“These flowers bloom but once a year for a single night,” said Galvan. “In the morning they will all be gone.” He broke off one of the blooms and handed it to Amelliea.
The girl received the flower and gently held it. A dark-colored butterfly with barely discernable velvet patterns on its wings landed on the blossom in her hand, making Amelliea smile. “Its lovely here,” she said, looking around. “Thank you for sharing this with me.” She couldn’t help thinking of all the servants that had worked for hours helping him set up this beautiful trap for her. How long had he planned to take her here?
“Something troubles you?” asked Galvan, placing a hand on her knee and gazing at her affectionately, his eyes as green as emeralds.
Amelliea sighed. Oh how she wanted to believe him! “Nothing is necessarily wrong,” she said, “it’s just not how I expected it to be.”
“In what way?” asked the Prince.
“It’s difficult to say,” she answered, knowing she had to be careful not to put him on guard. “You have such a strong effect on me.”
He laughed at this. “What kind of effect?”
“It seems I am helplessly in love with you,” Amelliea confessed.
“No kidding,” he said, without a trace of surprise.
“You cloud my thinking, Prince of thieves, and I want only to kiss you even though I know I shouldn’t.”
“Come now, why shouldn’t you?” smiled Galvan, sliding closer. “A kiss is an innocent thing to want. How can I not gratify so simple a request?” He slid his hand along her neck, brushing away a lock of golden hair. Galvan tilted her chin upwards and slowly kissed her lips. The kiss was more intimate than before, and Amelliea felt her entire being pulled into the connection. Somewhere in her mind a distant thought whispered that although she had told him how she felt, he had not responded in kind. Unanswered questions swirled in her mind. The kiss ended and Amelliea leaned her head on his shoulder.
Galvan wrapped his arms around her. “You have come a great way since you first came here, Amelliea. Your gift for combat has blossomed and your skills have been perfected. I am proud to call you a Gator warrior.”
“Thank you,” replied Amelliea, trying hard not to get caught up in the complements. She knew the Prince could change his tone without so much as a moment’s notice. She recalled how differently his voice had sounded earlier that same day when she had accidently overheard his conversation with the King. Did he even want to be here, or was he just following orders? Amelliea shuttered.
“Are you cold?” Galvan asked.
“I’m alright,” said Amelliea.
He took off his royal jacket and placed it over her shoulders. Amelliea received it numbly, musing over the fact that such regal gallantry was no longer having the same effect, for she had learned that he could switch his affection on and off as he pleased. She wanted to ask Galvan how he felt about her but she was nervous that he would lie. Apparently, it was impossible for her to tell when he spoke the truth, since she had blindly let him manipulate her all this time.
“You cannot begin to guess how long I have planned this,” smiled Galvan, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small velvet box with a golden hinge in the back. He rose, only to get down on one knee before her. Amelliea blushed fiercely, her heart racing, and her lungs unable to preform the simple act of breathing. This had been what she’d dreamed of up until that very evening.
“Amelliea, will you marry me?” asked Galvan, looking upon her with total confidence. He opened the box, revealing a sparkling golden ring set with a hefty red gemstone.
“No,” said Amelliea.
“What?” asked the Prince in astonishment.
“There are many things that are not yet clear to me,” explained the girl. “I only know that whatever this is between us, it is not meant to be. Therefore it ends at the beginning.”
“But—” began Galvan, “I don’t understand, are you not in love with me?” He rose to standing.
“I am,” answered Amelliea. “I am totally in love with you, yet I do not think we are right for each other.”
“Amelliea—” said the Prince, “No match could be more perfect! I desire to be with you alone!”
“Is that so?” asked Amelliea. She stood and looked intently into his eyes. “You must not think of what you would gain by marrying me, but only of what your heart would feel in the moment you say, ‘I do.’ Can you imagine saying those words to me with a conscience as clean as fresh snow?”
He looked away.
“I thought as much,” she said gently.
Galvan was about to say something.
“It’s alright,” consoled Amelliea, “I’m afraid I couldn’t say those words to you either, though for another reason altogether. I wish to marry a man who I am certain truly loves me in return.”
Galvan nodded.
Amelliea waited for the Prince to meet her gaze, and when he did she softly placed a final kiss upon his lips.
“Know that I meant every word I said to you,” he whispered, as if confessing a deep secret. “And that I guard myself only because I feel I don’t deserve you. I am more like Gabriellen than you know.”
“I understand,” answered Amelliea, before leaving him to stand in the greenhouse as she descended the stairs into her bedroom. She trembled with a mixture of heartache and relief as she moved down the steps. To choose reason over passion and let go of a person she truly loved for his sake as much as her own had not been an easy decision to make. Yet Galvan’s reaction to her refusal had confirmed Amelliea’s suspicions and had spoken volumes of how he truly felt, or rather didn’t feel about her. How difficult it was to know she had made the right choice only after the fact! Amelliea got the chills for the second time. What if she had said yes?
