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Chapter Nineteen

S he opened her eyes to find herself in a bedroom.

Looking around, she spotted an array of feminine accoutrements that signaled that the room belonged to a girl or a woman.

Romance novels were piled up high on a chair, a simple woolen gown lay on the bed, and charming wood carvings lined the shelves besides the window.

It was not a large room, but it was a pleasant one with plants in the window that looked well taken care of, and the midday sun casting a golden glow over the room.

Belowstairs, she could hear people arguing.

She sat on the bed, not really wanting to go down and investigate.

Instead, she laid her head on the rough pillow and was thankful for the rare moment of privacy to nurse her heartbreak.

Unfortunately, it was short-lived, as a sharp knock sounded on the door.

“Come downstairs, at once, “ someone shouted.

She winced and got up, wondering not for the first time, what she had done to deserve all of this.

She made her way down the narrow, rickety stairs to find an assortment of people she did not recognize.

Someone was sobbing noisily—a girl with blonde curls, her face hidden in an overlarge white handkerchief.

A tired looking man stood next to the fireplace, staring intently into the flames, his face an expression of misery.

Besides him was a harried-looking woman with lines etched deep into her face; she was cradling a baby.

A crash echoed, and she jumped. Another girl entered the room, this one with dark hair pinned back from her severe features.

Her face was similar to the older woman’s except it looked angrier and harder.

“Here finally, are you?” she sneered at Serena. “Come to see the results of your actions.”

The girl in the corner sobbed harder.

Serena frowned at her, completely bewildered at what was going on. What actions was she talking about? And what even was this story?

“Enough, Cara,” said the tired looking man. He turned to Serena and gave her a small smile. “Come, my beauty, sit next to me.”

She walked over to him warily, as the dark-haired girl gave an angry snort, addressing the older woman .

“You see? Even when she causes problems, she’s his beauty. Well, if that’s the case, she can be the sacrifice.”

“Cara, enough,” said the man in a warning tone.

He then sat her down in an armchair and knelt in front of her.

“My heart gladdens to see you well, daughter. I am afraid I return with ill tidings. My ship got wrecked, and I come back empty handed except for the rose I promised you.”

He took out a beautiful red rose, the petals lush and curled around one another in a loving caress. The stem was long and full of wicked thorns, and the entire thing seemed to glisten as if still covered with the morning dew.

Oh no. She had a sneaking suspicion she knew which tale this was.

“Unfortunately, this rose cost me greatly, as I took it from the castle of a beast, and he has asked me for one of my daughters in return. Now, I love you all dearly, and I would not dream of asking this of you—”

“Why on earth not?” muttered Cara.

“Cara, please.”

“What?” she snapped. “It can’t be Daisy, she’s practically betrothed to the boy in the village, and I certainly am not giving myself up to your foolishness. So, it must be her.”

The blonde girl in the corner paused her weeping and looked up when her name was mentioned. Serena stifled a gasp, for that was Daisy—the one she knew in Glenn.

What in the stars above?

“I’ll go,” said Serena, turning her eyes to the man in front of her. There was no need to ponder over it here; she needed to hurry the tale along to see what exactly was going on.

The man closed his eyes as if in pain, and the woman who had stayed quiet up until now erupted in a series of protests. The sisters remained silent, neither of them wanting to be the person to be sacrificed to the beast. She addressed the parents.

“If it was my foolishness that got us into this mess, whether intentioned or not, then I shall take the blame for it. Let my sisters have their peace.”

She saw a flash of guilt in Cara’s eyes, and Daisy resumed her sobbing.

But it was apparent that the decision was made and accepted.

She was grateful for the lack of resistance, because while she was still mad at him, she ached to see Grim again.

A flash of his pale face appeared in her mind, and her throat closed up with worry.

His fear had shaken her, and she wanted to know what had alarmed him so.

If she had to offer herself to whatever beast existed in this land to speed the story along and get to him, so be it.

An hour later, she had finished packing her belongings in a small trunk for appearance’s sake, when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” she called, and to her surprise, Cara walked in, and sat on her bed stiffly.

“I came to apologize,” she said, looking firmly at the ground.

Serena looked up in surprise. “Apologize for...?”

“I was angry at our father’s foolishness that caused this mess, and I was angry because he loves only you, not our mother, not us. Just you.”

Serena knew this girl was not her real sister, but she sensed that Cara needed this conversation, so she sat down beside her and took her hand.

It was still unclear how each world operated, but perhaps there was a third sister in this one she had temporarily replaced, and for that alone, she felt like she had a duty to hear Cara out.

“I understand,” she said quietly, thinking of how she had often resented her brothers for having an easy relationship with her mother, while all they did was exchange verbal blows and struggle with understanding one another. “Sometimes we say things we do not mean, simply so we can be seen.”

Cara let out a bitter laugh. “How could you understand? The love of others has always come naturally to you. You do not know what it is like to be the difficult daughter, the one your parents look at and wonder where they went wrong.”

