The Black Rose

by Diana Sweeney

  “Yes, the curse takes hold of any man who spends a great deal of time around Wilhelmina,” Yolande finished and smiled, “You truly love Edolie and any feelings you felt towards Wilhelmina should have faded by now. However, doctor….”

  The doctor shook his head, “She’s very ill, I can only prescribe some medicine to help ease the symptoms, but I’m afraid it doesn’t look very good.”

  Henrietta burst into tears and Jerome gripped Edolie’s hand. “I love you,” He said tears forming in his eyes, “I’m so sorry.”

  Edolie smiled at him, “I love you too. I’ll-I’ll try to get better.” She couldn’t fight back the tears. She was scared and her whole body felt weak. It was hard for her to even move her hand.

  “Yolande…” King Wilhelm began, but she shook her head.

  “Magic can’t heal the sick or the dead,” Yolande said, “You know that as well as I. The only way to end this is to kill Lord Melanthius, the banished sorcerer that lives in Fantasme Forest.”

  “I’ll do it!” Jerome said, “This is my fault. I got too close to Wilhelmina. I’ll kill him and bring her back.”

  Yolande nodded and using her magic created a sword, “This sword holds the power to destroy a sorcerer.” She said offering the sword to him. Jerome bowed and took the sword from the enchantress’s hand. “You must strike his heart in order to succeed”, Yolande instructed, “You’ll need time to prepare. Edolie still has time, she won’t die soon,” She said noticing the way he looked at the young princess. Jerome was worried about her and he loved her dearly. Yolande smiled at his fondness for the girl.

  “Why can’t you kill him?” King Wilhelmina asked looking at Yolande. She was the most powerful enchantress and yet she was leaving the duty to a prince. He didn’t want to give the young man such a dangerous task in fear of hurting his daughter.

  “He will expect me,” Yolande said, “With Jerome; we have the element of surprise. I will still assist. He’ll view me as more of a threat and that will give Jerome the chance to strike.”

  King Wilhelm nodded in understanding. He didn’t like the idea since he remembered King Baudouin’s threat, but saw the determination in Jerome’s eyes. He wanted to make amends for releasing the curse. He sighed, “Yes you are quite right. We’ll need to get an army ready, the more we have, the more distracted he will be.”

  Yolande nodded in approval, “It is settled. I will do my best to help you these next few days to prepare for an attack. I will also watch Edolie’s vital signs in case we have to strike sooner than we plan. This curse is strong and unpredictable. For now, we all need to rest. We’ll begin tomorrow.” Yolande then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

  Jerome spent the rest of the night next to Edolie. He couldn’t leave her side. He felt so guilty. Queen Henrietta also stayed and sat next to her daughter’s bed in a red arm chair that one of the maids had brought in. The poor Queen looked awful. Her hair was a mess and her eyes had become puffy from tears. Jerome put a reassuring hand on his future mother in law.

  “I’ll bring her back.”

  Queen Henrietta gave him a faint smile before looking down at Edolie. A part of her felt that this was her fault. She didn’t protect Wilhelmina well enough. She knew her husband had lost his love for Wilhelmina when Edolie arrived, but to Queen Henrietta, Wilhelmina was still her daughter. She loved them both dearly and the thought of losing either caused her great heart ache. However, the crazy events and the pain of possibly losing both her daughters eventually caught up to her, and she soon feel asleep in her chair. King Wilhelm draped a quilt around his wife to keep her warm and he sat down in a chair next to her.

  “My poor Edolie,” He said as a tear trickled down his cheek. Wilhelm was also exhausted by the events of the day and despite his desire to watch over his daughter, he too, had fallen asleep.

  Milly began to worry more as Wilhelmina had not shown up. She wanted answers as to what had happened, but no one would tell her. Everything was a blur in her mind. Finally she managed to run into Jerome when he was leaving Edolie’s room. She figured he was the only one that she could ask since the king and queen seemed quite upset.

  “What’s going on?” Milly shouted in frustration as she grabbed Jerome’s shirt. She didn’t want him running off like everyone else and was determined to get answers.

  “The curse,” Jerome said as Milly loosened her grip.

