The Prince Of Curses h.s.

Five

The next evening I stood between a few bookshelves in the library. I was determined to find answers one way or another.

I skipped breakfast this morning and declined Olesia's offer for lunch. Being stuck here was really starting to get to me. After getting dressed this morning, I asked Olesia to take me to the library. I was in a light pink dress that stopped mid-thigh, my blonde hair was braided back with a few stray pieces falling around my face.

My hands skimmed the outer edge of a shelf as I walked around the library. Since I was unable to find much information on witches, I decided to look for other books to answer a few questions that were brewing in my mind. I tried asking Olesia about prince harry's curse, why he was cursed, and what the curse entailed. But she answered very vaguely and tried to direct the conversation to a different topic.

"I cannot speak on that here," she said turning to her cart. Her hand grasped the handle of the teapot tightly as she lifted it in the air. "More tea?"

I didn't understand why it was like that, even before coming here, people in the kingdom were timid to talk openly about it. The only thing people seemed to know was the prince was just cursed. No one ever provided details as to why. I remember asking my mother about it when I was a few years younger and even she couldn't give me an answer.

I wanted to ask Harry but he seemed sensitive to that topic. I rarely saw him outside of our two interactions, making it difficult to even bring up.

But, there had to be some information about it hidden in this massive collection, if it was a part of the history of our kingdom then it had to be documented at some point. I continued to walk down aisle after aisle, scanning the books one by one. Eventually, I stopped at a slightly dusty shelf in the back of the library on the fourth floor. The shelf seemed slightly out of place and hidden in a dark corner. It was almost as if I could almost feel this book calling to me.

The war between realms, the black leather spine read.

I reached my finger up, hooking it around the top of the spine so it would slide out of its place. I flipped it over in my hand, running my palm across the surface to knock off excess dust. The cover of the book was black and worn, the title was only labeled on the spine.

I walked through the narrow bookshelves, trying to get to a place where I had better lighting. I looked at a nearby table positioned next to the window, but deciding not to sit there. Instead, I walked down the staircase. My hand grasped the smooth polished rail as I took small careful steps to the ground floor. The last thing I wanted to do was trip and fall down four flights of stairs.

Although, taking the current position I was in, falling down four flights of stairs to end it all didn't sound too bad.

My feet finally hit the bottom step. I craned my neck to gaze out the window, towards the courtyard to see if anyone was outside. I was desperately craving sunlight, constantly being behind four walls was really getting to my head. With the book tucked under my arm, I pushed the door open that separated the library from the courtyard.

In the daylight, you could see how detailed the landscape was decorated. The castle itself encompassed three sides of the courtyard, meaning it was assessable from multiple points. Statues littered the area, most of them chiseled into beings I didn't know. The rest of the area was surrounded by flowers and bushes.

I kept walking, not exactly sure where I was going. Since I was allowed to roam the ground wherever I pleased, I didn't see the harm in looking around. My shoes padded against the cobblestone, a fresh breeze blew through me, and for the first time since arriving here, I felt like I could breathe.