Chapter 39
The Trouble With Dreams
After her conversation with the Prince, Amelliea slept badly, tortured by interchanging and unsettling dreams. She dreamed that she was deep under water in a bottomless ocean. Amelliea desperately tried to swim to the surface but she seemed to be moving in slow motion, scarcely progressing at all. The dark water swelled and fell with increasing force. Finally she broke the surface and gasped for air only moments before the next wave came. As the new wave crashed upon her and tossed her about, the dream shifted and Amelliea found herself floating not in water but in a sky filled with golden stars. Only the stars were not the far off, unreachable lights she previously thought them to be, but rather disk-like sparkling treasures she could pluck from the air like apples. Amelliea gathered the stars and placed them into a woven basket to take home to her village. She planned to give one to each of her friends and prove her love for them once and for all. Out of nowhere, Galvan appeared floating beside her. He observed what Amelliea was doing.
“You cannot prove your love, no matter what you do,” he said. “Even if you bring them all the stars in the sky.”
“But I want them to know my heart,” protested Amelliea.
“Whatever for?” asked Galvan, “Your love for them, is for you! Besides, the stars already belong to your friends, so let them hang here where they can never be lost.” With these words he gently tipped the basket and the stars spilled back out into the blue around them. Amelliea smiled. Galvan was always good with words.
“I’m going to miss you,” she said.
“I’m not the real Galvan you loved,” he said.
“You’re not?” Amelliea sighed.
“No, though even the real Galvan mostly existed in your mind. You made him up, ignoring who the Gator Prince really was all along. You think he tricked you? Don’t give him so much credit. You wanted to be fooled, did you not?”
“Perhaps,” agreed Amelliea.
“You’re even upset with the real Galvan not because he mislead you, but because he dispelled the imaginary Galvan that you so adored. He killed the man he never was for you, the perfect Prince you were in love with.”
Amelliea was sad. “So what do I d
o now?” she asked.
“It’s simple, you must find a man who is good both in your imagination, and in reality,” said Galvan.
“So my crush doesn’t matter because it wasn’t real?” asked Amelliea.
“Look there, do you see the moon bathed in starlight?” asked Galvan.
“Yes,” said Amelliea.
“Does it need to be real, to be beautiful?”
“No,” replied Amelliea. She realized in that moment that there was something valuable and meaningful in her relationship with Galvan even though it wasn’t working out as she had hoped. Amelliea began to slowly fall downwards. At first it was a pleasant sensation and she even laughed, but soon the clouds began whooshing past her and her speed increased to a frightening rate. She had been a fool to think that she could fly! Galvan vanished from sight, lost among the clouds. Amelliea plummeted to the ground and as she did so she began to feel a crippling cold chilling her body. Her core muscles contracted and she began to shiver violently. Finally, she landed into deep snow, sinking into frosty white. She climbed clumsily out of the dent she had made and pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders. The fluffy fabric was light grey in color and closely resembled the clouds she had fallen through. She briefly wondered where the shawl had come from. No one was in sight. Amelliea looked out across an endless land of winter and realized she would have to find her way out of this terrible place. Taking a few unsteady steps, she fell waist deep into snow and felt her feet dangle loosely below as though there was a bottomless cavern beneath her. She kicked her feet helplessly, and was grateful that the snow had somehow broken her fall and yet not collapsed into the cavern below. Amelliea felt herself sink down deeper and she clung in desperation to the frozen chunks of ice about her, only to feel something tug hard on one of her legs! Amelliea screamed as her hands slipped and she was pulled downward into the abyss. However, as soon as her head went under the snow, she was pulled all the way through into a mirroring world, this time, a world of sand. Galvan helped her to her feet and brushed the sand from her shoulders. Amelliea reeled, trying to adjust to the blinding sunlight.
“Are you alright?” asked Galvan in concern.
“It’s so hot here!” said Amelliea, discarding her shawl. It melted with a hiss on the sand, and rose up in a cloud of vapor.
“Well, I didn’t want you to freeze to death,” shrugged Galvan. “Come on then, I know of an oasis not far from here.
Amelliea followed him, her feet sinking slightly with each step, and sending small waves of sand cascading down the side of the mountain. Dunes stretched out to every horizon. Amelliea wondered how far away the oasis would be. It grew unbearably hot. Galvan walked ahead with assurance, as if he knew the place well. Suddenly, he began to change.
“Wait!” said Amelliea sharply, and he turned to face her. The colors and shapes of his face smeared in the wind and were replaced a moment later by the features of her father.
“Bloom!” cried Amelliea. “I’m so relieved to see you!”
Her father reached out to her, clasping her arm as if attempting to hang on to the dream of her. “My dear, I am concerned I do not find you in the mirror. What has happened?” Bloom asked urgently.
“Father, the mirror has been compromised!” explained Amelliea.
“So there is a third,” he concluded grimly. “I should have known!”
