Beauty's Curse

By Jodi A Woody

Beauty’s Curse is an adult fantasy/fairytale that spans centuries of bondage, shown through the intertwined lives of four people. Esmeralda, Victor, Nicholas and Adelaide are living under a curse, some of their own making, some by the cruelty of others, and a curse once cast cannot be broken. For years they have toiled under their prospective curses, each in their own way, trying to live with the burdens and troubles. Then along comes Hope, who proves that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and is better judged by what in the heart of a person. True love can break the chains that bind.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jodi A Woody
• Release date: Apr 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311870506

Jodi A Woody

I've always loved the written word. I enjoy writing almost as much as reading. My tastes run from science fiction and fantasy, steampunk and westerns, to historical and romance. The only genres I don't read, ever, is horror, (Life is scary enough, why add to that?) And Erotica. My all time favorite stories are fairy tales! Especially ones that have been re-written for adults. Now that my children are now grown, I have started to write again. The ideas are coming faster than my fingers and brain can keep up with. I live in Wisconsin with my husband of thirty three years. We have raised three children of our own and had others in our home off and on over the years, through fostering and just helping those that we 'adopted'. I have nine grandchildren and am blessed to have two with me on a daily basis. Though I plan on writing some Christian fiction, I am first of all a Christian, I do plan on writing some that are purely for entertainment without any kind of "Christian message". My goal is to make some characters come alive and to provide a small place of escape for my readers.

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Beauty’s Curse

This book is a work of fiction, the people and places are not real, except in my own mind.

Copyright © 2013 by Jodi Woody

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Please do not participate in or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

To my Prince Charming,

My husband, Eddie,

And to our own happily Ever After.

Monday's child is fair of face.

Tuesday's child is full of grace.

Wednesday's child is full of woe.

Thursday's child has far to go.

Friday's child is loving and giving.

Saturday's child works hard for a living,

But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

Beauty’s Curse

Prologue

Adelaide’s world had tipped on its axis. The past ten years of peace and security had all been shattered in a matter of minutes. Not once had she ever been frightened of Drake. He had been the replacement for the father she couldn’t remember, her mentor and teacher, the only person she could call family. Until Theobold had joined their little household, then her family had grown. But all of that had changed in a blink of the eye when Theo had gone to their master and told him of the love that the two young apprentices shared. In their innocence, they had assumed that Drake would be happy at their request to be hand fasted. In a fit of rage, the man she had known and respected had turned into a raging lunatic. Now, years of training under a sorcerer hadn’t even begun to prepare her for the battle that was raging. Theo had more natural power than her, but less training, only being an apprentice for the last three years. She knew her power and skill were no match for her master’s. Drake was going to win.

Quickly she threw herself between the powerful sorcerer and his young apprentice. Stop! she shouted. Both men were caught off guard and ceased their battle.

Move, girl! yelled Drake.

Please, Sir, can’t we reason this out? You are like a father to me… she pleaded.

"Do you think I have raised you all these years to be your father? I removed your father so that I could have you. Patiently, I have waited for you to blossom, and now you want this whelp!"

Y-you…killed my father… she stammered in confusion.

Adel, just go. Protect yourself, pleaded Theobold.

No, I won’t leave you, she said still looking at Drake with horror and sadness.

I’ll never let you go. You-are-mine. Drake spoke slowly and clearly. "So you want to reason, do you? How is this for reason? You stay here, willingly, and I let lover boy walk away unscathed."

I won’t leave her, said Theobold boldly.

Just let us go, Drake. I don’t love you. I could have loved you, as a daughter, but now I only feel loathing for you, Adelaide answered wearily.

Before she knew what had hit her, Adelaide was lying on the floor with the wind knocked out of her. Drake then threw a lightning bolt straight at Theo’s chest, knocking him through the wall and out into the cold.

Nooooo…. she sobbed.

With a flick of his wrist, Drake closed the gap in the wall making it look good as new. He slowly walked towards Adelaide and stood over her weeping form. Finally, full of anger, she sat up and dried her eyes on the hem of her skirt, looking up at him with unconcealed hatred.

"You might as well kill me too, I’ll never submit to you," she managed to ground out between her clenched jaws.

We shall see. Once I am through with you, no other man will ever want you, and you’ll never be loved by another man, he said coldly. Then lifting his hands he spoke over the defiant girl, words of a horrible curse. When he had finished Adelaide was unrecognizable, her body hideously scarred and twisted, her face a mask of horror. Where once there was beauty, now there was deformity and ugliness.

I will listen to every word he says. I will learn every spell. I will become stronger than him, and will destroy him! This all went through the young girls mind before she lost consciousness.

