Of Werewolves and Curses by Emma Hamm
Chapter 22
“When do you think he’ll get here?” Cora asked.
The pretty elf looked over her shoulder at Freya, who sat on the side of her bed. Cora was delicately twisting the braids on her head into little bubbles that were both gorgeous and strange to Freya.
She’d offered to help prepare Cora for when the Summer Lord would get here, but Cora had laughed and said Freya wouldn’t know how to do her hair. Watching now, Freya realized the other woman was very correct. She had no idea what to do with hair that curly.
So she’d sat on the edge of the bed with her hands under her bottom so she didn’t touch anything.
What had Cora just asked? Oh right.
“He didn’t say, but considering the rushing handmaidens that keep running through the room, I’m going to guess he’s informed them that he’ll arrive today.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “He said to tell you that he was coming. I think that bodes well.”
“I’m not getting my hopes up.” Cora wrung her hands, then finished up the last braid. She kept touching the bubbles on her head, then turned toward Freya with a frown on her face. “Do you think he’ll like this? Or should I do something else?”
Considering it had taken many hours to do what she’d already done, Freya wasn’t sure she’d have the opportunity to do something different.
But she couldn’t tell Cora that. The poor woman would fall into a dead faint.
She stood up and approached Cora with a soft smile on her face. Gently, Freya turned the elf to look into the mirror at her own reflection. “You’re a beautiful woman and he loves you already. The sight of you is going to take his breath away, even if you were wearing a burlap sack.”
Cora stared at herself and touched a finger to her glistening cheek. “Do you really think that?”
How had Freya ever thought this woman would entertain a relationship with Eldridge? Cora continually made it so very clear that she was in love with Leo. That she would wait for ages until he came to his senses and saw the stunning woman who was in front of him. Waiting for ages so that he would love her the way she loved him.
Freya smiled and patted Cora’s shoulder. “I do. I think he’s going to walk over the beach and fall to his knees in the sand because he’s a fool for waiting this long. You’re going to make him so happy. And not by listening to whatever Eldridge told you to do. You’ll make him happy just by being yourself.”
And there it was. Cora’s expression crumbled, and she stared down at her fingers in her lap. How dare Eldridge make her feel like she couldn’t be herself!
Freya retreated to the bed and sat down with a hard thump. “What did Eldridge say?”
“He said to be harder than I normally would because it’s been two hundred years and I have every right to be angry.” Cora met her gaze in the mirror, her expression filled with rage. “And I am furious, Freya. It has taken him this long to come here and... well. What is different this time?”
“The world as the two of you know it might end?” A thousand possibilities came to mind on why he was doing all this, but Freya realized that Cora’s anger was justified as well. “I think you can be angry at him and kind at the same time. You don’t have to attack him the moment he steps on this isle just because he’s made mistakes. He knows that. What he’s doing right now is holding out an olive branch so you two might talk about everything that’s happened and figure out a way to fix it.”
“I don’t know how to fix it.” Cora lifted her hands as if she had hoped she could grasp something in them. “The threads of our lives are intertwined as no other lives are. I feel the forest wanting to throw him into the ground and I know the sea is angry with me. But what if all this time apart has turned us into very different people? What if neither of us want to be with each other?”
“Then you won’t.” Freya knew that to be the truth, at the very least. No matter how hard she wanted them to be together, the reality was that no one could force them to fall back in love. “A lot has changed, I agree with that. But if you listen to Eldridge’s advice, the first thing that Leo will see is an angry woman who cannot forgive him. That’s a lasting memory that will take years, or perhaps centuries, to heal.”
“You’re right.” Cora nodded firmly. “You’re absolutely right. I should be myself.”
“I think once you two get some time alone, you’ll be surprised at how much hasn’t changed. Sure, there are a lot of experiences that have made the two of you different people. But I know the children you once were are still in there somewhere. You’ll know what to do when you see him.”
Freya would have said more, but a pounding knock on the door interrupted her. A handmaiden burst in without waiting for them to call for her.
“The Summer Lord approaches!” she said excitedly. “He’s here! He’s coming on a ship, with countless other elves from the court behind him!”
Right, well, she should have told him to be a little less showy than that. Poor Cora already looked like she was going to faint.
Freya rolled her eyes up to the ceiling and tried very hard to stay calm and collected. Both fae were centuries older than she was, and they needed their hands held for love. Romance should have been easy for them by now, and instead, they only excelled at mincing words and twisting the truth.
“Everything is going to work out,” she said again. “Cora. Listen to me, we need to get you dressed and ready to see Leo. Do you think you can do that?”
Cora’s face said she couldn’t. Her entire being radiated with fear and discomfort. And Freya didn’t blame her.
After all, Cora had been on this isle for two hundred years by herself. Now she had a few handmaidens, and that was likely fun at first. Finally, some people for her to talk to. But the reality of having an entire court on her doorstep, with the man she was supposed to marry... That was a different story.
Freya pinched the bridge of her nose. “You stay here. Get ready and when you are finished, talk with Eldridge. Let him know that I went to greet Leo and I’m getting him settled. We will not push you, Cora. You need to do these things on your own, and only when you are ready.”
In the meantime, she had to be the one that raced down the beach like a crazy person. What was Leo thinking? He was going to overwhelm Cora and then they all were going to be sent from this shore. She would end up having to start this process all over again and honestly, Freya was about done with these two lovebirds who had no idea what they wanted out of life. Or each other.
