The Cursed Prince, Teresa Roman [the reader ebook TXT] 📗

Nicolai said. He was back on his feet and glaring daggers at his brothers.

“It’s getting late. We are all tired,” Frederic said, ignoring his brother’s question. “Tomorrow our plan will be put in motion. We will be in touch, Willow. Nicolai, please escort our guest to the front door.”

With a grumble, Nicolai latched onto my elbow and shuffled me out of the room.

“One more thing,” Frederic said. I turned my head. “Not a word of this to anyone.”

“C’mon,” Nicolai said, tugging on my arm.

We walked in silence until I could no longer stand it. “Are you upset with me?” I asked.

“No. Of course not,” he said, his expression softening. “I apologize if I gave you the impression I was. It’s not you I’m upset with. It’s my brothers.”

“But why? They only want to help you.”

“I’ve accepted my fate,” he said. “My brothers should too.”

I hadn’t thought about this situation from Nicolai’s point of view. For two years, his brothers had been trying to break his curse, and so far, they’d failed. I wanted to help Nicolai, but even I wasn’t really sure I could.

We reached the entrance to the castle. Nicolai turned to me, his expression soft. “You are kind to want to help me. My brothers have asked a lot from you, so I’m hesitant to ask for more but …”

I rested my hand on his arm. “Tell me what you want.”

“Your friendship,” he said. “For two long years, I’ve been trapped inside this castle. My brothers throw their dinner parties in the hopes of finding someone who can lift this curse. Week after week, I sit upstairs in that room you found me in, listening to the voices and laughter of strangers. Even when I long to join my brothers and their guests, I cannot. The slightest touch from one them is more than I can bear. We are not oblivious to the fact that people find us strange. I can only imagine the rumors that would fly if I refused a handshake or cringed when someone accidentally brushed up against me.”

What a lonely existence. And to think that practically all of Beaver Falls envied the Korzha family for this castle and their obvious wealth. “That’s easy enough. If my friendship is what you want, then it’s yours,” I said, dropping my hand from his arm.

“So that means you’ll return?”

I nodded. “Didn’t I tell your brothers I would?”

“I’m not talking about next week or whenever it is they hatch whatever plan they are working on.” He stared into my eyes, and my insides trembled. “I’d like you to come back tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? I’m not sure I can. I have work and—”

“Come after work,” he insisted.

I’d been about to tell Nicolai that I had a boyfriend when he cut me off. I wasn’t sure what Peter would think about all this. Not that I planned on telling him, or anyone else for that matter. This was Beaver Falls so not everyone would think I was crazy, but Frederic had asked me to keep his family’s secrets to myself.

“Okay. I will.”

He smiled, then looked outside wistfully. “I’d walk you to your car if I could.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I understand.”

I took a step closer to him and kissed his cheek. He rested his hand on the spot my lips had just touched. My heart thudded in response to the gesture.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, then walked away despite the strange longing inside me to stay.

Chapter 7

My mind raced as I drove home. Had I really just seen what I’d seen, or was I losing my mind? Could I be a witch? If I was, wouldn’t I have known it by now? I shook my head, scolding myself for entertaining the idea. But if there was even a chance that Frederic and his brothers were right, and it meant I could help Nicolai, then I at least needed to consider the possibility.

I wasn’t close to my mother’s family. Her father had passed away a few years ago, and her mother shortly after that. Neither had ever mentioned anything about anyone in our family being witches. I had an aunt who was still alive. Delilah had moved away from Beaver Falls a long time ago. She sent me a card every year on my birthday and at Christmas, but it had been years since we’d actually talked. Maybe it was time I gave her a call.

My father was still up when I arrived home. “Everything okay?” he asked as I hung up my jacket. “Those brothers didn’t make any inappropriate propositions, did they? I might be an old man, but if they did, you let me know, and I’ll go straighten them out.”

My face blanched. “What do you mean by inappropriate propositions?”

“You think I didn’t notice the way they kept looking at you the other night like they were trying to undress you with their eyes?”

I laughed, realizing what he meant. “If you thought one of them was going to hit on me, why didn’t you try to talk me out of going?”

“Because I know you can hold your own,” he said. “And you’re a grown woman who I could tell had her mind made up.”

“Well, you don’t need to worry. None of them are interested in me in that way.”

“Then what was it they wanted from you?”

Thinking quickly, I replied, “Nicolai, that’s the youngest brother, the one I saw upstairs yesterday, he’s … sick. He can’t really leave the castle. His brothers thought some company would do him good.”

The skeptical look on my father’s face told me he had more questions. I headed down the hall toward my bedroom before he could ask them. Halfway there, I turned back around.

“Hey, Dad, do you by any chance have Aunt Delilah’s phone number?”

He frowned. “Why are you asking?”

“I just thought it would be nice to call her and say hi. She’s all I have left from Mom’s side of the family, and I haven’t spoken to her in years. It just