by Chanda Hahn
Poor Harmony looked so puzzled, and she tried to run away. “Do something now.” Evander pushed her, and she stumbled down the steps. One of the glass slippers slipped off her foot as she tried to catch herself. The glamour disappeared, revealing Harmony in my wedding dress and veil, visibly shaking in her stockinged feet.
“Harmony,” Derek called out from further down the section where I was sitting.
“What is going on?” King Ferdinand stood up and pointed to the two Dorians. “Which one of you is my real son?”
I glared at Dorian. He had to go and ruin my perfectly laid-out revenge plan. Now I had to improvise on the fly. My fingers reached into my pocket and fumbled for a lock of my hair bound with ribbon—my backup plan in case this happened.
“I am,” I yelled and stepped forward the same time Dorian did.
We came to the middle of the room and squared off. My glamour so perfect that he wouldn’t be able to see any fault. “He is an imposter!” I pointed to Dorian and waved my hand in an elaborate wave.
He shook his head, and I rushed forward, tucking a lock of my hair into his pocket. “See!” I made a show of pulling out a button and waved my hand over him to glamour him into me. I heard Dorian’s grunt of surprise. I whispered to him, “I’m sorry.”
It was weird to see my own face react with Dorian’s expressions. He was mad, very mad, but he held his tongue.
“What is going on?” King Ferdinand cried out. “I thought Evander was marrying that girl,” he pointed to Harmony then to Dorian in an Eden glamour.
“Settle down, Ferdinand,” Giselle spoke. “I’m sure there has been some kind of misunderstanding.”
“It’s the witch!” King Ferdinand hissed out. “She’s come to fulfill the prophecy and kill my son. Guards! Arrest that woman!” The king pointed toward Dorian in my glamour and I watched in awe as the guards rushed me—Dorian—and he quickly dispatched them all while wearing a sparkling wedding dress. It was mildly entertaining before I remembered I was supposed to kill Dorian. Or, actually, glamoured him was supposed to kill me.
I rushed into the fray, and he turned on me, his eyes wild with fury as his fist swung for my head. I jumped on him, knocking him to the ground. He was a better fighter than me, and he easily rolled me under him and had a knife to my throat.
Where did he get the knife? Then I remembered it was Dorian; he didn’t go anywhere without a knife.
“Who are you?” he said, and I watched my golden blonde hair fall over his shoulder, and I quickly had to smother my laughter.
“You need to kill me,” I murmured softly. I tried to open my mouth to explain, but my tongue began to burn. Giselle’s spell was still as strong as before. The blade on my throat lessened, but not by much.
“Kill me,” I said, my eyes blinking away the tears.
He pulled the knife away from my throat and moved away. He wasn’t going to do it. I was desperate now. With a wave of power, I forced Dorian’s dagger into my stomach, and he tried to pull it out, but it didn’t work. I wasn’t releasing him. He could fight my magic all he wanted, but as long as I could, I would hold him.
Oh snot. I felt my world start to fade in and out, even though it was a flesh wound. It still hurt a lot.
“Meri,” I mumbled, grasping Dorian’s shoulders. “Save Meri.”
“Eden? Is that you?”
I nodded. “Save Meri,” I whined and grabbed my side.
“I already did.” Dorian frowned at me. “With the help of my fae spy network, we broke her out of the prison an hour ago. Now you don’t have to marry Evander or kill me.”
“W-What?” I sat there holding my bleeding side and looked around in confusion. “How did you know?”
“Well, Dinky found your enchanted bug flying around the palace and brought it to me. She showed me how to activate the spell, and well, I used it to spy on Giselle and Evander. I heard everything.” He turned and glared up at Evander, who had taken a few steps up and now stood next to Queen Giselle. Both of their faces were pale.
“You mean I stabbed myself for nothing?” I cried out in distress.
“Yeah.” He felt along his glamoured dress for my lock of hair and threw it on the floor. The glamour dissipated and Dorian stood over me, his hand pressing to my side to staunch the flow of blood.
