Of Werewolves and Curses by Emma Hamm
Chapter 16
Together, she and Eldridge pushed the boat back into the waves. The small vessel had done them well on the journey to the isle, although Freya wasn’t looking forward to whatever waited for them in the deep seas again.
Cora stood on the beach, wringing her hands with worry marring her usually pretty expression. “Do come back!” she called out. “The sea won’t make it difficult for you this time. Everyone wants the elves to be on the mainland. Even the ocean.”
“We’ll come back!” Eldridge called out. He deposited Arrow in the bottom of the ship. The poor dog already looked green in the face. “And next time, we’ll bring Leo to see you!”
Freya smiled but couldn’t stand to see the frantic waving of the lovely woman for a moment longer. She needed to get back to the mainland and center her mind before charging into Leo’s room with a single-minded intent. The man would return with them to this isle and he would give Cora a chance. Even just to talk.
The entire court depended on it.
She clambered over the edge of the rocking boat and waited for Eldridge to slip in as well. Saltwater clung to her legs and a cold chill danced down her spine. Leaving Cora behind felt wrong, but the elf had made it very clear that she was to stay on the island. Even if she wanted to go with them.
Eldridge picked up the oars, and they were off. Flying through the sea surf as though the boat had wings.
“You don’t have to row, you know,” she said with a quirked brow.
“I know.” He heaved back, the muscles of his biceps rippling. “Feels good to use my body, though. Wouldn’t you agree?”
His waggling eyebrows suggested she should be warmed by the sight of him. But there was too much on Freya’s mind to enjoy the look of her Goblin King. And he was hers, even when she was second guessing herself.
Sighing, she dropped her head into her hands and let out a long groan. “How are we going to get the Summer Lord to come back here? I think he’s quite happy in his choice that he isn’t interested in whatever Cora can offer him. In fact, I would argue to say he’s going to banish us from this court entirely at the mere suggestion that he should return here.”
The sound of oars striking water continued for a few moments before Eldridge replied. “We’ll find a way. We always do. He’d be very lucky to have Cora at his side. And from what I remember when we were young, he was also very interested in having her. I don’t know what changed.”
Arrow nosed his way underneath her legs and stared up at her with big, brown eyes. “If there’s one thing I know, it’s romance. The Summer Lord is afraid of what a life with Cora might look like. And that kind of fear is normal, but we need to remind him that it doesn’t have to be an awful life.”
“And?” She wanted more than that. She knew the concept of love was terrifying to some, especially the idea of marriage. Even Freya hadn’t wanted to consider herself shackled by a man.
Until now, she realized. If the Goblin King had wanted to spend his life with her, then she would say yes. But it would be a brief life for him, and Freya couldn’t imagine why a faerie would ever tie himself to a mortal who could die at any moment.
Shaking herself out of such thoughts, she sat back up and stared out over the ocean. The shore was much closer than she expected, and the seas weren’t quite so deep. Almost like they were traveling through an entirely different ocean. “I think we need more of a plan than simply talking about Cora.”
“I think talking about Cora is the first step.” Eldridge set the oars down and braced his arms on his knees. “He has to remember her. The feelings she inspired in him. How wonderful being in her presence made him feel. All of those things are the first steps toward convincing him to at least see her.”
She had a feeling he was speaking from experience. That at the sight of the person he loved, the Goblin King could only think of the good memories. She hoped, at least.
Freya nodded and tried to release some of the tension in her shoulders. “We’ll run with that. I hope he understands and wants to see her. He’s a good man. She’s a good woman. They would make a suitable match.”
As Eldridge turned his attention back to the mainland, Arrow touched his cold nose to Freya’s hand. She glanced down at him to see worry reflected in his eyes.
“It’s just...” Arrow pitched his voice so low, she almost didn’t hear him. “What if he doesn’t want her because she was picked for him? What if he wanted to choose for himself?”
“Then that’s a hurdle we’ll have to overcome when we see him.” Freya feared the same thing. The Summer Lord could dig his heels in for any reason, and they had to be prepared for any reaction.
