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“... the castle walls -”
“I am perfectly aware of the ordeals occurring within my dominion, sir!”
“Oh, but you don’t understand the extent, Your Majesty -”
A flick of my finger and he was silent. His lips sealed shut. His nostrils flaring. His eyes indignant. With a nod of instruction from me, the two guards flanking the man, took an iron grasp of his thin shoulders.
“ You ,” I snarled, standing from my throne and ambling towards him like a lioness to her cornered prey. “Have no right, in this life nor the next, to imply any ignorance upon me. I did not ask for your taunting criticism nor your tactless advice. You are not part of the Queen’s Hand,” I growled with the end of my staff pressing hard into the toe of his shoe. His eyes began to widen in alarm.
“You were escorted into my castle, by my guards, to walk on my carpet, and you were to provide information only on the latest skirmish among the peasants that resulted in one of my finest horses’ deaths! Yet, you come in and disrespect your queen so barbarically. How dare you?”
My gaze bore into his horrified eyes. My heart thumped in my ears. I could hear the blood gushing around my powerful body. I blinked and the man wheezed, tearing his stare from mine and mumbling a thousand apologies under his shallow breath.
I straightened my spine and resumed my seat on my throne; undisturbed.
“You are never to set foot inside this kingdom again. Fly with the ravens, rot with the wolves or dig your own grave,” I called out to his trembling figure. “I shall have a kill order upon you within the hour.”
“Your Majesty -”
“ Ah ! No - don’t bother.” I turned my head away from him, staring through a window to my right. “Out. Now!” I screeched, my voice pushing a forceful wave out my body like the ripple of a tsunami. The guards stumbled and hurried out, dragging the pitiful man with him.
I looked up at the ceiling with gritted teeth, clenching my hands over the arms of my throne. I need a drink.
Parties amongst nobility were for strategy. To thread out the weaklings. Frankly, in my eyes, the fact that they’d all abandoned their kingdoms to be here told me they were all subliminally weak. Only a few declined my invitation: King Henry of the North, Queen Jacqueline of the Southfield Mountains and Gita the Great, Empress of the East. Them, I was now wary of. However, my alliance with King Henry remained strong. I wasn’t expecting trouble from him; our kingdoms had been at peace for centuries.
Still, I enjoyed the rest’s company. The Kingdoms’ Unrest Feast was held in my castle once every turn of the season. Travelling between our territories was tedious and long even without the difficult terrain, so this provided us the opportunity to catch up and see how well our poker faces fared under pressure.
Mingling between the layered balconies of my steel palace, the rulers cast squint gazes at their enemies and flirtatious winks at those with something they wanted. I leaned on the railing at the top, glowering down at them all, breathing in the warm night air. My shimmering crown sat high on my done-up hair.
“The Felicitous Queen of the West,” came a cheerful voice. “I must say, what a delightful party!”
I glanced to the side to see a tall man join me at the rail. Laden in creams and blues, his wardrobe ensemble was a dapper fit on his muscular body. His brown hair had been combed through nicely, nonchalantly resisting the wind that fiddled with it, and his bright green eyes gazed at me inquisitively.
“You have my thanks, Lord Harry,” I greeted, plastering a smile on my face. My gaze jerked to the slim woman beside him. “Lady Zara,” I added graciously, turning to face her.
Her lilac gown glistened in the firelight against her beautiful warm skin. Kindness blossomed in her dark eyes. Together, the two of them were a sight of charm and bliss.
“Just Harry, please,” he gushed, gesturing towards me with his drink in a friendly manner.
“Harry,” I acknowledged. “If you’ll excuse me -”
“So whatever pleases you, Your Majesty!” He took a swig from his glass and slid his arm around his wife, who cocked her head at him with an amused grin.
I sent them a goodbye nod as I turned to make my way inside. As my eyes brushed over the crowd on the balcony a floor below me, they caught something insurmountably incredible. I almost didn’t believe it. I froze. The tall, graceful, exquisite figure of the woman - the queen - I’d loved for decades gazed back at me. My heart stopped for the full second it took for me to blink. I sucked in a breath as she disappeared from view, dragging me with her with a beckoning finger.
I touched my fingers to the base of my neck, drowning in flashes of the memories of her I’d hidden from myself, as I rushed through the leisuring guests. The fall of my hair onto my bare shoulders felt slower. My steps felt slower. My eyelids opened and closed slower. The room slipped into silence. I tightened my hand around the emerald charm warmed by the skin covering my throat. The last gift she’d given me. The last gift she’d been able to give me.
Another step and I felt like I was walking closer and closer to the past. To all that had already been. Two searching souls whose fates were intertwined. Two hearts whose beats never fell out of sync. Two lost girls finding belonging in one another. How simple it was! Yet, how impossible it was for so many people to understand. Our families ripped apart as a result. It was unfair; unjust ! Was this our forgiveness finally being granted?
I remembered her strength clamour around me like she’d given it to me a day earlier. But it had been seasons - ages of the earth - since we were pulled away from each other. What if she no longer wanted me to have that strength? The devotion I held for her would be useless if she’d moved on. My heart would break. Shatter. I held my hands to my chest as my steps faltered. Oh, all the “what if?”’s. I came to a stop in the hallway before the staircase.
