Withering Rose (Once Upon a Curse Book 2) Read online

  Magic.

  "Cole, what is this place?"

  He walks in front of me, breathing deeply as his eyes, glistening mistily, roam over every inch of the room. "This is my father's study." He sighs, brushing his fingers over a coarse sheet of paper, running his hand across long-dried ink. "And I haven't been here in years."

  "Why not?" I ask gently, seeing a spark of pain cross over his features.

  Cole runs his hand through his hair, exhaling heavily. I step closer, wrapping my arm around his torso. He curls into my touch, hugging me in a tight embrace. He surrounds me, yet at the same time, I shield him from the ache. I'm so small that he tucks the top of my head into the nook below his chin, and when he speaks, his jaw presses gently into my hair.

  "In those early days," he says hoarsely, "my father and I didn’t know what to do. In the course of an evening, we went from a purely happy kingdom to a city of lost souls. My mother was dead. All of our people were trapped in their animal forms, their magic stripped away. And I was just a child, barely five, not yet old enough to help ease my father's burdens. He spent the first few weeks doing his best to empty all the bottles of ale still left in city walls. Sometimes there were glimmers of his old self, but mostly I knew to stay away. And then, after a few months, something changed. He stopped drinking. He moved with new purpose, new vigor. And I didn’t understand until he brought me here."

  Cole releases me, stepping through the small study, picking through the papers and holding them out for me to see. "He thought he could find a way to bring them back. My father, like me, favored the form of the bear. But his mother was a hawk shifter, and she had taught him how to take that form as well. While I slept, he disappeared into the night, sometimes not returning for days. But every time he came back there was more life in his eyes, more of the man I remembered. He was searching the outside world for clues, sneaking into palaces, stealing any information he could find on the magic. He always meant to tell me more about it when I was older. He always meant to teach me to read the scrolls and write notes alongside him. But then the earthquake happened, and he, well…"

  "He died," I whisper.

  Cole shrugs, trying to be strong, but his lips pull thin. The muscles in his jaw clench. "I used to come here. I used to try to decipher the clues he left behind. But, well, you know." He smirks, finding my eyes. "I'm not the most patient person, and it didn’t take very long for just the thought of this room and the puzzles here to frustrate me enough to initiate a shift. Instead, I started focusing on things I could actually understand. I started spying on the people of Earth, learning about their weapons, using my own eyes to gather information. I replaced one enemy with another. I stopped trying to find ways to save my people, and instead busied myself with keeping them safe in this new world."

  He pauses, lifting one brow in my direction.

  I grin. "Until I showed up and ruined your plans?"

  His lips twitch, but the storm in his eyes deepens, betraying the emotion behind his words. "But then I saw you that night. I was flying over the field, and I looked down, mesmerized as the grass turned greener, as flowers eased open, filling a black night with bright color, as the trees stretched higher. You were motionless on the ground when I landed close by. Even from a distance, I noticed the tears staining your cheeks. I smelled the salt on your skin. I tasted your pain on the breeze. And I wondered why such a beautiful person looked so alone and afraid. So I brought you back with me, I wanted to save you, to help you."

  I put my hands on my hips, unable to stop myself from teasing him just a little. "So you decided the best way to help me would be to terrify me?"

  Cole bares his teeth, growling lightly. "You're never going to let that go, are you?"

  "No," I answer smoothly.

  He leaps across the room, picking me easily off the ground and swinging me in a wide circle, nibbling at my neck until I'm laughing.

  "Okay, okay," I relent.

  He puts me down but doesn’t let go. Instead, he spins me in his arms and steps back, sitting against the table so we're at the same height. I nestle between his legs while his hands find my hips.