Hearing the girl voice a thought that had so often crossed her mind caused her heart to squeeze with sympathy and sadness. If only Cara knew how well she understood.

“If you have felt you were not loved the same way, it is not because there is something wrong with you,” she said softly, “but rather that you are unique, and oftentimes parents want ease, not difference.”

There were tears in Cara’s eyes now. She gave a watery chuckle.

“How strange. You seem different today. I have often thought you too na?ve and desperate for our father’s approval to have any intelligent thought. But I suppose I was wrong about you, little sister.”

The next half hour went by pleasantly with Cara giving her company and helping her pack in a loud opinionated way that was charming once you got used to it.

What would it have been like, wondered Serena as her belongings were being loaded into a hired coach, to have had an older sister like Cara who understood how hard things were when you were different.

Would that sister have run off before she did?

Or would she have made it easier for Serena to stay home?

But then she would never have had Primrose Cottage and those wonderful two years with Aunt Maeve.

Things had worked out the way they were supposed to, and she was not unhappy with it.

Still, her heart tugged painfully when the older girl squeezed her for an extra minute and whispered in her ear to not get mauled by the beast on the first night.

She wondered who exactly they were—these people who were, no doubt, puppeted by the curse for the sake of this story.

Anger boiled inside her at the fact that their will was being snatched from them for a sick twisted game being played by a vengeful immortal.

She swore to herself that she would break her curse and bring down Lore, not only for herself, but also for all the people who were being forced to play a part in his curse.

Her father had given the coachman instructions on where to take her, however the horses ended up getting spooked before they entered the woods that led to the castle itself.

Seeing the man’s reluctance to continue, she rolled her eyes and grabbed only one small bag.

The coachman protested when she jumped out, but she waved him off and told him to take the things with him.

It wasn’t like they were hers anyway.

She stepped into the forest cautiously, remembering how horrid her last time had been in the woods; however, she told herself she had to brave it for Grim’s sake.

These woods were once again completely different from the last; the sun was setting, and the sky was a blazing furnace of reds and pinks that painted the trees with a fiery hand.

She made her way through a cluster of ivy vines hanging from the trees to see a beautiful array of bluebells that were as tall as her.

Each petal was as large as her head with the leaves curling and uncurling by themselves as the flowers danced merrily in a breeze that seemed to only affect them.

Stepping forward to take a closer look, she was startled by something flying past her ear.

She looked up to see a pretty little sparrow sitting on the boughs of a nearby tree.

“Oh hello, there,” she said pleasantly.

“Hello to you, beauty,” replied the sparrow in a trilling voice.

Serena jumped. “You…you can talk?”

The sparrow tilted its head in a way that suggested it thought Serena was addled. “All creatures in this wood speak. Are you not aware this is the enchanted woods, beauty?”

“I just thought these were the woods that lead to the Beast’s castle.”

“Oho!” it cried. “So you seek the Beast! Then why, pray tell, are you in Bluebell Grove? This path will take you all night.”

“Well then, could you direct me to the best path to the castle, please?”

“The best path can be any number of paths, beauty. What do you seek? The prettiest? The safest? The quickest? The easiest?”

A red robin flew next to the sparrow while it was speaking. “Show her the Sunset Path! It shall be the loveliest at this time.”

“You just want to show her your nest. I believe she should take the Butterfly Trail.”

“Ha! You just want to show off your ladylove to her. No, I believe Anemone Alley is best!”

As the two birds quarreled, Serena felt herself lose patience.

“Excuse me! It is getting late, and I must hurry. Please direct me to the path that is the shortest and safest.”

“Well, why did you not say so in the first place!” they cried. “We shall take the Middle Way then.”

Serena decided to not argue further and simply nodded her thanks.

The two birds led her through a path hidden behind a curtain of ivy that she certainly would have missed if she were alone.

It was relatively plainer than the rest of the forest, but the birds assured her that was exactly why it was safer.

“The Bone Man doesn’t come here you see! So your bones are safe,” said the red robin.

“Or Madame Spider, who would take your pretty pretty pink hair for her webs.”

Serena shivered a little, resolving to not ask any more questions about the forest.

A few minutes later, she stood in front of a huge wrought iron gate that was as foreboding as it was regal.

Behind it was an expansive garden with the most beautiful collection of flowers she had ever seen, the most magnificent of them being the garden of roses just beyond the gate.

The castle itself was a stark contrast to the lush garden.

It was tall, and dark, with steeping spires and ugly gargoyle statues leading to what she assumed was the castle entrance.

“You must enter now, beauty!” said the robin.

“And remember, everything is not as it seems,” chimed the sparrow.

She looked at them, confused, but stepped toward the gate anyway. As if it had sensed her presence, it creaked open, and she saw a very familiar figure walking toward her, a black cloak whipping behind him.

“ Grim?”