by Nicole Yek
Hywel laughed at her reaction to his slight new change of appearance and nodded his head. "Yes, the wolf ears are gone," he said and held out his opened hands. "And so are the claws, and the tail."
"That's such a shame!" she cried out with a frown. "You looked better with them, now you're just… normal looking."
"I'm not certain whether that was an insult or compliment." He said, blinking at her with amusement twinkling in his bright eyes.
Garnet stepped out of the bed and made her way towards the window on the opposite side of the room. "What was the way to break the curse anyway? None of you have ever told me." She said as she opened the window, allowing fresh morning breeze to drift into the stuffy room.
"That was because we couldn't, it was part of the curse, we weren't allowed to tell any outsiders on to how to lift it," He replied, watching her intently. "And the only way for us to break it is for me to show kindness to a stranger, and that didn't apply to the small kind deeds that one could do in their daily lives such as helping up an old lady who had fallen to the ground or anything as simple as that. The only way that I could compensate for my selfishness for when I ran away from the castle was to sacrifice myself in order to complete a sincere act of kindness."
"And that meant that you had to die?" she asked.
"Who knows," he said as he stood up from the chair and made his way towards her. "But dying in order to help you escape the Wood and reach your grandmother's house had seemed to do the trick."
Hywel stood next to her beside the open window, quietly gazing out at the bright sun that hung in the cerulean blue sky and was shining down on the endless vibrant green trees of the Wood behind the house. "The weather's nice today." He observed, making Garnet look over at him and smile.
"It certainly is," she said and that was when another important thought occurred to her. "Oh, I forgot to ask, but did you carry me all the way from outside, into my grandma's house, and up the stairs?"
"I did," he nodded, giving her a sheepish smile. "With the help of Mathis and the others, of course, I'm no longer a wolf anymore and I no longer have the impressive strength that came with it, and like I've said before, you're much heavier than you look."
This earned a glare from the girl, making him chuckle at her overly-dramatic response to his comment on her weight. "I think that was the only thing that I'll miss about being a wolf, the rest, I'd rather live without."
Garnet's glare faltered and a pout formed on her lips upon hearing his words. "What I'll miss about you being a wolf are your precious and adorable ears."
The boy rolled his eyes at her and shook his head. She ignored his look of disapproval and looked behind him at the old dresser table where her weaved basket sat. She left her place by the window to walk over to the table and reached for the basket. "You even brought my basket up here." She took off the cloth that covered the contents inside and dug her hands to check them. "You should've left it downstairs or given it to Grandma. Everything inside is meant for her after all."
Hywel stared at her back, silent for a moment before speaking again. "Listen, Garnet, there's something that I have to tell you… about your grandmother."
"About Grandma?" she turned around to face him with raised eyebrows. "What do you have to tell me about her?"
He was hesitant, she could tell at least that much from his suddenly stiff posture, and it made her worry about whatever he wanted to tell her. "Garnet, your grandmother… she was the witch who had cursed us four years ago."
"What?" she blurted out in disbelief.
"She was the witch whom we had met at the edge of the Wood after we escaped from the castle, she learned of my selfish reason for running away and… she cursed me along with the others." He explained. "I didn't realize that she was your grandmother until we brought you inside last night and I saw a photograph on the fireplace mantel of her and a little girl, who I surmised was most likely you."
"This… I…" Garnet shook her head, unable to comprehend the information.
A frown tugged at the corners of the boy's lips at the sight of the girl looking so lost and perplexed. He wished that he could wipe away all the worries troubling her with a swipe of a hand, but he couldn't, and reality was cruel in that sense. "I know that this is difficult to take in, and I resent that there are more upsetting news to tell you but-"
"Where is she?" the brunette asked him, her green eyes locked on him but they looked as though they were staring at something else, something far away and invisible to anyone else besides herself.
The boy bit the inside of his cheek, reluctant to answer her question, but the distant yet desperate look in her eyes made him give in. "She passed, Garnet, she passed away last night. After the curse was broken I presume."
