# CHAPTER 18: The Curse Breaks at Dawn — A Beast Becomes a Prince
Hello everyone, it's me again! How are you all doing? Today I will continue to walk with you and review CHAPTER 18 of "Of Curses And Kisses free digital audiobook." And oh, dear listeners, brace yourselves — because this is the chapter. The one we've all been holding our breath for. The one where a curse meets its reckoning at sunrise, and two stubborn hearts finally stop running from each other. So pour something warm, settle in close, and let me tell you how it all unfolds.
## A Nightmare at the Edge of the World
We open in darkness — and in dread. Grey stands at the very edge of Mount Sama, the sharp rock biting into his soles, an angry wind shrieking around him like a demoness. He steps forward. The ground crumbles. He falls — and just barely catches the lip of the mountaintop with his scrabbling fingers. "Help!" he screams into the void. "I can't do this much longer!"
And then a hooded figure appears. Relief floods him — until the hood falls back. It's Jaya, her face unsmiling, her hair whipping like black smoke. "It's not that I don't know you," she says, reading his mind. "It's that you don't know me." Then she lifts her snow-booted foot and brings it down — hard — on his hand.
Grey jerks awake, drenched in sweat.
## The Birthday That Was Supposed to Kill Him
It's past midnight. It's officially his eighteenth birthday. The day his life was supposed to wind down, like a broken toy. His chest feels hollow — like his heart has been scooped clean out. He showers, dresses, and drifts to the West Wing tower, one palm pressed against the curved window, staring at a night sky pulled taut like a shroud.
He tries to tell himself it doesn't matter. His father had warned him, and he'd been foolish enough to think he knew better. He almost laughs at the cruelest part of all: Jaya — *she* — had made him believe he might actually get to see this day on his own terms. He closes his eyes and counts down the hours until sunrise.
## Jaya, Sleepless and Raw
Meanwhile, Jaya sits alone in the common room before four a.m., cold coffee in hand, her final romance novel abandoned and face-down. She hasn't slept at all. Every time she closes her eyes, she sees Grey — furious, defeated, holding her close at the mixer, skiing in Aspen, the gap-year book he bought her, the way he kissed her until she forgot she was cold.
Her pendant glints at her throat. Only one ruby remains.
Caterina sweeps in, flawless at four in the morning — she hasn't slept either. And here comes the twist: it was *Caterina* who unknowingly fed Alaric the ammunition, venting in anger about Jaya and Grey. But Jaya, with startling grace, refuses to blame her. "It was mainly my fault," she says. "I really did want to hurt Grey at first, and if I hadn't had those intentions, none of this would've happened." She also gently puts Caterina in her place about Rahul — "He is *not*," Caterina insists, a little too stridently.
Isha joins them, resting her head on her big sister's shoulder, and Caterina murmurs, "Family. One would do most anything for them."
Then, suddenly, Caterina and Isha excuse themselves. Jaya, too drained to wonder why, sips her cold coffee morosely. Oh, but *we* know, don't we?
## Daphne Elizabeth to the Rescue
At nearly five a.m., Daph barges in with a coat and a mission: "We're going for a walk." Isha is bundled beside her, and the two of them have clearly been scheming. As they crunch through the snow toward the woods, Daph opens up about Alaric — how she lost herself chasing his attention, how she thought taking him from Caterina proved she was *important* to someone. "I'm an idiot," she says bluntly. Her penance? Caterina's exact words were "Fuck off and die." Savage, indeed.
But her confession lands somewhere deeper: *You made a bad choice, but who am I to judge?*
And then Daph reveals the grand plan: she texted Grey. He's willing to let Jaya say her piece. He's waiting on Mount Sama. *His* mountain.
Jaya freezes. "He doesn't want to talk to me." But Daph and Isha have already moved heaven and earth — Caterina included — and Jaya realizes this is her one chance. She can make her amends. She can spare Grey the pain of believing she laughed at him. She can tell him she truly fell for him. And maybe — just maybe — she won't have to let him face the sunrise alone.
"I love you," she tells Isha, her voice catching. "Better than I know anything else," Isha answers solemnly. And off Jaya climbs.
## The Conversation on the Mountain
Grey unfolds himself from behind a snow-topped boulder, his red jacket dusted white, his blue eyes expressionless — *exactly* as they were when they first met. And that hurts Jaya most of all. She sent him back to who he used to be.
He speaks to her like he's reading a grocery list. But when she unzips her coat just enough to reveal the pendant — that single remaining ruby sitting precariously in its socket — his face pales. He says nothing.
Then Jaya pours everything out. There is no excuse for what she planned. None. But after their fight in Aspen, she abandoned the scheme completely. The engagement with Kiran exists only to protect her sister and her family name. She kept the truth from him not to deceive him, but to help him let go — because if he thought her callous and evil, he could forget her. And then the words that matter most: "You deserve to be happy. Even if it's without me, Grey, I want you to be happy."
