Cursed (gilded, #2)

The second and final installment in a duology that began with Gilded, this novel reimagines the fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin within a world where dark ones, demons born from mortal sin in the underworld of Verloren, escaped centuries ago to terrorize the mortal realm. Their leader, the Erlking, commands a wild hunt and holds court in Adalheid Castle on an island lake. A magical veil separates the dark ones from mortals, lifting only on full-moon nights.

Serilda, a miller's daughter and godchild of Wyrdith, the god of stories and fortune, is trapped on the dark side of the veil. The Erlking cursed her by driving a gold-tipped arrow through her wrist, splitting her spirit from her mortal body. She cares for five ghost children whom the Erlking murdered to punish her. Serilda is secretly pregnant by Gild, the castle's poltergeist and forgotten prince of Adalheid, whose identity was erased by the Erlking's curse. Gild is blessed by Hulda, the god of labor, with the ability to spin straw into gold. The Erlking has forced Serilda to claim the child is his, threatening the children's souls if she reveals the truth. He plans to wish for the return of Perchta, his beloved huntress, and give her the newborn. Serilda cannot confide even in Gild, who believes the child belongs to the Erlking.

On the summer solstice, Serilda is wed to the Erlking. Gild disrupts the feast by kidnapping Serilda, following a tradition of ransoming the bride, and exchanges her for a wooden soup ladle, humiliating the king. During a tour of the menagerie, the Erlking discovers a golden figurine Gild crafted and recognizes it as god-blessed gold, gold imbued with divine magic, leading him to suspect the poltergeist is the true gold-spinner.

Serilda and Gild search the castle for their cursed bodies. On the Thunder Moon, they fight through drudes, nightmare creatures that induce terrifying visions, and discover a basilisk locked in a golden cage. Serilda meets Lady Agathe, the castle's weapons master and a ghost huntress. After the Erlking announces Serilda's pregnancy, devastating Gild, Serilda theorizes their bodies lie beneath the thrones. She and Gild push the dais aside and find a mass grave alongside two preserved bodies: the prince and his young sister. Agathe reveals Serilda's body lies in the carriage house and tells them god-spun gold can free ghosts. Gild begins spinning golden thread in secret.

On the Straw Moon, the Erlking relocates his court to Gravenstone, his original stronghold in the Aschen Wood. He forces Serilda to tell a story whose fabricated details pierce the protective spell hiding Asyltal, the moss maidens' village, despite the spell's design to turn such directions into gibberish. The dark ones overwhelm the moss maidens. The Erlking chains Pusch-Grohla, the village's leader, and forces her transformation into a unicorn using one of Perchta's enchanted black-tipped arrows, which can capture or transform gods. He compels Gerdrut, one of the ghost children, to snap off the unicorn's horn and uses it to destroy the ash tree concealing Gravenstone. There, the Erlking reveals he has known all along that Gild is the gold-spinner, having used Agathe to plant the ghost-freeing scheme as a ruse. Agathe confesses she betrayed them for the promise of the ghosts' freedom. The Erlking imprisons Gild to spin gold indefinitely.

Gravenstone is built around an enormous alder tree rooted in Verloren. Beneath its lunar rotunda, a cave leads toward the gates to the underworld. Serilda discovers tapestries woven by Erlen, Gild's Hulda-blessed sister, and connects seven beasts in one tapestry to the seven old gods. The Erlking already possesses five, several found through details Serilda inadvertently provided in her stories. Another tapestry shows Serilda holding her baby, but when the light shifts, the image changes to Perchta holding the child instead.

On the Mourning Moon, the Erlking leads his court to the gates of Verloren. Velos, the god of death, emerges, and spirits of the dead cross the bridge. Serilda's father tells her that her mother was never in Verloren. The Erlking offers to trade all his ghosts and dark ones for Perchta's spirit. Velos refuses at first, but after escalated bargaining a deal is struck. The bargain is a deception: The dark ones surge back through the gates, trapping Velos in wolf form with golden chains. Desperate to free the children, Serilda agrees to give up her body as a vessel for Perchta's spirit. The Erlking dissolves the children's curses. Serilda says goodbye to each child and her father as their spirits fade to Verloren.

Perchta inhabits Serilda's body, but Gild, freed by Agathe, presses a broken arrow shaft of ash wood into Serilda's hand, the only thing keeping her spirit in the mortal realm. Erlen, calling herself the Alder Queen, emerges with an army of monsters to ambush the dark ones. Agathe sacrifices herself fighting Perchta and is killed by the Erlking. Serilda, Gild, and Erlen flee into the forest as the gates of Verloren collapse.

After days in the Aschen Wood, Serilda tells Gild the truth: The baby is his. Gild and Erlen will forge golden weapons in Adalheid while Serilda seeks Wyrdith. On the Hunter's Moon, Serilda enters the castle and breaks the arrows cursing Gild's and Erlen's bodies, restoring them to mortality but separating herself from Gild across the veil. She frees Tyrr, the god of war imprisoned in wyvern form, who carries her north to the basalt cliffs. There Serilda discovers that Wyrdith is her mother, who left Märchenfeld, Serilda's home village, to protect her family from the hunt. The god cannot grant a wish outside the Endless Moon, and before they can flee, the Erlking arrives and captures Wyrdith, the seventh and final god.

Erlen's completed tapestry shows Gild dying with a sword through his back, and she warns that entering the castle will kill him. Serilda makes Gild promise to stay behind. On the Endless Moon, Perchta gives birth to a baby girl with golden-wheeled eyes and heads for the castle with the newborn. The Erlking declares his wish: the destruction of the veil, which would free the dark ones permanently into the mortal realm. Hulda explains the wish requires a sacrifice precious to the wisher. Gild arrives, defying his promise, and invokes the magical bargain: Serilda's firstborn belongs to him. The magic forces Perchta to surrender the baby. As Gild retreats, Perchta drives a sword through his back, killing both him and the child he shields. She declares this the required sacrifice, and the gods destroy the veil.

Serilda blows a reed whistle, summoning the moss maidens and Erlen's monsters. Armed with golden arrows, they send the dark ones into a rift opening toward Verloren. Serilda drives broken gold-tipped arrow shafts into the wrists of the Erlking and Perchta, cursing them as they once cursed others. Perchta is expelled from Serilda's body, and Serilda's spirit returns to her own mortal form. The Erlking and Perchta are dragged into Verloren as the castle collapses into the lake.

Mortal again, Serilda begs Velos to return Gild and their daughter, but the god cannot summon a spirit without its true name, which the Erlking's curse erased. Frieda, Adalheid's librarian, recalls the family name: Rumpelstiltskin. Serilda speaks his full name, Ermengild Rumpelstiltskin, and Velos returns both Gild and the baby to life. The epilogue describes a tapestry by Erlen depicting a flourishing lakeside city where townsfolk, monsters, and disguised gods mingle. At its center stand a man, a woman, a crowned child, and a baby. The narrator declares they all lived happily to the end of their days.