Gilded Cage (Legends and Lovers)

And when I finally come to my senses, the elf king is no more.

“Rian, it’s over.” I feel soft fingers on the bare flesh of my shoulder and remember once again how to breathe.

I turn and her beauty almost dazzles me. Perhaps such light still has the power to burn me, or that’s how it feels. I gather her into my arms and hold on as if letting her go might doom me once again to a cursed life.

“King Rian. Princess Calliope. Might I have a word?” The elf woman approaches.

“I’m not a king,” I growl.

“Of course. Apologies. I wish only to extend my congratulations to you on lifting your curse. And to make known my firm hope that our peoples can enjoy some peace and friendship in the years to come.”

“Who are you?” Calliope pulls herself close to my side, clearly suspicious. I agree. What is this elf up to?

“My name is Lyobeth, your highness. I’m a member of Lainsfair’s senate. A thousand years ago, before Custevale began calling himself king, our country was a republic. In a way, it’s the only system of government that makes sense for people like us who cannot die. People who do not die outside of extreme circumstances, at least. Custevale became sick with power. He was as dictator. He had delusions of his own greatness and immortality. Worse in the last years.” She glances at the bloodied, headless heap that used to be her king. “It’s my hope that our system of a republic will be resumed. And that we can form closer ties with the other great people.”

Calliope smiles. “Yes, of—”

“And how do we know you won’t try anything like this again?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.

“Anything like this?” Lyobeth shakes her head. “Marriages are quite common, even among our people.”

“You know what I mean. Odette. Mind control. Using people’s emotions to manipulate them into doing things they might otherwise never have tried, trying to interfere with politics that don’t concern you.”

“What?” Lyobeth looks confused. “Who is Odette? Wait, she’s the witch that cursed you? I assure you, Rian, our people had nothing to do with—”

“I heard him talking. Him and that adviser of his. Bavain has gone to bring Odette here, apparently to be tortured into giving away any secrets she might know and then killed. She is our prisoner. Our problem. Not yours.”

“Yes, yes, quite. I agree.” She turns her head. “Uthelan?”

“Yes, my lady?”

“Find Bavain. If he has a witch with him, bring her also.”

“Yes, my lady. At once.”

Within minutes, Bavain is dragged, kicking and screaming, into the hall, and shoved before Lyobeth, who looks at him more with disappointment than any real anger. As for Odette, she is bound and bruised, but otherwise appears to be unharmed, and is being treated with some care by the guard, Uthelan.

When her eyes meet mine for the first time in so long, she bursts into tears.

“Rian, I’m so sorry. I’ve wanted to speak to you, I— Oh, God, how can you bear to even look at me?” She turns her face away, and I draw a ragged breath as she goes on, trying not to speak the angry words that are coming to my mind. “Calliope, what I did to you is unforgivable. I know. I know! Wait…”

Sobbing, she looks up, glancing from me to Calliope, then back.

“Wait, how are the two of you…? Did I break the curse? I was trying but I didn’t know what I’d done and it was all just impossible and—”

“Silence, Odette,” I tell her, trying to make my voice as soft as possible. It’s difficult to look at her and not see the witch that cursed us, even with the knowledge I now have. “You didn’t know how to break the curse because you weren’t fully in control when you created it. Not that you didn’t try, and not that you weren’t a willing participant. There was a loophole, built in by its true master, King Custevale. He manipulated you. Some sort of mind control from afar.” I turn to Calliope and meet her eyes. “The curse was broken the moment the princess fell pregnant.”

“The moment I fell… What?” Her face lights up. “Please say it again, I don’t want to believe it until… Really? Rian, is this real?”

I nod, grinning. Then I rub her belly. “Our child is growing inside here. It was the only way to break the spell.”

“Is this true, Bavain?” Lyobeth asks, sounding like a mother scolding a wayward child.

He nods. “Yes. The curse was only upon Rian and Calliope. If she was pregnant, the baby couldn’t be cursed with the same words, so it was lifted. Please, Lyobeth, don’t put me underground. I was only doing as I was told.”

“Ugh. I’ll deal with you when we return home.” Lyobeth nods to me. “I think that concludes our business. If you don’t mind, I think it would be a good idea for my delegation to leave immediately. There is much work for us, undoing the past thousand years of tyranny.”