“Lorelai,” her aching, longing, desperate voice caught me from spiralling.
I looked up through my flooded eyes. She was already walking towards me.
“After all this time?” I murmured.
The Evil Queen’s stunning smile graced me. Draped in gold from head to toe, she sparkled like the full moon beaming down on my heart. Her pale skin glowed and her hair was longer than I’d ever seen it. My mouth was agape.
“Eternity wouldn’t be long enough for me to forget you.”
My heart flipped over. Her voice was as melodious and velvety as I remembered.
She reached for me and I intrinsically moved into her grasp. I was fulfilled the moment I inhaled her scent. How could I have doubted her?
Her hands were larger; her hips broader; and her face was impossibly more beautiful. She’d matured into a luxuriously gorgeous woman. I could feel the connection between my head and heart sever, and knew my emotions would now rule me just as she had done for a glorious period of my existence.
“It seems like just yesterday, doesn’t it?” She murmured, her soft eyes trailing mine. Her hungry gaze drew in every angle of my being. “But look at how you’ve changed. How you’ve grown . Are you not at your very best, my sweet, sweet Lorelai?”
“Not without you,” I gushed. My voice was a shaky breath of noise compared to hers. A pathetic tremble of my own vocal cords.
Her lips parted briefly. I grasped her face in my hands and held her, and until I could convince myself of this reality, my face was awestruck. I shook my head; incredulous. I felt electrocuted from her touch on my back.
“I heard rumours but never did I imagine…” My gaze dropped down her body once more. My words dropped to a whisper, “You’re absolutely dazzling, Venna.”
“Isn’t it wonderful?” She whispered. “And I’ve missed you. I’ve missed you like a sea craving a tide misses the moon, my love.”
We’d spent countless full moons together. I’d memorised how her young face had beamed in the moonlight almost as much as I had when it shone in the sunlight. We were just girls. So oblivious to the cruelties of the world. I suppose, because, with what we had, why would we need to worry about anything else?
I intertwined my fingers with her hair and brought myself closer, leaving the only obstacle between us the air.
“ Ravenna ,” I choked out, her return crashing over my feeble mind.
With a soft sigh, she pressed her forehead to mine. It was precisely the same action as I remembered her carrying out every time she comforted me; about my fears for the future, fights with my mother, or the cruelty of death - but now it was marred with angst and grief. She’d lost me then too. This was overwhelming us both.
“Oh, my love,” she mumbled, kissing my temple tenderly.
I sobbed into her shoulder, my fist tangled in her hair. All the rage, ferocity and misery infesting my heart poured out of my eyes in salty tears. Ravenna hummed against me, her embrace tight.
“The last few months have been hell,” I hiccuped. “If you think your people are rebellious, spend a night here. We do not go an hour without death.”
“Your territory is vast, my love. A few deaths, particularly those of idiots for getting themselves into fights, will rock nothing.”
“But I can’t handle it anymore,” I gulped. “They’re all expecting me to do something. I vowed to give them wealth and good fortune, Ravenna. It’s been far too long. I must deliver what I promised.”
She declined from me and smoothed over my face. She kissed my cheek and my lips jumped at the chance to smile at her.
“Don’t give them what they want,” she advised, much to my surprise. “Give them what they need . Freedom is poisonous in mortal hands. They need you to govern them like a dragon. Don’t let them get to you, my darling.”
I inhaled, her air reaching the rock bottom of my lungs. I blinked. More made sense to me now than during any time that had passed since the day our love had been physically severed.
“You are far more powerful than me,” I breathed, brushing her hair away from her face. “You have a solution for every problem that arises and carry it out with a confidence I could never even muster.”
“Darling, not without great difficulty! Do not think so lowly of yourself -”
“Take my kingdom, Ravenna,” I exclaimed loudly, tipping my chin up.
She froze, her gaze fixed on mine in amazement. “ Pardon ?”
“You will rule it far better than I will.”
“No, I will not dethrone you -”
“Rule with me then! Be my queen, rule at my side - marry me, Ravenna ,” I pleaded.
“For your kingdom?”
“Oh for heaven’s sake! Marry me for me , my darling.” I laughed in euphoria, blinking my streaming tears away. I pulled her face down to mine and kissed her with every single thing I’d missed in the millennia we’d been apart.
When I broke away, I didn’t give her a chance to speak.
“Marry me, and we can merge our kingdoms and be the greatest queens of all time; in this land and the next. We can dispel the rebels who dare defy us like canons from our towering ship and destroy our enemies effortlessly.” I grasped her face, touching her nose to mine. “Marry me,” I whispered. “And we can wake up in one another’s company every day. Like we used to.”
I’d never seen a smile as wide as the one she wore then; her teeth sparkled and her eyes crinkled agelessly, ever the fairest queen of all.
“Like I could ever say no to you,” she murmured as she kissed me, skyrocketing my absolute delight.
And soon enough, we would live happily ever after.