Mistress of All Evil (Villains 4)

The Fairy Godmother’s face dropped. “You’ve been speaking to my sister.”

Oberon laughed his loud, thunderous laugh, though this time it didn’t seem he was happy, but instead disappointed. “No, my dear, I saw everything while I slept. I saw all. You left an abandoned child alo

ne to fend for herself. You did everything you could to keep her from flourishing.”

The Fairy Godmother’s face was stricken with grief. “It’s true. Everything you’ve said is true. And I feel just horrible about it.”

The three good fairies joined in. It was like they were singing a cacophonous song of apology. “Oh, we’re sorry, too! We really are! We’ve been trying to do good work in the kingdoms to make up for our part in Maleficent’s descent into darkness!”

Oberon considered their words and found truth in them. “I see you are all trying to make up for what happened with Maleficent.” He turned to the Fairy Godmother. “And you especially seem to understand it was your words that day that brought about the prophecy.”

The Fairy Godmother looked down, ashamed and filled with grief. “I do.”

“Then perhaps there is hope for the sleeping princess after all. Perhaps in the admission of your mistakes, Maleficent will see her way to redemption.”

The Fairy Godmother shook her head. “Oh, no, not Maleficent. I don’t think so. You know she cursed the princess Aurora to prick her finger on a spindle and die! She would be dead now if it weren’t for the good fairies’ changing the curse to a sleeping curse! And now she intends to kill Prince Phillip to keep him from breaking it!”

Oberon laughed. “Countless stories like this have been told over the years, and how do they end? Always in misery for the wicked queen or witch, always with death. And always she was wronged in some way, by something or some person who set her on this path. It breaks my heart to have to stand against Maleficent, even more so now that you’ve confirmed it was you who caused this. My only hope is that Maleficent will find a way to redeem herself. My only hope is that she spares the prince and wakes the sleeping princess. But I fear that will not happen.”

Nanny didn’t know what to say to Maleficent’s story. The two were sitting in silence when Hudson entered the room. He carried a silver tray with a tiny scroll lying on it.

“Excuse me, ma’am, but a message by owl came just now. It’s from Circe.” He took the tray to Nanny, who picked up the scroll.

“That will be all, thank you, Hudson,” Nanny said. As she read the message, she couldn’t help letting out a tiny gasp.

“What is it?” asked Maleficent. “Has she found the spell?”

Nanny didn’t answer at first.

“What is it?” Maleficent insisted.

“Yes, she’s found the spell,” Nanny replied.

Maleficent smiled. “Then she is on her way to help us? I knew if she read the spell, she would understand and agree to help me.”

Nanny shook her head. “No, she isn’t coming.”

Maleficent stood, her face green with rage. “Why? Why won’t she come?”

“Because, Maleficent, she can’t. She isn’t here. The odd sisters’ house took it upon itself to move locations.”

Maleficent remembered speaking to the odd sisters about that long ago, but she thought they were just raving nonsense, as they often did. “Yes. They mentioned there is a fail-safe with the house. I completely forgot! Damn! I should have remembered!” Maleficent started to pace around the room, her robe flowing behind her and her anger growing. “We needed Circe. We needed her powers to break the good fairies’ addendum to my curse. We can’t do it without her. We need three!”

“Maleficent, calm down! I still don’t understand why you cursed your own daughter to die! And to be honest, I don’t think anything you say to Circe would persuade her to help you with this! And I don’t understand why—”

Nanny stopped herself. She was becoming too familiar with Maleficent, getting too close. She realized that she might be stepping over a boundary if she asked her question.

“What? Why I abandoned my daughter? Why I had the odd sisters give her to you? Don’t you see? Do I have to lay it all out for you? Have you not seen what has become of the odd sisters over the years? Do you not detect a change within me? I know you do. I know you can feel it. I can tell you no longer have any love for me. Because I gave Aurora the best parts of myself! The parts of me you loved. I gave them away. There is nothing good left within me. She has all of it, and before my heart became truly corrupt, before I lost myself entirely, I decided to give up my child. I felt myself slipping away by the day. I felt myself becoming cold and empty. I had no love for her, so I wanted you to have her. I wanted you to care for her. I wanted you to have the very best parts of me so that you could have your daughter back, but you gave her away! You gave her to those horrible fairies, even after everything they did to me! You hurt me beyond anything I’d ever experienced. Even when I thought I had lost you, even when I was alone for all those years, that pain was nothing compared to how I felt when you gave my daughter away to those horrible fairies!”

Nanny was heartbroken. “I didn’t know! Oh, Maleficent. I’m so sorry. If I’d known the truth, I would never have given her away.” Nanny looked at Maleficent with sad eyes, willing herself to have the courage to ask one more question. “Maleficent, I still don’t understand why you cursed your daughter to die.”

Maleficent’s eyes flashed with anger. “Oh, you know. Look into your heart. The answer is there. And if you truly don’t know, then it is no fault of mine. You have the power to see time. You could have learned every bit of my story if you chose to! You could have helped me anytime you wished.”

Nanny knew Maleficent was right. She could say nothing to defend herself. “You’re right, Maleficent. I’m sorry, but we have to save your daughter now. You can’t leave her sleeping in that castle forever. It’s not too late to save her and yourself.”

“You truly don’t know, then. If you did, you wouldn’t ask that of me. I can’t let my daughter wake. Don’t you see—”

But before Maleficent could finish, she heard a choir of screams and gasps. The Fairy Godmother, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather stood in the doorway, stricken looks on their faces.