Page 70 of Curse the Fae

“I said no,” he affirms, his murmur hot and gruff against mine.

“Why? What were you waiting for?”

“I wait for nothing and no one.” His baritone lowers. “My thoughts were elsewhere these years past. I wanted to choke the enemy more than fuck a mate. Those urges did not wane or stray.”

“What about now?”

It has to be different now. It needs to be.

I lean in, and so does he. Our mouths part, weighty and burning. Once again, we hover on that brink.

Then he emits a haggard noise and shoots to his feet. I lag behind, rising slowly. Elixir’s dry, and I hadn’t heard the door close, so he must have manifested from thin air instead of using the stepping-stones. But now he strides toward the chamber door rather than evanescing.

Before departing, Elixir glances over his shoulder and says, “His name is Lotus.” Then he pushes through the door and closes it.

Lotus. The snake told Elixir its name.

I hear a faint splash, rush toward the door, and whip it open. Elixir is gone. The surrounding water quivers, rings spreading there. But why would Elixir dive into this lake? There’s no way out of the cave except for the obvious.

Maybe he can evanesce from beneath the surface. That stands to reason.

I hasten to the rim, search the depth, and catch a blurry form with two arms and a tail vanishing. It resembles the same mottled, retreating figure I’d seen nine years ago, back when he’d tried to flee from me, back when he didn’t see me coming.

Didn’t see me coming…

See me coming…

That line is familiar. It’s from that Fable I’d been thinking of earlier, shortly before seducing Elixir. It’s calledWhen a Snake Bewitches a Viper.While thinking of ways to break the curse, I hadn’t gotten to that story yet, as there are so many tales in the Book of Fables. But suddenly, the pages come rushing back from the recesses of my mind.

Deep beneath the water, a Snake bewitched a Viper. For the Viper had thought itself so immune to folly, it underestimated the Snake’s own power. Little did its enemy know, the Snake possessed the ability to see the Viper’s true monstrous nature, to feel darkness in the Viper’s presence, and to act fully on these truths. Thusly, these abilities became weapons.

The Viper did not see the Snake coming until it was too late. From three bewitching strikes, the Viper paid the price and endured an altered fate. Its perception dwindled and grew more repellent than before. In the end, the Viper became unrecognizable, even to itself.

Alas, such tides are not easily turned. Change comes only from the bewitcher, who must see, feel, and enact the opposite of old truths and past deeds.

While the Viper languished, the Snake’s senses became sharper. With the passage of time, the creature beheld the dark Viper in a different light—and turned those tides at last.

Henceforth, no other magic drew them together, nor apart. For once magic has touched two beings, no other enchantments may prevail.

I stare at my reflection, my hair awry and my eyes a vivid, confused teal. Childhood memories and Fabled passages collide. The onslaught comes swiftly. I sink to my knees beside the bank and gape at my rippling likeness.

That’s when the Fable’s words become clear. Toendure an altered fateis to be changed, possibly to be damned.

“Bewitched means to curse,” I utter.

In such a tale, Elixir’s the viper. But who’s the snake?

I note the parallels to the Fable. Although they could apply to many experiences—and likely, that’s the point—they connect seamlessly to our shared past.

I return to that era of The Trapping, both of us nine years younger, me struggling with Elixir underwater. I remember what I’d seen in him, how I’d felt, and what I’d done. Then I remember his sudden change, the way his eyes had shifted and become puzzled, distant, and lost.

Change comes only from the bewitcher…

But if only the bewitcher can break the curse, that means…

I clutch my stomach. In a ruthless twist of rules, Elixir had challenged many humans to accomplish this task, but they’d lost because they were facing an impossible game, because they hadn’t possessed the power to undo the curse. The only person who can do that is the one who’d enacted it, in the first place.

All this time, I’ve been pondering what could be Elixir’s greatest weakness, the impetus for the curse. Yet it was there, in front of me. So simply, it was right in front of me.

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