Chapter 2 The curse

More than three days after his failed wedding and his 27th birthday, Ace lay in bed asleep.

He was going to have a very long day attending to palace court duties. Still, that had not stopped him from drinking himself to stupor the previous night.

His rejection was such a hard pill to swallow. The pain in his chest was similar to a stab with a sword. He felt his heart bleed everytime he got visions of that day.

After the failed wedding, he got word that Athena had returned to her pack and had taken the first ship back to France, where she would now live amongst the French humans for the rest of her life. Thinking of her now, Ace could only feel nothing but hate, immense hatred.

Suddenly, he began to toss and turn in his sleep. It was not just as a result of the thoughts of his wedding, but the overwhelming pain he felt on the pelvic region of his stomach contributed to it.

He tried to hold it in, hold it all in. It was happening again! But this time, he would breathe it in, he would not scream. He would not be weak, he would not burden his mother.

The pain grew worse. It felt as though a sword had been heated, and used to carve a mark on his lower abdomen. Frustrated, he screamed. He could not take it anymore. He just wanted it to end, all of it.

All this pain, for something he had known nothing about. His grandfather had passed the tale to his father, who passed the tale to him.

His hatred for his great-grandfather knew no bounds. If it wasn't for him, Ace would have never had a reason to be in so much pain. His disgust for the female white witch could not be ignored either. What type of sentiment would have caused a woman to lay a curse on an innocent child and not the one who had committed the crime?

Since then, any white witches who were discovered in his time faced public execution. If they had so much power to change and influence lives and destinies, then they had no business being alive - especially in his reign.

His scream attracted not only the guards mounted at the foot of his door, but his mother - who stayed in the room closest to his during his pre and post birthday periods. Hera had been expecting it, but it never made it easier for her.

She pushed open the huge mahogany doors of her son's royal bedroom.

Ace continued to turn violently on his bed, still screaming at the top of his voice.

Hera's heart began to pound against her chest. She ordered for the guards to rush to her son and make him still.

Instantly, the two men rushed to him and held his hands at both sides, pinning his arms to the bed so that his movements grew less violent.

Ace was without a shirt. Everyone who was present watched in horror as an invisible sword continued to slash his stomach. With every stroke, blood oozed out of his flesh and Ace's scream grew animalistic.

"Please nother! Please make it stop! It hurts so much, I'm begging you."

Lady Hera held on to the sleeves of her night dress. It broke her heart to see her son like this, it tore her more to know that there was little or nothing she could do about it. Despite being a salutory wolf, it hurt her to know she could only tend to her son's injuries, not cure him.

"Ace, Ace, I need you to be calm. Just breathe my son, everything will be fine."

But she knew nothing would be. If they didn't find a cure or someway to break the curse, she would lose her son. Ace was all that she had after his father died, she could not imagine a life where she had to live without him. All alone, in this castle by herself.

No. Lady Hera knew she would rather die than live such a terrible life.

They watched him kick his legs, whine in pain, curse everything and everyone around him. He hated himself, he hated the world. Why did he have to be born under such cruel circumstances? How was the only sin he committed being born into the Talon family; Alpha Kings of the Wind Winder's pack?

Ace was tired. He was tired of the hurt, the pain. What had he ever done to deserve such cruelty?

Just what had he ever done to deserve all the pain that life brought him?

Soon enough, the invisible sword ceased to scar him. The blood dried up against his flesh and his breathing slowly steadied itself. Ace struggled to open his eyes. The carving had stopped, just as it always did.

Ace continued to pant heavily, in an attempt to steady his breath. The injury was still fresh in his skin. Hera did nothing but stare at the injury. It was a sign, some form of symbol.

The sword had drawn a tally mark, on that indicated his age; 27. It was a countdown, a countdown to his end. He has three more years to go.

If he couldn't reverse the curse before his 30th birthday, he was sure to die.

Ace's eyes fell on his mother's terrified ones. As she stared at his stomach, he wondered exactly what it was that she was looking at. Her eyes had the look, the one it always had when she saw something extremely frightening.

"Mother..." He stopped to pant.

"What's wrong, mother? What does it say?" Ace screamed at the top of his lungs.

Lady Hera stepped back from him.

Her son's voice managed to tear her gaze away from his abdomen. She raised her eyes and allowed her gaze to fall on his sweaty face.

"We..." She stopped, the tears she held back threatened to choke her voice.

"We do not have time anymore."

As she whispered the words, Hera knew what she had to do.

Ace had to find a bride, one who would steal his heart. They had said love and the mate bond was the only way to heal him of the curse.

It didn't matter what she had to do, she would call all the ladies in Wind Winder's for a ball, and she was certain he would find a woman after his heart, and his there. She would take destiny into her own hands for her son.

A stray tear ran down her left eye as she looked at him.

She had a ball to plan.