I just woke up from a dream.
I was in the great hall of my father’s castle. I was a little girl,
about nine or ten. I was wearing an extremely heavy dress full of beads and
jewelry that was meant for only the staunchest of situations. It was all I
could do to stand up straight and face my mother. She was her young, beautiful
cold self. Vivian stood beside her, also looking much younger and very unhappy.
Sidney stood on her other side, dressed as he was when I first met him. The
hall was filled with our kingdom’s subjects. Everyone was silent and looking at
me, and I had the distinct feeling that I was on trial.
Sidney’s voice boomed to address the crowd. “Will the first witness step
forward?”
Daniel made his way through the people. He was fully grown and not a
child like I was. A baby was in his arms and I knew it to be mine. Daniel
stopped at the steps before my mother and looked into the infant’s eyes before
passing it up to her. As soon as it was in her arms, he changed into a horse
and raced off. The people in the hall cheered after him before turning and
booing me.
“Silence!” The audience hushed at my mother’s command. She cradled the
baby in her arms before handing it over to Vivian. Then she held out her arm to
address me. “She is to be commended!”
The crowd of people then applauded me. I didn’t know what was coming,
but anytime my mother was happy about something, it wasn’t good.
“Pay respect to your Princess!” At my mother’s words, all of the people
standing in the hall put their hands to their chests, ripped out their hearts
and threw them to my feet. Some of them hit me on their way over and now my
dress was splattered with blood. I was surrounded by hundreds of bloody,
glowing organs. I stayed as still as I could. The hearts were all beating in
different rhythms and I had to concentrate to hear what Sidney said next.
“Will the second witness step forward?” His voice rose over the
heartbeats. Graham entered the hall fully-grown as well and in his full regalia
as my soldier. He walked right past me
approached the steps leading to my mother and bowed before her. She gestured
for him to rise and then called to me.
“Command him.”
I looked down. In my hands was the box that held his heart. This was my
chance to stop this. I lifted the lid and whispered to his heart.
“Feel something.”
Graham stood before everyone, confused.
“Wrong!” My mother let out a laugh. The audience copied her. I looked
back down at my hands, which were empty. My mother had Graham’s heart now, and
she commanded it loud enough for me to hear. “Kill the child.” The audience
applauded.
“NO!” I ran for Graham as he ran for the infant, but my dress was so
heavy and the hearts were all in my way. I had to get to my baby before he did.
I tried to step over the hearts, but my skirts pushed more of them in front of
me. I had no choice but to step on the hearts to get up to Graham. They turned
to dust around my feet and the hall filled with the screams of our subjects. I
tripped on one of the hearts and fell. Going down, I looked up to see my mother
with that empty smile on her face.
And I woke up.
It made sense. Graham can’t love anything, even if I commanded him to. He
could actually hurt our child like my mother did to me, even if it’s not
physically. I can’t let it go through that. I’m the only one that deserves to
be happy, but Graham deserves to love his child.
I have to give Graham back his heart.
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