His words made the girl freeze and he watched her with guilt in his eyes as he wondered what was going through her mind at that moment. She blinked her big green eyes several seconds later, snapping out of her daze, and turning back to the dresser table. "So she's gone?" her voice was low and timid, but loud enough for Hywel to hear.
"Yes," he confirmed. "I had a theory that she had set her life as the limit to how much time we had left to break the curse. I remembered how you’d said that she was gravely ill when we first met and now that I've pieced that information together along with the others she’d left us such as the hint, I am entirely certain that if you had come a little later, we would have never been able to break the curse and we would end up being trapped in bodies of animals and imprisoned in that dreaded forest for the rest of our lives."
"That… is quite a speculation." Garnet said, giving a weak smile. Her smile vanished as fast as it appeared as she stared down at the red rose that she plucked from the forest the day before. It had wilted, showing no signs of life, just like her grandmother.
She knew that she was supposed to be devastated by the news, collapsing onto her knees and sobbing with grief, but instead, she felt numb and… strangely hollow. As though all feeling had left her being and all that was left of her was an emotionless shell. She was slipping further and further away from reality, and she assumed that her spirit would have been lost forever if it weren't for the hand that rested on her shoulder.
"Are you alright, Garnet?" the familiarity of Hywel's voice brought her back to the present and it slipped a little warmth and breathed a little life into the emptiness that she felt in her heart.
She wanted to smile, she wanted to give him something that would reassure him that she was fine, but she couldn't because the news of her grandmother's death brought back the memory of another's. Another's that Garnet was certain would haunt her for the rest of her life. The brunette's hands trembled as the image of William Jenkin's stiff and bleeding body crumpled to the ground like a great oak tree.
"No…" she whimpered, trying to control her shaking hands. "No," she shook her head, looking straight into the silver-haired boy's eyes. "No, I'm not alright! I… I killed Mr. Jenkins last night…" she whispered, more to herself than to Hywel. "I… I'm a killer, Hywel! A-a murderer! I killed someone! I shot a bullet through his back- I-I-"
The rest of Garnet's body began to shake along with her hands and the boy swiftly moved forward and pulled her into his arms before her weak legs gave up on her. The girl thrashed wildly in his hold, struggling to free herself, struggling to free him of her. "I'm a murderer! I killed someone!" she cried out. She hadn't even realized that she had been crying until she felt tears wet her cheeks. Despite her hands constantly attempting to push him away by the arms and shoulders, Hywel wrapped his arms tighter around her as though that would be enough to calm her even though he knew that it wouldn't.
"Let me go!" her voice turned thick as sobs bubbled up her throat. "I should be imprisoned for this, I should be executed. I'm a murderer, Hywel! I-"
"You're not!" Hywel spoke, his tone authoritative and serious, and it was loud enough to make the sobbing brunette stop her thrashing and snap her head up to meet his gaze. His blue eyes softened as he
looked down at her tear-filled green eyes. "You're not a murderer, Garnet," he started, his voice soothing and gentle. "Yes, you might've shot him, but he was going to kill me, and you were under pressure, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you pulled the trigger by accident, right?"
Garnet gave a weak nod of her head, her lips quivering as she held back the sobs that were threatening to burst out at any second. "But accident or not, I still pulled the trigger. I still killed him. I can't be forgiven for that no matter how dire the circumstances were. No excuses can be made for murdering someone!"
Hywel parted his lips to protest, but he closed them into a tight frown when nothing came to mind. She was right. It didn't matter that Mr. Jenkins had slaughtered countless of animal lives before, it didn't matter that he was going to stab Hywel with a dagger and that Garnet had only shot the old hunter to save him, none of that mattered and none of that could ever ease the guilt that the brunette felt. It could never excuse her, forgive her, cleanse the blood that she had shed and that stained her hands.
Knowing this, the boy held her closer and he didn't groan or mutter even a single complaint as the girl pounded her tight fists forcefully down on his chest. He shut his eyes as her cries grew louder and he swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. Only the sounds of the girl's sobs filled the quiet room, and the boy smoothed the messy hair on Garnet's head and whispered the only thing that he could.
