XI – Golden days       “That girl is planning something nefarious; something truly wicked behind my back. Like a snake waiting for me to lower my guard before it strikes. She’s bidding her time, ooh; she’s definitely bidding her time... I just know it–I can FEEL IT!” Queen Ysabel exclaimed with a feverish certainty, pacing back and forth inside her lavish chamber in front of her magic mirror, her golden heels making a clicking sound in the marbled floor, “Maybe I should try making a move on the boy-knight of her’s this time…”     “What? Why?”     “Why the hell not–oh I DON’T KNOW!” the Queen made a grand, careless sweep of her arm, not bothering to look at her reflection, “For all I know, seeing her cry and wail over her precious friend's corpse might make me feel

XIII –A Handmaiden’s Tale       Something’s wrong.     (And strangely enough, it all started when Jin had to leave for the time being. Eden wasn’t sure but she found that to be the most suspicious, the more she thought about it now.   Is it because Jin Sanscroft was the only who would have raised a hand to help immediately, the only one who cares well enough to actually do something about it? Or maybe… maybe it is because he was the only one who would have known right from the start that something has seriously gone wrong?   But with him out of the picture–   …it had been too convenient for them.)         * * * * *       Princess Aria’s fourteenth birthday was at least two weeks away when the

XV – A Crack in the Mask       Eden Brighton has always known (even if she thinks that the rumors about her highness are so far-fetched by now and she was so ashamed at how she once readily believed them when she was younger) that Princess Aria wasn’t really what someone you would deem to be… normal.   Physical appearances aside, the girl has always been different, has always felt different enough that no animal would voluntarily come near her without bristling or dare to attack her point-blank should she deigned to come closer in a bid to touch them. And as her personal handmaiden, Eden has always been subjected to her highness’ presence, so she always felt it, that being in the Princess’ presence, for some reason… has always felt so cold.   No wonder the Princess always has the fireplace lit, always had it b

XVII – A Hymn to Redemption       As the handmaiden continues to envelop the Princess in her arms with her entire body slightly rocking back and forth over and over again to soothe her crying… until the younger girl’s trembling faintly stills, she knows.     (As Eden hears the young girl sobbing and crying her heart out so hard that her voice practically breaks off and eventually dies down into the tiny whimpers, hiccupping here and there with the barest traces of sniffles…   The sound was breaking her heart too, bit by bit, and Eden thinks she might be crumbling alongside her mistress as well.   There were silent tears and dripping blood still streaking down her highness’ pale face as she coughs and hiccups so badly, which Eden shushes and wipes away with her hands, gently brushing her fingers thr

XIX – After the Rain   Jin Sanscroft’s fingers ghosted through the fine velvet that the ribbon was made of as he admired it in the dim glow of the candlelight.   It was the shade of a rich, dark purple, glimmering so prettily as he turned it amongst his fingers this way and that–the color of royalty as one of his old tutors from the North had told him–soft and silky to the touch, rippling like molten lilac in his hand. He would have been so pleased at how well it turned out but…   He had missed Aria’s birthday.   But that’s okay, he thinks, trying to look on the bright side, looking over at the silver chest filled with books (mostly novels and collections of poetry he had bought that he knows she’ll like) sitting on the top of his bed in their home in the South, a fond smile tugging gently at the corner of his lips just at the thought of his friend.