Withering Rose (Once Upon A Curse Book 2) by Kaitlyn Davis

Author:Kaitlyn Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, fantasy, magic, fairy tales, werewolves, shapeshifters, dystopian, beauty and the beast, adaptation, once upon a time

I ask Cole to take me to the gardens.

We walk side by side, silent, wrapped up in our own thoughts. The sky is dark and gray when we step outside, mirroring the stormy look in Cole's eyes. The mood is bleak. But I'm not. I'm the only flower in a field of snow, opening up to welcome spring. Elated. Excited. Buoyant.

Cole wants to see my magic.

He wants to see the real me.

And I want to show him. Because he's only seen the harm my magic can do, that horrible day when I tried to escape, when I fought him, when I hurt him. It wasn't me. And it wasn't my magic. Not really.

When I glance toward him, I can't decipher his expression. He is rigid and unreadable. And I can't help but wonder what is going on inside of his head. Does he realize that this stony silence only makes me more curious? Does he even know that the brooding aura just makes me more aware of the many secrets he's trying to keep, makes me more and more eager to uncover them?

I've been honest with him. I answer every question he asks. I open up about my past. I appear to have nothing at all to hide. Doesn't he understand that it’s far easier to keep a secret when no one thinks you have one?

I know he has no clue about the toll my magic takes, the curse wrapped up in the power. It's my greatest secret, buried so deep I sometimes even forget it's there. Sometimes I hide the truth even from myself.

Now is one of those times.

Because for once, I just want someone to see my magic the way I see it. Beautiful. Pure. Glorious. I once thought my father saw it that way, but I know the truth.

He loves me.

He knows my secret.

And for those two reasons, my father has no choice but to hate the magic, to loathe it for stripping hours, days, years off my life every time I use it.

But as I turn my gaze back toward the garden, opening my awareness, I imagine the look in Cole's eyes as he watches the power bring life to these frozen grounds, I imagine the awe and admiration I hope he'll feel.

As soon as I unleash the magic, I drift outside myself, traveling with it along the icy dirt, beneath the layers of snow, to the frozen roots struggling to make it through the winter. Cole no longer exists. I no longer exist. Magic is everything. The wondrous life it brings is everything. Roots extend beneath my touch, breaking through softening soil, stretching up into the sky. Colors pop as bright flowers shatter the gray mood of the day. The wild and mangled boxwoods bend and trim at my leisure until formal rows of evergreen diamonds and triangles meet in intricate patterns. And lastly, I grow the roses, winding the vines up the sides of the walled-in space until bright red shines vibrantly against the snow.

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