  “What?” Milly’s eyes widened.

  “Wilhelmina was cursed. She disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, Edolie’s sick, the kingdom is in chaos,” Jerome said quickly and Milly fell to her knees.

  “Mina’s gone,” Milly said feeling her heart shatter. Wilhelmina was her only friend and now she was gone.

  “I’ll fix this mess,” Jerome promised. He was angry with himself. Yolande had told him that it was not his fault, but he knew it was. He just knew he should have tried harder to stay away from Wilhelmina. He left Milly and hurried to his room. He needed to get some rest if he wanted to be prepared for training tomorrow.

  Milly stayed where she was. Tears were falling from her eyes and onto the floor. “Mina,” She sobbed. If she had told Wilhelmina everything then this could have been prevented. If Wilhelmina knew she was cursed, none of this would be happening. Tears poured from Milly’s eyes, “It’s all my fault.”

  Chapter 10

  Wilhelmina awoke feeling awful. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Was it just a dream? But when she opened her eyes, she realized she was not in her room. Her mind flashed back to her mother’s panic stricken face and then she remembered that someone had grabbed her. Where was she? The bed she was in had green sheets, which had a brown swirl pattern along the bottom.

  Wilhelmina looked down at herself. She was still wearing her pink bridesmaid dress. Her hair, which had been done up, had become a tangled mess. “Why am I here?” She wondered as she looked around. The walls of the room were a dull shade of brown and there was hardly any décor. The only thing she saw was an ornate mirror that had a small table underneath it.

  It was then she noticed a girl with white hair standing next to the bedroom door. Wilhelmina had never seen someone so young have white hair. Her yellow eyes took Wilhelmina by surprise as well. Next to her was a girl with short violet hair, who also had yellow eyes. The violet girl looked at Wilhelmina and then left the room. Wilhelmina blinked in confusion. She remembered being grabbed, but who had taken her here and why? Also, who were those girls?

  “What on earth is going on?”

  “You’re awake,” A man’s voice interrupted Wilhelmina from her thoughts. A young, handsome man wearing black pants and a white shirt had entered. He had hair as black as Wilhelmina’s and dark brown eyes. He looked vaguely familiar.

  She felt her heart skip a beat, “Could it be?” It was then she realized he looked like the man she had met at the Masquerade Ball, except this time he wasn’t wearing a mask. He walked closer to her and she could feel her heart pounding against her chest. It was.

  “So you recognize me,” He smiled.

  “You’re…” Wilhelmina began feeling even more confused.

  “Yes, we met at the Masquerade Ball.”

  “Who? What?” Wilhelmina felt her head spinning as she tried to figure out what was going on.

  “Lily, prepare our guest a bath,” The man spoke and a girl with orange hair appeared out of a room that Wilhelmina hadn’t noticed before. Lily nodded her head and quickly disappeared back into the room. Wilhelmina assumed that was the bathroom.

  “You’re even prettier without the mask,” The man said touching Wilhelmina’s face in order to catch her attention.

  “Who are you?” asked Wilhelmina. Her heart pounded rapidly against her chest and she wasn’t sure if it was out of love or fear.

  “You may know me as Lord Endymion Melanthius,” the man spoke as he moved away from her, “My real name, however, is Edmund.”

  Wilhelmina’s eyes widened. The man she had danced with was the sorcerer that she and Milly had
been so intrigued with.

  “Orchid, help clean her up,” Edmund directed to the girl with white hair and then turned his attention back to Wilhelmina, “They’ll do whatever you tell them, so if you need anything, just let them know. They don’t speak, so don’t expect a conversation.”

  “They can’t speak?” Wilhelmina stammered.

  Edmund smiled, “Have you not heard of the story about Lord Melanthius.” It was then Wilhelmina realized that all the girls were originally flowers. Flowers normally could not speak, but he had turned them human. She was a little confused, but realized that even magic has its flaws…

  “What do you want with me?” Wilhelmina managed to ask as her head spun with more and more questions.