“Wait!” Cora called out. “Wait, Freya! I’m coming with you.”
Cora stood up and Freya turned to see the Summer Lady standing behind her. And that was exactly what Cora was.
With a simple hand flick, magic poured a golden dress over her skin. The sheer fabric was stunning and looked like molten metal had been formed in the shape of her body. The dress hugged her curves, accentuating her hourglass waist. Her hair was done perfectly, not a strand out of place, and her expression was one of serene confidence.
This was exactly what Freya had thought to find at the hand of the Summer Lord. A Lady who commanded attention, and if a person didn’t bend their knee to her, she would summon a storm to sweep them away.
Her eyes must have been bugging out of her head, and maybe that was rude, but Freya couldn’t stop staring at Cora.
“My goodness,” she whispered. “Look at you.”
“Does it look silly?” Cora brushed a hand down her stomach. “I always thought this would be what I wore, but I can change it.”
“No. Don’t you change a single thing. You look like a goddess.” Leo was going to trip over his own tongue when he saw what he’d been missing all this time. The fool had taken far too long, but thank goodness their kind was long lived.
At least, Freya assumed they were. Were the fae immortal, or did they have only a certain length to their life?
She’d have to ask Eldridge. The answer seemed rather important, she’d just never wondered what the truth was before.
Cora swept out of the room with Freya on her tail. Almost all the handmaidens were waiting for her, holding glowing crystals in their hands. “My Lady,” one said, holding out a crystal for Cora to take. “We’ve decorated the entire village with these. It will look like the sun itself shines from your home. He will be so pleased when he sees you.”
Though Cora took the offered crystal, there was a darker expression on her face. “Good. I want him to think this isle is beautiful.”
Freya read between the lines. The Summer Lady worried that her Lord would find her wanting. And that wasn’t fair. Not when there was so much good in her.
She reached out and touched a hand to Cora’s back. Whispering so the handmaidens didn’t over hear, she said, “You’re going to make it through tonight. And then, when it’s all said and done, I’ll think you’ll have found this all very easy.”
“Thank you, Freya,” Cora replied. “I couldn’t do this without you.”
They walked through the halls until they met Eldridge, who waited for them at the entrance to the village. He wore his customary black velvet suit with the gold foiled edges, bowing low as they approached. “My Lady. You look exquisite, as always.”
“And you flatter me, Goblin King.” Cora’s cheeks darkened. “But thank you. I believe the Summer Lord will be impressed with the show you have provided.”
“It has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with you, if he’s impressed. His Lady has been waiting for a very long time, and he needs to see what a fool he was to keep you on this isle when he could have had you by his side.” Eldridge’s gaze met hers, and he grinned. “Like I feel every time this one lingers too far from my gaze. Freya? A moment, if you would.”
Though a part of her very much wanted to hear what he had to say, Freya also feared they would get in an argument. And the frustrated part of her also realized that she was still angry at him for leaving her on the rocky shore when he could have been with her. Just as he wanted to be now.
Instead, she shook her head and nodded toward Cora. “They need us to be there when they finally see each other again, Eldridge. Isn’t that what you said when we last spoke?”
His brows drew down as he thought through her words. She could only hope that he wouldn’t realize her frustration about how he’d treated her. Because then he would drag her to the side and make her talk about how she was feeling.
Freya wasn’t ready to talk about that, yet. She was still frustrated. Angry. Upset. And some of those emotions were her own doing because she had scried and seen them doing things that she didn’t like. And sure, that wasn’t fair of her to put that on him. But it didn’t make it any easier.
“Well,” he said, clearing his throat. “Then hold on a second and let me make sure you’re presentable to the Summer Lord.”
She tried to ignore the disappointment in his eyes as he waved a hand. The magic settled over her shoulders in a wave, and the gown that appeared on her body outdid any magic he’d performed thus far. Like him, she was in dark clothing, but he’d covered the fabric with tiny diamonds that sparkled as she moved. The low neckline was tasteful but still showed off an ample amount of her chest.
She lifted a brow and stared at him, wondering why he’d chosen this dress for her. It certainly showed more of Freya’s skin than she was comfortable with. And bare arms?
Cora started off ahead of them as Freya took Eldridge’s offered arm. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I know this is Cora’s moment. But I intend on reminding the Summer Lord that while his bride is beautiful, mine is far more powerful.”
She blushed, her cheeks heating unbidden at his words. And it was entirely natural for her entire body to flush when he was that close to her. She missed the feeling of his skin against hers and the way he would chuckle in her ear as he moved above her.
But now was not the time for such thoughts, not when she was already too nervous to think straight.
Freya sighed and tugged him toward the walkway that would lead them to the ocean. “Come on, Goblin King. We need to greet the Summer Lord and make sure these two lovebirds don’t kill each other when they do meet after all this time.”
He wrapped her hand in his, linking their fingers even as she tugged him to move faster. “The lovebirds should be able to handle themselves considering their advanced age. Are you sure we can’t have a few moments to ourselves? I need to talk with you Freya.”
And she needed to chew his ear off in anger when they were finally done with this mess. Didn’t he see how mad she was at him? Surely he could sense the anger radiating through her entire body.
“Soon,” she replied. “You can have your moment soon, Eldridge.”
