Touch of Innocence

19

"My name is Sybil Litubury. I come from a line of Delvaux witches. Gunnora Delvaux, my eleventh great grandmother, was the witch who placed the curse upon your family."

"Why?" Ulric demanded, staring at the witch who sat in a chair across from him.

She sighed and twisted the spoon in her mug of herbal tea.

"From what I understand, Gunnora did not like your great grandfather, King Ulric. She and him had dated at one point. She was in love with Thurstan and imagined living a life with him. She even tried to develop a spell that would prevent her from aging, so she could live with him forever. She never could quite figure the spell out though.

Anyway, Thurstan eventually found his mate, your great grandmother, Cecilia. He didn't let Sybil down gently though. Instead, she found out about their mate-ship when she saw them engaging in sex in the castle garden just two days after they found each other. My great-grandmother was heartbroken. He didn't even have the decency to visit her and tell her himself. After that, she had sworn to hurt him, just as he had hurt her."

"And the curse she placed on our family is a punishment for Thurstan's betrayal," Clay said, piecing the bits of information together.

"Yes," Sybil nodded.

"Why did she change her last name? To escape prosecution?"

"Precisely," Sybil answered, nodding her head.

Ulric and Clay glanced at each other, both still confused.

"Why was she under the impression that a human mate was a curse?" Ulric asked.

"At the point in time, humans and vampires were still segregated. There was very little communication between the two species. Most of the interactions between them occurred when vampires hunted and killed the humans. When Gunnora placed the curse, she hoped that the vampire would kill his human mate because of the temptation of human blood. She was wrong. She didn't quite understand the depth of a mate bond. She hadn't realized that a mate bond between a human and a vampire was just as strong as one between a vampire and vampire, that a mate would never kill his love just because he was addicted to her blood."

A feeling of relief washed over Clay's shoulders. That was it? There was nothing else? The witch had simply hoped they'd kill their mates and live an isolated life as Gunnora had?

"The only factor behind the curse was the hope that we'd kill our human mates?" Clay asked, confirming what she'd said.

"Well... no."

The relief he'd felt a few seconds ago was gone. "What else?"

She hesitated answering, almost as if she was afraid to reveal this information. "What else?" Ulric demanded.

"There is another stipulation to Gunnora's curse. After the third generation of your cursed bloodline, your firstborn son Prince Clay, if he tries to mate with his betrothed, they will both die."

Clay's body tensed at Sybil's words. "What do you mean," he practically growled, already protective of his unborn child.

"It was was essentially Gunnora's backup plan in case either of you didn't kill your mates. It ensured that at least one mate would die, causing both the same pain Gunnora felt at Thurstan's betrayal, and potentially an end to your bloodline."

Ulric's fists clenched, his inert need to protect his family strong. Clay stood up from the table, "Break the curse," he growled, his voice dripping with anger.