Magic

The corner of your lips quiver. ‘I don’t have to do this?’ you repeat over in your mind, the contradiction of the statement making your eyebrow twitch.

“Who-” You stutter. “Who are you to talk!?” You try to bite back at him, try to bare your teeth to show you’re not someone to be taken lightly, but the words come out shaky and nearly silent. You could feel your throat start to tighten, every swallow of spit feeling like a boulder was trying to squeeze itself down your throat.

He stays quiet for a moment, watching as you cage yourself against the rough corner of your room, the stone biting into your skin with every harsh breath that leaves your lips, your nightwear doing nothing to protect you. Your jerky movements, your clammy hands holding onto that silly dagger that would be so easy to slap away from you, your sickly pale complexion no doubt brought upon by terror.

His eyes narrow. You’re acting like a wild animal.

“This is unbecoming of you.” He chides, taking a step closer to you and reaching a gloved hand out. The dim moonlight shining in from the window next to you allows you to clearly see the once pristine metal of his glove now dirtied and tainted with the stains of blood, dirt, and other viscera that he might’ve come across during his…escapade.

Your head starts to shake slowly, your eyes glued to the outstretched hand. “No, no no, no…” you feel your shoulders start to tense up. “...You don’t get.. You don’t get to tell me that.” your gaze snaps back up, jolting a bit at the realization of the proximity the two of you now hold before your jaw sets. “I… I thought.. I thought we were having a nice time. Were… were we not having a nice time? Why did you have to go and do that? Why? Why?” You start to raise your voice.

The ring on your finger glints mockingly in the moonlight, as if saying: “Oh, you really thought you could get engaged to someone normal? Ha!” You wanted to rip it from your digit, but the thought of Sae using the opportunity when you lower your hands from your throat to tackle you and steal the weapon from your grasp keeps you rooted in place.

“We were having a good time. I don’t see why that has to end now.”

“Because you killed my entire family!” You bellow out into the otherwise deadly quiet room. The guards stationed outside would have most definitely heard your shout were it not for the fact that they were currently cooling in pools of their own blood.

He tsks, yes, tsks! “Enough of this. You’re acting irrational and emotional.” He snaps forward in a split second, your breath hitches in your throat before a grimy hand shoots out and takes one of your writs, squeezing it tightly enough for you to feel the bone start to wane under his hold. You grit your teeth, bite your tongue until it starts to bleed, but don’t let go.

“You will come back to my kingdom with me, and we will follow through with our engagement, and you will put a stop to this behavior-”

You seethe through your teeth. You feel your fear gradually starting to turn into rage the more he speaks. Was his voice always so grating? “Like hell I will.” With one shaky but determined movement, you let the dagger fall into the hand not bound before straightening it out and digging it directly into his side, relishing in the way it rips a short scream from his throat and causes him to stumble back, directly freeing you from his hold.

Taking the opportunity, you back away from him quickly and turn tail, making a beeline for the doorway and then the hallway. As you rush out, you take care to not focus too intently on the guards slumped against the walls, especially not the one to your right that you knew was your friend.

Pushing back your growing despair, you surge forward, bounding down the dimly lit hallways with determination.

You make it about two hundred feet until you hear a loud clattering from behind you. Taking the risk, you turn your head for just a millisecond and your heart nearly drops to the floor.

Sae was silently trailing behind you, one hand on his side where the dagger was still firmly lodged and with a stare that promised you nothing good if you were to falter even once.

‘Fuck this.’ You silently curse as you turn your head back around and increase your speed.

It feels like hours before you finally manage to make it outside the castle and into the cool night air. Narrowly avoiding a head on collision with a maid holding a laundry basket, you weave around her and continue your journey to where you knew the guards lodge to be.

Shoes slipping slightly on the loose rocks and pebbles that litter the outside, you catch a glimpse of the wooden house all the guards reside in and a small smile crawls its way onto your face. Reaching the heavy wooden door, you waste no time in shoving it open and skittering inside. But instead of seeing a couple dozen sweaty heads turn to look at your sudden intrusion, you instead see at most five turn to look at you with shock and confusion.

Tumbling to a halt in the middle of the cramped lodge, your shoulders rise up and down rapidly as you scan the scene in front of you. “Wha.. What?”

“Your Majesty!” One of the knights seated in a far corner quickly shoots up and makes his way towards you. “Does something seem to be the problem?”

Your gaze sweeps around the room over and over again, convinced your mind had to be playing some sort of trick on you. “Where.. Where are the rest of the guards?” You wheeze out.

The knight furrows his brows, but it is not he who answers you.

“Most of them went out to go confront a rather large disturbance reported to be coming from the south. Something about a large army starting to gather.” Another knight pipes up from bed to your right. “Another three of them went to inform the king about it.”

You couldn’t believe your ears. “An.. army..?”

The first knight nods his head. “Yes your Majesty. If things don’t get settled by morning light, some are saying a war might break out.”

The knight of the bed lets out a curse as he finishes putting on his boots. “What luck. It’s not like we did anything to deserve this kind of response.”

The previous knight shakes his head. “Some people are just…” He turns to look at his comrade, his voice muffling out as you think back to what Sae had told you earlier before you stabbed him.

“You will come back to my kingdom with me, and we will follow through with our engagement, and you will put a stop to this behavior-”

Fuck.