13. Bella

The following day, my stomach demanded I fill it. Alysha had left me, for the most part, alone. I suspected she wanted to give me time to adjust and not push me into anything too early. She seemed to see and understand more than people gave her credit for, and she knew I”d need to come to her. So I did.

My stomach grumbled the entire journey to the kitchen. I stopped at the door, and the smell of eggs, bacon, and hot bread hit me full force. My mouth watered, but it was my traitorous belly that gave it away as it announced itself in the loudest of ways. My lips pressed together in annoyance as Alysha”s bright blue gaze lifted to mine.

”Good morning!” she said, a warm smile stretching across her face.

I felt all my annoyance melt away. I nodded in response, then tentatively walked into the room. The smell was glorious. I was practically salivating.

She gave me a knowing smile and quickly ordered a plate of food. It was eggs and bacon again, steaming high and with a heavy helping of vegetables on the side. The fragrant smell of herbs made my mouth water. ”Sit and eat,” she said, handing me the plate. I began shoveling food in my mouth before my bottom even met the chair”s hardwood.

”Thank you,” I mumbled around a mouthful of food.

”You”re as bad as my son,” she teased. ”Always too busy to eat until he is half starved.”

”Sorry.” I finally remembered my manners.

Once upon a time, I had them either beaten into me by others in the Vampire Court or lovingly taught to me by my mortal nursemaid, Nan. Now, I had lost all the civility she had taught me to become the feral creature I now was. The shame hit me hard.

”Don”t be sorry. It”s been far too long since you”ve eaten. I”m surprised you didn”t down three bowls again.” She sat before me, taking a piece of bread for herself and passing me a cup of something warm and steaming. ”We don”t have coffee, I”m afraid.”

I took the tea and sipped it. It was perfect. A dash of milk and lightly sugared just the way I liked it. I almost moaned into the cup.

”Where do the eggs and bacon come from?” I asked as I shoveled the remaining bits of food into my mouth. I devoured another plate, but after my first trip to the kitchen, I realized it was best to ease into a more significant meal consumption. Not that I cared if I barfed on Dragon Boy”s shoes again.

”The bacon is brought in from wild boars that…” She trailed off, studying me as if wondering what to say.

”That the dragon brings you?” I pushed my empty plate away and lifted the cup to my mouth. I turned it to sip around a chip in the porcelain of the teacup.

She nodded before continuing, ”We find that every day our pantry and fridge are replenished with the same stuff we had the day of…” She trailed off, biting her lip. ”Well, unfortunately, that day we had an abundance of chicken and other fowl.” She chuckled. ”Gods, I”m so tired of chicken.”

I studied her, absorbing every detail of her face, from the stubborn curve of her delicate chin to the plumpness of her mouth to her overly large eyes. She was beautiful—too beautiful to be a kitchen girl. ”What were you before all of this?” I asked.

She opened her mouth, closed it, and exhaled before squaring her shoulders. ”I was a maid. I didn”t have to clean anything in the castle because I wasn”t just a maid.”

”You said you were a widow. Was Billy”s father caught up in the curse?” I blew on the tea before taking a sip. I knew I was interrogating her, but I needed answers.

”Yes, but my husband had long been dead by then.” She pulled back the warmth from earlier, cooling from her expression. She became more guarded.

My mind reeled off. What if Alysha was Lore”s true love and their son was Billy? I had noted a slight resemblance between the two when I”d seen them in the kitchen together. It was the same shape as their face and the tilt of their eyes. I suspected if they smiled, it”d be the same as well. He couldn”t have been born during the curse because this place was locked in time, unchanging. I chewed on my lip, debating this information.

An odd feeling stirred inside of me. A feeling I couldn”t name or decipher, but when I thought of Alysha and Lore together, it didn”t sit well with me. It made me feel angry. Which was madness.

She leaned forward, putting her face in her hands. ”You”d think all these years later it would get easier, but it doesn”t.” She took a deep breath, lifted her head, and locked eyes with me. ”I was his mistress.”

I gulped that heavy feeling of lead in my gut, hitting me again as I sat there.

”You were Lore”s mistress?” I asked, my heart sinking for reasons I didn”t understand. I didn”t care. I couldn”t care. I didn”t even know these people. Yet, I felt the tinge of jealousy tainting my emotions. This place was turning me mad.

She laughed so loud she threw her head back. ”Gods no!”

I waited as she got a hold of herself, unsure what she meant.

