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" O bviously many of us fear Wynter," Sebastian explained late in the night as they walked down the hall while everyone else slept. "Her room is in the very back of the east wing. We'll head there in a second, but first there's something else I want to do." He walked to what was definitely the king's quarters and turned the lock.

The east wing was dusty and dark. Statues of nymphs dotted the hall. But these nymphs weren't dressed as staff or guards. They were all draped in expensive royal garments.

"And these statues your family?"

"They are," Sebastian said softly. "I don't want anyone to hurt them or smash them due to the rage they feel towards my father, so I keep them locked up."

They stopped at two large cranberry red doors with golden handles that clearly belonged to the king. "This will be a quick stop before Wynter's chambers."

Theo followed him through the lavish suite to one open door. Inside, sitting in a dark red velvet armchair in front of the bright fireplace, was Lyle. He looked up from his book and when he saw it was Sebastian, his eyes widened in surprise.

"So, this is where he is being kept," Theo said, rolling his eyes.

"Don't bicker. I just want to speak with him before we go. If you want to wait outside, you can."

"I'll stay out of it, but I'm not leaving you with him. I don't trust him."

"Fine, fine," Sebastian said, looking up at Lyle with a sad smile. "Lyle, I hope you are spending this time to reflect."

"I can do little else," he said, standing and walking over. "I didn't think you'd be coming to see me. I definitely didn't think you'd bring your ...Theo."

"We were passing by and I wanted to stop in."

Lyle knelt in front of Sebastian and bowed his head. "I'm sorry. I was wrong. I shouldn't have hurt you and I shouldn't have tried to hurt Theo. I let my worry and fear of death turn me cruel. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I hope I can earn it back someday."

Sebastian touched his shoulder. "This curse wears on all of us. I can't forgive you, but I can understand you. We can never go back to how we were, but I wanted you to know that I'm not walking around hating you."

"Thank you." He lifted his gaze to meet his eyes. "And thank you for locking me up and not having me killed. Many would have. I would have in the past."

"I told you, there's been too much death. Rest well. I hope this short rest can be healing for you."

They both turned to go, and Lyle gripped Theo's cloak.

He coldly glanced down. "Let go. Sebastian has chosen to make peace with your actions, but I haven't."

"I know, just... promise to take care of him. Please."

"I intend to." He tugged his cloak away and followed Sebastian out into the hall again. "Why did you want to see him?"

"It felt wrong not to. For all his flaws, he does care about me and our people. It would tear him up inside to not know how I was. I wanted him to see that, even after what he did, I'm okay. Also, I wanted him to see I still chose you."

"That is rather sweet," Theo admitted reluctantly. "You are a great prince because of your ability to not be cruel and cold. I love that about you. Just promise me you won't visit him alone."

"I won't. I promise." He led Theo to another door at the very back of the hall. There was a large plum purple door with golden handles. Sebastian swallowed as he clutched a key. "This room is just a room, but after the curse I'm a little fearful of what we'll find."

"We'll face it out together," Theo said, rubbing his shoulder.

Sebastian carefully turned the lock and shoved it open. He stepped backwards as if afraid something in her chambers would leap out at him. When nothing came out, the two of them entered hand in hand.

Wynter's room was full of frost covered flowers. Lilies had burst from floorboards and wisteria draped from the high ceiling. There was a desk made of polished mahogany that had parchments and journals piled high. A far wall was lined top to bottom with shelves of books and journals. Lavender bushes with tiny glowing flecks of yellow on their leaves sprouted out the bottom shelf, hiding half of the titles. A bed in another corner was left messy and unmade.

"Okay, what are we looking for?" Theo said, clapping his hands with determination. I want to learn anything and everything about her, but that has to come after I save Sebastian.

"I'm not entirely sure, but we need to know more about curses and nymphs of death and decay in general. If we knew more, perhaps we could find a way to nullify the curse or come up with a new method based on findings. Maybe we look for books and journals that could have something promising?"

"Perfect. Let's get to it."

They spent the next couple of hours shifting through the desk's messy piles. When that was fruitless, they moved on to the bookshelf. Starting on opposite ends, they plucked a book or journal, paged through it, and if it looked helpful set it aside.

As they worked, time and time again nothing pointed towards useful information, but they did their best to stay in good spirits since they had a lot of books to work through.

Theo grabbed what felt like his hundredth book, flipped through it, and brightened. "I found a shifter book!" He tossed it to Sebastian. "You mentioned not knowing a lot about your current state. Maybe this could be useful."

"At least something came out of this long search," Sebastian said, paging through the book. "I'm beginning to feel discouraged."

"If you need a break, we can go to bed and then come back in the morning. This is a large wall of books, and it'll take a while." When he got no answer, he looked at Sebastian. His eyes were locked on the page. "Sebastian? Everything okay?"

"Um yes....I... I think I found something useful," he stammered.

"That's great!" Theo hurried over to his side. "What did you find?"

"Shifters accept their Chosens by performing a mating ritual." He ran his finger across the page as he explained. "They chase them down and give them a claiming bite while mating to completion. A claiming bite is a deep, intentional bite that draws blood. Mating to completion includes knotting inside their Chosen. Once this is done their souls are bonded together. The ritual is dangerous if their Chosen is not a shifter due to the violent nature of claiming."

There was a note to flip to a different page to learn about shifter and non-shifter pairings and Sebastian quickly went to it, cleared his throat, and continued to read.

"Shifters often accidentally devour or severely injure their non-shifter Chosens in the process of claiming them if they aren't careful. Various precautions can be taken such as binding the shifter or having others present to intervene. If their Chosen survives being claimed, there is great benefit. The shifter’s violent urges will decrease and the urge to protect and reproduce with their Chosen will increase, making the relationship much safer for a non-shifter."

"This is it!" Theo said, snatching the book and reading it again. "Veil said it has to be more than words and made a point to highlight that you hadn't claimed me. Maybe if we do this the curse will be satisfied."

"I don't want to do it," Sebastian mumbled.

"What? Why not?" Theo frowned. "I think it's worth a shot. You're my Chosen, so why not try and solidify the bond?"

"What if I accidentally eat you?" His voice shook. "I'd never forgive myself. This curse has taken everything from me. If it ends with me killing you, I don't know how I'd move forward."

"You won't." Theo set aside the book and took his hands firmly in his. "We've gotten this far without you consuming me. Apparently, other shifters can do this ritual successfully, so why not us?"

Sebastian was quiet for a while thinking it over, then sighed. "If we thoroughly prepare, then I'll try it. We have to keep you as safe as possible."

"Perfect. It's settled." Theo kissed his knuckles. "Today we prepare, and tomorrow night, you hunt me down."