Page 98 of Of Curses and Courtship

Her breath comes out in soft, heaving shakes. “I—I suppose, if you think that is for the best.”

Minetta betrayed me, but she’s not the only one at fault. Empathy washes over me.

I close my eyes, attempting to calm myself. “I do. You’ll find someone who can make you happier than I ever could have. I—” I clear my throat. “I’ve not been faithful to you, and I’m sorry for that.”

“You’ve been with someone else?” Her voice becomes shrill. Pleading. Terrified. Hideous. “Who? Pray tell, who has taken you from me?”

“I can’t say. If you’re angry, direct your anger at me, not the other party.”

“But you must tell me. Is it the one from the ball who stole your attention that night? Has she returned to steal it once more?”

I nod, incapable of saying anything else. Ophelia and I haven’t agreed to share our courtship with others, and I don’t wish to say anything that would bring her negative attention.

“You are making a mistake,” Minetta says. “We could have loved one another. We could have joined our kingdoms and broken the curse.”

“Perhaps—and it may be that I am foolish for ending a sure thing for something so uncertain—but I would rather be a fool in love than a man who is so easily tricked.”

She flinches. “I am sorry, Emyr. I did not wish to trick you.”

Her apology may be sincere, but there is something strange about it, and I can’t put my finger on what it is. She has held my gaze this whole time, but now she looks away, fiddling with the ring on her finger.

“It’s fine,” I say. “I only wish for our betrothal to have a quiet end, without scandal.”

And that requires making it appear as though she’s the one to end it. I’m too much of a coward to ask her to make the announcement on her own.

“Then it truly is the end?”

“Yes.” I exhale slowly, the sickness in me transforming into relief. “It is.”

“Then so it is. There is nothing I can do to convince you.” She presses the ring into the palm of my hand. “I hope you do not come to regret this.”

I grip the cold metal in a closed fist. “As do I.”

OPHELIA

“Did you hear?” Helena runs toward me.

Attending to my duties brings me comfort and distraction, and I can only hope the news Helena brings will do the same. The heavy ache in my bones says that may not be the case. When has anything in my life been so easy?

I hang the bedsheet on the drying line. “That depends. What should I have heard?”

“The prince is no longer engaged.”

Despite the heavy humidity of the gray morning, my blood runs cold. This news should excite me—thrill me—but instead, it stuns me.

Helena smiles mischievously.

How does she know the prince ended his engagement before I do? Did he truly do it so quickly?

Somehow, rumors are already spreading through the castle. Has there been an official announcement? What has he said? Surely he’s not yet told them my name.

I hold another damp, white sheet up in my shaking hands.

“Is that so?” I force my voice to sound calm and casual, though it’s a mismatch for how I feel.

“Mhm. You don’t have anything to do with that, do you? It happened so shortly after you were gone for an entire evening… unheard of for you, I must say.”

“Helena. You will have me beheaded.”