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Boundless As the Sea

Part 2 of A Heavy Burden to Bear - my version of a Cursed Heart Book 3.

Rating: Teen

Autumn is coming, and Kieran has become obsessed with finding the solution to Ella's curse. Meanwhile, time is running out to restore her heart, but Kieran is beginning to doubt if she will even want it back. With new original characters to strengthen the moon court, Kieran and those closest to him find a clue that starts them on an adventure through Fae, where they will chase down the original Fae who founded the courts and created the Immortality Curse to begin with - as they are the only ones left who may know how to break it.

Read on Ao3!

@choicesficwriterscreations

Hi friends. I just wanted to drop a little update here. I'm so sorry for my long silence. There was unfortunately a huge upheaval in my life that I am still struggling to recover from. Things are improving, I am going to grad school, but I am basically rebuilding my life. I hope that things will stabilize soon but I simply haven't had time for any personal writing at all. I'm not abandoning anything, just postponing for now.

I've been seeing things about how Choices has been going downhill and it makes me really sad, but even more determined to give The Cursed Heart a more satisfying end and write stories for you all to keep it alive. I can't wait to be able to do so.

Love to everyone.

Omg like, I just had the most serious nosebleed in my whole entire life today which got me thinking, like what would be HCs/fic to Kieran's reaction to an Mc getting Frequent nosebleeds? It's not even a medical thing, just in general. Whenever you're free and feel like it of course 😊

I'm sorry about your nosebleed, those can be so scary! Also apologies for how long this took, I started to reply, saved this as a draft, and then life promptly smacked me across the face.

I've thought about this one a bit...

I think Kieran would be horrified to see MC bleeding, ever. Bleeding is terrifying when the person you love doesn't heal supernaturally fast. Fae don't have nosebleeds!

Imagine they're sitting down at a meal together. MC is innocently recounting their day. Suddenly Kieran pushes back from the table in alarm, produces a handkerchief out of nowhere, and barks an order for the servants to come, QUICKLY! While trying to stop the bleeding.

Kieran, of course, thinks it's the work of some enemy magic that's somehow invaded the palace despite all the wards, and wants the place searched, even while MC is struggling to be heard through the handkerchief Kieran has pressed to their face saying "Kieran, no, it's just a nosebleed..."

Kieran: "Yes beloved, your nose is bleeding."

MC: "Darling, please listen. It's harmless. It simply happens to me sometimes during winter. The air is harsh. It'll stop on its own in a moment."

Kieran, aghast: "...what do you mean? this happens OFTEN? Mortals can simply...bleed from any orifice at any time?"

MC: "Well, we would prefer not to..."

Kieran makes sure MC has pockets full of handkerchiefs at all times. And does a full sweep of the castle just in case.

Happy winter solstice, northern hemisphere 🥰

(psst, feel free to drop your favorite winter-related TCH headcanons or wishlist items for Tch3 in my inbox...)

something something Sir Monty saving a pregnant doe which turns out to be Eisa pregnant with Kieran

something about Jack's monster form being a winged stag

something about how Jack kills Sir Monty

something about how Kieran spares Jack

something about coming full circle.

there's something there. i don't know what it is yet. but it's there

WIP Wednesday

What the devil had he done? Ella's distraught face as the carriage stole her away haunts Kieran as he stalks, fists and teeth clenched, through the woods. He crushes the rare, glowing flowers beneath his boots, seeing none of the beauty around him. None of it compared to the beauty he had just sent away from him. With Ella gone, the world is empty of colour. What have I done? He had ruined a naive and innocent mortal, that's what he'd done. A servant in his care, under his protection, who, even now, wears the collar he'd crafted for her. The symbol of her yoke to him. And she had chosen it. Even though he had altered the magic, offered her her freedom, and she had foolishly refused - of course she had - he should have made her go. She is the mortal and he the prince. She is his responsibility. She doesn't understand, even now, the danger she is in every moment she is within the realm of Fae. From him. He had taken advantage of her innocence, her trust. She is his responsibility, and yet he gave in to his worst impulses.

