The Toad Prince

Chapter Eight

“The only thing you can control is your own actions. The only thing you can control is your own actions,” Nadaria repeated, stomping down the path. It was raining, and the bare dirt was quickly turning to mud. She looked at Roux. “Can you believe him? That-that… rude man!”

Roux hissed, and she answered, “I know, right?”

She’d taken a wrong turn somewhere and ended up on the opposite side of the house from where she’d been. There were stables here, and she heard a horse nicker inside. Nadaria continued muttering to herself as she picked as much of the overgrown grass as she could, filling the front of her skirt like a bucket.

There were four horses inside, three gray mares, and a magnificent black stallion. She divided the grass into four equal parts and fed them all, standing last at the stallion and feeding him handfuls.

“Who are you?” a voice asked behind her.

She turned, now out of grass, and smiled at a young vampire boy. Maybe fourteen or fifteen when he was turned.

“Hello, I am Nadaria.”

“The witch? Why are you here?”

Nadaria stepped forward, but the stallion grabbed the hood of her cloak and pulled her back towards his chest. He draped his head over her shoulder and sniffed her hands and dress, looking for any leftovers.

She laughed and scratched his ears, but the boy stepped forward in alarm. “Careful!”

“Why?”

“That’s Boian. He is my Lord Sorin’s stallion. You have to be careful. He can be self-interested and, well… an ass.”

Nadaria nodded, pursing her lips. “Oh, I know he can. Tell me about it.” The boy tilted his head, and she said, “Oh, you mean the horse? No, he’s sweet.”

The young man snickered, and she winked as she asked, “And your name, dear?”

“Codrin. My sister and everyone here call me Codi.”

She looked at his square jaw, dark, thick hair, and high cheekbones, and saw a sure resemblance. “Dumitra is your sister?”

“Yes. We worked here before… it happened. But we’re from the small village just down the mountain. That’s where Mama and Da were that night.”

“How old were you?”

“I’m fourteen forever. Dumitra was eighteen.”

“You speak much better English than her.”

He shrugged. “She never cared for schooling like I do. She wanted to marry a Prince Charming and be a lady of a house like Miss Crina. She said she didn’t need learning.”

The side of her mouth lifted, and she chuckled. “So the horses, they survive too?”

“Since the stables are connected to the house, yes. Just like everything else, they are restored each night. We are thankful for them… they’re the only way we get anything…” His cheeks flushed, and he looked down at his worn leather shoes, kicking at the dirt floor. “To eat, you know?”

“You guys drink their blood?”

“Not directly. We don’t bite them. None of us ever will ever drink from a living being again. We use that.”

He indicated hospital supplies on the wall. Syringes and needles.

“I didn’t think vampires could sustain wholly on animal blood.”

Codi touched his stomach. “We are always starving, but you get used to that feeling after a while.”

She tilted her head, meeting his gaze. “Do you want to bite me, Codi?”

He kicked at the dirt again. “Of course. I can hear your blood rushing, and you smell so sweet. Horse blood tastes like ash. I am sure everyone else wants you, too. But we never will. That is a promise.”

“Well, I am glad I found someone honest around here, at least,” she muttered. “Why do you say you won’t drink from anything living being again?”

He didn’t answer for several seconds, and then he whispered, “We don’t talk about that.”

Nadaria wanted to push him on it, but she didn’t. She would push Sorin, because he was the one that deserved to be grilled.

“There’s a village down the mountain?”

“Yes. About five kilometers. But no one is there now.”

“Did they have a healer?”

He finally looked up at her, curious. “Yes. Why?”

“Well, because some people are stupid, lying creeps, I am trapped here.” Nadaria marked things off on her fingers as she listed them. “I don’t have my shop. I don’t have my coven. I have nothing, and I’m supposed to break a blood curse by a daughter of Dracula in twenty-seven days.” She threw her hands up. “I need stuff. Ingredients. Crystals. My fricken’—” She was so frustrated she bunched her fists at her sides, pursing her lips. “My magic. Did he consider that? How’s a witch supposed to do anything around here? Goddess, he’s a stupid, foolish, idiotic man.”

Codi stared at her, a lopsided smile on his boyish face. “Well, we had an old lady that did healing. Not a witch. They called her a nulla. She had a lot of stuff, but I don’t know how much will be good still. Anything that isn’t part of the castle doesn’t reset.”

Nadaria nodded. A woman born to a witch that never manifested powers. Many times, nulla became healers or midwives, as they had a strong affinity for the craft.

“That’s good. I have to go. I have to get that stuff.”

His eyes widened, and he squeaked, “You can’t go out there! You’ll die. Those woods… they’re not natural.”

“What’s out there, Codi?”

Nadaria was stunned when he gripped his chest, breathing hard. His eyes were suddenly wild and darted around the room. The boy shook his head and stumbled back away from her like she turned into a monster. The simple question had sent him into a panic attack, causing a beat of unease to crawl up her spine.

“Woah, it’s okay, dearie.” She reached to comfort him, but he ducked away and scrambled out of the door into the rain.

She crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the floor. She’d gotten some helpful answers from Sorin this morning, but it was obvious this mystery ran much deeper, and she didn’t have time for silly games.

“Roux, what is going on here?”

He curled tighter around her neck, and she felt his tongue on her cheek.

She sucked air through her teeth when a thought slapped her. It was daytime. Sorin had stood with her on the bridge—well, he’d done a lot more than stand. Remembering made her blush, and her body heated, as a dull, throbbing ache twisted in lower stomach and core. Goddess help her, she would’ve had s*x with him right there on that bridge if he hadn’t stopped. Right after she just said we should both be sure about it. Stupid, sexy Sorin.

She rubbed her temples. Focus, Nadaria.

Why didn’t these vampires burn up in the sun? Yeah, it was overcast. Even so, she’d never known vampires to go out in the day.

Nadaria took a deep breath and let it out slowly, so her cheeks puffed out.

Questions, questions, questions. That’s all she could see.

Despite Codi’s warning, and obvious terror, she had to go to that village. First things first, this anti-magic ward had to be lifted. If she had any chance of combating such a powerful curse, she’d have to peel it back layer by layer.

So, into the forest she would go. The creepy, haunted, Transylvanian woods from fairytales. Without her magic. Awesome.