. A complicated cat’s cradle, an invisible game with no rules. One that utilized a form of logic unearthed deep within me. My fingers worked, netted together, working with the magic as it expanded before my eyes. I worked and worked until my brow was sheathed in sweat and my body was exhausted and worn, knotting together an incredible blanket of enchantment.

When I felt on the verge of collapse, I heard my name from the door, pulling me back to reality as if through a portal.

“Alessia.” Silas was at my side. “Alessia, you’ve done it.”

“Irina?” I gasped, barely conscious myself .

“She’s okay.” Silas put his hand on my shoulder, easing me backward, relinquishing me from my duties. “Henry is just lovely, and Irina is healing. You’ve done it, Alessia.”

With his promise, I slumped into unconsciousness, or sleep, or a darkness in which there existed no dreams and no thoughts, but only complete and utter peace.

Because finally, I belonged.