Mated Enemies

I know now too in the back of my mind, that the hag played a big part in that as well, though she didn’t share those details of course, but I wasn’t as interested in gaining retribution from her as I was the other.

And so I set my plan in motion, carefully and meticulously. I’d waited until Lucien had finally left his palace, after days of not showing his face, to spring my trap. Where before, just a few short days ago in fact, I would’ve lamented the fact that he was ignoring proper protocol to spend his every living moment with her, I was no longer so focused on that as I could see an end in sight.

If I couldn’t have the man of my heart I will live knowing that the woman he’d given his heart to was no more. She cannot be allowed to live, to be happy, while I suffer a life of loneliness and misery. Cursed to live without the man I’d vowed to make mine. That fate is indeed worse than death.

I felt no pity, nothing, as I walked towards her now in the place where I’d lured her. I was relying on the fact that she was not as yet familiar with the kingdom and so wouldn’t know where she was going.

I’d cloaked the location under a spell, something that won’t last long once it was discovered, but long enough for me to get the job done. As I moved forward she took a step back a look of confusion on her face.

How embarrassing that the future empress of the immortal world had been so easily lured by a false display. That she’d followed something as infantile as the scent of fruit trees and the dancing lights I’d made appear just for the occasion.

She wasn’t looking so smug now here alone without Lucien to protect her. “Hello Natalia.” I said her name with a sneer, as I got closer. She looked and acted more like she had that first day we met and nothing at all like the self-confident beauty, who, had sat at Lucien’s side.

It was the hag who’d explained that to me as well after I calmed down enough to listen. Among other things, not only is she an inferior fairy, she’s also mixed with much lesser blood. No wonder Lucien had been taken in by her wiles, not many can resist the lure of a nymph.

I came up short when she responded. “Aren’t you supposed to kiss dirt when you’re in my presence. Kneel!” Her voice was so commanding just then that I almost fell to my knees in obeisance, just catching myself at the last second. “You’re not worthy!”

Her laughter made me want to tear her from limb to limb but as I approached there seemed to be something blocking me from reaching her. No matter how I tried, my feet wouldn’t move forward.

The air grew stagnant around me, nothing moved for the barest of seconds; then suddenly it was as if the elements came awake. Leaves and dust swirled around me, forming a barrier between us as if protecting her from me. “You, what are you?”

“You’re a special kind of sheltered stupid aren’t you?” It seemed as if she were toying with me, but that can’t be. That first day she was afraid, little more than a scared little mouse before me. She’d ran away just from my words alone and now…

She was even more forceful than that night at the dinner table it seemed and I couldn’t quiet get a grasp of her. My magic by rights should be stronger than hers no matter what she was made up of, so why can’t I get by whatever protective shield she’d wrapped around herself?

I tried again to push through and was stopped once again. Then I felt her here, the only one who has ever been true to me and welcomed her gladly. Though she’d been told to stay hidden under cover of night, her powers added to mine should be more than enough to withstand whatever power the fairy was using to protect herself.

I called forth the hag as I kept my eyes on the fairy, only now questioning whether it was Lucien protecting her. Too late, I’m already here and she’s so close, just within my reach. Even if he hates me for destroying her at least his heart will be broken; like mine.

“Here princess take this!” The hag held out what looked like a shield shattering sphere. I reached for it knowing that if it didn’t work the recoil could very well send me hurtling over the edge of the elimination platform, which is where I’d lured the idiot.

But it was a risk I was willing to take. Besides, she was standing between me and the platform so she’d most likely be the one going over the edge first. As I raised my arm to slam the sphere into the invisible shield there was another shift in the air.