”I was the king”s mistress. The reason Billy and I were in the basement cellar is because the queen locked his dirty little secrets down there the night of the spring solstice with the intention that we would disappear in the morning. Because the king wanted to leave her to be with me.”

I chewed on that. That explained why Billy and Lore held a family resemblance. ”Why would she do that?”

”She had just lost her daughter and she thought she was about to lose her crown.” Alysha shrugged as if that explained it.

”But she wasn”t?”

She shook her head. ”I had no intention of becoming Queen. As I had no intention of remaining his mistress.”

”When a king wants something, you aren”t allowed to say no,” a deep voice said from behind her. Alastair walked into the room and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. He looked down at her with eyes full of love. Alysha grasped his hand and met his loving gaze with her own.

”So you”re stuck here now,” I added. ”Together.”

”It”s not as bad as all of that. Lore is a good man and has never held it against me. Plus, for many years, we only had each other. We”re…” Alysha drifted off as if thinking deeply about it before finally answering, ”A family.”

”The curse, tell me about it.” As soon as curse left my mouth, the room became tense, and my lips pressed together.

”That is not our tale to tell,” Alastair said, his eyes turned guarded, and Alysha nodded in agreement.

Which meant it was Lore”s.

”The dragon—it is Lore, isn”t it?” I asked. I had assumed all this time, but no one had confirmed it.

”It is,” Alysha said sadly, wringing her hands together. ”Though you won”t see the dragon during the day. We all find it best to stay indoors once the sun goes down. We know his dragon would never harm us. It”s just a precaution.”

I opened my mouth to ask why they would need to be cautious, but Billy burst into the room excitedly—something I noticed was his habit. His gaze took in the room.

”There”s a new groundhog!” he exclaimed. His shining face turned to me as if I was the bringer of the groundhog. ”We haven”t seen one in so long. I spotted it in the garden.”

”Are animals and birds not common here?” I asked, reflecting on our conversation about where the meat came from. They had chickens that appeared magically every day as if the day reset itself. I”d read a similar story. Once upon a time, a witch had cursed a man to relive the same day repeatedly—until he went mad. I shivered at the thought, realizing it was much like the curse here, only there were some changes.

I believed the original curse was meant to leave him forever alone. How did she expect him to break a curse if his true love wasn”t even here? I stared at Alysha. Unless she was his true love and her being here was orchestrated on purpose. In that case, the curse had indeed backfired if, all these years later, they had yet to break it.

Billy”s excited announcement cut straight to my core. His sapphire eyes shone bright with hope, pleading for me to join him. An infectious grin split his cherubic face, revealing his missing tooth. His childlike joy and optimism were irresistible. I found myself helpless against the power of his enthusiasm. After a lifetime starved of friendship, how could I deny this sweet boy?

”I”d be delighted,” I heard myself say, even as my mind spun with unanswered questions.

Billy needed a playmate more than I needed solutions to this confounding puzzle. His loneliness resonated within me like a sorrowful refrain. How many endless days and nights had I longed for a companion to ease my isolation?

Billy eagerly yanked my hand, pulling me into the midday sun”s searing golden rays. I blinked against the sudden brightness as he led me to the garden, a patchwork of herbs and vegetables nestled against the castle walls.

”Oh shoot, he”s gone!” Billy”s crestfallen face crumpled in disappointment as he searched in vain for the elusive groundhog. His chin dipped, and he fought back tears, still valiantly trying to force his smile back into place.

My heart ached at his dejection. What fresh tragedy to be severed entirely from nature”s living, breathing cycle. It had to feel like an island cut off from the tides of life, trapped in stagnation. I wanted to gather him into my arms, to shelter him from the unfathomable isolation.

Instead, I murmured reassurances and pointed out the telltale holes pockmarking the otherwise pristine soil. Proof that we were not entirely forsaken. Billy latched onto this lifeline hungrily, explaining how the animals had vanished when the curse fell. His wisdom belied his tender years, honed from endless empty days with only himself for company. The thought sank like a stone in my belly.

He was sure my arrival had changed things, ushering in new life to disrupt the status quo. Perhaps he was right; I was the catalyst for this curse”s end. At what cost? Lore”s blood on my hands? Billy”s trusting eyes turning cold with betrayal? Impossible choices loomed before me, but at that moment, I brushed aside the shadows and clung to the light in Billy”s smile.

For now, it was enough.