Before she knew it, they hit the mainland. The boat rocked gently, not a single monstrous creature having disturbed them, and she was shocked to realize that this journey had been easy.
Turning around, she stared back toward the isle where she could see dark storm clouds gathering. It was impossible that they had traveled without touching that storm, or those horrible sharks that had wanted nothing more than to chomp through their flesh. But they had journeyed with no issues back to the mainland. Likely their next visit to Cora wouldn’t be so easy.
Frowning, she left the boat and stood in the sands, waiting for her companions to join her.
Eldridge already scowled, staring up at the castle of the Summer Lord with anger in his eyes. “This will be an argument unlike any I’ve ever had before.”
“Most likely.”
He shook his head. “I’m going to see what I can find around the castle that might help us.”
“Oh.” Freya had hoped they might have a few moments together before they started this insane plan. She wanted to reconnect with him, to breathe in the air of his lungs, so she could be sure that none of what was in her head was real.
But she hadn’t asked for that, and now he already had another plan. She knew he was right, as well. They would need more than a memory to convince the Summer Lord to go to the isles with them. And even though that memory would be a major part of their plan, they might need a few additional tricks up their sleeves.
Not a single thought trickled from her mind to her tongue. Instead, Freya nodded and took a step away from him, down the beach and toward the caves where they had first searched. “I understand. I’ll do the same.”
He looked over at her with a frown. “Shouldn’t you search through the castle, too?”
She tried a bright smile, but feared it wasn’t very convincing. “I’m going to start on the beaches. It’s where it all started, didn’t it? There has to be something, or someone, I can find down here.”
Though obviously suspicious, Eldridge didn’t argue with her. He made his way up the beach toward the stairs that would lead him to the castle. Arrow tottered off after him with a sickly smile and a quick, “I’m going to clean myself up.”
Why couldn’t it be easier? This relationship between herself and the Goblin King? Freya wanted to let go and love this faerie man who so dearly wanted to wrap her up in his love. The warmth of his affection should have been enough for the fear in her chest to dissipate. And yet, it wasn’t.
A deep hum in the earth beckoned her toward a small crack in the cliff’s wall. Just large enough for a woman like her to fit through. Eldridge would never have managed to follow her. She already knew who wanted to speak with her.
Freya didn’t argue or hesitate. She squeezed through the crack and emerged into the emerald forest beyond. The trees swayed at her presence, their branches leaning down to touch her hair and her shoulders.
They didn’t speak this time. The dead things in their roots didn’t move. She was allowed to walk all the way to the largest tree in the forest where the man with vivid green eyes waited for her. He opened his arms, gesturing for her to enter the grotto without hesitation. “So you found her.”
“I did,” she breathed. “I think Cora is an excellent match for him, although I don’t know why he would defy you in this.”
“Simple,” the tree replied. “He doesn’t want to do anything we tell him to do.”
“Sounds like a spoiled child.” Freya remembered Esther going through the same phase. Freya would tell her to wash, and the answer was no. Eat. And again, the argument would continue. Whether she wanted something from Esther or not, the child would never do what Freya wanted because it was Freya who had asked.
The tree nodded the dead elf’s head, expression wise and sage as an ancient being should be. “You understand. He is an exceptional boy, and we raised him well when he was first given to the forest. But faeries age a lot slower than mortals.”
“Hundreds of years in the teenager stage.” Freya shook her head and sighed. “I pity you.”
“Pity.” The man tilted his head back and burst into laughter. “That’s the first time anyone has ever said that to me. You are a refreshing distraction, my dear Freya.”
She supposed no one was likely to pity someone like this. An all powerful being who used the dead to speak. She understood how her statement must have been a novelty.
But she really did feel for the tree. She knew what it was like to give and give, only to be certain that the person you’re giving to would not appreciate all the work.
Freya wished she had more time to commiserate with this powerful being. It was making her feel better. However, she had to work on convincing the Summer Lord to do what the tree wanted, and that was going to take a very long time.
“You asked me to come here,” she said. “What else do you need?”