"I'm sorry…"
***
Garnet didn't know how long had passed until her cries finally ceased, until she could no longer weep and her cheeks were sticky with dried tears. Even after her sobs had died down, she remained in Hywel's embrace, and the boy made no indication to push her away. She stared wide-eyed at the blank wall opposite them which resembled the state of her mind then. All of the thoughts had vanished from her mind and it was completely and utterly empty.
It took several moments later for her to step away from Hywel's arms and he didn't say a word while she did so. He just watched her with concerned eyes as she took a few steps back from him so there was short but comfortable distance between them. Garnet blinked a few times before looking back at the boy standing in front of her.
"I'm… sorry about that…" she murmured, her voice low and timid. Her eyes tried to avert his several times as she spoke but she willed herself to maintain eye contact with him, not wanting to be rude after what she had just put him through.
"It's fine, I don't mind." He replied and paused before continuing. "Garnet, about Jenkins… you shouldn't blame yourself for it. I know that you think you don't deserve forgiveness no matter what the situation was, but, please don't-"
"I won't," she said, interrupting him. She gulped and shook her head. "I won't let this drag me into a state of depression, I won't let this ruin my life. However, I will blame myself for it, if only I wasn't so frightened and could've thought properly, I could've avoided it… But I couldn't, and what's done is done. There's no turning back now, only moving forward." She tried to give him a smile but Hywel could see how broken she still felt beneath the cracks in her mask. It pained him to see her like this, but he knew that wounds like this never healed fast, nor was it even possible to heal at all. But she was trying, she was trying to heal, and that at least was enough to give him a peace of mind for the time being.
He cracked a small smile at her. "Have I ever told you how much I admire your optimism?"
Garnet blinked. "Is… is that a compliment?"
He smirked. "Make it as what you want it to be."
This caused the girl to roll her eyes at him and Hywel's smile widened at her familiar playful attitude. He took a moment to wonder why he had ever found her cheerfulness irritating when it reassured his wary soul better than any words and gestures of comfort ever could.
"So," Garnet said. "You're finally free from the curse."
"Yes, and it's thanks to you." He flashed a grateful smile at her and the brunette suddenly felt her face turn hot.
She cleared her throat, flustered. "You're exaggerating things, I didn't do much, and it was my grandma who was the one who had cursed you, so I think you should be angry at me rather than thankful."
He stared at her for a moment as though if he looked hard enough, then he would be able to see what was running through, which he claimed, that incomprehensible mind of hers. "I see, you're confused as to whether she was the loving grandmother whom you'd known or if it was all a lie and she was truly an evil witch who had cursed us four years ago."
The girl kept quiet and that was enough to tell him that his speculation was true. "Honestly speaking, Garnet, when I first met your grandmother four years ago in the Wood, she seemed like a pleasant woman and I truly do think that she was one in actuality. When she had first cursed us, I was furious, I wanted revenge, I would go even as far as to say that I would find her and rip her to shreds for turning me into a monster. But then some time passed, and I learnt why she’d done it, I was a selfish boy who wanted no part of being royalty, there were times where I had even wished that I would rather be born into a poor village family than into a castle with the king and queen of a kingdom as my parents. I should've been grateful for what I had instead of grousing about what I didn’t. So the point is, your grandmother had only wanted to teach a spoiled little boy a valuable life lesson and I would be lying if I said that it didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth of her, but she was never a bad person."
Garnet looked up at him, a hint of shimmer returning into her green eyes which were dulled with melancholy. "However, I will say that her methods of teaching are rather extreme." He added which made her let out a chuckle.
"I won't disagree with you on that," she said, a smile beginning to tug at her lips. "When I was little and had broken something and lied to her about it, she wouldn't allow me to eat dinner until I'd admitted my mistake."
Hywel's eyebrows rose up in amusement, his blue eyes gleaming. "And did you?"