  “You don’t know?” Edmund turned to look at her and sighed, “You, my dear, are the reason for the destruction happening upon your kingdom. You are cursed. You’re my creation, just like Orchid and Lily.” He paused before continuing, “However, you’re different. You were grown in your mother’s womb, so you have the ability to talk and do whatever you want. Your parents couldn’t have a child, so I tricked them. I gave them a seed that was cursed. If anyone claimed their love for you than Aridale would fall into despair. That seed was you.”

  Wilhelmina was too shocked to say anything. Tears slowly fell down her cheek and Edmund left the room. Her tears had made Edmund feel extremely uneasy, but he forced the feeling away and continued walking. Wilhelmina couldn’t possibly have the same feelings for him now that she knew the truth. He had accepted that, yet he felt a strange pang in his heart.

  “It’s not true, it can’t be true” Wilhelmina sobbed as she shook her head.

  Orchid, under Edmund’s command, walked over to Wilhelmina. She motioned for Wilhelmina to get out of bed, but Wilhelmina refused to move. Wilhelmina just wanted to cry, but Orchid kept trying to get her out of bed and so she finally forced herself to stand. Orchid had to help steady her since she was unsteady on her feet due to her shocked state. Orchid, who was a little taller than Wilhelmina, made sure she had regained her balance before helping her out of her dress.

  Wilhelmina continued to sob. This was all too much. The man she had feelings for was the Lord Melanthius that she and Milly had talked about. He was a sorcerer and she was nothing more than a flower. Wilhelmina was also cursed and all of this was her fault. It was too much information for her to take in right now and she was not sure what to believe.

  She allowed Orchid to lead her to the bathroom. The other girl, Lily, was standing against the wall next to the bathroom door. Orchid helped Wilhelmina into the bath and then stood next to Lily. Wilhelmina continued to sob as she soaked her body in the warm water.

  Eventually her sadness became confusion and the tears stopped. Her brain raced with questions. Where was she? How was her family? What happened? Wilhelmina took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She needed to calm down and think. At this point, she had to believe what Lord Melanthius had said was true. It made sense and answered all the other questions she had had about herself. She had once even thought she was cursed, but had tossed that idea aside. It turns out it wasn’t as absurd of an idea after all.

  Wilhelmina sighed and sunk her body deeper into the tub so her nose was just above the water. It was amazing how calming a hot bath was and she decided to take the opportunity to think.

  “So…. all along I was cursed. That explains why my parents kept me locked up. It’s also the reason why I can’t be queen. I’m the reason the wedding was ruined and now Aridale is in some kind of trouble? I’m also a flower? There’s still so much I don’t know!” Wilhelmina was frustrated. Just as she was getting answers, more and more questions appeared. She turned to look at Lily and Orchid.

  “So I’m like them,” She thought as she stared at the two maids. Lily had short orange hair and a freckled face, “She must be an orange tiger lily.” Wilhelmina knew there were many different lilies since the queen’s garden had a whole section dedicated to lilies. Lily looked a lot like the orange tiger lilies. She also reminded Wilhelmina of Milly.

  Lily was about the same height as Wilhelmina. She was wearing a short orange dress that resembled an upside down lily. Orchid, on the other hand, was wearing a long flowy white dress that had long bell sleeves. Both girls looked like they were tall version of fairies that Wilhelmina remembered reading about when she was little.

  She sighed, she needed more answers. She was a flower, but what kind? Wilhelmina also began to wonder if Lord Melanthius was an evil sorcerer. He didn’t seem happy about the curse, but then again, he didn’t seem upset either. He had told her everything so fast that she wasn’t able to catch it all. It was as if it was an old story and she should have known it.

  She suddenly felt angry at her parents for not telling her. If she had known…. She shook her head. If she had known, she wouldn’t have ever been able to be happy. The truth was, despite all that happened, she still loved her parents. She knew they had good intentions. Wilhelmina sighed, there was also one other thing. Her heart still ached for the man she met at the ball and she believed that he still existed.

  Edmund was the man she danced with, but the Edmund she met just awhile ago was not the same Edmund. It was complicated. It was like he was two different people, but in reality he was one. Wilhelmina sighed and began to wonder if it was a good idea to let her heart make decisions. Her brain screamed that he might be bad while her heart claimed he was good. She was being tugged in two directions.