The man shrugged, and the tree lit up with bright, golden lights that swirled around the base. “I didn’t ask to see you, Freya. You wanted to come here. You wanted to see us, or perhaps there was someone else you desired to speak with.”
“Speak?” Words stuck in her throat at the mere thought of speaking with her father. He had been gone for so long, she didn’t know if she had anything to say to him. Would she get angry like she had her mother?
Freya still didn’t know what to say to the woman who had raised her. Her mother was the one who was supposed to take care of both her and Esther, but her father? He was the flagstone that anchored their family down. And all of this was his fault. That damned werewolf should never have bitten him, but because it did, her entire life had turned upside down.
The man nodded toward the cage of roots. His eyes darkened with magic. “See for yourself. Magic can do a lot of good as well as a lot of harm, but you know that already.”
Heart pounding, she stepped toward and peered into the shadows of the root prison.
The fur had almost entirely left her father’s body. He sat in the back corner, as a man might sit. His head in his hands that were still lightly furred. But his feet were human. And the baggy pants that didn’t quite fit his thighs weren’t ripped. He was more a man than she had seen in a very long time.
“Father?” she whispered.
He looked up, and those eyes weren’t his. Not yet. He was still a beast inside the body of a man. But the werewolf had recognized her, and this creature lifted his head, sniffed the air, and she knew the moment he realized that Freya was his daughter. His eyes brightened. His shoulders squared more as though the presence of his own family gave him strength.
Her bottom lip quivered. Her father was looking at her as he used to. With so much love and pride in his eyes, even though she knew this wasn’t really her father. He was a beast in a man’s body, but that didn’t matter.
They were so close to saving him.
She reached out her hand, slipping it through the roots and waiting for him to approach. “Hi, Dad.”
He stepped closer and reached out. His fingers were calloused and rough as he wrapped her hand in his. She remembered his hands feeling like this. Not a single day had passed when he wasn’t working in the woods or using his hands to do something that would leave tiny cuts and scrapes all over him. Such hard labor had turned his grip into iron and his skin into leather.
Tears blurred her vision and she let out a little laugh, staring up at his face that was wrinkled with concern. “You grew a beard,” she whispered with a small chuckle. “You look awful with a beard, you know. Mother always hated them.”
He tilted his head to the side and frowned. “Daughter?”
“Yes.” She nodded, not wanting to lose this moment and watch him trail back into those beastly ways. “I’m your daughter. Freya.”
This time, there was even more recognition in his eyes. He looked at her as a father did a child, with a soft gaze and the knowledge that he had created someone who was the spitting image of himself. “Freya,” he repeated. “Yes. That is your name.”
She wished she could believe he remembered more than that, but Freya knew that was unlikely. He only knew of her as Freya and that she smelled like him. It was enough for now, because rushing the process of healing could take more of her father away from him. Memories took a long time to return.
Squeezing his fingers in hers, she pressed her forehead against the root bars. “I wish I could ask you how to get the Summer Lord to the isles. You always had the best ideas.”
“Summer Lord?” The frown on his face deepened. “He fears the isles.”
It was surprising that he knew. Perhaps she wasn’t giving her father enough credit, even though it was still the wolf looking back at her. “Yes, I suppose he does fear the isles. There’s a woman there who waits for him, and he doesn’t want to see her.”
“Ashamed.”
She jerked her head back up and stared into her father’s eyes. “What did you say?”
He released his hold on her hand and retreated into the shadows of his prison. “He’s ashamed to see her. To let her see who he has become.”
Freya wasn’t so sure if her father was talking about himself, or if he was talking about the Summer Lord. She supposed the words were meaningful for both of them. If the Summer Lord knew that his drunken nature was an embarrassment, but couldn’t stop, then why would he want to see Cora? He’d been the strong, handsome elf ready to take on the throne. Now, he was nothing more than a drunken fool who threw parties for a dying court.
Was he embarrassed to let the woman he loved see who he had become?
“You might be onto something, Dad,” she whispered. “And it’s a great place to start a conversation with the elusive Summer Lord.”
