He crouched beside her, gently taking the next pot from the floor and rolling it in cloth without saying a word.
They worked in silence for a few minutes. Not the strained kind, but something softer like the quiet that settles after a storm has passed, even if more clouds hang on the horizon.
“I’m sorry,” he said at last, his voice low.
Aura looked at him, her brows drawn. “For what?”
“For this. For uprooting you.” He glanced around the small space, her empty shelves that once held crocks of all sizes, her empty baskets once filled with roots and plants, the drying bundles of herbs that once hung from the beams now resting on the table waiting to be whisked away to a new home. “This place… it’s yours. And I’ve forced you to leave it behind.”
She sat back on her heels, exhaling slowly. “You didn’t force me. Circumstance did.”
“Then I’ll make this promise,” he said, turning fully toward her. “I will keep you safe until the day you can return to this cottage. To your garden. To your quiet life. And I swear, no one will ever take that from you again.”
Aura stared at him for a moment, then a soft smile broke slowly across her face. “Thank you. That means a lot to me.”
Her smile struck him hard, almost like an arrow to his chest. It wasn’t that it changed her plain features, it was the truth in her words. She was genuinely grateful. He had found that mostwomen said one thing and meant another or that their words were meant to appease and nothing more. Her honesty was refreshing.
He rose first, offering his hand. “All will turn out well, Aura. I will make sure of it.”
The confidence in his voice gave her confidence. She would get her life back and that brought her great relief. She reached out and took his hand.
His fingers closed around hers, not with the heat of passion, but with the strength of promise and trust.
“I’ll have the men put your belongings in the cart,” he said, and snatched her cloak off the chair at the table. “There is something I need to tell you.” He lowered his voice. “The witch was in the woods.”
“You saw her?” she asked, as he released her hand and draped her cloak over her shoulders.
Declan nodded. “In the woods just beyond your garden. I thought it was another woman come to find you, but the moment I stepped beyond the trees, the air changed. It grew colder and stilled as if it were holding its breath. Then she appeared.”
Aura turned slowly. “What did she say?”
“She said I was a fool if I thought I could be rid of my wish so easily. And she laughed…” His jaw clenched. “Laughed at our marriage, as if it were some kind of jest.”
Aura’s brow furrowed, her thoughts already spinning. “That confirms it, then. She’s real and powerful. This isn’t a trick of coincidence or fate. It is a crafted curse, bound by something intentional.” She was quiet for a moment, then said, “We need to find her. Speak to her again and understand the rules she’s bound it with.”
Declan arched a brow. “You would willingly go looking for her?”
“She granted the wish,” Aura said simply. “She can unmake it.”
Declan realized then how lucky he was to have found Aura. She was the woman he needed, the woman he’d been looking for. She would help him solve this. He could feel it deep in his bones.
“Let’s get this in the cart and be on our way,” Aura said. “There is more we need to discuss.”
CHAPTER 7
The cart creaked and rocked gently as it wound along the forest path, the wheels jostling over roots and stones. Declan sat on the bench beside Aura, one hand loosely gripping the reins. His men rode in a protective formation around them, close enough to deter trouble, far enough not to hear a word.
Aura’s gaze swept the trees as they passed, her jaw tight, her posture stiff. Her bundled personal belongings rested near her feet, tied with care, and the rest of her things were piled neatly in the cart.
“I know how difficult it is to leave your home, your place of peace,” Declan said after a long stretch of silence, “at least what once was your place of peace.”
“Did the curse force you to leave your place of peace?” she asked, seeing the empathy he had in his eyes for her and curious about his own unwanted upheaval.
“Aye, my family got sick of women constantly falling around me. My own mum and sisters even had to keep their distance from me. It made life unbearable, and I can’t blame them for sending me away. My mum and sister shed tears, unable to giveme a parting hug when I left.” He shook his head. “That hurt more than anything and I cursed myself for being such a fool.”
That his mum and sisters’ tears upset him revealed a lot about the man. His handsome features aside, he didn’t focus only on himself. He truly cared about others, which meant he did have a good heart, but lacked a bit of wisdom.
“I won’t see you suffer like I have made others suffer because of my foolishness. Once we reach the keep, you’ll have your own cottage where you can continue your work with plants, a garden to tend, a bedchamber in the keep, and peace, as best I can give it.”
