The Cursed Wish | ONC 2024

Ch 10: The Basement of the Manor

Elowen was hyperventilating by the time she arrived at the family cottage. Her brother met her at the door. Brennon took one look at her and led her into the small house.

They passed the front room, where her stepmother and stepsisters lounged while discussing the ball like nothing had happened. The girls were still dressed in their finery. Her father was kicked back in a chair, fast asleep, with his glasses dangerously close to falling off his nose.

Brennon steered Elowen upstairs into her room and patted a bed so she could sit beside him as they did when they were small. She burrowed into her brother's arm, and he held her as her body shook against him.

It took almost an hour to tell him what had happened. He was quiet the entire time, listening intently. Then, when she was done, he held her tightly until she finished sobbing.

"That's a lot, El," he said. "I saw you at the ball with Fletcher. I didn't know how you'd gotten there, and I tried to get to you, but Father insisted I give you space if you were finally comfortable mingling with the other aristocracy."

"You saw me?" Her heart sank.

If Brennon had seen her, there would have been no way that her stepmother would not have recognized her when she challenged the royals.

"I mean, you looked really different," he said. "And the dress is spectacular, El. I knew it would be a showstopper. Zax was right when he thought we should pull it out of storage."

"Zax?" Elowen frowned. "You make a new friend and forget to tell me?"

"Zaxten de Bine is someone you would have met if you'd been to any of the family's parties recently," he said. "He's a friend of Prince Bastien, and you could say we're close."

Elowen knew Bine was a province of Sahar Brennon and had visited it thrice last year. His frequent trips into Bine made sense if her brother was so close with this lord.

"Anyway, that doesn't matter," Brennon said. "We should consider what it means if our stepmother is the fairy who cursed her own people out of existence. She's dangerous, and if she saw you helping the Cyrans... it's trouble, El."

She knew he was right. If the countess turned on them, they would have no chance. They needed a plan.

"We can't let her hurt anyone else," she pulled herself out of his arms. "And we need to find Wryn."

Brennon pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. His entire world was spinning on its axis. She gave him a moment to reorient and then straightened.

"We need to go back to Nene," he said. "I'll arrange horses, and you change. We'll leave in half an hour."

Once her brother was gone, she looked down at her beautiful dress. It felt like a shame to set aside the beautiful masterpiece. Still, she changed into one of her brown traveling dresses and removed her jewelry.

She left the crown on her head. Trix had said that it would help her see through magic, and she'd been wearing it when she realized that her stepmother was the evil fairy. No one else had seen through the countess's enchantment.

"The tiara is a new look," Brennon said when she found him in the stable outside the cottage.

"It's a fairy artifact," she said.

"One of Father's?" Brennon frowned. "I've never seen it before."

"Trix gave it to me," she said. "It's special."

He nodded. "We can get to Nene before dawn if we leave now. We should hurry."

He was right. It was the only reason she'd involved her brother. He could watch her back and pull her back when she went too far.