Page 13 of Of Curses and Courtship

My home.

My stepsisters stand at the top of the stairs, each wearing a wary expression. They remain silent, always silent. I’m not naive enough to think they will stand up for me—no one will. I’m alone, as I have been since Father’s passing.

I keep my head down and shuffle to the kitchen. My stepmother never visits this room, has never cooked in her life, but now she follows three steps behind.

“Raia,” Lady Ashbridge shouts. “Elisa! Come down at once.”

“Yes, Mother.” Raia practically trips over her feet to join her mother, and Elisa follows closely behind.

“It appears you were not listening to my previous warnings,” Lady Ashbridge says. “Allow me to repeat myself. While the fae are in town, no one will leave this home past nightfall. You are to come home before the sun sets. Have I made myself clear now?”

“Yes, Mother,” my stepsisters say in unison.

“Understood.” My hands shake as I pile apples into a blue painted bowl.

There’s no way for Lady Ashbridge to know how I’ve spent my evening, but the pricking sensation moving up my neck says otherwise. Shemustknow, and she’s fuming, even though she doesn’t go as far as to accuse me outright.

“The situation is worse than we presumed.” Lady Ashbridge waves a letter in the air. The purple seal symbolizes royalty, featuring a crown with a golden sun motif. The seal of the Sun Palace. “The fae prince himself is in town—and look at this, we received an invitation from the royal family.”

The prince.

The fae I met in the tavern must not be the only ones in our sleepy town. Why would they hold a ball near Far Water, a simple village of farmers and mundane witches?

“We received an invitation to a royal ball?” Elisa perks up. “How special we are, Mama.”

“Do not look so excited,” Lady Ashbridge says. “This is a dangerous matter. He is here to find his future mate, and you should pray that it will not be you. He will look for a mortal to whisk away into the dreaded land of the fae. Their charmed food will control the poor thing to do whatever the prince pleases. Does that sound like the future you want?”

“Oh, no,” Raia says, quivering.

This is how everyone in my village speaks of the fae. Can they truly be that evil? Can I truly be one of them if they are? The man in the tavern certainly did not seem evil.

My jaw tightens.

“How horrible.” Elisa’s expression doesn’t match the words. Her face is alight as she locks eyes with her sister, and I can practically hear their thoughts.

Somehow, their ideas will get me in trouble. I know it.

“It is horrendous.” Lady Ashbridge steps out of the room. “Needless to say, on the day of the ball, you are not to leave this home at all—not even while the sun is up. The sooner the fae are gone, the better. We can return to our lives then.”

“Yes, Mama.” Raia nods diligently.

It’s not until Lady Ashbridge is gone that I turn to my stepsisters, observing them with a keen stare. “You’re not truly thinking of?—”

“But we are.” Elisa bounces on the balls of her feet. “At least, I am. This may be the only opportunity we have to attend a ball full of such regal people.”

“Regalfae.” I scoff. “Your mother will never allow it.”

“But she won’t know,” Elisa says. “Surely you won’t tell her.”

Raia shifts and glances at the door through which their mother left. “This is our only chance. Our royalty never invites us totheirballs.”

That’s true. I have never craved an invitation to such an event, but I can understand their curiosity. It’s the same curiosity that led me to share a drink with a strange fae, one whose name I still don’t know.

I bite the inside of my cheek. “I won’t tell a soul.”

There’s much I do that my stepsisters don’t tell their mother, and I keep secrets from them as well—like tonight, the night in a tiny room with a white-haired fae, with our hands clasped together. No, they mustn’t know about it.

Ladies should be allowed to have a precious few secrets.