Even ensconced within the walls of his palace, she is not safe. The danger is Kieran himself, and the beast that lives inside him - both the very literal one, and the one that he cannot blame on a curse, but on his own faults alone. She doesn’t understand this world. She doesn’t know what is best for her; she doesn't know who to trust. He was supposed to protect her from Fae like himself. Apparently she lacks all instinct for self preservation. And he is no saint. A naive girl. An innocent. He had crossed the boundary between prince and servant, between mortal and Fae. Destroyed it, utterly.

He hadn't cared at the time, of course. Quite the contrary; her innocence inflamed him. Knowing that he was the first to touch her? To see her unobstructed beauty laid out beneath him on a bed of purple petals, eyes wide and trusting, giving of herself to him utterly? In all his memory, he had never wanted someone so desperately as in that moment. Had never been so hungry. He is a monster. In every sense of the word.

Hey friends - just wanted to apologize for not being around right now. I'm going through a rough time in my personal life which has thrown everything upside down. I'm not abandoning any fics or projects, they're just not something I can prioritize right now, and my glacial pace of adding a few sentences here and there aren't conducive to major progress on anything. But I'm not gone for good, promise! Still brainstorming behind the scenes and happy to take asks or suggestions, just won't always be able to reply fast!

❤️ Much love~

I sometimes wish Romance Club were the ones who thought of the idea of TCH. Honestly, the character designs of the Fae would have probably looked way cooler and less human. But I don't know anyway! Imagine if Kieran had features such as the Na'vi from Avatar. Like you had the option to choose from the normal skin tones and a blue skin tone) In your Headcanon, how would Mc react to seeing normal looking sun court fae and visibly looking moon court ones?

( English isn't my first language so I do hope I got my point crossed! 😅)

I'm so sorry for the lateness of the reply anon!

It's a fascinating question - I definitely think making the Moon Court seem more "alien" would have done a bit more to make Kieran feel evil/bad/scary, and the Sun Court more human/trustworthy/normal, which I think is what they wanted us to feel! Probably Mc would have reacted with more fear towards the Moon Court and more trust toward the Sun Court in that situation.

It was set up as enemies-to-lovers imo, but maybe they had to balance making sure Kieran still looked human enough to be attractive, and not so scary that we could guess Kieran's secret.

I can definitely see wanting the fae to look more distinct from humans, or more unsettling or unsettling though. i mean they have magic, I sort of expected them to be bit more out-there with their fashion choices at least. I do like how they gave Kieran a different, leaner body type to give that "not human" feel though!

I've been thinking about Kieran's curse for a while now and what it truly might symbolise. I might be reaching a little bit but bear with me:

So when we find out about Kieran's curse and how lustre was the cause of it, it made me question as to why exactly his heart shattered into pieces and he was left without any emotions except for anger and possibly resentment.

At one point in the book it was said that Kieran basically studied protection spells, enchantments and what not to protect himself against any other person who might try to harm him right? Obviously when he met Lustre he trusted her to an immeasurable amount, which resulted in him telling her everything. Disabling the enchantments and protection spells.

Now, what I think is that even when he had a lover and friends (regardless of whether they were fake) by his side I think why his heart chose shatter is because deep down he was always sort of 'numb'.

I mean the guy literally watched all his family members die in front of him except for Montgomery and Longclaw(even though i think she came a bit later)

Some people might say that the whole curse thing is to symbolise depression. Which yes it does i agree with that. But also I think it symbolises addiction.

Sometimes when people are so overcome with grief and depression they turn to substances that numb the pain that they feel. Him having that curse might signify that he needed something that would totally mask out the pain that he truly felt in his life. All the things that he had prior were not enough to fill the void that he had. And I hardly think when he got the curse he immediately went out to find his heart pieces. I think for a while he was sorta 'happy' that he wasn't able to feel anything. But at some point he might have realised that it wasn't healthy and that he needed to move on.

Yeah, I'm definitely going insane 🫩

sorry for how long this took to reply to!

