Cursed by Bandits (Once Upon A Curse)

13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

A rtie and I meandered through Sherewood Forest after our excursion in town. I needed a moment to myself to celebrate before interacting with my uncle again, something I would rather never do again. However, I knew spending time with my uncle was required, but I could at least put it off until dinner.

A whimper interrupted my musings. “Did you hear that, Artie?”

I stroked her neck before giving her a light pat. The horse’s ears twitched as a whimper was heard over the rustling of the leaves.

“Yes, there it is again. It seems we have company.” I tied Artie to a tree. “Hmm, now where is the sound coming from?”

I followed the whimpers until I saw gold fur mixed in with the red leaves on the ground. I approached slowly, bending down in front of the pile of fur. The animal’s head popped up, revealing icy blue eyes outlined in black.

“A dog! What are you doing way out here in the forest?” I held my hand out, letting the dog sniff before I made another move. The canine scooted forward until its ears were under my hand, insisting that I pet it. “You’re all fur and bones. I bet you wouldn’t say no to a good meal. I think I’ll call you Rogue.”

I picked up the dog; its legs flared this way and that, making it nearly impossible for me to mount Artie. By some miracle I succeeded and managed to get the furball to lay calmly in my lap as we made our way to the castle.

At the top I glanced to my right to see Jane, skirts hiked above her knees, running towards me at full speed. Milo followed behind her, waving his arms in the air like he was trying to take flight.

I turned to ride over to them, but Jane pointed to the stables. I veered back to my original destination, where I laid a blanket in the stall’s corner for the dog and took care of Artie while I waited for Jane and Milo to catch up. The stable door banged open, informing me I would not have to wait very long.

Jane clutched her side as she gasped for air. She held up her other hand, requesting that I give her a moment. “Don’t say it. I know . . .” She paused to suck more air into her lungs. “In through the nose, out through the mouth . . . It’s not as easy as you make it sound.”

“It might not be easy, but it works,” I said, stroking the brush across Artie’s haunches.

Milo pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Hurry, you have to go change now. Your uncle is looking for you.”

“What he said.” Jane looked up. “Why do you have a dog with you?”

“Isn’t she cute? I found her in the forest. Poor thing is starving.” I bent over, picked up the gangly creature, and shoved her into Jane’s arms. “Go get her food while I change and find my uncle. Someone keep him distracted until I’m ready.”

I left the stall and glanced out the stable door. The square was clear. I darted across the green and through the open door to the keep. I crept up the staircase, straining to hear if anyone else was there. All I heard was my heart pounding in rhythm with my footsteps. Rounding the top of the stairs left only a quick dash down the hall to my door, which I made without incident .

Leaning up against my closed door, I took in a deep breath and looked around my . . . clean room? That’s not how I left it. Jane had been busy while I was out delivering the coin.

I smiled at the thought of the townspeople opening their bags. With the even split, every family will be able to put food on their tables, buy essential items for their households.

But was stealing from my uncle really enough? I wasn’t doing anything that would cause permanent change. My uncle would need to be gone for things to be different, which I had no idea how to make that happen, especially since killing him wasn’t an option for me. Pushing myself off the door, I looked around the room. Where would Jane have put my clothes? The wardrobe made more sense than a trunk sitting at the foot of my bed. I opened the heavy wooden door to find my clothes hanging there, organized by color. I grabbed a pair of billowing gold pants, green overcoat, and white blouse—clothing I wore every day at the nunnery.

Dressed, I walked to my uncle’s office, careful to keep my pace sedate, ladylike even.

“There you are, Rowan. I’ve been looking for you.” My uncle’s smile did not reach his eyes .

“Uncle Jonathan, I’m sorry I inconvenienced you. It was not my intention.” I lowered my eyes to my hands.

He waved away my words. “It is neither here nor there. Come to my office. Let’s chat for a bit.”

He held the door open for me, ushering me into a room filled with memories of happier times despite the numerous changes he had made that attempted to erase its history and my father. I took a seat in one of the chairs opposite my uncle’s desk. I wanted to sink into the chair, but knew a lady would perch on the edge, back straight. And I needed to show my uncle what I assumed he wanted to see.

As he brushed past me, he squeezed my shoulder, causing my muscles to tense as I fought to suppress a visible reaction to his touch. He moved slowly around his desk, deliberately drawing out every movement, making it increasingly difficult for me to maintain my silence. I watched him surreptitiously, my eyes flicking up only occasionally from my lap, determined not to make eye contact or urge him to hasten, no matter what I desired.

“I wanted to talk to you about the masquerade and the potential suitors.” His eyes darted to Rogue as she padded in behind me. “What is that?”

“That’s Rogue, I found her in the forest. She looked so hungry I had to bring her home.” My eyes were wide as I spoke.

The pup curled up at my feet, declaring that she was home.

“I . . . don’t think bringing a dog into my home is a good idea,” he muttered.

I looked up at my uncle. “I can’t just get rid of her. She needs a place to live and we have so much space here.”

“Do what you can to keep it away from me.” He cleared his throat. “Did any suitor stand out from the others?” He thrummed his fingers on the desk as he leaned back in the chair.

I shifted so my hair fell over my shoulder, providing a curtain for me to hide behind as we spoke. “I’m sorry, Uncle, it was too difficult to focus on something so trivial right after finding out my father was dead.” I continued to look down at my hands as I spoke because it was the only way I could continue to look and act demure. What I wanted to do was scream at my uncle for everything he was doing; even pushing me towards marriage made my skin crawl.

