Page 57 of Of Curses and Moonlight

Odette

The gate’s bars dug into Odette’s back as she sat under the clear blanket of black sky. The stars twinkled, giving the night a serene feel. A perfect evening to host a ball.

She sat outside Rothbart’s estate, holding her arm and staring at the skull on her wrist. Any moment she expected the mark to fade, to disappear completely, marking Zoya’s death.

Her gaze fell to the diary containing the marriage certificate sitting in the grass next to her. She didn’t hold any hope that the queen wouldn’t take her chance when she saw Zoya. She wouldn’t miss the opportunity this evening to finish what she had started when she had burned Helga and her husband to death.

It is what Odette’s mother would have done. Hell, before Rothbart, it's what Odette would’ve done.

She swallowed past the hoarseness in her throat. She’d tried screaming through the gate in case any of the servants were inside the manor, but if they were, they ignored her, no matter what she warned may happen if they didn’t help.

The hollowness in Rothbart’s eyes played on repeat in her mind. The hate had turned from hot and raging to cold and empty.

Something they’d never come back from.

Her fingers curled into the white fabric of her dress. When had she started thinking of her and Rothbart as a they?

She grit her teeth. It was silly. She knew they’d end up like this. She knew what she was doing every step of the way.

Until they’d made love in that cabin. That was unexpected and threw everything off.

No, if she was honest with herself, this had been growing for the past few months. The way he cared for and protected Zoya. How he’d helped Lina and defended Odette from Alecta. He always let compassion win out over his rage and hate.

And then there was the way her body wanted his. The way his gaze heated around her. The cabin was only the culmination of everything building inside them both.

But it was gone now.

Just as Bash was gone. Burned into nothing but a hollowed out cabin standing in the woods.

A killer like her couldn’t expect to have any actual relationships. They’d get gutted out, leaving them as empty as Odette felt inside.

What good had she ever done to deserve a different outcome?

A portal suddenly opened in front of her, and Lina stumbled through. Odette blinked in surprise, rising to her feet as the portal shut behind the girl.

“Odette! Oh, I’m so glad you’re here! It took me a bit to get away from the others. They were watching me, relentlessly. But I finally convinced them I was beaten. I had no clue where Rothbart sent you but I thought, I’d try his estate and if you weren’t there, then I could at least get more beans and look somewhere else, although I don’t—”

"Lina. Slow down and start from the beginning,” Odette said.

Tears filled Lina’s eyes. “Rothbart disguised her, but we could see through it. I tried to say something, but they dragged me into the forest and stopped me. And now she’s there in front of all those people and someone might want her dead—”

“Not just anybody.” Odette picked up Helga’s diary and handed her the marriage certificate. “Queen Emiranda. She’s the one who wants Zoya dead.”

Lina stared at the page. “This says that Zoya’s mother wedded Prince Albert?”

“And Zoya is their daughter.”

She grew pale. “And Queen Emiranda?”

“Doesn’t want Zoya to claim the throne.” Odette bowed her head. “I tried to warn them, Lina. But Rothbart, I’ve lost him.”

“You love him.”

Odette’s head shot up. “What? No, I—”

“You love Rothbart,” she said simply, even though it was the furthest thing from simple. “Just like I love…” She shoved the page at Odette and raced over to the gate.

“It’s pointless, I’ve already tried—”

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