But she would never fear a curse.
The black butterfly settled on the silver bell, its wings giving a faint tremble.
The next instant, it dropped straight to the floor.
Dead.
The last trace of a smile left my face.
Zachary faltered for a heartbeat. It showed.
Then his voice dropped low again.
"Mrs. Harding, Lorna's been away from the borderlands for years. It's only natural these things unsettle her."
"There's no need to press her so hard."
I looked at him and gave a cold laugh.
"Zachary. This woman beside you is not my daughter."
The bride's knees buckled and she dropped straight to the floor.
"Mama!"
"You can't refuse to claim me just because I left the borderlands!"
She clutched at the hem of my dress, weeping.
"I know I was wrong."
"I'll come back to see you often from now on, I promise."
"I'm begging you, don't do this to me at my own wedding."
Zachary bent at once to help her up, his eyes full of tenderness.
"Lorna, don't beg her."
When he raised his head to look at me, the last warmth had gone out of his eyes.
"Mrs. Harding, I respect you as an elder."
"But Lorna is my wife now."
"No one humiliates her in front of me."
I watched the way he shielded that woman.
And a thought came to me.
If Lorna had been shielded like that back then.
Would she still be alive?
I closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, a bronze curse-vessel sat in my palm.
Old Mrs. Sanchez's face changed.
"What are you trying to do?"
I didn't answer.
I only opened the vessel.
Inside, the mother-curse had been at its last breath.
But the moment the vessel opened, it flung itself against the walls of the vessel like something gone mad.
Not toward the bride, but toward the Sanchez inner hall.
Beating itself bloody.
My fingers tightened, little by little.
Zachary saw it too, and started for the inner hall.
Zachary barked, "Stop her!"
Several bodyguards rushed forward at once.
But before they could reach me, twelve black butterflies rose from behind me.
And settled on the backs of their necks.
The men froze where they stood, unable to move so much as a finger.
The guests screamed and shrank back.
Step by step, I walked toward the inner hall.
Zachary lunged in front of me, blocking my way.
"Ellie Harding!"
"This is my wedding. Don't push this too far!"
I stopped and looked at him.
"Zachary."
"My daughter's remains."
"Where are they, in this house of yours?"
Zachary stood in my path, and every trace of warmth was gone from his face now.
"Ellie Harding."
"Lorna is standing right in front of you."
"You insist she's dead. Do you just want the whole world watching the Sanchez family make fools of themselves?"
He didn't say it loudly.
But every guest in the hall heard it.
The ones who had backed away in terror from the curse-insects slowly closed in again.
Someone murmured under their breath.
"Her own daughter's wedding day, and instead of a blessing the mother curses her to death."
"Borderland people really are sinister."
"The Sanchez heir has quite the patience. If it were me, I'd have thrown her out long ago."
Old Mrs. Sanchez picked up her prayer beads again, her expression heavy.
"Mrs. Harding, children grow up. They marry, in the end."
"You can't destroy Lorna's good name in public just because she spent seven years away from the borderlands."
She spoke with such mercy, but her eyes were cold as a knife.
The false bride finally caught on, crawling two steps toward me on her knees.
"Mama."
This time, she changed how she said it.
Zachary must have caught the slip a moment ago.
Her eyes were red-rimmed from crying, her voice trembling at just the right pitch.
"I know you still blame me."
