But all those feelings were ripped away from me as Lore abruptly ended the kiss and tore away from me. He took a few steps back, breathing hard.
“I’m sorry,” I said, because I didn’t know what else to say.
“Why?” he asked.
My eyes widened. I didn’t really know why.
“I…didn’t mean for this to happen,” I said.
Lore’s brows lowered. “What do you mean? You said you liked it.”
“I did,” I said. “Ido. You’re the one who stopped.”
Now that I had distance from him, the cold reality of why he had stopped settled in. I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling exposed and terribly embarrassed.
“Why did you stop?”
“I had to,” he said.
“Because you are in love?” I asked.
Surprise flitted across his face. “What?”
“Cardic told me,” I said. “You are in love, and you think you are cursed.”
“Iamcursed,” Lore snapped. “You do not know how I have suffered. This yearning…it has torn me apart.”
“Yet you touched me,” I said, my voice taking on a tone I didn’t recognize. “You kissedme.”
He just stared at me. I wanted him to feel as embarrassed as I did now that he knew I was aware of his secret, but instead, I thought he looked devastated, which I found even more infuriating.
“You aren’t cursed, Lore, Prince of Nightshade,” I said. “You are a coward.”
I turned and climbed out of the river, using the half-drenched blanket to cover myself, trying hard to subdue the pressure building behind my eyes as I realized that my brothers were right.
No man would ever want someone like me.
Cold and wet, I curled up near the fox on the pallet Lore had made beneath the roots as quiet tears streamed down my face, and I eventually fell asleep.
* * *
I woke suddenly to the sound of music.
It was an airy melody, beautiful but haunting. I rolled onto my side and gazed out at the night, but there was nothing near as far as I could tell, save moonlight bouncing off the rippling river. I sat up and listened harder, realizing that someone was also singing.
There once was a girl with brambles in her hair.
Beauty they called her, she was so fair.
But she danced to music no one could hear,
Wounding her feet, which were small and bare.
I rose and followed the sound, my own bare feet sliding over stone as if it were nothing more than sand. I wandered down the river’s edge, past large trees and small trees and shrubs with flowers so white, they seemed to glow in the night. The singing grew louder as I neared, and the foliage became denser. I was forced to elbow my way through thick shoots of green while the ground grew softer at my feet.
From quiet village to mountains gray,
Beneath starry sky and burning day.
