Capítulo 2: The Cursed Castle is her New Home

The Royal carriage stopped right outside the huge iron gates of the Cursed Castle.

Sera helped Annalise climb down the carriage before she moved away to assemble all of the belongings from the carts that the Princess had brought with her.

"Your Highness, according to the agreement, only you can enter the castle. All of us will wait here for your news." The head of the royal guards, that had followed Annalise on her father's order, informed her.

It wasn't like Annalise wasn't aware of this part of the agreement, she just wanted to take a few more minutes to prepare herself. She had no idea what was awaiting her on the other side of the iron gates.

Taking in a deep breath, she started walking towards the huge black-painted gates that were covered with vines. It seemed like the gates had not been opened for ages. Even the wall surrounding the castle grounds was covered in moss and vines.

Annalise took another deep breath before she placed her right palm against the gates and felt the soft tingles of magic working its way to her hand. The protection ward surrounding the Cursed Castle was trying to recognize her. She wondered if the ward would allow her to enter or not.

Her question was answered within a couple of seconds as a warm feeling took over her palm and the gates of the castle started moving, opening a passage to allow her entry.

Annalise felt her heart starting to race once again as the thought of finally meeting her husbands entered her brain. Gripping the skirt of her dress with her fingers in nervousness, she took the first step forward, and then she hurriedly strode inside the gates before she could have changed her mind.

The sound of the gates closing shut behind her pulled her attention toward the huge iron gates to only find that she no longer had the option of changing her mind. The only option left for her now was to move forward but as she finally paid attention to her surroundings, she realized that something was seriously wrong.

Just a couple of seconds ago when she was standing outside the gates, the sky was clear with a bright moon and millions of stars filling it.

However, after entering the castle grounds, Annalise found that the moon and stars had disappeared, and the sky was filled with dark clouds. A strong chilly wind was blowing and even lightning could be seen through the dark clouds. It seemed like a storm was on its way.

Thankfully, Annalise had her enhanced eyesight to help her out or she wouldn't have survived the walk across the castle ground as there were countless statues, broken fountains, and benches scattered all over the place.

As soon as she climbed up the porch, the loud sound of lightning greeted her as the rain started pouring down. Letting out a relieved sigh for making it to the porch on time, Annalise turned her attention toward the huge wooden door of the castle that too was covered with vines.

Her eyes wandered around the porch but other than some rundown furniture and piles of fallen leaves, dust, and vines, she found nothing else.

She pondered about knocking on the door and waiting for someone to open it for her but then immediately gave up on the idea. They didn't even find it necessary to appear at the wedding ceremony, what were the chances that they would open the door for her?

Since she had no plans of spending the night outside on the porch in such cold and stormy weather, she decided to check if the door was locked or not. And as she finally made the effort to push the door, she found it unlocked.

She again felt the tingles of magic running down her palms as she placed her hands on the door and pushed it open, another magical ward allowing her passage inside the Cursed Castle. At this point, Annalise was curious if the state of the castle had anything to do with its name.

As she stepped inside the castle, she found the interior filled with even more darkness. Even her enhanced eyesight wasn't able to look too far from where she was standing. Besides, unlike her parents, Annalise wasn't really great when it came to controlling magic.

The Seelie Realm was the home of the descendants of the powerful Light Fae Race that disappeared around ten thousand years ago. The people currently living in the Seelie Realm were mostly humans that carried some amount of fae blood in them.

While the current generation could no longer use the elemental powers properly and also could no longer live for thousands of years, they still possessed some ability to use magic and could live for around five-eight hundred years.

And while both of Annalise's parents carried more than ten percent fae blood in them and they both were good at using magic, she still hadn't developed the ability to command her powers. She wasn't really weak but she also wasn't as good as one in her place should have been.

Her eyes quickly roamed around her surroundings, but Annalise was only greeted with silence and darkness. She could hardly grasp the interior of the room/hall where she was currently standing. Not knowing where she was supposed to head next or what she was supposed to do at this point, she felt her head spinning.

From what she could sense, the rain had become heavy outside and the lightning could be heard every once or twice in a couple of minutes.

Her attention was pulled toward the broken window from where rain was seeping inside as the wind blew strongly. It was probably not the nicest thing to say but she couldn't deny that her husbands had been living in a completely rundown place.

She was probably too focused on her thoughts that she totally ignored the mysterious presence behind her that had appeared out of thin air.

It was not until she felt a hand tapping on her left shoulder, did Annalise came out of her thoughts and turned to look at the person with a racing heart that was ready to jump out of her chest.