Henrietta

The Curse

~Chapter Nineteen~

Doctor Thaddeus pressed a gentle hand unto Ettie's forehead and sighed as he looked at the young woman. Calvin stood idly by trying to decipher the old man's frown as he observed every movement he made.

"Well?" Calvin then had to ask.

"Might we have a word in private?" he replied.

Calvin nodded and before departing kissed Henrietta on the forehead. The good doctor observed this and gave a gentle tug of his lips into a smile.

"We may speak in my study." Calvin said.

Entering he gestured for him to sit and took his own chair across from him. The fire before them slowly soothed their chilling skin as Calvin poured the doctor some liquor in a glass.

"Here, this will help with those shakes." He said.

The old man gave a chuckle as he took the drink and set it over his lap, observing Calvin as loosened in his seat trying to get comfortable.

"Is there something amusing?" Calvin asked.

"So tis true what the town's people say," he said.

"And what do they say?" he asked, now curious.

"That the Night of Theodosia has found himself." He muttered.

"Why would they say something like that?"

"You clearly do not understand that after all these years of seeing you brood about this mansion like some sort of cursed beast made us all wonder why." He replied.

"Everyone clearly knows where I was raised, and my father's reputation was far greater than mine. Why then would the town's people look at me?" he asked.

"You do not realize that you reputation was far greater than your father itself. You defended the very walls of Theodosia in battle, came out the victor. You saved us all from being doomed. The evil that lurked around us vanished at the point of your sword." He confessed.

"Is that a reason for people to intrude in my personal life?" he asked.

"I do not know why everyone fixed their eyes on you; all I do understand is that your transformation has brought a sudden light to this town. It was as if the towns people were waiting for the last Theodosian to find happiness."

"My happiness is not yet complete, I need you to explain to me what has happened to her." He said.

Doctor Thaddeus swallowed the liquid down and set the glass over his lap again, his eyes peering into the fire.

"Would you believe me if I confessed that there is a higher magic that can bring back the dead?" He asked.

Calvin harden in his chair as he turned to look at the old man. Clearly, he was delusional! However, instead of scoffing at the notion of it he simply nodded once so that the old man could proceed.

"She endured too many injuries, the debris alone should have killed her, but somehow she pulled through. When I tended to her she was sprouting too much blood from her mouth, I thought she would choke. For a fraction of a moment, I thought she might have passed but then her eyes bloomed with the brightest shade of blue and I knew she was still with us. Long ago, I had lost my mother to this wretched fever. Years later, my aunt was out trying to hunt down some food for the winter when she was brutally attacked by a wild beast in the woods. We found her nearly frozen to death out in the storm. When my brother and I brought her in and settled her into the comforter, she began to convulse and spit blood from her mouth. A few weeks later, she miraculously survived the horrid attack...but she was no longer Aunt Rosy. She declared to be our mother."