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This is from a WIP, with the placeholder name of “Bluebeard,” very loosely based on that fairy tale. Every year on the Winter Solstice, a sorcerer takes a sixteen-year-old girl as his bride, divorcing her and exiling her before he takes a new bride the next year.
Summary: The sorcerer Aamir “Mire” has married the narrator, Gwyn, spelled them into his tower, and she’s not asking questions. I’ve skipped over some (yet unwritten) story. This bit will be my last snippet from this story for awhile, I need to write more on another project first!
“How did you come to be cursed?”
“How else? A woman,” he said.
“Did you kill her?”
“No!”
“Then why?”
“I can’t say. The curse,” he shrugged, brushing at his coat. Today’s outfit was a deep velvety blue coat over charcoal pants trimmed in the same blue, the only fanciful touch the detailed embroidered birds flying across the coat, picked out in charcoal and black.
Foiled, I dropped my line of questioning.
* * *
This story is very loosely based on Bluebeard. The sorcerer is cursed, and the brides are caught up in the curse, though the nearby villagers don’t know how or why. He keeps the kingdom safe with his magic, and his brides tie him to a land he couldn’t otherwise protect. There are other ways to do this tying–but his curse demands a bride.
caitlinsternwrites 
If he did not kill her, did he break her heart?
Terrible and clever place to leave us Caitlin! Looking forwards to seeing what is next on the menu.
He has to have done something bad, right?
And I don’t have much more written down, so it’s a terrible place to leave myself. But I do need to finish my NaNo work before I let myself get distracted by the shiny new idea…
Sometimes not. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. He could have been chivalrous and gallant ;-} and still earned her eternal ite!
True enough. To the person who cursed him, what he did was bad. The rest of the world can judge when I finally get it written down! 🙂
Ite=ire (spellcheck!)
He’s a cagey one. No matter how hard Gwyn tries, he seems able to deflect her inquiries. 🙂
He’s had practice. Also, the curse, like many of them where the victim knows how to break it, doesn’t allow him to speak of it much.
Good questions. Too bad he can’t be more forthcoming. Darn those curses. I suspect she’ll figure out a way to get those answers. Looking forward to it.
Yep! Gwyn is not going to wait out the year without answers… though she might not like what she finds.
She will find a way to the answer. Woman always do. I speak from years of experience and I do so enjoy this mystery.
She’s got a year, that’s plenty of time to unravel a centuries old curse, right? 🙂
I’m with Charmaine – she’ll find another way to get answers. I hope you keep going with this story!
I will! Bits and pieces of dialogue and plot keep popping up and tempting me.
But I tend to abandon stories for new ideas in the fun, exploratory phase, and I need to stop doing that!
This snippet adds a new element to the story. I’d been so interested in Gwyn’s explorations and discoveries that I hadn’t even wondered about the wizard’s history.
He is, somehow, the center of the story. And I’m sure he’ll have an exciting history!
Ah yes, must remember if I ever cast a curse, to be sure it includes the fact my victim can’t talk about it! Enjoyed the excerpt, sad it’s the last from this story for a while but I understand the need to work on other projects. Hoping you return to this one at some point, so very promising!
Personally, I think it might be better not to tell your victim how to break it–but people seem to like the psychological torture for some reason.
I plan on it, promise!
I want to know the answer, darn it. lol Enjoyed the snippet even though you left me hanging. 🙂
I have an idea, but it’s not written yet. So many stories, so little time!
I love the description of his outfit, and the tantalizing look at what’s behind his curse.
He maybe the the most somberly dressed and yet most fancy character I’ve made so far. Out of nowhere he decided on blacks, and dark grays/ blues/ browns. So I went with it.
I admit that this curse intrigues me. Personally, I think I’d love his outfit.
His outfits are cool–Gwyn is disposed to be a bit annoyed towards his clothes, though, since he wore all black to their wedding, and this isn’t a monochrome culture.
I love the description of his clothing…and hmm, the curse was because of a woman. Intriguing. But the last snippet!! Looking forward to the next wip.
This is the last bit of _Bluebeard_ I’ve written, which came to me in this little section, as yet unplaced in time.
Some stories are more continuous that others, for me.
Next will be NaNo 2015, I think, because it is uncooperative and I could use feedback!
Hmmm – cursed because of a woman and by a woman and can’t say why – lots of fun things to be discovered in this story.
Yep, mysteries to solve, locked doors to get into, curses to break. It should be fun. 🙂