  She decided to lay out the facts, “Edmund created me. He put a curse on me. What if my feelings for him are from that rather than from my heart?” Her heart pounded and she knew it wasn’t true; he hadn’t used magic to make her love him. There was no point in that since the curse only worked if someone declared their love for her. Then her heart stopped, did Edmund love her? Was it all just an act? Tears once again trickled down her cheek and she quickly wiped them away. She needed answers and unfortunately, only he could give them to her.

  Once she had calmed down, Wilhelmina climbed out of the round tub. There was a white towel sitting next the edge of the bathtub and she used that to dry off. She wrapped the towel around her body and then she realized that she had no clothes. What was she was supposed to wear? Her pink bridesmaid dress was the only thing she had, but when she entered the bedroom, it was gone.

  Wilhelmina began to panic. What if he came back? She didn’t want him to see her naked. It was then she remembered that Lord Melanthius had told her that she could just command the maids and they would do what she said. However, Wilhelmina wasn’t used to being bossy. The maids back home listened to her parents and usually offered to do stuff for her like hang up her clothes. She never even told Milly what to do, but that was because Milly was her friend.

  Wilhelmina also wasn’t really sure what to tell them. Find her some clothes? What if there were none? She took a deep breath, “Well I’m for sure not going to walk around naked, so might as well try.”

  She made her way back into the bathroom and looked nervously at the two maids. “Um… could one of you please get me some clothes?” She asked nervously, but Lily and Orchid remained standing where they were. Then she remembered that Lord Melanthius had used their names whenever telling them what to do.

  “Orchid, could you find me some clothes?” She asked this time hoping it would work. Orchid looked at her and nodded. She then left the bathroom and Wilhelmina followed her. The young woman opened a wardrobe that was next to the bed Wilhelmina had been lying in. She hadn’t noticed it before. The wardrobe was filled with dresses and Wilhelmina wondered where all the dresses had come from. It was as if Lord Melanthius had planned this out. She froze. He had planned this all out. He knew this was going to happen. Wilhelmina shook it off; she needed to focus on getting dressed for now.

  As she looked through the dresses, she noticed they were all black and became confused. Why black? She ended up randomly picking one since they all started to look the same. The dress she had picked o
ut was rather plain. It suited her and would do for now.

  Now that she was dressed, Wilhelmina was unsure of what to do. Was she supposed to stay in this room like a captive? She tried the bedroom door; it was locked, so she was supposed to stay trapped in here. Orchid was staring at her and Wilhelmina wondered if she would remain standing unless ordered not to.

  She felt bad for the girl, “You can sit if you want.” She offered and then realized that wasn’t a command, “oops, I mean, Orchid, sit on the bed.” Wilhelmina said feeling awkward as Orchid did as she was told.

  Wilhelmina remained standing for awhile. She was trying to piece things together. It was a lot to take in and she was still trying to absorb everything. Was Edmund a good person or a bad person? Did he love her or was it just an act? Why was she here? Tears of frustration began to form in her eyes and she sat down on the bed next to Orchid and began to sob.

  She cried alone for a bit before she felt her arm accidently brush against Orchid’s. She felt a strange tingling sensation in her arm and quickly moved away from Orchid. She looked at Orchid to discover that she was smiling.

  “It’ll be alright,” A beautiful song like voice came from Orchid’s mouth causing Wilhelmina’s eyes to widen. Wilhelmina was shocked. Did she make Orchid talk? Was that what that weird spark was?

  “You can….” Wilhelmina stammered.

  “Talk?” Orchid smiled, “It feels nice to finally be able to, yes, and I think it was your doing. You’re different from us in a way, but the same.” Orchid had a very sweet nature to her and Wilhelmina wondered if all the maids would be like that, or if each flower had a different personality.

  “Lord Edmund isn’t all bad; he actually is quite fond of you.”

  Wilhelmina felt her heart skip a beat at Orchid’s words, “So he does like me.” The thought made Wilhelmina feel happy and then she felt bad for feeling such joy. She didn’t know him at all and here she was falling for him. What if he was bad? Wilhelmina, for now, had to keep her feelings neutral and she knew that was going to be hard.