A curse broken by the slave

"There's a lot of things that require an explanation..." Astrid looks at her mate with a doubtful heart. She thought she knew him, but this... this was an entirely different person.

"I am aware. I shoved my past away, thinking that if I ignored it, it will disappear, but it became my weakness." Loras takes her hand. "I will explain everything. I will tell you what you want to know and a few things that you don't. But now, we have to get out of here."

"You have to get out of here. I don't know where I should go, but..."

"Do you think I would leave you here? No, little one. You stuck your nose into my problems, now you're stuck with me forever." He gives her that blessed familiar smile and she relaxes a bit.

"And how do you plan to get out of here? And by the way, what even is this place?" She asks, looking around. The cloud around them started to evaporate. The curse is lifting.

"I am not sure. But my mother used to read to me from an old book. Childish legends and adventures. She used