Unknown to either Drake or Adelaide, Theo was still alive. As his life’s blood drained into the white snow, he heard the curse spoken over his precious Adel. One of the first lessons an apprentice learns, is that curses cannot be broken, only countered. With his last bit of will, his last strength, driven by love, he countered the evil curse. This was his parting gift for his love. "A love born of hatred, a child’s gift freely given, will loose the chains that bind, set free the tortured mind."

Once Upon a Time Long Ago

Chapter 1

Esmeralda Renault was a vain woman. This was not uncommon in a beautiful woman, but she was most definitely not beautiful. Her husband accused her of being obsessed with beauty. She insisted on only the finest and loveliest furnishings in their stately home. All of the staff had to be at least pleasant to look at, but not too stunning as to remind her of her own ugliness. Esmeralda was born looking like an old wrinkled woman. As she grew, her parents had hoped that she would fill out. But everything about her was thin, and hard, all sharp bones and sharp features. Even her hair was thin. On top of all of that her nose and chin were both overly long, causing her to look like a woman older than her years.

If not for her father’s wealth, she would still be living at home as an old maid, instead of getting ready to celebrate her fifth wedding anniversary. But money can buy many things, even a husband. Victor Renault was just the sort of husband Esmeralda would have chosen. He was docile and easily controlled. Of course he wasn’t handsome at all, but one couldn’t have everything. What he lacked in ambition and looks, he made up for in his good humor and likeable personality. She was thankful that her father had been able to find another man equal in station to himself, who happened to be having some financial difficulties. Victor’s father was more than happy to welcome Esmeralda into the family, especially knowing that she was the only living heir of her families empire, and was destined to inherit a fortune.

Life was pleasant for Esmeralda. Her father had only lived a few years past her wedding day and she now controlled his fortune, her mother having faded away when she was young. Esmeralda had long ago learned to live with the lot that had been cast for her. She ran her large home in an efficient way, was kind if frugal with her help. She had taken Victor’s families holdings and added to them the wealth of her own family, and now they owned most of the little valley where they lived. There were their own large mansion, known as the ‘big house’, some small shops, a church, and a little village. All of the farm land in the fertile valley also belonged to the Renaults. Up in the mountains they had a lovely log hunting lodge where Victor would take his men a couple of times each year to bring back game.

Esmeralda had great pride in her home and their holdings. She loved being wealthy, and if the people of her own station weren’t exactly on friendly terms, she knew they respected her money. When she began to find life dreary, she would pack up and the young couple would go alone to their hunting lodge up in the mountains to get away. Esmeralda would play house, doing the cooking and the cleaning herself. Those were some of her happiest times. But still she would begin to long for the hustle and bustle and they would return to the big house after a few short days.

The couple had not been able to conceive, so there were no little ones in their home. They lacked any real friends and she had always assumed it was due to what she considered their lack of fine looks, and perhaps jealousy over her abundant wealth. In reality, her personality was as sharp as her looks (to most everyone except her husband), and not many people enjoyed her company. So she took to visiting with some of her staff, who she cared for much better than most. She justified it as taking an interest in the ones she was responsible for, as she would never admit to being lonely. Her staff loved the special attention that the lady of the house bestowed upon them and were eager to talk, usually they were given some small gift, or a treat, and sometimes the talks lasted quite a little bit, giving them a rest from their work. Because of her conversations with those in a different station than herself, ones whose lives were a much simpler and much more desperate… she learned of the witch.

These bits and pieces of information didn’t come from the housekeeper, butler or ladies maid, since they all resided at the estate and would never think of going below their station to visit an old woman for answers to life’s problems. No, these tasty morsels of gossip came from her conversations with the young chamber maids and the scullions, who still lived at home with their families and walked several miles, every day to earn their pittance in the ‘big house’. The first tale was hard to believe and Esmeralda chuckled over it the entire day. It seemed the urchin’s aunt caught her husband with the widow woman who lived down the lane and went to visit the witch in the woods to get a potion that would make him unable to cheat. Sure enough the next morning, there was something ‘a lyin’ in the bed. Esmeralda had scolded the girl for her coarse language, but had to repeat the funny story to her husband later that evening. At first they were simply stories that made them laugh and were a much needed source of entertainment.

But months later Esmeralda’s opinion was beginning to change. After hearing stories about love potions and curses and barren women conceiving children, she began to ask a few inquiring questions of her own. Have you ever heard of anyone having their looks changed? and, is the witch powerful enough to change a person’s appearance?

To which one replied, Oh, yes, Ma’am. She can do most anything.

And another, she straightened out ‘lil Willie’s crooked leg! I saw it me’self, I did.

Soon a plot was thickening in Esmeralda’s thin head.

Chapter 2

The Witch

It didn’t take long to convince Victor to go along with her plan. He thought it was all in fun and he so enjoyed a good game. One fine summer’s day, they found themselves walking