The Cursed Heir

Chapter Nineteen

Humming a too-familiar tune that left her throat raw, Cassie picked the crocuses that had sprouted across the meadow and wove them into a garland. They would have been the perfect crown for a small, golden head.

She carried the flowers closer to town, having no difficulty locating the spot where the villagers had buried Leora. In the midst of the forest she had loved to cause trouble in, but close enough that it would still be safe to visit. Gently, tenderly, she laid the garland on the spot, just over her heart.

It wasn't enough.

Cassie didn't stand there and cry. She had done that enough, and she had butchered the farewell song so frequently she had grown hoarse. For the first time, she sat down, pulled off her cap, and spoke.

"Once there was a little girl."

She waited, but there was no response. Her heart ached with the absence of the bright inquisitive eyes or the eager interruption.

"She was charming and beautiful, a little golden angel, but she didn't care about that. Instead, the little girl was always getting dirty. She would get in fights with the boys, run through the mud, and play with any animal she saw, because she loved to live."

Cassie's mouth was trembling too badly for speech. She took a deep breath and plowed on.

"Life had taken away her father, but life must have felt guilty for robbing such a wonderful little girl, because in his place life gave her a fairy godmother. Not many children get one, so she really was quite lucky.

"Since fairies are always invisible to mortal eyes, no one ever saw her godmother. However, everyone knew that she must exist, because fairy godmothers always give their godchild a gift when she is born. The little girl had been gifted with the most pure golden hair and most beautiful face anyone had ever seen for the last hundred years. She was also given the gift of love. She was utterly filled with it, so that every person who met her could not help but to love her. She was sweet and rambunctious, and excelled at everything she tried. She was given the gift of laughter and charm, and was a most precocious child.

"Her fairy godmother was very generous."

Warmth trickled down one cheek; Cassie swiped it away. She was tired of crying. She was tired of keeping this story in.

"She was also brave. One day she was crashing through the forest, as she always did, when she spotted a cottage. A nosey creature by nature, she quietly approached the unusual little house."

Cassie answered the question that would always remain unspoken.

"What made it unusual was its color. Instead of grey stone or brown wood, it was different shades of red, like you would see in a fireplace. In some places it was yellow, or even dark enough to be black, or the glowing red of embers. It was a house made of fire, but the fire did not move."

A nearby bird sang a melancholy tune, but Cassie ignored it. She bent down to brush some dirt away from the flowers.

"What sort of material the house was made from, the girl could not tell. It did not look dangerous, however, and when the girl placed her hand against the wall of the cottage, it was cool to the touch. Slowly she peeked over the windowsill, to see who lived here."

Cassie shuddered away from the memory of the first time she had seen Leora, with those bright eyes peering into Aldine's window.

"The room was empty of any living creature, but the wood in the fireplace was still smoking, and there was a rocking chair in the corner that was still moving back and forth. Someone had been there recently.