Charlie's Curse

Tress kept striding forward, step by step, toward the Sorceress. “Each time I tried to get Huck to talk about this place,
or you, he stammered. He searched for words. Because a spell was preventing him from speaking things that would let me know he was Charlie, cursed.”

“If that is so,” the Sorceress said, “then how could he have told you about the defenses here? I know he did. I know many things, child.”

Tress stopped, and her eyes widened. “Because when he told me . . . he was trying to get me to stay away . . .” She focused on the Sorceress. “Because me coming here is the way to break the curse, isn’t it? Moons! You cursed him, and said the only way to break it was for him to bring me here, to you! That’s why he tried everything to stop me. Because . . . because he loves me.”

The room fell still save for one sound. Sniffling. Tress approached the desk and found Huck the rat behind it. He looked up at her, his eyes red.

Tress of the Emerald Sea Chapter 61