Withering Rose (Once Upon A Curse Book 2) (15 page)

Cole looks over his shoulder, reaching out
to where I'm stuck.

"Dance with me," he whispers.

My gaze drops to his. I don't understand the
pain in his eyes. But I understand the hope. And it guides me to
him. Our fingers wrap together, holding tight, and he leads me to
the center of the floor.

"There's no music," I murmur shyly,
conscious of the many eyes upon us.

Cole spins me toward him, grasping my small
waist with his strong hand. The heat of his palm pushes through the
fabric, burning as though there is nothing between us at all. His
other hand still clutches me, holding our arms to the side. And
then he leans in, close enough that all I see and sense is him, the
broad expanse of his chest, the woodsy, wild smell that clings to
him, the rumble of words deep in his chest.

He presses his lips gently against my ear
and whispers, "There will be."

The first howl rises almost eerily in the
silence. But another joins. Then another. The song reminds me of
the one I heard deep in my soul the first time I stepped into this
room, dancing with my memories before the sound of a distant laugh
stopped me.

This time, no one is laughing.

Cole spins us, round and round, until the
entire room becomes a blur of light and dark shadows, and he is the
only thing I see clearly. His hands guide me confidently, pushing
and pulling so I'm stepping and twirling wherever he wants me to
go. His touch grounds me. And his eyes grow brighter and brighter
the more we move. Every time he whirls me away, I search for those
shimmering silver orbs, the center of my perfect storm.

The music shifts with our dance, tempo
becoming faster and faster as howls turn to barks and yaps of joy.
Cole pushes me away, catching both of my hands in his, and we spin.
I grin first. Then he does. And before we know it, we're laughing,
adding our own notes to the song. My head falls back as I close my
eyes, breathing in the moment. Our hands begin to slip as the
pressure mounts, but we keep stepping quicker and quicker, twirling
more and more.

We snap apart.

I'm not even afraid as I stumble dizzily,
off-balance in my gown. The world is still spinning. I can't make
out up or down. But I know Cole will catch me even before his arms
sweep me off my feet, still dancing as I reach up, holding the back
of his neck. I press my cheek to his chest, listening to the rapid
thud of his heart beating.

We slow.

He holds my waist firmly but releases my
legs so they drift to the floor, leaving my whole body pressed
against him.

I wait with my eyes closed until the room
finally stops spinning.

When I open them, Cole and I are alone.

My fingers glide up into his thick, black
hair. His eyes close as his body rumbles with that purr I like so
much. With those stormy irises hidden, my gaze wanders, following
my fingers as they trace the scars along his skin, the ones that
have become so familiar I hardly notice them. I just barely brush
the edge of the thick lines digging into his temples when his eyes
pop open.

I should forget it. I should enjoy this
perfect moment. I should push the question away. But I can’t. It
slips out before I can stop it.

"How'd you get these?"

Cole jerks his head away from my touch,
stepping back as his hands fall away. Cool air brushes against me,
bringing a shiver to my lonely limbs.

Whatever spell we cast, I broke it.

"We should finish dinner," he mumbles.

"Cole." I stretch my arm, but he moves out
of reach. I turn away, hiding the hurt I can't help but feel at his
rejection.

When I look up from the floor, my eyes land
on an image that stops me.

My mother.

But I blink, knowing that can’t be right.
And I realize it's me. My reflection. I've never looked more like
her than I do right now, in this gorgeous gown, with my hair pinned
up, a grown woman. Tears spring, but when I look into my eyes,
they're still those of a lonely child. I have her hair. Her nose.
Her blushing skin. Her magic. But my watery umber irises reveal the
truth. I don't have her wisdom. I don't have her strength. I don't
have her courage.

I'm a girl playing dress up.

Always pretending.

Always hiding.

I might not be running any more, but I'm
still too afraid to stand up for myself. I wanted happiness. I
wanted acceptance. I wanted them so badly I didn't care about the
cost, I didn’t care how much of myself I had to shirk in the
process.

Be brave.

A voice I haven't heard in ten years
whispers to me.

My darling Omorose, you'll learn to be
brave.

Her parting words to me. A promise I've yet
to live up to.

I came to the beast for sanctuary. I came to
find a place where I would be accepted for who I am. I came for
answers. To learn about myself. To finally grow into the woman I'm
supposed to be. To find my strength.

"Where'd you get those scars?" I ask again,
softly.

And then I turn, standing upright with my
shoulders pulled proudly back as I face him. I'm done swallowing my
questions. I won't accept a friendship with parameters. I won't
consent to half-truths. I won't tolerate a relationship based on
lies any longer.

"Where'd you get those scars?" I say again,
louder.

Cole takes a step back, stormy gray eyes
begging me to stop.

But I can’t. I won't.

"What does the solstice really celebrate?" I
ask. "And why haven't you been able to celebrate it in years?"

Cole grits his teeth. The muscles in his
cheek coil as his jaw clenches, sealing the answers away. But his
silence just spurs me on. And all the questions I've locked away
come surging out.

"Why won't you talk about magic? What
happened to your mother? Who is that woman you wanted me to stay
away from? Why are there no other people?"

One after another after another.

I lose track as they tumble through my
lips.

By the time I'm done, my throat is scratchy
from shouting, and I'm breathing heavy with exertion.

Cole's hands are curled into tight fists.
His biceps bulge against the fabric of his jacket. His entire being
trembles with pent-up rage. But I want him to let it out. To let
whatever is holding him back go. To just speak to me. Anything but
this silence.

