Chapter 10: A Complex Curse (Pt 2)
Taren brought his hands down on the polished wooden surface as he leaned over his desk.
Did he really need to have this conversation with Luca and Nicco? The entire household had really lost its mind over the past couple of days.
Luca was sitting on the windowsill, legs stretched in front of him and crossed at the ankle, while Nicco had taken a chair in the corner.
Luca gave Taren a side-long glance. "So, you didn't tell her about the curse?"
"The less she knows, the better. Do you think she would agree if she knew the truth?"
Luca and Nicco exchanged glances in silent agreement.
"…but I won't let anything stand in the way of this contract being dissolved. Which means that not a single hair on her hair can be harmed."
Or, that woman would make him suffer for the rest of his life, Taren thought, annoyed.
Luca raised an eyebrow. It's a curse, why does he insist on calling it a contract?
He looked over at Nicco, quizzically.
Nicco, arms crossed in front of him, responded without lifting his eyes.
"Curses, as forms of energy, respond to change of aura and other energy. Anything which affects Ginevra is going to affect her aura, and in turn, the curse."
Luca leaned back against the window frame, satisfied.
"I volunteer as her personal bodyguard," he said, raising a hand.
"No, I've already assigned that to Boni."
Luca looked visibly disappointed.
"But Boni's already busy – !"
Taren flashed Boni an intense glare that stopped him mid-sentence.
"She's fast."
Both Taren and Luca's eyes shot over at the speaker.
"I've never seen anything like it. She moved on instinct.
It's not something most people can do." Nicco continued, in a matter of fact tone, arms still crossed in front of his chest, slightly leaning back in his chair.
Luca leaned forward, becoming animated. "Did you see that reflex? The way she threw herself. She's really something else." Luca's eyes glimmered, as if seeing the scene again.
"She may be an imposter," Nicco said, without a trace of change in tone in his voice.
"Impossible. I made sure of that," Taren shot down the suggestion.
"And the necklace?"
"It was hers. She is the only direct descendent of Francesca Victoria Scaraveggi. Only someone who shares her blood can remove the curse. And yet…" Taren clenched his jaw.
"That's assuming it's a simple curse with only one condition. In that case, you marrying Ginevra would meet that condition, resulting in successfully breaking the curse," Nicco explained. "However, and this seems more likely, if the curse is complex, it would have multiple conditions that would need to be met. In that case, marrying Ginevra would only meet one of those conditions but alone would not be enough to break the curse."
"Then, in the case that it is a complex curse, Ginevra would know those conditions."
"Not necessarily. It seems like Ginevra inherited the curse without her knowing. Her grandmother may have kept her in the dark as a way to protect her. Curses usually die with the person who cast them. Only very skilled witches can pass their curses down, and even then, a lot can go wrong." Nicco continued, "her grandmother was a renowned enchantress in Deceris. No one knew anything about her or her whereabouts, but many acknowledged her abilities. That in itself was enough to protect the Scaraveggi."
The muscle on Taren's neck twitched. We're wasting time
"Find a Stregona. Immediately."
Luca was already on his feet, running a hand through his hair, sighing. "I got it. I got it. Overnight delivery coming up.
Nicco crossed one leg over the other. A witch doctor. Stregonas are notoriously hard to come by. This should be an interesting visit.
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