#hcllsheir

          “you”re disgusting.” a royal head shakes in annoyance as evie slips further from the prince of hell and to the next market stall. “i’m not interested in cads, arnold.”

                    “ do you think he likes me ? ”

                    evie is...... she is DRUNK. her new heels are scuffed and her knees are ( was that blood? ) skinned and her palm hurts from when she had stumbled, not once, but twice, to the ground. the princess wants to go HOME ------ but that word had become so complicated. it is her brownstone, yes, full with the core four, but it was also aeron’s sheets and curling into his side and poking his cheek to wake him up, cackling as she did. she misses him. so that’s where her feet are taking her. ( even if her head hadn’t quite caught up with them. ) 

                     the familiar door is both ease and weight, and some almost-sober piece of her knows NOT the right place to be. but she’s tired and her feet hurt and even if she CAN’T be with aeron ( why can’t she be with aeron again? ) she WANTS to be with him. slowly evie slides down to sit on the front step, her back pressed against his door, and she brings chipped nails to rap against the wood.

                       “ aeron ? do you hate me? “

                    “ oh, wow, i love your tattoo ! ” the boy might be a stranger, but walking the streets of auradon and spotting mint leaves was enough to stop the nymph in her tracks. “ it’s beautiful. i have a similar one, actually. may i ask where you got it? ”

 the  princess  of  hearts  and  the  prince  of  hell.  a  volatile  combination  at  the  best  of  times.  somewhere  in  the  darkest  recesses  of  her  already tumultuous  and  tormented  mind,  a  shred  of  clarity  – or  was  it  ill - bred  hope? –  remembered  how  good  for  each  other  they  had  once  seemed, had  once  been,  with  all  their  shared  life  experiences,  before things  had  all  gone  to  hell  in  a  hand - basket.  all  of  the  fights  they’d  had  before  had  been  explosive, as  were  their  natures.  but  they’d  always been  drawn  back  together  in  a  violent  crash  eventually.  until  the  day  they  didn’t.  she  knew  she  was  as  much  to  blame  as  he.  her  and  the  pruning  sheers she’d  nearly  taken  his  head  off  with.  how  like  her  mother.  the  thought  was  like  acid.  but  how  far  they’d  come  fallen  since.  their  rivalry  burned like  their  relationship,  a  forest fire  that  consumed  everything  it  touched.

 but  this  was  the  first  time  he’d  had  such  strong  leverage. her  one  weakness. how  he’d  found  out  she  didn’t  know,  but  she  damn  well  had  an  idea.  the  knave  had  to  have  said  something.  she’d  never  been  so  careless as  to  leave  anything  behind.  among  all  secrets that  the  queen  of  heart’s  daughter  cared  or  bothered  to  keep,  this  was  the  one  that  she  held  close  to.  lila  would  never  forgive her.  lila.  the  one  good  thing  in  her  life.  her  one  true  friend.  and  she’d  betrayed her.  more  than  once.  it  ate  at  her  when  she  thought about  it,  so  she  aimed  to  do  so  as  little  as  possible.  but  he  knew.  the  smug  bastard  knew,  because  he’d  been  there.  it  had  become  yet  another  thing  shared  between  them.  he’d  been  there.  and  now  he  was  here.  threatening  her.  controlling  her.  the  thought alone  tasted  bitter  on  her  tongue.  no  one  was  supposed  to  control  or  threaten  her.  they  weren’t  ever  supposed  to  get  close  enough.  the  vice  grip  she  held  on  her  glass  –  now  regrettably  empty  of  the  booze  that  had  filled it  –  tightened so  hard  she  thought  it  might  shatter.  she  almost  wanted it  to.  of  all  the  questions burning  in  her  mind,  one  burned  the  brightest  and  the  hardest.  ❝ how  did you  find  out? ❞