His lips tremble.

They open.

Nothing comes out.

We face each other from two different sides
of an impassable precipice. I want so badly to yank him over, but
he's stubborn and stronger than me, and I know I can’t force him to
leap if he doesn’t want to.

So instead I ask one more question.

The most important one.

The one that has somehow become more
terrifying than all the rest.

"Do you trust me?"

It comes out as a whisper.

Cole steps back as though my words are a
physical punch to his gut. He winces. And I can see the yearning to
give in deep in his eyes. He wants to trust me. He wants so badly
to trust me.

But he doesn't.

I don't think he ever will.

And that realization stabs my heart like a
knife.

My head shakes back and forth, but I hold
the rest in. I don't let him see me cry. I give him one more
chance. "Do you trust me, Cole?"

Silence.

What is holding him back?

What secret from his past is tugging him
away?

I'm not sure I'll ever know.

Before another moment passes, Cole's body
ripples. The man disappears, replaced by the beast within. And he
runs away. Leaving me in the middle of an empty ballroom, standing
like a fool in a gorgeous gown, more alone than I've ever felt
before.

I'm leaving for good this time.

As I watch the bear disappear behind the top
edge of the steps, I tell myself that was the last straw.

It's time to admit my mistake.

I should never have come here.

I should go home to my father.

We should figure out a solution
together.

So, I'm leaving.

But with my newfound strength, I decide
there is no way I'm leaving without some answers. Which is why I
find myself marching down a hall I know I'm prohibited from
entering, toward a door I'm not allowed to open, to a woman I'm
forbidden to touch.

When my eyes land on the golden glow still
seeping from beneath the entry, a reckless smile spreads against my
cheeks.

I feel wild with abandon.

And I like it.

Cole is nowhere to be found as I push my way
inside and lay my eyes on the sleeping woman one last time. Her
magic calls out to me just as it had before, tempting, magnetic as
it pulls me closer. The longer I stand in the doorway, the more
mesmerized I become. My brain turns to mush as my thoughts blend
and fuzz, leaving bland awareness behind. The minutes tick by. I
find that I'm leaning over her, not really sure how or when I moved
from the door to the bed. My hand stretches for the shimmery film
glowing just above her skin.

But I stop just before making contact. The
magic whispers to me, urging me to touch her, to shift closer, to
give in. Yet something deep in the back of my mind stops me, the
memory of what happened last time, how my magic poured freely into
her, how I lost control of myself.

"Who are you?" I whisper.

Cole's mother?

Sister?

I search for some familiarity in her face,
but there's no resemblance. Her golden skin, her sun-kissed hair,
everything is entirely opposite Cole's moonlight hues. And just as
before, her features appear fluid, shifting every few seconds,
pulsing from young to old, so one minute she looks sixteen and the
next she looks thirty and the next fifty. Always beautiful, always
refined, always glowing with an inner light. But also clouded by
the magic.

"Why doesn't he want me to go near you?" I
murmur. "How much do you know about magic? What could you teach
me?"

Her power tugs at me, hinting that I can
find all the answers if I just move a little closer.

Would she have answers for me?

Could she be the reason I was meant to come
here all along?

I don't find out.

Something yanks on my skirt from behind,
throwing me off-balance so I fall backward, landing hard against
the ground. The pulling continues until I'm rolling across the
floor, closer to the door.

"Cole!" I shout.

But when I turn, it's not him ushering me
away. The snow leopard with the golden eyes tears at the bottom of
the skirt with its sharp teeth.

"Stop," I order, tugging on the chiffon,
trying to free myself. It rips noisily, but before I have time to
stand, the leopard just takes another chunk within its jaw and
keeps stepping backward, carrying me away.

"Let go," I try again. It pauses, watching
me with those eyes that are too intelligent to be anything but
human. "He doesn’t want me here," I whisper sadly. "He doesn't want
the real me, only part of me, and that's not enough anymore. I just
came here to see if I could find any information about the magic
one last time before I leave."

The leopard shakes its thick head, then
steps forward, pressing its forehead into my palm until my fingers
gently rub its downy fur.

"I'm sorry," I murmur, not really sure why
I'm apologizing. Cole gave up on me. Not the other way around.

The leopard steps back gracefully, giving me
room to stand. I take one last look over my shoulder toward the
woman, but I realize there are no answers here, only more
questions, and I don't have the patience to stick around and search
in vain any longer. So I roll to my feet, despondently looking down
at the shredded edges of my skirt. A small part of me thought about
keeping it as a token of an evening that started out so
beautifully. But I don't think I want to anymore.

When I reach the end of the hall, I try to
turn right, back in the direction of my room. I need to change. I
need to plan. By dawn, I want to be gone.

But as I take a step, the leopard growls
underneath its breath and leaps in front of me, blocking the
hallway. I try to walk around the massive animal, but it's faster
than me and easily cuts off any path I try to take.

"I don't want to see him," I say, because I
know exactly where it's trying to take me. But it whines and bares
its teeth in a frustrated sort of way. And then a new set of paws
yank at me from behind, pulling on the skirt, and I turn to see the
wolves. They grumble with the leopard, whining and growling as they
pull me toward the left, toward Cole's bedroom.

I cross my arms in protest, but there's
little else I can do as they use their jaws to forcefully pull me
in a direction I really don't want to go.

I could use my magic.