She shook her head in response. "No, and so, I had to wait for breakfast the next morning and treat that as my dinner."
"Well, you yourself were the one to blame for those punishments," he chuckled, shaking his head. "You could have avoided them if only you confessed your wrongs. Honestly, your stubbornness would most probably be the death of you."
"I would prefer to call it unrelenting determination to one's beliefs." The girl pouted, but it only made the boy laugh even more. She crossed her arms and let out an angry huff, attempting to assume an expression of anger and irritation but she ended up bursting into laughter. The boy grinned at this pleasant change of her spirit. When her laughter ceased, she gave him a faint smile but her green eyes held a seriousness to them that made his grin falter. "I wonder, now that you're free, do you plan on going off to a village somewhere far from the kingdom like you had originally planned?"
Hywel was somewhat surprised by her question but he shook his head. "No, I plan to go back to the castle and hopefully, my father will forgive me for my irresponsible behavior and accept me as his new heir to the crown as he’d wanted four years ago."
"Oh… well, I don't think that you have anything to fear," Garnet said reassuringly. "No matter what you had done in the past, good or bad, you're still his son, and he will love you nonetheless."
"I was thinking that he would do so because he's gravely ill and had no one else to take his place, but let's go along with your theory, it sounds much more delightful compared to mine." He joked, and blinked as he remembered that her grandmother was gone and he wondered what would become of the stubborn brunette whom he had grown quite a fond of despite the short period of time which had known each other for. "How about you? What would you do after we go back to the castle?"
"Oh… well, I…" she trailed off, slightly uncertain. "I plan to stay here for a while, to think things through, and clean up Grandma's things while I'm at it."
"And after?" he raised an eyebrow at her in question.
"And after I'll go back to the village," she said. "My b
rother and Meriana must miss me, and I have to tell them the news about Grandma's passing."
"I see…" the boy said, disappointment flickering across his features.
Garnet caught this brief change and looked at him in his brilliant blue eyes. "What's wrong?"
Hywel scratched the back of his head and looked at her sheepishly. "Well, I was… planning to… well…ask you to join us. Go to the kingdom with us and I could make you one of my aides or something of the sort, but, since you said that you're going to head back to the village-"
"I would love to," She interrupted him with a ridiculously huge yet infectious grin. The boy's eyes widened, taken aback by her abrupt answer, but his lips were twitching, threatening to break out into a beam. "But not now, maybe in the near future, that is, if you'd still welcome me if I went."
"Of course!" he grinned. Garnet had never seen him look so happy and it made her giggle. "You'll be our special guest! We'll prepare a grand room, a giant feast, anything that you'd want!"
Garnet laughed at his sudden and rare burst of enthusiasm. "That sounds wonderful, especially the part about that giant feast. You better keep your promise!" she teased and he nodded vigorously, causing her to laugh harder. She calmed herself moments later, shaking her head as though it would get rid of the remaining laughter that was bubbling up her throat. "So when do you plan to leave?"
Hywel blinked a few times, thinking through her question before saying, "Right now actually."
"Right now?" she echoed, shocked.
"Yes, but we can't leave yet," he said, a smirk playing on his lips. "Mathis and the others wouldn't allow it, not until you've said your farewells to them."
Without a moment's thought, he grabbed her wrist and led her down the wooden stairs of the small but cozy house. The old floorboards creaked noisily under their weight as they made their way down into the living room. The sounds of familiar voices grew louder when they reached the last few steps and when Garnet had finally set foot into the living room, she didn't know how to react as she stared at a small group of unfamiliar people as they all stopped their chatting and turned to look at her. There was a tan, skinny man with curly brown hair and a thick mustache of the same shade, a burly, grey-haired old man with a slightly hunched back and a wrinkled yet kind-looking face, a boy who looked about the same age as Garnet with shaggy, dark blonde hair that fell just above his thin shoulders and his face was sprinkled with freckles, and lastly, a tall, lanky and pale young man with his light blonde hair tied into a short ponytail.