She asks to sit with him so he won't be alone when the sun rises.
He turns away. A flash of torment crosses his face and then goes blank.
As she stumbles back down the mountain, tears streaming, she understands: he's given up on her. And worse — she fears he's given up on *himself*.
## Sisters, Secrets, and the Truth About Isha
Isha is waiting on the path. Daph left, but she couldn't — she wanted to be there, just in case. Then Isha asks a question that changes everything: "Is that what you want for me, too?" If their family needed it, would Jaya want *her* engaged to some opportunistic boy?
"Of course not! You deserve to be with someone you love!" Jaya insists — and walks straight into Isha's trap. Because when Jaya tries to claim it's different — *"I'm your big sister, it's my duty to protect you"* — the truth comes tumbling out.
The rumors. The newspaper story claiming Isha was pregnant. Their family's shredded reputation. That's why Jaya agreed to Kiran. A royal engagement would show the people the Hegdes still believed in the Raos.
Isha's answer is immediate and absolute: "No."
For too long, Jaya has carried her sister's worries as her own. It has to stop. "How do you think I'll feel," Isha demands, "seeing you in an unhappy marriage, knowing it was because of me?" And then the killing blow, delivered with perfect aim: "If there's one thing I know about our father, it's that nothing's more important to him than the happiness of his girls."
Jaya gazes at the slate-gray sky and says, "I think I need to make a phone call."
## Confronting Kiran — and the Reveal of the Century
Kiran answers with a haughty smirk. "Don't you cry now, Jaya. I've cleaned up your mess for you."
She stares at him. "The engagement is off." Calm. Authoritative. She doesn't want to be with him — doesn't want *anything* to do with him.
His mask slips. He threatens to have the newspapers destroy the Rao name. And then he makes a fatal error: he sneers about the papers running the story on Isha — about her T-shirt supporting anarchy and feminism. *The picture never showed her T-shirt.* None of the papers showed it. So how does he know what she was wearing that day?
The confession spills out: it was *him*. He took the photo on his phone. He fed it to the papers to protect the Hegde political position. He leaked the pregnancy rumors. *He* was the mysterious "male heir" the journalist mentioned. In his twisted logic, he still believes he was in the right — "thinking of my family, as any good heir should."
Jaya's rage goes silent and still. "I knew you were an asshole, Kiran, but I had no idea you were so bloody evil."
And then comes the checkmate. He *will* issue a public apology — because she recorded this entire conversation. Every newspaper in India would clamor for it. Plus, once her father hears it, the Raos — still the most powerful royal family in Karnataka — will have political moves of their own. "Maybe," she concedes of Isha's fault, "but she was fourteen. And besides, she's not the heiress to the throne. What's your excuse, Kiran?"
He yields. "Goodbye, Kiran," she says — and ends the call.
## Grey Heard Everything
Here's the moment that made my heart leap: Grey heard *every word*. Some strange wind pattern, some sound tunnel on the mountain — every word Jaya said to Isha, and then to Kiran, floated up to him as if spoken into a microphone. She ended the engagement. She said she didn't have to sacrifice herself for her family anymore.
For the first time since the night before, doubt stirs. Then on its heels comes blinding, searing, painful *hope*. And before his brain catches up, his body is crashing down the mountain toward her voice.
## Dawn on Mount Sama
They meet in the whistling wind — him haggard, hair in his tired eyes, gaze unwaveringly wild and stormy. A wounded animal. Painfully hopeful. She steps forward; he steps back. She waits, respecting his need for space.
"Is it true?" he asks, speech pressured, unable to stop the words. "Everything — is it true?"
"Every word is true. You've made me realize that tradition, what people expect of me, doesn't have to be how the story ends. If I don't like a scene, I can rewrite it."
Her hand shaking, she caresses his jaw. He doesn't pull away. His eyes slip shut. "I love you," she whispers. "I'm so sorry I lied. I'm so sorry I ever wanted to hurt you. But you have to believe me when I say my heart is completely, unquestionably yours."
He asks if the engagement is truly off. It is. But he warns her it might be too late — the last ruby hangs precariously, ready to fall. "Once that one falls, it's done. My life could be over."
"My heart is already broken when we're not together. Don't you see that, Grey? I want to be with you. And you want to be with me."
And finally, finally, he breaks. "Of course I do. You're the only one for me, Jaya. You're the only one who sees me for who I am, and when I'm with you, I actually believe in happiness—"
She closes the gap — and in that exact instant, two things happen at once. **The sun crests the horizon**, flooding the world with golden light. And **the last ruby falls**, pirouetting out of its socket in a slow, graceful arc, sunlight winking off its surface.
They kiss. Then his hand is behind her head, pulling her in with an urgency that leaves her breathless.
## Still Here. Still Alive. Finally Free.
Grey pulls back and stares at the ruby glittering in the snow between them like a minuscule, evil seed. "It fell. The last ruby, on my eighteenth birthday."
