Oma had never spoken of my parents after their deaths—not out of reverence but because she never seemed to care enough. “My mutti is dead.”

“She’s alive. Your wish removed her memories of you, but she never died. And if you ever want to find her, you must find a cure to your curse.”

Chapter 10
Myrthe

Oma had played her last card.

And it worked.

Mutti was alive? Not only had Oma lied to me—to the point of digging a false grave—but she’d robbed me of a potential life with my own mother.

Mutti was alive. I couldn’t leave that stone unturned. I couldn’t let my life end without answers. All this time Mutti had been living life unaware she had a daughter.

“Where is she?” I growled.

Oma shrugged. “I haven’t seen her since the day she left. I gave her a cloak, food, and pointed her to the road.”

“Your own daughter?”

“Daughter by marriage. She’s not blood.”

I wished I wasn’t blood. But Oma’s confession did what she’d been counting on. It planted a spark of desire . . . desire to live. To find Mutti, even if she didn’t remember me. She was still a chance at love—love Oma never gave.

And Mutti deserved to know she had a daughter.

I suddenly craved safety. Friendship. Someone I could trust and talk to and process with. “Where’s Anouk?”

“Much has happened since your curse.”

Fear choked me. “Is she okay?”

“Anouk is queen.”

“What?” I sputtered. “But . . . how?”

“Fairhoven law states that Prince Mattias could not take his father’s place as king until he wed, so he chose Anouk.”

“Why would he choose her? How did he even know she existed?” It sounded like a fable. Anouk had told me repeatedly that she would never marry.

“He sent out militairen to inquire of the people, then twenty eligible women were brought to his palace and he chose Anouk.”

It was no secret that all who met Anouk adored her. But why would she even go? Anouk had never desired riches or royalty. Had the prince forced her? She was common! So much did not add up.

“You should be thankful. Had she not become queen, she wouldn’t have been able to warn us of the militairen attack on our gable house. You’d likely be dead.”

“What a horror,” I said dryly. But then I thought about Anouk being trapped in the schloss with the Murder Prince-become-King. “Does Anouk know what happened to me?”

“She knows you were attacked, but she doesn’t know about the curse. No one does.” Oma knocked a spider off the branch above her head, perhaps in an attempt to act nonchalant about her next question. “Why did Coralythe curse you, Myrthe?”