“Which one is the murderer?” King Ferdinand called out in a confused voice. “Dorian, my son, is that really you?”
“Yes, Father. And the murderers are there.” He pointed to Evander and Giselle. “He murdered Sisa. And Queen Giselle is the one who sent the men to burn down Mother’s tavern. They were planning on murdering you and me today, using the prophecy as an excuse.”
King Ferdinand turned on them. “Is this true?”
“No, my love.” Giselle turned on the waterworks. “They are lying. That witch there is the one the prophecy spoke of. The one that will murder your son on his wedding day. I’m only trying to protect him.”
King Ferdinand spun around, his face the color of a ripe tomato. “Somebody better start telling the truth, or I’m going to send everyone to the gallows.”
As chaos called to chaos, the room began to fill with uninvited guests as the magical menagerie troupe members filed in. The guards were trying to hold back Bravado, the Ogress, Sorek, Humperstink, and others.
“You are not welcome here!” King Ferdinand screamed.
“Are you saying I can’t come to my own daughter’s wedding?” Bravado spotted me in glamour and waved proudly at me. “Hiya, honey.”
I was even more surprised to see a beautiful blonde woman at his side. My father’s face was beaming, and his arm was wrapped around her waist possessively. She waved at me, and I blinked in surprise.
“Mother?” She hadn’t died but had escaped the band and must have apparated out of the room.
I meekly waved back and couldn’t help but laugh. I watched as Humperstink the dwarf rolled in a cage of purple furred monkeys. He gave me a wink and opened the cage. They began to scamper through the guests, stealing items and necklaces. One ran right up to the queen’s leg and onto her shoulder and stole the crown from her head.
My wedding was turning into a sideshow, and I was a spectator. “Someone, stop those monkeys,” King Ferdinand ordered.
Bravado whistled between his two fingers, and the monkeys failed to respond. “Well, I tried.” He shrugged.
“Try harder,” Ferdinand yelled.
“They’re not my monkeys,” Bravado huffed indignantly. “But for the right price, say sixty gold coins, they can be your monkeys and your problem.”
“Is that your father?” Dorian whispered to me.
“Uh, yeah,” I said. “Don’t judge me. I just met him.”
“Same here, and you’ve met mine.” Dorian squeezed my arm gently and I laughed.
During the commotion, Harmony had run over to Derek who had taken her in his arms. The guards still surrounded us with their swords drawn and pointed at both of us, but no one had moved, because we were both Dorian.
Evander and Queen Giselle had tried to escape out the back but were stopped by Bravado’s strong man, Sorek.
“You have sinned, King Ferdinand, and must atone for those crimes,” my mother, Amaryllis, said. “You tried to stop the prophecy and my child from being born and killed hundreds of girls and called it a plague.”
King Ferdinand dropped to his knees, his head lowered to his chest. “I did it all for the sake of Dorian,” he confessed. “I did very bad things to protect my firstborn. The prophecy could have been about either.”
Queen Giselle had enough. “You did it all for the wrong son. You coward.” She took a thin dagger from her perfectly coiffed hair and stabbed the king in the back. He gurgled and fell forward down the stairs and didn’t move.
I grasped Dorian’s arm and had him help me to a standing position, placing myself in front of him to protect him. Queen Giselle dropped the thin hair dagger on the ground and raised her hand toward me and Dorian. “I order
you to kill them both,” she hissed.
With her crown stolen, her hair twisted and hanging down her shoulders, she no longer looked like the poster child for the graceful queen. She looked crazed and demented.
Dinky stepped from the shadows and stood in front of the queen, followed by Pinky and the male house elf from the library. More house elves appeared from hidden alcoves and behind tapestries until they filled the room. The anger of hundreds of house elves was evident. They loved Dorian, for he was one of them. He loved them and treated them equally, and they now stood between the queen and their favorite son.
The head house elf, the one who still had her tongue, shook her head. “No more being abused by you. We are done.”
Queen Giselle began to tremble, and her face turned white. “No, you don’t understand. I only had your tongues removed so you would keep my secret.”
