Blessed Cursed Love

Chapter 3

That evening I found myself wandering the town. My cloak hood was drawn down. My domain was not large. It had my castle, one city, and one small town. Wyatt had moved on from the town to go to the city, but I still didn't want to be spotted by him or his party. The cloak was also enchanted to hide my power. I didn't know how strong he was yet. In the story, he could sense power from people later on. It's how he stopped the assassination of the king in the latter half of the plot. If he was wearing silver armor, though the story had already begun.

The king gifts him that armor when he instructs him to investigate the first villain of the story. From there, Wyatt's power is revealed to the king and princess. He becomes their main knight for dealing with trouble throughout the kingdom. He fights many battles in the king's name.

Tearing myself from my thoughts, I walked into the tavern. It's empty as it usually is this time of day. I pulled my hood off and the man behind the bar smiled at me. He was one of the owners of the tavern along with his wife. He had run the bar nearly his whole life. I had known his father and had met him shortly after he was born. He was one of the few people who treated me with little to no caution.

"Mistress Vivian. So good to see you. Getting a break from the castle?" It wasn't uncommon for me to visit this place. Most people in my domain knew me. Many of them had accepted my curse of eternal life and death. As I approached the bar, he took a single step back as always. A precaution to avoid contact with me. I lifted my hands to show my gloves, and he stepped forward again with a sigh of relief. "So I am not in trouble." He smiled brightly. "What can I get you?"

"We have visitors," I said and he nodded. "Tell me about them." He tilted his head to the side in thought.

"They seemed decent enough folk. A band of knights. Four men and two women."

"Women?" That was strange. Wyatt didn't have any female companions until near the end. One as well. A raven-haired witch with a strong pull to her godly blessing. I lifted my hand to my face in thought. I thought I had written down all his companions in my notebook. When I wrote it I still had such a clear memory of the story. Especially his companions. They were each unique in their own way. Did I miss something? "Did they give a name?" I asked as I looked back at the man behind the bar.

"Not officially, but everyone called the man in silver armor Wyatt. I also caught the name Thorn." My eyes went wide. Thorn? I knew that name. An alias of a character from the story. Who though? I couldn't remember. I should have brought my notebook. I was worried about carrying it around with Wyatt and his crew about though. If they saw it, then it would be bad. I tried to search my brain for those old memories. I shut my eyes as I tried to imagine my old life once more.

My old life was nothing special, but I still miss it. I was just one more person in a world filled with people. I had read the novel as a joke at first. To tease one of my friends. She was crazy over it. She laughed with me when I actually liked it. We grew closer and talked about it as I read through it. Other than that, I kept my head down in the world and trudged along it. I wanted to do great things one day though. I was going to be a doctor. When I graduated from high school, it was my one dream. I was in school for it when I died. A tragic end far too soon. Caught in the path of a man running from the police. He held me as a human shield until he realized he wouldn't get away so easily. He slit my throat, and I was dead almost before I knew it.

I lifted my hand to my throat softly. I couldn't remember more of the story after all, but thinking about my death always haunted me. I sighed deeply and dropped my hand. I couldn't dwell on it. I had died already and the god of death took pity on my soul as it found its way to this world for a new start. He cursed me with a touch of his hand to my skin when I was nine or ten. I brushed my fingers over the small skull once more. He promised he would help me get home to my world. To return and avoid my death in my past life. That if I gave him time he would figure out how. That his blessing would protect me until then. That was all a lie. All he ever seemed to do was lie.

"Mistress Vivian?" I was torn from my thoughts by the voice. I flinched as I turned to the woman behind me and sighed softly. Just the owner's wife. This was getting me nowhere though. They hadn't given their names and their purpose here. No one in town had even spoken to them. I had to figure out what they wanted. I had to figure out how to get them to see me as a threat. I pulled my cloak hood back up.

"Excuse me, I have things to attend to." I pulled a silver coin out of my pocket and placed it on the bar. "Thank you," I said with a soft smile, and then turned. Once I was back out on the street, I looked up at the sky. Dark ominous clouds were rolling in. A storm. I frowned at it and sighed. "You aren't helping," I said aloud.

We shall see.

The voice of death responded in my head. I shook my head softly. I knew he had been watching me since I left my castle. He seemed to be hovering like a worried mother. What was his deal?

"Do you know something I should?" I asked the air as I walked back towards the carriage waiting for me. The silence at my question was all I needed to know. "You could just tell me," I said as I stopped before approaching my carriage. While most of my attendants were used to me talking to air, I tried to avoid doing so in front of them. I knew it made people uneasy. Especially knowing I was talking to death himself.

Some things are not for mortal ears.

I rolled my eyes at his response.

"Fine. Be cryptic and weird about it. As always. If you don't tell me though, I will ban you from the castle for two days." I felt the soft weight of power around me. He was here just not showing himself. I waited but got nothing. I shrugged and continued to walk. "If you show your face uninvited I will be even more cross with you." Ignoring him was my biggest weapon since it irked him so much. I had no idea why. I climbed into the carriage, and we started on the way back to the castle.

You would do well to avoid the blessed Viv. He is not good for you. I am protecting you.