"It means nothing," Jaya says firmly. "Look — you're still here. And it's a new day, Grey. It's a new day."
"I'm still here. But... how?"
"I don't know. But I don't really care. You know what really scares me? The thought of never being able to see you again."
Then Grey makes a call of his own — to his father. And this, dear listeners, is the moment the beast sheds his chains entirely. He tells the man who spent eighteen years convincing him he was damaged: *I'm not responsible for Mother's death. How could you have thought that about an infant?* He renounces his title. He emancipates himself from the family. He will no longer be an Emerson — he's taking his mother's name. "I'm my own man now. I'm writing my own story."
His father thunders about tuition, about stupidity. Grey calmly reveals he's been investing for years, has money his father knows nothing about. "I don't need you, and I don't need your title." He hangs up. His eyes are bright. "So that's that."
And then — the revelation we've been waiting for. The curse:
*Mend that which is broken / Repair that which is severed / Or the Emerson name is forsaken / And shall vanish, at last, forever.*
What if it never meant he would *die* at eighteen? What if it meant the Emerson *line* would end — because its last heir would renounce his name and title? The curse wasn't undone. It was *fulfilled*. The last piece of the puzzle slots into place. Grey has shattered the stone tower. He is finally, truly free.
## Jaya's Turn — A Princess Rewriting Her Own Tale
Then Jaya calls home. And she doesn't just tell her parents the engagement is off — she flips the entire board. Kiran leaked the photos. Kiran fueled the pregnancy rumors. He'll be issuing a public apology. *He* will face the people's wrath, and rightly so. Meanwhile Grey is no longer an Emerson — no longer even an aristocrat. And she's met someone important to her.
Her father splutters, outraged. But Amma steps in — the woman who has spent years biting her tongue behind all her etiquette training — and says, "Let her be happy. Let her live her life while she's young."
Then Jaya lays out her own terms. Isha will take robotics classes. Jaya will take a gap year after senior year. She wants to travel. She wants to see the world through her own eyes. "I'm proud of our traditions, of my heritage, of the fact that I'm a Rao heiress. Nothing will ever change that. But I also want to find out who Jaya is besides a Rao princess."
And her father — gruff, proud, terrified of his daughters getting hurt — says the one word that matters: "Yes." He doesn't agree with everything. But he respects her. And above all: "We just want you to be happy."
## Happily Ever After
The call ends. They stand together in the silence, contemplating a future that glitters before them like an unknowable treasure chest. Jaya wraps her arms around his waist. "So, then. Do I have to beg for a kiss?"
"No begging necessary, Princess," Grey murmurs. "Isn't it funny? The beautiful princess did turn the beast into a man after all."
"But here's a secret," she whispers against his mouth. "The beast was the handsome prince all along. He just didn't know it. Happy birthday, Grey."
They kiss like they've never kissed before — hunger and longing and relief and love all rolled into one ecstatic moment. And when they pull apart, Jaya studies him, eyes sparkling. "So this is it, then. Our fairy-tale ending."
Smiling, Grey answers, "Happily ever after."
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## Reader's Impressions & Star Rating
I have to be honest with you all — I closed this chapter with my heart absolutely full. This is a *masterclass* in satisfying payoff. The curse, the pendant, the sunrise deadline, the "fallen ruby" motif — everything planted across the entire book detonated in a single, rose-gold morning. What I loved most is how the story refuses to let one person be the sole savior. Jaya rescues Grey, yes — but Isha rescues *Jaya*, and Daph and Caterina redeem their own messes in the process. Even Grey rescues *himself*, showing up for his own emancipation. The dream sequence at the start was a brutal, brilliant touch — foreshadowing the fear that he would reach for her and find only judgment. Instead he found love. And that ruby falling *at the exact moment the sun rose*, mid-kiss? Chef's kiss. Poetic. Perfect.
⭐ Rating: **4.9 / 5 Stars** — a near-flawless climax. Only docking a fraction because I snickered at the convenient "sound tunnel" letting Grey overhear everything, but the emotional arc was so earned I forgive it completely.
## Next Chapter Prediction
With the curse seemingly fulfilled and the two families' power dynamics flipped upside down, I predict the next chapter will be a denouement — but a complicated one. Kiran still has to issue that public apology, and his father will not take the humiliation lightly. I suspect the Hegdes will attempt some kind of political retaliation against the Raos, forcing Jaya's father to truly choose between pride and his daughters' happiness. Meanwhile, we still have loose threads: Daphne Elizabeth's full reconciliation with Caterina, Isha's robotics path, and — most tantalizingly — the question of Grey's first day as *no longer an Emerson*. I'm predicting a scene where Grey and Jaya discuss the gap year, and perhaps a bittersweet goodbye as term ends and they face distance. But after all this, I'm betting on hope. These two have earned their sunrise.
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