“That you and your horrid son poisoned Prince Vincent’s fiancée,” the house elf said. “We would have kept your secret no matter what, for we are loyal to the house of Candor. But you are royal no more.”
“What do you mean? I’m queen. You must listen to me.”
Evander chuckled, “No, Mother, with father’s passing, the crown is passed to me.” He turned to the house elves. “Do what you want with her.”
The house elves charged. Giselle ran but was swept up in a mass of brown as the elves grabbed her and took her out a secret door. Her high-pitched scream followed her out.
Evander grinned and walked over to his father’s prone figure, picked up the gold crown, and placed it upon his head. “Now, I am king.”
Evander turned back on the room and silence befell. “It seems that it is just us... brother.”
I felt Dorian grab for me, but I used my waning magic to freeze him to the spot. “Yes, it is time to end this. You and me,” I said.
Evander tilted his head and looked at me, judging me, trying to decide if I was the real Dorian or not. He reached for the ornamental dagger on his hip and drew it.
Amaryllis gasped, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw my father pull her back, his hand over her mouth. I knew it would come down to this. It had to.
This was the prophecy. I had to kill the prince. My mother was right. It was about revenge.
I pulled Dorian’s glamoured dagger from my belt and held it up the way I had seen Dorian do in a fight, but I wasn’t like my sister Honor; I couldn’t fight. I could barely do a spell right, but one thing I could do was put on a show.
As I walked, I shifted from Dorian, to Adelle, to the old woman version of me, to Derek, and back to me as Eden.
Evander drew close to me and stopped. “It’s you.”
I gripped the dagger tighter and watched him like a hawk.
“It’s always been you.” His eyes widened in realization. “That day in the barn, the first night of the ball, when I pushed Adelle down the stairs.”
“Correction, when you tried to murder me,” I said, anger coursing through my body. “And now I am here to fulfill the prophecy. To kill you. I would never have done it, Evander, if you hadn’t betrayed me, your brother, and everyone. It is your actions that have brought this upon you.”
Evander began to tremble, and he fell to his knees, his head bowed. “I owe you an apology,” he murmured, the knife lowered to the ground. “For underestimating you.”
There was something off about the whole affair. I paused and waited for him to continue. But when he raised his eyes to look at me, they were no longer amber but black, like Allemar’s. “But you continue to underestimate me.” Evander’s lip curled up into an ugly smile, and his hand moved. I saw the flash of steel, but it was too late.
Dorian, unable to move from my spell, was the perfect target, the blade pierced his chest, and I watched as he tried to take a step, reached out for me, and tumbled to the ground. A red pool of blood flowed from around his body.
“Nooo!” I cried out at Dorian’s murder. I summoned all the power within me, even that which resided in the corners of my mind that I had never dared touch. I let it build. My fingers tingled with power, and my hair flowed around my shoulders. I turned to Evander.
“Incendium!” I screamed, letting the dagger fly. Controlled by my magic, it flew true and found its target in Evander’s chest. Where the knife touched his body lit up like a coal, and seconds later, only a pile of ash remained.
It was too much—too much power for my mind to summon or control. I needed to release the magic back into the world without destroying everything and everyone. I collapsed to my knees and released the magic into the air, refocusing it to the best of my ability.
Snow fell upon the room, coating everything in a fluffy white blanket, but it still couldn’t hide what I had done.
I stared in horror at the pile of ash that was the remains of Evander as a dark, misty cloud rose up from those ashes, and I heard the whisper of joy.
“I’m free!” it hissed, and I wanted to throw up. I had done it. Done the unthinkable. I had unintentionally freed Allemar. He had gotten to Evander, taken possession of him, and through Evander’s death, I had freed the evil sorcerer. He had warned me. He said death would free him.
I stumbled to my feet and rushed to Dorian’s side, but he was gone. A pool of blood was all that remained. “Where did he go?” I yelled. “Where is he?” None of the guards would answer me. It seemed the house elves had already taken him away.
I keeled over, pressed my forehead to the stone floor, and let out my grief. I had messed up. In trying to protect Dorian, I had insured his death and also killed the prince.