I like your take! I can totally see it as a 'this is the last straw, the one person i trusted so much betrayed me to this extent, i've lost everything' especially after he basically chose Lustre over Oleander, and his heart literally shattered. I love the angle that he WANTED to not feel anything, like it was almost a relief, and i can so see that being possible.

And it's certainly a curious thing that at night he turned into a mindless beast intent on hunting down his heart pieces...like what side of him did the beast represent? It's some sort of subconscious, animal side of him seeking to be whole with violent single-mindedness. It's really interesting to think about.

sweetd3lights

thecursedheartproject

The Cursed Heart Project - Volunteer Form

Hello! If you're interested in volunteering for The Cursed Heart Project, please fill out this form so we can know a bit about you and how y

Hello, everyone! We now have a short Google Form for you to fill out if you're interested in volunteering for the project! This helps us know a bit more about you and also keep track of people who'd like to help.

If you join on, there's absolutely no obligation to contribute a certain amount or spend time working on things. This is a passion project, not something stressful! Even if you think you can only contribute a small amount, we'd appreciate having your help at all :D

leafkingofbirds

Reminder about this ❤️ this isn't binding btw, and doesn't commit you to participating if you decide to don't have time or interest after all! Just lets us get a dialogue started 🤗

thecursedheartproject

Demo of the character customization screen! Or really character customization screens.

This is definitely the real, final dialogue and not me shitposting in visual novel form.

leafkingofbirds

@zhoumeyourlove did this 100 percent himself and deserves a thousand percent credit for being a programming WIZARD and figuring all this out on his own! 🎉

I'm just over here like

(def tempted to keep the dialogue. brilliant as is)

thecursedheartproject

The Cursed Heart Project - Volunteer Form

Hello! If you're interested in volunteering for The Cursed Heart Project, please fill out this form so we can know a bit about you and how y

himemiyania

One thing about TCH2, I really fucking loved is how it treats Jack with so much nuance and respect and doesn’t demonise him for his actions, only is firm with him when he goes too far. He’s not wrong for resenting his birth mother, and the narrative never forces, blames or punishes him for it. There’s no moment where he’s forced to understand her and forgive her (or worse, realise he was ‘wrong’ and want forgiveness for his resentment towards her). Same with his actions against the Fae; he’s not wrong for using force against both the Courts (both!!! Even if Kieran is a good person and may have listened to Jack, Jack didn’t know that and isn’t wrong for assuming the worst just because Kieran doesn’t have bad intentions). He’s wrong for using more force than needed, for hurting innocent people and similar actions, but in the end, his ideals are proven right and he is not wrong for wanting to end a corrupt system.

leafkingofbirds

An incomplete, non-spoilery list of things I plan to bring to my cursed heart book 3 (I really need a better title lol):

Kieran's autumn coronation

A fairy masquerade ball (we were robbed of this!)

Fairy rings/fairy doors to travel to mysterious, faraway places

More of your OCs!

A love interest for Jack, maybe?

More dark!Ella

A quest through new parts of Fae

More fairytale references (share your favorites with me pls)

Uncovering ancient Fae secrets

The proposal and wedding we deserve

Please feel free to reblog this to let me know what you were hoping to see in book 3...

Hello friends! Question!

To those of you who, ages ago, made profiles for original Cursed Heart characters: how do you feel about your OCs making appearances in our fan version of Cursed Heart 3?

I'm going to try to go back and find the posts, but just in case, if you see this, let me know whether this is definitely okay or definitely not okay with you. We won't include anyone's characters without permission <3

thecursedheartproject

Hello everyone, @zhoumeyourlove here with another project update!

I am incredibly happy to show you all that I've set up the sprites + emotions in the Choices style! Using layered images, several variables, and some emotional turmoil on my part (though thankfully significantly less than the textboxes), MC and Kierans' appearances can now be easily changed, as can their emotions!

As mentioned in the previous update post, I also did the pronouns/general gendered language replacement before making the sprites show up. I think we now have some nice, solid foundations to work from :D

leafkingofbirds

I've been fairly quiet here as we do stuff behind the scenes, but I just wanted to say how amazing @zhoumeyourlove has been basically single-handedly building the code for this and I'm in awe! Please clap 😁

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