The Cursed Prince by Teresa Roman (ebook reader for manga .txt) 📗

“Stop worrying, Willow. My brothers and I will handle Peter.” He reached for my hand and pulled me close to him, tucking a few strands of hair behind my ear. “You look tired. At night, you toss and turn in bed and you talk in your sleep. I’m going to ask Maria to bring you more of that tea she gave you a few nights ago.”

I shook my head. “Not right now. My brothers are still here, and I want to spend as much time with them as I can before they go home. And then there’s my lessons.”

Nicolai frowned. “Maria is working you too hard.”

“She’s not working me hard enough. Peter is still out there, and there’s still the matter of your curse.”

He held my chin and stared into my eyes. “You are more important to me than getting this stupid curse lifted.”

The intensity of his gaze set me on fire. I pulled him into a kiss. I wanted to breathe him in, to taste him, to feel him with every inch of my flesh, but my lingering pain stopped us both from claiming what we wanted.

My brothers left a few days later, and after they did Nicolai once again suggested that I let Maria give me another sleeping potion. I wanted a few hours of peace, a few hours without feeling a thing, so this time I agreed. It hurt having to say goodbye to my brothers, I would miss them, and I wasn’t sure when I’d see them again. Every year, they made it up to Beaver Falls so we could celebrate Christmas together as a family. With my father gone, I wondered if we’d keep up that tradition.

I woke up a few hours later, just as night fell. Nicolai wasn’t in bed beside me, so I got up to look for him. In the midst of my search I happened upon Frederic and Maxim, who were eating a late dinner in the salon.

“Care to join us?” Frederic asked.

“I’m not really hungry,” I said. “I’m looking for Nicolai. Have you seen him?”

“This is a big castle, Willow. He could be anywhere,” Maxim replied.

Frederic cleared his throat. “A castle you seem to have grown quite fond of, Willow. How long have you been staying here now?”

“Frederic,” Maxim warned. “Mind your manners.”

“I’m merely attempting to remind Willow that she has yet to fulfill her promise to us. The full moon will be upon us shortly. We cannot let it pass without going forward with the ceremony Maria spoke of.”

“She doesn’t need to be reminded.” Maxim’s jaw tightened. “For God’s sake, Frederic. Her father just died.”

I left Maxim and Frederic to their bickering and sprinted up the stairs, heading back to my room in the hopes that Nicolai might’ve come looking for me. On the way I noticed that the door to Maria’s room was half-open. I knocked on it.

“Come in,” she called out.

I pushed the door open. “What are you doing?”

A suitcase lay open on top of her bed, half-filled with clothing.

“Returning to Sarabia,” she replied brusquely. “A close friend of mine has fallen ill. I need to be there for her.”

My heart sank to my feet. “You can’t leave now. I need you.”

“I wouldn’t leave you if I didn’t have a very important reason to. I will be back in a few days, I promise. In the meantime, I need you to remember everything I’ve taught you. Can you do that for me?”

I wanted to tell her no, that without her I wouldn’t know what to do if Peter came for me, but that wouldn’t be fair, so instead of begging her to stay, I nodded.

“I’ll miss you,” I said.

She smiled. “You must be very careful while I’m gone. Nicolai’s brothers have been hunting for Peter every day with no luck. I’m praying they find him and finish him off before he returns for you, but if it doesn’t happen that way, you must not forget that you are a very powerful witch who is more than capable of rescuing herself.”

Maria had far more faith in me than I had in myself. I stood there, staring at her for another minute as she continued to pack. Eventually, she turned to face me with her hands on her hips.

“Stop worrying so much, Willow. I’ll be fine, and so will you. Now go and find Nicolai. Wouldn’t you rather be in your lover’s arms than standing in my room, watching me fill my suitcase?”

I backed away slowly. I’d had enough good-byes to last me for a long, long time. It would be different with Maria though. She’d be back. And it wasn’t like I was all alone, I had Nicolai. Underneath the sharp, jagged, painful debris lay a heart that Nicolai had filled in a way I still couldn’t wrap my mind around.

I eventually found Nicolai in the library and quickly crossed the room so I could wrap my arms around him.

“Is everything okay?”

“It is,” I said, looking up at him. “I just … I want to tell you thank you and …”

He furrowed his brow. “For what?”

“For being there for me. For getting me through my father’s funeral and through having to say good-bye to my brothers.”

“I wish I could do more.”

Before I could reply, he pressed his lips down on mine. His fevered kiss made my spine tingle. So did his lips as they traveled the length of my neck. The words I love you, Nicolai were on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t bring myself to say them. Was that really how I felt? Or was I confusing passion with love? I shook those thoughts out of my head, telling myself to stop thinking and just feel. I let myself enjoy the heat coming off Nicolai’s body as it pressed against mine, and allowed myself to take pleasure in the way he made my insides twist and my heart feel like it was about to burst through my chest.

“Nicolai.”

“Mmm,” he said, still