Pinky came over and hugged me. Her eyes glassy with tears.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect him,” I muttered. “I’m so sorry.”
She gave me a reassuring pat and then pointed to someone who was being led into the chapel by Verik the faun.
It was Meri.
“Meri? You’re okay?” I gasped.
“Of course, I’m okay. Been fine for hours. Eating the best food in a small room off of the kitchens with the house elves.”
I pulled her into a hug and felt the guilt flow anew. She was fine. Dorian had taken care of everything. I didn’t have to go through the whole charade. If I had just trusted him. Guilt continued to assail me and more tears came.
“Where am I?” a lost and confused voice spoke up. I looked up and saw Pinky the house elf standing in the chapel entrance. “What’s going on? What happened to me, and why do I look like this?” She held up her hands and made a face at her brown skin. “One minute I was asleep and the next I was under a bed, and now I’m a house elf?”
“Adelle,” Harmony gasped.
It was Adelle wearing Pinky’s glamour. When I went to use Adelle’s body, I tied Pinky’s string bracelet on her wrist and glamoured Adelle to look like the house elf.
“Oh, Adelle.” I ran to her and released the glamour, and the air about her shifted and she was once again Adelle, her long black hair gnarled from sleeping for hours and her makeup smeared.
“I had the weirdest dream.” She stumbled over to Harmony. “You were in it and”—she pointed to me—“you were in it.” She turned to Derek. “And I don’t even know you.”
Derek laughed and whispered to Harmony, who went to Adelle and took her aside. “Let’s go get a cup of tea, and I will explain everything.”
The palace guards were held in check by Bravado’s men. Amaryllis used her glamour to make their small army seem ten times bigger.
“What should we do with them?” Bravado asked me.
I looked over at the scared guards and then to Derek who had come to my side. “I knew you looked familiar,” he scoffed. “You were the flower girl and the old woman with the bad limp. I told you, I never forget a face.”
“Yes.” I smiled wanly. I was tired and slowly bleeding out still. “You were right. But I need you to take charge of this.” I motioned to the chaos that I had caused. “I rid the kingdom of evil. Now it’s time for a ruler to step up. And yo
u have a pure heart. You and Harmony. I know you will do a wonderful job together.”
Derek shook his head. “The throne should be yours.”
“It is a heavy burden to bear alone, and I don’t want it,” I said truthfully. One of Humperstink’s monkeys tossed the gold crown and it rolled to my feet. I could feel my heart breaking and knew that my soul was damaged from taking a life, even though it wasn’t innocent. I knew the signs. “I’m broken, Derek. And nothing can fix my heart right now. If I took the throne, I’d make a great tyrant, but not a good ruler.”
“As you wish,” Derek said, bowing before me.
“Wishes are for the weak and those who still believe in fairy tales,” I said as I looked down at my hand that was covered with blood and then at the destroyed wedding chapel. “And wishes never come true.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Step right up, let your eyes be amazed at the wonder and glory of Miss Cinder De Ella,” Bravado announced my new stage name, and I stepped onto the stage. De Ella after my parents. My hair was bound up in colorful knots, and I wore a flashy dress of purple and gold with my legs in stockings with gold slippers. It was flashier than anything I ever would have worn back in the drafty tower in the town of Nihill. But I wasn’t in Nihill anymore. I was in the northern town of Legose and had my own act for part of the magical menagerie troupe.
My smile was fake as I paraded about, my arms beckoning to the audience members as I danced around a fire. Golden eyes followed my every move from within the flames, and with a wave of my hand, the fire elemental would rush out in a trail of fire and swirl up my legs and my outfit would disintegrate, leaving in its place a dress made of fire. And as my dress burned, I looked to be burning alive, but it was all an act—my glamour magic having grown in leaps and bounds over the last few weeks.
The audience oohed and aahed. The salamander dashed back down, and with a wave of my hand, the fire was doused and my body wrapped in black, like coal with a hidden fire deep within. My father called the trick a quick change, but there were no changes, only glamour magic.