The Seelie Curse

Chapter 13

Astrila frowns thoughtfully. "Perhaps we should start by figuring out what it means by bound. The selkie prophecy seems to say that the work starts once that happens, so wouldn't it be a good place to start interpreting? Figuring out what that bit means?"

Kyma smiles at her. "That's a good idea. Ro, do you have any thoughts?"

The girl shudders, her flaming hair sliding over her shoulders with the movement. It distracts Astrila for a moment, she's never seen someone with hair like that before. Let alone how bright it is, that colour is so rare in the arctic. You only really see it in flames and the rare flower in summer. When Ro speaks, Astrila's attention snaps back to the matter at hand.

"I'm not sure. Saying bound sounds so sinister." Ro shudders again, her expression shadowed. Beside Astrila, Kyma frowns.

"Ro? What's wrong?"

Ro swallows nervously, her expression looking like it was painful. "It's nothing."

Kyma shakes her head. "No, it's not. You're lying. It's the word, isn't it?"

Ro looks down at her hands, the air above them rippling with heat for a brief moment. "It is the word. I'm sorry."

Kyma beckons. "Come, sit next to us. We won't bite."

Ro hesitates but she does step over to the couch when Kyma shifts closer to Astrila to make room for the other girl. Kyma wraps one arm around the redhead in a side-hug. Ro doesn't protest the action, she just leans into Kyma's side. It's more than leaning, she practically wilts. Astrila doesn't think Ro has any female friends to talk to that are her age, it looks like she's always keeping things bottled up.

Sure, there are going to be some people that she can talk to, but it feels like Ro is more alone than most people are. Kyma leans her head on Ro's. There is movement in the hallway, one of hte boys must have heard the silence and come to check. Astrila watches, waiting for them to come into view. It's Andrian, his eyes going right to Ro.

Astrila shakes her head at him, the movement catching his attention. He seems to understand and backs out of the room, smiling softly. After a moment, Ro sits up, fiddling with her hands. Astrila twists slightly to look at her better. She doesn't speak and neither does Kyma, both of them waiting for the other girl to be ready. Ro takes a deep breath.

"I told you my great-grandfather was a Seelie, but that isn't the whole story. My great-grandmother ran from him when she was pregnant with my grandmother and he has been searching for my family ever since. A month or two ago, he found me. Since then, he has been intent on taking me back with him. He seems to believe that I belong to him. He's almost taken me a couple times now, and I've had some very narrow escapes. The worst time was when he froze me in place, I couldn't move." Ro's whole body shudders at the memory. "I got away with some help, but I can't . . . it kills me to feel trapped." A sob escapes her mouth and Kyma pulls her back into a hug.

In the space between Ro's sobs, Kyma tells the girl her own story. "Before I found out I was a merrow, I was kidnapped. The scientist who took me performed experiments on me and when I woke up after he took me, I had a tail. I had no idea what was going on, just that I had a tail. I later learned that he had done the same to my friends as well. We did escape, but only after I had been tortured several times in his experiments. Then he found me in my new home and I had to fight him there. He was stopped, but I almost died in the process. I would have died, if my friend hadn't found me."

Ro looks up at Kyma, tears welling up in her eyes. "How did you stop him?"

"I used the island against him. We have these spots where the ground beneath the soil is hollow and you can fall through. I tricked him onto one of those and he did fall, but he shot me too."

Ro frowns. "With a gun?"

"Yes. On my side then, and on my thigh before. You can see the scars."

Kyma lifts the hem of her top to show the golden splotch marring the skin of her side and then she unbuttons a portion of her pant panels to bare the skin on her thigh where the other scar lies. Ro presses her lips together, so tightly that they turn white. Kyma rests her hand on the girl's arm.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

Ro's voice is soft. "They don't bother you?"

"The scars or the reason I have them?"

"Both."

"They don't bother me. My scars are a badge of my trials, thy show that I have won. If they were the cost of stopping a horrible man, then I say that it's a fair cost."

Ro nods. "Do you think I'll be able to stop the Seelie Lord for good?"

Kyma smiles. "I think that's up to you. Either way, we'll help you if you want us to."

Ro beams. Astrila smiles as well, watching them. The two girls in front of her are quickly becoming friends, bound together by shared experiences and connections. Astrila freezes.

"Guys." Both girls' attentions snap to Astrila. "What if bound means connections?"

Kyma frowns. "Like what?"

"You and I are connected because we are cousins. You are the cridhe of Ro's cridhe's brother. We're all connected."

Ro frowns thoughtfully. "It would make sense, but how would we know if we're right?"

Kyma snorts in laughter. "We won't. That's not how prophecies work. We might have an idea of what it means and we could be right or we could be wildly wrong. But either way, we'll end up doing exactly what the prophecy means for us to do. Having an idea of what it means may just make it a bit easier."

Ro gapes at Kyma. Astrila can't help but cover her mouth, trying to muffle her laughter. Kyma's pointed look tells Astrila that she's failing miserably at it. It takes Ro several moments before she stops gaping like a fish and finally speaks.

"How do you know?"

"I read. A lot."

Astrila laughs again. She realizes too late that her hand had slipped down, the sharp sound piercing the air. Ro jumps in her seat, twisting around to look at Astrila.
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Well, Kyma isn't wrong about how prophecies work. What do you think is going to happen with the Seelie Lord? Do you think they're right about the meaning of the prophecy? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.