“Please,” he said, lowering his head to rest on her hand. “Please, wake up.”
“Alric!” Mia shouted then ran into his back. She embraced him from behind then crawled around him to see Nieves. “Nie—” Her greeting stopped short. “Wha-what happened? Is she okay?”
Alric couldn’t look up. He couldn’t move. “Nieves… open your eyes.”
Wilhelm kneeled onto the ground on the other side of the girl. “We have to get her inside,” he said, beginning to read her neck for a pulse. His mouth opened but he stopped himself from saying anything further.
“What!” Mia shouted. “What is it?”
“Oh, dear god,” muttered Rusuto. “Oh, my poor child.”
Wilhelm looked away. “I can’t help her, Mia. I’m sorry.”
“No!” screamed Mia. “You’ll help her or I’ll kill you, Wilhelm.”
“I can’t!”
Mia grabbed her head as it stormed with pain and misery yet again. “Why?”
Wilhelm got to his feet and began to walk away. “I’m a doctor. I can’t help the dead.”
Alric slid his eyes closed, pressing them against Nieves’s hand. He hated her. He hated her for leaving him. He hated her for going to the Fox Maiden’s tree to keep him alive. He hated her because he loved her more than he ever loved anyone or anything. Alric wanted her back.
“She can’t be,” said Mia. “She said we were going to go to the city together. She promised we would. She promised she’d be there for me.”
Rusuto stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Mia. “Come inside, dear. We all need to get inside where it’s warm.” Rusuto lifted Mia off the ground and forced her away from Nieves’s body.
“Sir,” Leon said from behind Alric. “Do you need me to carry her in for you?” Leon walked over to the girl, ready to help the Head Macter.
Alric lashed out, his eyes still burning with the phoenix. “Don’t you touch her!”
Leon moved his hand away and bowed his head. “As you wish.” He got up and waited but Alric did not make any effort to move. He rested his head against Nieves’s heart, straining his ears to hear her heartbeat. He yearned for her to make some sudden movement for him.
Leon caught site of Aunty with tears streaming down from behind her sunglasses. She had her hands tucked into her pockets, trying to stay calm and worry free.
Bartolemé was walking off casually, sticking another coffin nail between his lips and lighting it. He knew that Alric would need to be alone after losing someone as close as Nieves. He had nothing further to say or do. He would lock his door and live peacefully after twenty-one years of the curse.
“It’s a shame,” said a sweet voice.
Alric lifted his eyes to view a woman he’d never seen before. Her skin glowed like moonlight, her hair burning bright orange. Alric knew immediately she was the Fox Maiden.
“Bring her back!” roared Alric who got to his feet. “Bring her back to life! She died because of you. You and your worthless revenge.”
“Worthless?” asked the Maiden. “Who are you to state that as a fact? You, yourself, tortured others for the sake of revenge.”
Alric’s expression crumpled. “Bring her back, please.”
The Maiden gave an apathetic smile. “This is life, dear. This is reality.”
“Wretch,” barked Alric. “Reality or not, you have the power.”
The Maiden smiled with mischief. “Come with me Alric. Join me in the spirit world and be my lover. I would most enjoy having you at my side, someone so loyal.”
Alric nearly growled. The Demon inside of him seemed to still have root in his veins. “I’d rather chew off my own arm than be with you!” His eyes darted to Nieves then his face softened. “If you give her life I’ll join you.”
She laughed a sound of wind chimes and laughed some more. “You two are so sacrificial. What? Were you not listening, dearest Alric? I am no death keeper or soul collector. She is dead and to me she is nothing.
“Your devotion to her makes me rather jealous that my own lover had not been so strong. If you join me or not, the girl is dead.” The Maiden turned away from him and walked back through the fire.
Alric screamed dropping down to his knees with pure malice. “Zeit!” he screamed. “Zeit!” He called for the small white bird but it did not come to his side. He screamed for the Grim Reaper to give Nieves’s soul back but no sign or sound of him was near. Had the keeper of death abandoned him as well?
“Alric.” Aunty wavered.
“Shut up!” Alric kneeled down to Nieves and slid his arms beneath her. “She’s not dead. I won’t let her die.” He lifted her from the ground and held her fading warmth against his body. “I refuse to let her go.”
“You can’t…” Leon stopped Aunty from speaking with a hard hand on her shoulder. She turned to Leon then nodded her head. She finally understood that Alric just needed time to deal with the loss.
Alric slowly walked away from them, holding Nieves tightly to his body.
“Princess,” Eliza giggled while dancing between the fading blue fires. “She broke the curse, right?”
Aunty spun around and quickly stopped the girl as quickly as possible. “Of course, she did. She’s just a little… tired right now.” Aunty did not want to see the pain in Eliza’s eyes. She couldn’t bare it at that moment.
Had the curse really ended?
Alric was still alive.
It must mean that something had happened to cause the change. Nieves must have given her own life but Aunty could not understand that at all.
Leon muttered, “It’s over, Aunty.” He understood the look upon her face, the confusion.
“How can you be sure?” she replied, taking Eliza’s hand in her own. “I’m afraid that it’ll return.”
He turned from her after sliding a hand down her arm. “Do not worry—once my judgment has passed it is impermeably final.”
Aunty’s eyes widened. “You decide if the curse is over?”
“I decide if Alric has learned to love,” stated Leon, not at all willing to take the blame of anything. “I could only make my final decision on this day. I am terribly sorry for the loss of Nieves for I enjoyed her effect on Alric. Nothing can be done to change what has happened, Aunty. You know that better than anyone.”
“We should tell Nieves’s sister,” Aunty stated dryly. Alric had told her about Erika and the lifeless way she treated Nieves. The empty zombie that sat upon the couch every day. The sister who ignored Nieves for years—even while Boris abused her.
Leon shoved his hands into his pocket to keep them warm. “Erika left already. She does not care about anyone.”
Aunty held the confused Eliza closer.
“What are we telling her sister?” asked Eliza.
“Nothing,” said Aunty. “Let’s go inside and make some hot drinks for everyone.”
“Hot cocoa!” Eliza threw her hands in the air.
Aunty forced a fake smile. “Yes. Cocoa.”
†
Alric laid out her body on the bed and leaned forward. He kissed her forehead, dripping tears along her face. She looked so innocent and peaceful, unharmed by the events that had passed. He tightened his jaw, straining to keep himself from crying further.
“I never told you,” he said, laying his head down onto the bed. “I never got to tell you how I felt about you.” Alric slid his fingers through the ebony strands of his hair.
Alric lifted his head and looked into her face. His eyes softened a bit. “I wanted to go to the city with you, just the two of us. Together we could have traveled anywhere in the world.”
He folded his arms on the bed and placed his head there. “I should have told you as soon as I could have. As soon as I realized how I felt I should have told you.” Tears shuddered from his eyes and pitter-pattered onto the bed.
Before Alric could wipe his tears and hide away from that final brutal pain, Nieves’s hand twitched. His head shot up with alertness. “Nieves?”
<
br /> Life Could Be A Fairytale, Couldn’t It?
Zeit placed a firm hand onto Alric’s shoulder.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Arvalee Knight is an enthusiastic writer and hermit-in-training. On occasion she leaves her house in the middle of the woods for a life of mild adventuring.
Snow Heart Page 24