Blaine insisted on walking him home, later, and after Kurt had finished protesting and trying to get Blaine to let him walk on his own, they set out.

“We have to do this again,” Blaine said, “it was a lot of fun. You don’t treat me differently like other people do – it’s refreshing. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone like you.”

Kurt didn’t know how to respond.

Some people gave them looks, recognizing the prince and some recognizing Kurt with the prince, but Kurt tried not to think about it too much or pay them any attention for that matter. Blaine ignored them all, but then he was probably used to being stared at.

When they approached his house they slowed their pace.

“When can I see you again?” Blaine asked him.

“Soon, I hope. I think my father needs me tomorrow, but maybe the day after?”

Blaine nodded. “I’ll come for you,” he said.

Kurt didn’t think about his family and how they might react to Blaine and he being friends. A part of him had begun thinking of him as just Blaine; not Blaine the Prince, but just Blaine the person. So, he’d forgotten that Quinn was obsessed with meeting the Prince and convinced that she would be the one to marry him. He didn’t know it then, but letting Blaine walk him home was his biggest mistake.

They said goodbye right outside his house and then Blaine walked away. Kurt opened his door and went inside and immediately saw Quinn and Brittany.

“Good afternoon,” he said and made to walk upstairs.

“Was that the Prince?” Quinn asked at once.

Kurt knew he couldn’t lie. He nodded.

“Well you’re going to have to introduce us,” she said, “next time you see him, you have to tell him about me.”

The spell set in. At least she hadn’t told him what he was supposed to tell Blaine.

“Oh, this whole marriage thing is turning out better than I expected. Britt, I might just become queen and then—”

Kurt wanted to laugh and tell her that it would never happen. Kurt had more of a chance of being with Blaine than any girl in their town. But he didn’t say anything. It wasn’t his secret to tell and he knew that he and Blaine could never be together not while his curse hung over them. If Quinn could use him to talk her up to Blaine, other people could use him for worse. Someone could even order him to kill Blaine. Even being his friend wouldn’t keep him safe.

When he finally got to his room and he closed his door, he was allowed to go over the day. Blaine and he had talked about anything and everything. They had so much in common that Kurt hated how long it had taken them to be friends when his mother had known Blaine and their cooks talked constantly about them. He’d have to ask Carole why she never talked about Blaine.

That night, Kurt found out what the fairy had given the newlywed couple. It was love. But not real love – that could never be created by magic. It was this forced love that actually made them hate each other more and yet not want to hurt each other. He remembered once hearing that there was a very thin line between love and hate. His father and his new wife were definitely right on it. From one moment to the next they went from staring at each other in awe to turning away and staying as far away from each other.

Kurt averted his eyes from the way they touched each other and looked at each other and even shared kisses – but yet deep down he could see how his dad stared at his hands with disdain. Fairies really were troublemakers. They didn’t care about a person’s will. They thought they were doing well, giving people what they thought would be great gifts. Kurt wanted to show them their mistakes, show them how everything they did actually harmed everyone more than did any good.

After dinner Kurt went to help Carole with the dishes and the cleaning up in the kitchen.

“I went on a ride with the Prince today,” she told Carole, “why didn’t you ever tell me about him?”

Carole shrugged. “Wasn’t my place to talk about the Prince.”

“His cook talked to him about me. It’s odd, isn’t it? Mother knew him too.”

Caroled nodded.

“He’s like me, did you know? He likes boys.”

“I didn’t know.”

He was called out of the kitchen after that and he walked to his father’s office where he found him seated by the window.

“I’m leaving tomorrow, Kurt,” he said, “I’ve acquired some new pieces that I know the elves might like. I don’t know when I’ll be back. I need to—”

Kurt knew just what he was going to say, so he filled in for him, “you need to get away from your wife.”

Burt coughed. “Yes. I – that fairy did something to us and nothing’s like it’s supposed to be and I am very sorry, Kurt, but I need to get away.”

Kurt understood precisely what his father needed and he didn’t want to tell him not to go, but he wanted to. He wanted to make his father stay with him or to go with him and not have to remain behind with the new additions to their family. But he knew his father wouldn’t let him go.

“I’ll miss you,” he said instead, “I’ll miss you so much, dad.”

He went back down to the kitchen and to Carole. And it was there that he cried. He cried for his mom again, and then for his dad, and he cried for all the changes that his life was taking. More than anything he cried for himself and for the curse. And Carole held him and sung him a song in a low tone and then she put him to bed with a kiss and he fell asleep wishing that somehow everything could be different.

The next morning he saw his father off after watching him kiss Lady Terry. Her daughters were still asleep and Kurt was glad that they weren’t there to get in the way. Instead, he hugged his father and stayed outside long after Lady Terry had gone back inside. Carole had to call him inside for breakfast a half an hour later and had to order him inside to get him to move. He already missed his father. Things were already changing.

The first change happened hours later. Carole was down cooking their lunch and Kurt was busy fixing a cut on his trousers from the ride with the prince when Lady Terry entered his room without even a knock.

“It is bigger,” she said and only then did Kurt see Quinn.

“Um, what are you doing in my room?”

Neither spared him a glance, instead they looked around and when Quinn went to open his closet, Kurt dropped the trousers and stood up.

“Excuse me,” he said, “but this is my room and my things and I did not give you permission to come in.”

Lady Terry glanced at him, then. “My daughter,” she said, “deserves better than that tiny cramped room she’s been given,” she said, “your father fooled me with his talk of a big house – you’ll switch rooms with Quinn.”

And the curse washed over him. No.

He tried to protest. In fact, he did say, “no”, but he was already gathering his things. His limbs weren’t his own.

And although Lady Terry noticed nothing, Quinn watched him.

“And leave those,” she said and pointed at a small open box on his desk. His mother’s jewelry.

“They’re my mother’s,” he said, “you can’t. Please.”

“A boy like you doesn’t need that,” Lady Terry said and picked up one of the chains. Kurt ached to go and grab it out of her hand, “yes, leave it.”

Quinn hadn’t unpacked the day before. Her things were all still in boxes in the guest room. They had been planning this. Kurt wondered if they had known that his father was going to leave, if they had thought that they could get away with it if he was gone. They probably would have. If they figured out the curse, they would.

It took a few hours and Quinn actually helped the process along by claiming more things in his room as her own and watching him as she took a dress – also his mother’s – and a book of stories, a small figurine of a ballerina, and a pouch of money that he’d earned helping Mrs. Carrel with her baking and which his father had refused to use when the bills were piling up before the wedding. He wished his father had taken the money, now.

When he was done, Kurt curled up on the hard mattress in the guest room and cried.