“Your future is not trivial. Your father would want me to ensure that you are taken care of. I can’t put that off because you’re not sure you’re ready. The one thing I can do that would have made your father happy is to see you taken care of in life. ”

The words spilling from my uncle’s mouth seemed to make sense. However, if my uncle had truly known my father, he would not be talking to me about making sure I was settled. He would be helping me take my father’s place.

“My father wanted me to be so much more than someone’s wife,” I said under my breath.

“What was that?” my uncle asked, his brow raised imperiously.

My eyes locked with his. “I was taught to want so much more than to be settled. My father wanted me to be happy. He wouldn’t want me to rush into marriage.”

He planted his hands on the desk and stood, towering over me as I continued to sit in my chair. Instead of straining my neck to maintain eye contact, I let my eyes fall back to my hands.

“I was there at the end. You were not. Your father wanted the peace of mind knowing you were safe and secure in your life. It was all he could talk about in the end.” He pressed a hand to his chest as if the thought of my father brought on too much emotion.

“Interesting, it seems like so much changed while I was away,” I murmured.

“In fact, your father showed a strong preference for Jocelin, the Sheriff of Nottinghamshire. ”

Lies! I bit my lip to keep from screaming out loud. There was no way my father would support the suit of the sheriff.

“I found I liked conversing with the prince,” I said.

My uncle shook his head. “No, no, that wouldn’t do. Your father would never want you to move so far away from Lockersley.”

It was obvious my uncle was using my love for my father to manipulate me, inserting his preferences as if they were my father’s. I didn’t understand why my uncle would invite the prince if he didn’t want him to be an actual suitor.

He sat on his desk and leaned towards me. “A lot has changed, especially for you. But you can’t stop living your life.”

His words should have been comforting. Instead, they sent shivers of dread up my spine. I felt like he was pushing me towards a precipice with the intention of me stumbling over the edge.

“My brother was a very sick man, at the end his mind was failing him. It scared many nurses away. Only one had the fortitude to stay until the very end.” He continued on, unaware that I stopped listening momentarily.

“There was a nurse with him at the end? I would love to talk to her.” I sat up in my chair, perched so close to the edge that if I moved any farther forward, I would fall off.

My uncle stood, busying himself with rearranging the papers on his table. He slipped a blue leather journal into a drawer and came back with a brown one. “This might have the information you’re looking for.”

Somehow, I doubted it would. The other journal, though, might hold the answers to everything. I took the proffered book from his hand.

“Thank you, Uncle Jonathan. I will get this back to you soon.”

I pounded on Jane’s door, willing her to open up so we could go through the journal together.

“What? I’m trying to get ready for dinner,” Jane said as she yanked the door open. In one hand, she held the part of her hair that was braided into a coronet in her hand while the rest cascaded down her back in loose curls.

Instead of pushing my way through the doorway, I stopped. “I’m so sorry. I forgot about dinner.” I took a step back .

She grabbed me with her free hand, dragging me in to the room. “Don’t be a fopdoodle. Hold my hair while you tell me whatever has you so excited.”

Her room was almost the mirror image of mine, with each piece of furniture on the opposite side than I expected it to be. Everything was also a little less ornate: her bedposts didn’t have any carvings, the tapestries decorating the walls were less detailed, and the enormous wardrobe was somehow less imposing.

I sat on the bed next to Jane, lacing my fingers through her hair to keep the strands separated. It was an awkward way to sit, but Jane’s sigh of relief as she dropped her arm by her side let me know it was worth it.

“According to my uncle, my father’s illness was so difficult to be around that he had multiple nurses, many who quit. Uncle Jonathan gave me this journal, which he said recorded everything, but he hid another before handing this one over.” I slid the journal into her lap. She was the one with two free hands, at least for now.

Jane thumbed through the journal. “Mathilda, Annabeth, Winifred, Elsbeth, Angelique . . . There was a new nurse every three days. The last recorded nurse was Eleanor. But she was there with him for weeks before he died. If the pattern held, he must have seen nine or ten more nurses before he passed. ”

I clenched my teeth as she spoke. The pain radiating from my shoulder stung like the ache in my heart. “Interesting. We should try to talk with one of the nurses, find out if they thought there was something suspicious happening. And we should find that other notebook. Maybe there’s something in it that points to my uncle and a nefarious plot.”

Jane bent over the writings, dragging me with her until I was practically sprawled across her back.

“If I could just make out this annotation . . . It might contain something of use,” Jane muttered, more to herself than to me.

“Or you could take your hair back and finish it. We can’t be late for dinner and raise suspicion.” My words sounded sharper than I intended, but I had reached my breaking point on discomfort.

Jane sighed. “Just like you to give me a mystery to solve, then say we have to go do something practical. I think we should try to find Eleanor. As the last nurse listed, she might have the most information.” Jane shut the notebook and handed it back to me before lacing her fingers through the strands of hair that made her braid. “You have to get ready for dinner as well unless you plan on wearing that.”

She gestured to the tunic and pants set I had put on earlier. It was from the nunnery and so comfortable compared to the ill-fitting garments Uncle Jonathan had left me.

“I wasn’t planning on changing.” I tossed my hair over my shoulder.

“You know that’s going to annoy your uncle.”

I smiled. “I do.”