The Prince’s Curse

CHAPTER 4

Aiden was suspicious of Cyrus, he thought of it, “that boy must know something”. He left the palace but this time, he went alone without any guards accompanying him. Aiden looked for him, he could not find him, the traders said they have not seen him that day. Luckily for Aiden he saw the boy, “I told you all that I know, why are you back”. Cyrus said. Aiden burst into laughter and Cyrus was surprised, he stopped laughing and said to him, “I will give you gold, that was given to me by the prince, it can help you and you can stop begging in the market, tell me where the lady is, I know you are aware, this is your last offer, if you refuse I will take you to the palace and they will force it out of you, I know you have heard how people are treated by the palace guards”. This made Cyrus so afraid and he decided to take Aiden to where the lady was. They went deep into the woods, crossed a lake and there was a cave there, Cyrus stopped and asked for the gold Aiden promised to give him, he collected it and ran away. Aiden went into the cave, the lady said, “Cyrus, is that you?” She came out from the cave, saw Aiden tried to run away, she thought he came to kill her, she said to him, “why are you here, to take me to your prince again like you did at the banquet” she started crying. Aiden felt bad seeing her weep and consoled her, “please stop crying, I apologize for what my master did to you, I did not know he would do that”. He calmed her down she stopped crying and asked, “how did you find me he?” Aiden replied her, “I have been looking for you since the prince transformed into a wolf, Cyrus helped me to find you, with a big price of course”. She smiled, her smile lifted up her beautiful face, he admired her and asked, “you look very beautiful when you smile, I heard you were to be married some days after the banquet, your lover must be worried and looking for you”, she said to him, “I know Cyrus did not rat me out for peanuts, he may sit in the market to beg but he is a smart boy, I’m glad it was you he told, and not those wicked palace guards, I know you are a good man, so I will tell you my name, Almira is my name, please do not tell the royal family you found me, my husband to be would probably be asking my aunty for a refund now, I was sold as a wife to one of these lords whose other wives can’t bare a son”. Aiden did not pay much attention to her marriage talks and asked her, “how were you able to curse the prince and it manifested, are you a witch? Almira grunt at him “I am not a witch, did you find me to come and ask me that?”. Aiden answered her and said, “you have to come with me, the prince is locked up and the king has refused to release him except he is fully recovered, come and undo what you have done, he is the crowned prince and they are responsibilities he has to handle, he can’t stay locked up”. Almira walked outside the cave and began weeping again, Aiden followed her but he did not like seeing a woman cry he tried to console her but she lashed out on him saying, “you are here telling me to undo what I did to your prince, he deserves what he got, will he undo what he did to me? You are talking about responsibilities he has, I am here hiding in the cave, it is cold here and Cyrus has to beg to feed us both, I was supposed to be married few days after that but I can’t go back, how can I go back when your future king defiled me, I will be killed or sold as a slave, I am hiding, I have a life too”. Aiden walked away because he felt bad for Almira and gave her some time to herself, she was also in pain, the prince was really wrong in this too, he thought his presence with Almira just caused her more pain, he wanted to go and come back another time, she’s really pretty he thought, at this point what Aiden felt for the prince was anger, he returned to the palace thinking about how the prince had shattered her life too, how will he bring the innocent girl to them, what if they choose to imprison her, she has gone through a lot already, her family might be worried and looking for her as well, her lover she was supposed to be married to could be looking for her, but what did she mean by she was sold as a wife, these thoughts gathered his mind that night until he fell asleep.

Almira’s parent drowned and died, she was very young at the time and she was left in her aunty’s care; her mother’s sister. Her aunty was against Almira’s parent relationship from the start, this was because Almira’s father was a demigod, a descendent of the god of curse, people were afraid of him, he could curse anyone that offended him they people thought, because of what people think about Almira’s father, the aunty decided to keep her locked up from leaving their home or associating with people, she sat by the window looking out every day and wondering how life outside was like, the servants told her about things that go on outside and she was eager to see but never allowed to. She read lots of books that belonged to her father, when she was matured enough her aunty started arranging for her marriage with old Lords who wanted young women to marry and would be willing to buy her with a huge price. A man was coming to marry Amira, she was excited, her aunty had told her that a woman’s greatest happiness is having her husband, she had hoped marrying will be her liberation, she would love her husband and be happy ever after. But the man her aunty had brought for her was very old and she was sad but did not have a choice but to agree. Almira over heard her aunty’sservants talking about the prince being so handsome and she wanted to see a handsome man before getting married, one of the maidservants told her about the banquet and she took the risk to attend, even for a few minutes. Almira admired the prince handsomeness when she walked into the banquet hall, he indeed looked like what the servants had described him to be, but when Aiden approached her, it was love at first sight for her but she was disappointed when he told her the prince wanted to see her, she had thought the prince might be her saviour from the old man her aunty wants to marry her to. After what the prince did to her, she cursed him out of the disappointment and pain the prince caused her. When she was kicked outside the palace, Cyrus helped her and took her to the cave that was in the woods, she refused to return to her aunty for fear of what the prince had done. In Marshshore, if any woman that was betrothed does not have her hymen intact on her wedding night, except the groom covered for his bide, she will be killed or sold as a slave outside the continent where they would eventually die. Because of this she chose to hide in the woods with Cyrus. Her aunty was also looking for her because the man she was supposed to be married to came on the wedding day and she was nowhere to be found.