  "I hate that you thought I was laughing at you that day," he murmurs. I look into his eyes, finding them downcast, and put my hand to his warm cheek. "I was on my way to find you, to bring you some food, when I heard footsteps in the ballroom. And there you were, eyes closed, swaying to invisible music, clutching an old blanket around you like a shield. I stepped back, not wanting to disturb you, unable to stop myself from noticing how your skin blushed pink, how the sunlight sparkled over you, how alive you looked. For a moment, you reminded me so much of her, standing in the center of the ballroom, so perfect. Too perfect. And it terrified me." He sighs, shoulders hunching in, gaze dropping to the floor. "I was laughing at myself, at how foolish I’d been to bring you back, how idiotic I'd been to think you might help me, how stupid I was for falling for the same trick a second time. So I did the only thing I could think of. I channeled my own fear and I turned it on you."

  I step closer, nearly eliminating the space between us. "I want to help you, Cole."

  "I know." He grips my hips tighter, digging his fingers into my skin in a way that thrills me. "You're nothing like her, Omorose. I see that now. Magic doesn’t make you a bad person. What you do with it determines the sort of person you are. She used it to trick us, to steal from us, to exterminate us. But you, you use your magic to breathe life back into the world, to make it beautiful. To you, it was a birthright. You had no way of knowing your magic once belonged to someone else."

  I shake my head. "That’s not enough anymore." I look away this time. My eyes study the carpet covering the floor, the floral patterns hidden beneath parchment. "My curse…"

  I pause, taking a deep breath. Cole's hands travel up my back, easing out knots, bringing a shiver to my skin. But even with that comforting touch, I can't bring myself to fully admit the truth, can't admit I've been slowly killing myself. When I imagine saying the words out loud, they taste bitter and wrong. How did I become so addicted to the power that I was willing to die for it? How had so many women in my family justified that sacrifice to themselves? Their husbands? Their children? Their heirs?

  "The magic, it's," I try again, but the right words won’t come. And I realize, maybe they never will. So I try honesty. "The power is addicting. The more I use it, the easier it becomes to forget about the curse, to forget about the pain the magic brings. But being here with you, I've realized something. I don’t need it. Not really. And I promised my father before I left that I would try to get rid of it and all the burdens it's caused for us both. I want to be free of the prison my magic has become."

  He places his finger beneath my chin, lifting softly, pulling my gaze from the floor until I'm staring into his gray eyes, now streaked with blue. "The answers might be here, in this room. We can find them together."

  Understanding dawns. "You want me to help you read your father's research? To find out what he learned before he died?"

  Cole nods, self-conscious about his own limitations.

  But I know the truth. After so many years of hiding who I really was, keeping to myself, cowering away, I know something so many people are too afraid to understand. Being vulnerable enough to admit your own faults, to open yourself up, to ask for help, that's true strength. And looking at Cole now, I wonder if he might just be the bravest person I've ever known.

  "Where should we start?" I ask, excitement coloring my words.

  He watches me warily, unsure about my sudden shift in attitude. But I'm already springing free from his touch, eager to begin. Cole doesn’t even realize what a treasure trove this is. So much untapped knowledge. So much information about the magic. So much to learn about myself and the power residing beneath my skin. This is more than I ever dreamed to find when I decided to come here, and these riches have been under my nose the whole time.

  My fingers jump from page to page, my eyes dance from word to word. Cole k
neels down beside me, following my lead, grabbing the many papers from their messy spots on the ground and shuffling them into a single mound.

  "Let's separate everything into piles," I say, not pausing in my work. "We can put all the scrolls in one corner, all the books in another. Let's make a pile of all the notes your father wrote and a pile of all the other loose papers. Maybe we designate a spot for everything we find relating to my magic and a different spot for anything we find about the golden woman and the spell she cast. I wish I had my highlighters. Or even a colored pencil, anything besides a quill. What I wouldn't give for a binder and some loose-leaf."

  Cole covers his hand with mine, trying to grab my attention. But my mind is moving a mile a minute. How will we organize everything? What's the best way to take notes without all the school supplies I became used to back at the base?

  "Omorose?"

