(Catherine POV)
I sat in the chair by my fireplace until the flames died to embers, turning Kieran's revelation over in my mind like a jewel examined from every angle. The blanket I'd wrapped around my shoulders had grown cold, but I barely noticed—my thoughts were too consumed with implications that stretched far beyond the walls of this impossible castle.
He was cursed. Had been for twenty-seven years, bound to a wolf's form by a woman who'd claimed to love him while using that love as a weapon. The casual cruelty of it made my chest ache with sympathy I hadn't expected to feel.
But it was what he'd said about breaking the curse that haunted me most. Love freely given. The one thing his circumstances made nearly impossible, since how could love be truly free when I was here because of
