A Curse So Dark and Lonely

Later, Harper falls into an exhausted sleep, waking to Grey tending the fire and keeping a watch in case the men who burned down the woman’s house come to the inn. Unwilling to sleep with that threat looming over her, Harper plays cards with Grey, who answers what questions he can about the curse. Every time the curse resets, Grey takes a girl from Harper’s world in hopes she’ll help break it. Some of the girls have died, and those who survived were returned to their world afterward. Harper asks Grey if only Rhen is cursed or if he is cursed too, to which Grey frowns and says, “The curse torments us all” (97).

Unable to sleep, Rhen goes out to the inn’s main room, where he is annoyed to find Grey and Harper playing cards. He sends Grey out to check the horses and sits across from Harper, who refuses to play cards with him. As soon as Grey returns, she goes upstairs to take the bedroom Rhen was using, and Rhen and Grey take up the cards.