The wind changed directions and the desert dissolved around them transforming into a damp, misty forest. Fog drifted eerily along the ground, masking dark places and pooling in dips and gullies. Bloom was in bad shape. His face was pale and his wet clothes saggy and torn. He leaned against a tree and Amelliea had the suspicion that he was weak or injured.
“Are you alright?” she asked.
“I shall return in two day’s time if…” he trailed off, “if I am not delayed,” he finished.
“I await your return in great earnest,” whispered Amelliea.
“You must be strong, Amelliea.”
“Father, they are after the enchanted wallet,” she rushed. The dream was disturbed for a moment, and then restored.
“What did you say? I did not catch it,” Bloom asked, visibly distracted.
“I said they want to steal—”
“I must go,” Bloom interrupted suddenly, looking past her at something in the background. Amelliea made a move to turn around and see what he was looking at but he stopped her by placing a hand firmly on her shoulder. “Be brave, my daughter, and know that I am rushing to your aid.” He snapped his fingers.
Amelliea awoke in her bed. It was morning. She lay on her back with her hand resting across her stomach, exactly as she had been positioned when she fell asleep. She blinked and two tears fell from her eyes and dropped onto her pillow. She missed her father so! Her heart felt fragile and tormented. Physically tense with worry, she lay for a time without moving and numbly studied the painting brushed onto the ceiling above her bed. Golden stars were painted against a blue background, imitating the sky. Amelliea was almost certain that Bloom had sent her a magical dream, but that was the trouble with dreams, one could never be entirely certain of anything.
Chapter 40
Tracks Without a Trace
Bloom snapped his fingers, ending his conversation with his daughter. He hoped that she would remember the magical dream upon awakening and would take heart in the knowledge that he would soon come to her aid. He leaned against the trunk of a tree, lacking the strength to stand on his own.
A dark shape moved towards him through the trees. The fog seemed to thicken around him, and Bloom felt the temperature drop several degrees. He had followed the strange tracks for several days hoping to gain on the creature. The prints had changed from that of a wolf into that of a man enough times for Bloom to know beyond any doubt what kind of creature he was dealing with. Bloom had been conservative with using his magic to cross over the ever present ghosts that were no doubt watching his every move and draining his energy, for he did not want to carry a single crolackrolite stone that he did not have to. Even still, several times he had been forced to use the crossover incantation to clear his mind and restore his energy. It had been over a day and a half since he last used the spell. The wizard made sure to keep his staff with him at all times to help him resist the mind invasions of the many ghosts that dwelled in the Wanderers Mountains.
The creature charged through the woods, loping toward Bloom. Bloom felt too weak to be frightened, and he looked on with a bland mixture of fatigue and detachment. The wizard reached his frostbitten fingers into his pocket. Having learned why Amelliea did not appear in the enchanted mirror, Bloom pulled out his mirror and chucked it into a nearby ditch. It sunk to the bottom of a murky grey pool with a satisfying plunk.
The wolf slowed its pace as it approached. It was a giant black beast, with shaggy fur and several scars across its nose. It bristled its hair and snarled a chilling growl, wrinkling its ugly snout to reveal a set of large, yellow fangs.
“I know what you are,” said Bloom, switching his staff from one hand to the other.
“Why do you follow me, filthy mortal?” spat the wolf in a human voice.
“I seek only to discover your goals. Pray tell me, are you the one turning people?”
“What business is it of yours?” growled the wolf, pacing this way and that in front of Bloom. He seemed barely able to contain his wrath.
“I am the protector of this land,” said Bloom, “and if you are creating an army, then know that it is I who shall stop you!”
“You are too late!” snarled the wolf, “for nothing—and no one can stop us now!”
“You are wrong about that,” said Bloom, his voice steady.
“Not if I slay you where you stand!” roared the wolf. His shoulders tensed, as he prepared to leap upon the wizard.
There was a sudden breeze, a swirl of fog, and Miss Maddy Alamore materialized between them. “Wolf,” she said, “I would not toy with this one, for he is more dangerous than he appears. Y
ou risk too much! At this important juncture, you’ll compromise our quest with such an ill-timed duel! And you!” She turned to Bloom. “I am impressed in deed to see you still alive, yet do be warned, you know too little to be rash! Are you quite sure you’re on the right side of this matter?”
“Quite!” said Bloom, looking right through her at the beast.
“I cannot let him live, he knows too much!” howled the wolf. “Why should we wait until he has his reinforcements?”
“He is a lonely man,” said Maddy, “I’ve seen inside his mind, and I do doubt he has a single friend!”
“You don’t think I can fight him? I’ve never failed a challenge! He is no match for me!” roared the wolf in outrage.
“I do not doubt you, friend, I only urge you to delay this conflict until the time our goal has been accomplished.”
The wolf leapt forward until he was no more than a few feet away from Bloom. “You are as good as dead!” he spat, before wheeling around and running back into the forest at full speed.
Maddy turned her full attention back to Bloom. “I saved you just this once,” she said breathlessly, “because of Henry.”
The Curse (The Windore Series Book 2) Page 25