  "Mhmm," I murmur as the wheels spin. Maybe I use some berries to make a dye? Or I could just fold over the corners of important pages? Maybe use various pleats to categorize what we find?

  "Omorose?" he asks again, tone suspiciously uneven.

  I stop for a moment, finally looking at him, smiling when I notice the playful light in his eyes. He's not laughing, but almost. And then his brows pull together, serious.

  "Do you really think we'll find anything?" he asks. And I can tell he's trying his best not to hope, to prepare for the worst.

  I turn my hand over, squeezing his fingers. "No matter what, we have to try." He tightens his grip. "For my father, for your people, for ourselves. We have to try."

  And for the next few hours, we do just that.

  "I think I have an idea," I gasp days later.

  We haven't learned very much, not yet, even after hours upon hours of relentless searching, of scanning page after page after page. There's almost too much information here. Wild theories about how the magic shifted all those years ago. Different legends about the mythical creatures that once roamed our lands. Endless accounts of interactions with kings and queens, detailing the different sorts of magic they possess and the curses that bind them. Fables. Stories. Myths. Memories. But nothing about the spell that can steal magic away, nothing about how to reverse it, and nothing about how to get rid of magic you no longer wish to possess.

  Which is why I'm so shocked when I finally find something.

  Cole's eyes snap up from the page he's been trying to read, finding mine immediately. "An idea?"

  "Yeah," I chirp as my excitement bubbles to the surface, and I reread the page one more time, just to be sure. "Come here, listen to this."

  He rushes across the room like a wolf on the prowl, moving with liquid grace, setting his arm across my shoulders a moment later. We lean over the page together. Normally when we're this close, I find it hard to focus. So does he. The tension is too obvious, the heat of a blush always gives my thoughts away, the storm in his eyes always reveals his too. That's why he was banished to the other side of the study, where the heat of his gaze is the only thing that can scorch me. When we're touching, research is the absolute last thing on our minds.

  But not now.

  Not when we might have our first breakthrough.

  "This part right here." I'm giddy as I press my finger to the page, pointing to the passage I just read. "It's an old myth about a place called the Grove of the Undying. Legend says it was a small meadow in the center of a great forest filled with thousands of flowers that didn't fade or wilt, that survived floods and frost and even fire. Young lovers used to go there to pray for everlasting devotion. The ill would travel there to pray for long life. Until one day, it vanished. Gone in the blink of an eye. The forest grew in, leaving no trace of the beautiful haven behind. Almost as though it never existed. But it did, so what happened?"

  Cole lifts one eyebrow, peering at me like I'm insane.

  I throw the same look back at him. "What?"

  "Nothing," he says too casually, shrugging.

  I shake my head. "Don't you see?"

  He breathes in deeply, eyes roving the room for any clue, any hint that might make him see what I'm talking about. And then his cheeks puff, and he exhales slowly, letting a long silence linger.

  "Uh, no," he finally admits. I never thought it would be possible for a beast to look sheepish, but he proves me wrong.

  "The flowers!" I say, waiting for realization to brighten his eyes, wondering if maybe I am crazy. Cole just purses his lips. My annoyance deepens. "Didn't you say that when the magic was stolen from the faeries, they turned into flowers? Just like how when the magic was taken from the shifters, they turned into their animal forms?"

  "The flowers!" he gasps.

  I smirk. Satisfied. "The flowers."

  And then suddenly, we're on our feet, jumping up and down like little children, chanting the phrase the flowers over and over giddily.

  "You really think they came back?" he asks, beaming.

  I nod rapidly. "They had to. How else could a garden disappear overnight? How else could a thousand flowers vanish without a trace? One of the kings or queens must have died or broken the curse, somehow magic was released back into the world, and those faeries used it to come back to life."

  "This means…" He trails off, overwhelmed.

  I grip his hands, meeting his shining eyes. "This means there has to be a way to bring your people back. If the faeries got their magic back somehow, the shifters must be able to as well. It's proof that whatever that woman did isn't permanent. We can reverse it."

