A Ruin of Roses (Deliciously Dark Fairytales #1)(14)

The rumor was that the dragon prince had left our kingdom for that very reason. He’d fancied a noble faerie and moved away to her kingdom to be with her, shirking his duties as our prince and future king. Giving it all up for a chance at love.

I couldn’t say I blamed him. Everyone deserved a chance at happiness, even princes. I doubted he had known the cost.

Maybe he still didn’t know. Maybe the mad king had cut him off. We might have been erased from his mind.

It was impossible to know. Nobles weren’t known for hobnobbing with poor commoners, and we were the poorest in the kingdom. We had the least fertile lands and worst commodities. We were one of the farthest out from the castle. Whatever had happened, I doubted anyone in this village had known more than mere rumor. It was probably why no one continued to speculate. Why I hadn’t heard anything more about the curse once I was old enough to understand the larger picture.

The book from the library didn’t talk about the prince’s flight, of course. It was too old. Even still, it offered some sort of connection to our past, to the way things used to be, and I needed to believe they’d be that way again. So I pulled the book onto my lap and settled in.

After a while, a yawn took hold of me, and I bumped my head against the tree, feeling a wave of fatigue. Hopefully tonight I could catch up on some sleep. It was nearly time to go hunting again, and I’d need my stamina to face down those asshole boars. I was one of the only people in the village who routinely took on those beasts, but they had the best and most meat. It was worth the risk.

A moment later, I opened my eyes…and then blinked a few more times.

The light had dwindled around me. A cool breeze drifted across my face, signaling the coming evening. The book that had been in my lap had tipped halfway off, its edge propped against the ground.

I’d only intended to close my eyes for a moment, but I’d obviously fallen asleep.

I sat up, grimacing from the stiffness in my back and legs. If I’d wanted to nap, I should’ve done it in my bed. Not like I’d been planning it.

As I lifted my book and reached over to grab the others, prickles skittered up my back and crawled across my scalp. Eyes. Someone was watching me. A presence, likely dangerous. I didn’t need a connection with my animal to ascertain any of that. Hunting gave a person a certain sixth sense.

I stacked my books nice and neat, a little away from me, and uncrossed my legs. If I needed to move fast, I could.

Nonchalantly, as though I didn’t know anything was amiss, I stretched and did the ol’ look-over-the-shoulder trick. No one waited in sight, though that didn’t mean they weren’t behind me.

I pushed forward to my hands and knees, like I was going to get up, and then peered around the tree trunk. Nothing. Deserted.

I’d half expected Jedrek to be lingering around. I’d rebuffed him publicly today. He wouldn’t make the mistake of approaching me in front of an audience again, but a guy like him wouldn’t relent, either. His ego wouldn’t let him. I expected him to try to catch me alone and then scare me into acquiescing.

But he wasn’t a small man. If he were the lurking presence, I would’ve seen him. Still…the prickles persisted. A strange feeling of heaviness filled my chest, just like I’d felt last night before…

I froze.

Nothing sexual came with it this time. Only a trickle of fire that seeped into my limbs.

I swept my gaze across the darkening trees, the failing light leeching the color from the area. Nothing moved within the lengthening shadows. The light breeze didn’t stir the branches. All was still and quiet.

That did nothing to shake my certainty. Something lurked in the patches of darkness nestled between the branches in front of me. Something watched and waited.

Chills spread across my flesh.

Slowly I got up and grabbed my books. I didn’t intend to hang around and see what the night would bring. Besides, I had things to do. I needed to attend to those leaves.

Turning, I thought I heard the shimmy of leaves.

I jerked my head back toward the Forbidden Wood and squinted as I peered into the gloom. Whatever it was, it was well hidden.

My nerve snapped. I clutched the books to my chest as though they would protect me—classic bookworm reaction—and hurried home.

I slammed the front door behind me and sucked in a deep breath.

“What’s the matter?” Hannon asked, looking up from his own book in the front room.

“Nothing. Just…” I set my books on the little table by the door and plopped down on the couch next to him. “I got spooked, is all. The Forbidden Wood is messing with my mind.”

“Good. That’ll keep you out of there.”

“I want nothing more than to be kept out of there.”

“The day is dying,” he said, going back to his book.

“In other words, get out of your hair and do something useful?”

“Yes. This is a good part.”

“Where are the kids?”

“With their friends.”

They’d be home soon. The setting sun was curfew for children, no exceptions. Even if a creature didn’t wander out of the Forbidden Wood, there were still the demons that lurked in the village after dark. Since the curse, the night was too dangerous for children.

I peeled myself off the couch and headed outside to tend to the everlass.