Weaver's Curse

Runaway duke’s daughter? Runaway prince? What have I gotten myself into, Kaedwyn wondered.

She was suddenly struck with the urge to burst into hysterical laughter alongside Toby.

“I…” Allie stammered, her jaw dropping open.

“I know right?” Toby gasped. “This has got to be the most absurd thing that has ever happened to me!”

Kaedwyn snorted, barely keeping her laughter at bay. “The fact that the two of you somehow ended up in the same merchant caravan…”

“And on this journey.” Toby said breathlessly. “As soon as you said that you were going to Selah I was all like ‘oh the further away from Reganne the less chance I’ll be caught and forced into marriage, better invite myself along’.”

“I thought the exact same thing,” Allie said, letting out a small, tense laugh.

“Is your name seriously Theobald?” Isaan asked, frowning.

That’s seriously the question you’re asking in this situation?

“Yeah,” Toby said, grimacing. “I’ve always hated it. Please just keep calling me Toby.”

“I can do that.”

“Just keep Allie with me, too.” Allie said.

“So… congratulations on the engagement?” Kaedwyn offered.

“Are we still engaged?” Allie asked, turning to Toby.

“I think so. Technically.” Toby said awkwardly. “We can figure that out later, we have a confrontation to get to.”

“We’ve still got time.” Kaedwyn said. No procrastinating resolving complicated relationships on my watch, prince.

“I really didn’t guess that you were as against this as I was.” Allie said to him. “With how my reputation is back home, I should have guessed…”

“I mean, yeah.” Toby said. “Sorry for judging you by rumors, by the way. I also didn’t want to marry someone I’d never met.”

“Uh… we met.”

“Oh shit.” Toby said.

Oh dear, Kaedwyn thought.

“It’s okay, I’m not very memorable.” Allie said, shrugging.

“You’re one of the most memorable people I’ve met.” Toby protested.

“Allie is. Allaire wasn’t.” Allie said. “Allaire was too busy having it drilled into her to ‘stay quiet’, ‘speak only when spoken to’, ‘don’t display strong emotions’, ‘bat your eyelashes at whoever we tell you to’; to have a personality of her own.”

Sounds an awful lot like being a doll.

“The rumors about my temper spread because I fucking hated it,” Allie said. “And had a horrible attitude about it and publicly fought with dear old mom and dad a few times.”

“I’d have physically fought someone.” Kaedwyn said sympathetically.

“I wish I had.” Allie said. “They thought they had me subdued, until they told me all about their lovely grand plan to produce a potential heir to the throne. I absolutely was not going to marry someone who, by everything I’d seen, was an irresponsible dumbass-no offense Toby-and you know the rest.”

“Wait, you’d already been with the merchants for a while before I got there. You must have been told about it at least two weeks earlier than me…”

“I was.” Allie confirmed. “I ran away the same night I learned about it, and headed for the capital because no one would expect it.”

Smart, Kaedwyn thought. I probably should have expected something was up when she helped me re-disguise.

“Oh.” Toby said. “Well this has been an experience.”

“Maybe since we’re both against it, we can do something to break the engagement contract,” Allie said.

Are you though? The way the two of you look at each other sometimes would have me fooled, Kaedwyn thought.

“Yeah, I think that’ll work.” Toby said.

“We’re on the tallest peak.” Isaan said suddenly.

Kaedwyn looked out over the cliffside before her. He was right.

“We have another day left before the night Lace told us of.” Isaan said.

“We should get to the top and make a plan.” Kaedwyn said. “Set up an ambush, maybe.”

“Let’s go then,” Toby said.

Lace’s words echoed in her head: A fate that was decided for you before your very birth…

She’d finally know what that meant.

It couldn’t be a curse. Lace would have known if some sort of generational curse had been passed on to Kaedwyn, wouldn’t she have?

Mother has enemies. I already know that. But… if this is the result of a grudge, then why had Kaeldra been completely safe?

I wouldn’t know if she was safe, Kaedwyn realized. I haven’t seen her in years, or tried to contact her. If something had happened… I’d never know.

Had there been anything strange she’d noticed the night she’d been forced to leave? There had been fear in her mother’s eyes, she recalled now. Years of bitterness had all but erased that memory.

What decent mother wouldn’t be afraid for a child she was sending out into the unknown?

I’ll check on them once I’m done here. I’ve got to take Isaan back to Telare anyway to try and break his curse. I’m sure they’re both fine, Kaedwyn told herself.

She climbed the mountain, Isaan to her right. Toby and Allie were both behind them, chatting quietly about potential plans to break their engagements.

I wonder if they’re still planning on coming to Telare with us, Kaedwyn wondered absently. I might actually miss them if we end up parting ways.

It was almost hard to believe that they’d both annoyed her when she’d first met them.

The trail narrowed, forcing them to switch to single file. Isaan went first, as he always did.

They reached the top of the mountain, finally. The wind whipped at their hair and clothing, cool and refreshing. A strange basin full of lush grass and scattered white wildflowers rested in the center of the peak. A circle of stones poked up from the center of the basin, something that Kaedwyn couldn’t discern from this distance within their midst.

“There’s someone here already.” Allie said, pointing to several small figures.

“Let’s get closer and see who they are.” Kaedwyn said. “Everyone, stay low. Isaan, prepare to use your power.”

They nodded in agreement, and began to descend into the basin. Kaedwyn made sure her knife was positioned so that she could grab it quickly.

Grass tickled her arms and legs as she crept through the basin, sweet floral smells permeating the air.

A few minutes later, Toby hissed “It’s them. Salazar Malachite and those other two.”

“What the hell are they doing here?” Kaedwyn asked.

From the loud, angry noises coming from them, ‘arguing with someone’ seemed to be the answer. And their seemed to be someone else, or several someones, blocked from their view because of the clump of long grass that stood between Kaedwyn and whoever the noblemen were arguing with.

Oh great.