I skid to a stop at the bank of a wide river. The water is an opaque, icy color except where white rapids toss into the air like horse manes as they collide with sharp rocks. It’s so unlike the deep, steady blues of the ocean that I can’t help but take a step back, lest I be sucked into the tumult.
Even still, I release a breath. This is the first different thing we’ve seen on this path, the first thing that doesn’t make me feel like we picked the wrong direction.
Royce’s boots crunch to a stop at the edge of the water as he comes up next to me. As he stops, another small signpost appears.
The same small letters slowly scrawl across the wood.
If true wisdom
Is what you seek,
Learn if your mind
Is strong or weak.
“What do you think that means?” I ask Royce. Before he can answer, the sign changes before our eyes.
Take the cup
And press it to your lip.
All it will take
Is just one sip.
He examines the sign before pulling out something from behind it. “This was hanging on the back.” He holds a small cup fashioned out of clay.
We both look from the cup to the water.
My stomach feels about as calm as the rapids spilling ever forward. And I can’t imagine what I’ll feel like once I drink some of that water. But since it’s clear we don’t have a choice, I swipe the cup from Royce’s hand and dip it into the water.
Royce stops me before the cup touches my lips. His eyebrows scrunch together. “Are you sure about this?”
“What other choice do we have?” I ask.
“What if it’s poison?” he says. “It could be a test to see if we drink it.”
I stare at the sign. “It says to take a sip. We have to chance it.”
Royce reaches for the cup, and I know he’s offering to do this. But I can’t let him. Before I can rethink my decision, I tip the cup toward my mouth.
I don’t even know if I actually swallow any of the water, because my lips go numb the instant the liquid touches them, and I’ve lost all feeling in my teeth and tongue. I can’t even tell if my mouth is open or closed. I sputter to produce any sound, to cry out for help, but when I move my hands to my mouth, I discover my jaw hangs open, useless.
The numbness slowly spreads. It seeps through my throat and across my shoulders, like it’s erasing my body as it goes, making it impossible to feel anything other than a cold, empty void. It spreads through my chest, heading to my lungs. I try to take a breath, to do anything that might stall the chill. But my body doesn’t respond. I can’t gag or choke. My arms lose sensation. Then my legs. And lastly, my heart. Curses always save that for last.
It’s like being turned to gold all over again—the same iciness that clings to your soul and bleeds through it.
My eyes meet Royce’s, and then I’m collapsing forward. His arms reach out, catching me before I plunge headfirst into the river.
My eyes close, and when I open them again, Royce leans over me. I’m lying on the riverbank, jagged rocks pressed into my back. The water continues to rage, tossing thick waves into the air where water collides with rock in its race down the mountain.
“Are you okay?” Royce asks.
It’s odd. All feeling has returned to my body. I raise an arm to be sure. And that’s when I see it.
I bolt upright.
My skin isn’t gold anymore.
I stare closer, certain what I’m seeing is a trick of the light. But no—that’s a freckle. And that’s skin. Skin that doesn’t look like liquid gold melted around it.
“Royce, my skin—” I stare up at him in amazement.
His eyes look just as wide as mine must be.
“I think the water cured you,” he says, a smile spreading across his face.
I turn my arm back and forth in the light, looking at skin that’s always been mine and yet seems so foreign. My fingers are the same length. My wrists the same width. And yet, I don’t recognize them.
Royce draws my gaze to him by cupping a hand against my cheek. “You look beautiful. More beautiful than I ever could’ve imagined.”
Then he’s kissing me, lips pressed firmly against mine. His hand wraps around my back, pulling me closer to him, anchoring me to him—a silent promise he’ll never let go.
Warmth spreads through me, erasing any memories of the chill the water brought.
Royce slowly pulls away. “If the water cured you, I bet it would cure your father too. We can take some of it to him, and everything will go back to normal. It’ll be like the curse never happened. Dionysus will have no reason to come after you then.” He takes my hands, wrapping his own around them. “Then you and I can be together—like we were always meant to be.”
He pulls me to my feet, fills the cup with water, and leads me back the way we came. I stumble over rocks as I fight to keep up with the pace he’s set. I want to call to him to slow down, but every time he turns around, there’s this wild grin on his face that makes me falter. He looks so happy, giddy even.
It’s a side of him I never thought existed, especially thinking back to all those times I thought him rigid and unfeeling when I’d first met him on the Swanflight.
But maybe this is how someone is supposed to feel after they’ve finally broken a curse and have nothing else to worry about.
Then why don’t I feel it too?
Slowly, I drag my feet against the ground, sending loose rocks scattering away.
“What’s wrong?” Royce asks, his smile never faltering as he slows and turns to face me.
“This is too perfect—too easy. What about the Oracle?”
Royce cocks his head to the side. Then some sort of realization dawns on his face. He pulls me closer to him. “I know after all you’ve been through that it’s hard to believe good things can happen. But they can, and you deserve to be happy. To not have to fight for something for once.” He pulls me to his chest, wrapping me in a hug. “It’s okay to believe you’re cured.”
I shake my head and push him away. “We’re missing something.” Nothing is ever this easy—especially when it comes to my life. And I can’t believe he thinks it could be this easy.
I keep Royce at an arm’s length. “I’m going back to the river to see if we missed something.”
Royce shakes his head. “You won’t find anything back there. Everything we need is right here.” He points to the cup and the water jostling around inside. “I’m right here.” He reaches toward me, but I scamper backward.
His smile drops. “I thought you wanted me. I thought you wanted us.”
Heat rises in my cheeks. “I do, but this just seems—”
He scoffs, cutting me off. “Can’t you just believe something good can happen to you once in your life?”
I open my mouth and close it again. I want to believe. I want to think positively. But this is all too unbelievable. “There’s no harm in double checking.”
He waves his hand dismissively. “Go check the river. Just know I won’t be waiting here when you get back.”
I take a step backward as though he’s slapped me. There’s a threat to his words and a tone I’ve never heard from him before. A tone I never thought he’d use.