  Cole sinks to the ground as his knees give out. I'm pulled down with him, landing hard on my butt, laughing all the while because my joy has to be released somehow. His pupils tick back and forth, processing words he never thought he would hear out loud, finally embracing the little hope he had kept hidden away all these years.

  I want to let him have this moment.

  To let him relish in this moment.

  So I glance back down at the book, scanning the story once more. As my eyes rove across the pages, more words stick out.

  Undying.

  Petals no fire could burn.

  Leaves no frost could wilt.

  Roots no flood could drown.

  Everlasting.

  "Cole," I murmur.

  He doesn’t hear me. He's too excited, too lost in his thoughts, too far gone.

  My own thoughts whirl.

  To the curved edge of the city wall—how the town was unnaturally kept protected from the earthquake when our magic world merged with Earth.

  To the many reports I remember overhearing at the base—how the soldiers were mysteriously killed whenever they got too close to this kingdom.

  To Cole's mother—how she died so quickly on that long ago morning, leaving him without any chance to try to save her.

  Undying.

  Everlasting.

  "Cole!"

  He blinks a few times, shaking his head, clearing it for me. "What?"

  "The woman," I exclaim, on the brink of discovery.

  But I have to know. I have to see her.

  Cole is still watching me as I jump to my feet and race from the study, not uttering another word.

  "Omorose!" he calls after.

  I don't slow, but with his predatory speed, he catches up to me quickly. We don't say anything. I sense his curiosity, but there's something else, a shared awareness, a shared excitement. He knows that I'm on the verge of something amazing. And he knows exactly where I'm taking him.

  When we open the door, blinded momentarily by the golden glow always seeping from her skin, I rush to stand over the woman. She looks the same. Motionless. Smiling just slightly. Sun-kissed skin despite the darkness of the room. Not a single hair out of place. Perfectly at peace.

  I dive into my magic, reaching out with those sharper senses.

  Immediately, her magic tugs on mine.

  Immediately, my magic yearns to sink beneath her skin.

  Immediately, my power aches to give her life.

  I
drift along the edge of where our two magics meet, holding mine back, exploring. And I realize that with my eyes closed, she feels no different than a plant. With my eyes closed, she is just another slice of nature yearning for my healing touch. With my eyes closed, she could be a flower.

  There's only one explanation.

  "Cole, she's a faerie."

  His brows scrunch. "No."

  "Yes," I cut him off.

  "But why would she take our power? Faeries are born with magic, they don’t need to steal it."

  "I don't know," I whisper, knowing there is still a piece I'm missing. "But she's a faerie. Everything fits. It's just like those flowers in the Grove of the Undying. Nothing could destroy them. Haven't you ever wondered why the back end of your city didn't disappear in the earthquake? Why all the grounds within the wall were kept safe? Why the cliff edge curves in a perfect arch around your home, as though something was protecting it? I thought it was your magic when I first saw it, but you said it yourself, you don't have magic like I have magic. But she does. She stole all of the magic in this city. And she used some of that stolen power to keep you safe ten years ago, to keep herself safe."

  Cole stops dead, face falling. "My mother."

  My brows curl in with empathy. "That morning, your mother must have attacked her, and the magic lashed out. I wonder if this woman is even aware of what is going on around her or if the magic is just a protection spell guarding her."

  "Guarding her from what?"

  "Anything and anyone who would harm her."

  "No, I mean why?" Cole snarls. His skin begins to tremble, and I know he's losing control of himself. But I'm not afraid of the fur and the claws. I grab his thick bicep, turning him toward me. Beneath my fingers, his clenched muscles relax and his thunderous expression clears. He takes a deep, uneven breath. "Why would she come here, steal our magic, and destroy our lives, all for a protection spell? Why would she trick us into thinking she was one of us? Why go to so much trouble?"