The Slipper & The Magic Mirror (WAYHAUGHT)

Chapter 33

"This is a trick," Nicole yelled. "It's not real. I know it's not real."

"Now Jolene, you getting yourself all riled for no reason. Let's go to your room until you calm down."

"I'm not fucking going anywhere. I want my clothes, now."

Suddenly, her arms were behind her back, held by someone stronger than her. "We go to our room like a good girl. No more dramatics. And, we take our pills."

"I'm not taking anything," she screamed. "I'm not meant to be here."

Frogmarching her to a room, forcing her to sit on a chair, her hands restrained by what felt like a plastic tie, she was left alone, the door closing, the sound of a lock turning. Her eyes scanned the room. Bare, apart from a bed and the chair she was sitting on, no clothes, no desk, not even a window from which to see beyond wherever she was being confined. "I know this isn't real," she whispered. "I know this isn't real. Keep it together."

She heard the lock click, someone was returning, waiting for the door to open. "I see you've made yourself at home," Angelo said, closing the door behind him. "I must say you are a bigger fool than you look."

"I know it's you," she said. "What did you do to him?"

"Oh, nothing really. Just a little persuasion. Angelo is nothing if not predictable. He'll sell anything for the right price."

"Where am I?"

"Use your imagination. I'd hoped for a little more entertainment. I find you rather dull, if truth be told."

"You can't keep me here. My friends will get me out."

The wizard laughed. "Keep believing that. It will make this more enjoyable to watch all hope fade from your eyes."

"You can't defeat me. If you kill me the elves will rise up against you."

"Who said anything about killing you? I'm more partial to slow torture. Good, old fashioned mind fucking as you call it. You will have the pleasure of watching your wife mourn your absence, believing you abandoned her and your child."

"She knows I would never do that," Nicole replied, remembering the argument in the courtyard. "She knows I wouldn't. Xavier will tell her where I am."

"Ah, Xavier. Such a shame. Lily's husband caught them in a delicate position in their stables. A knife to the back is all it took."

"No, you're lying. He's not dead. Xavier is too loyal to do such a thing."

"He has, oh I'm sorry, had an eye for the pretty ones."

"You will not succeed. They'll know it's you."

The wizard tilted his head to one side. "Really? Like they knew it was me attending your wedding to the one who belongs to me. Like they will know it is I who rides in on your horse to claim what is mine. Like they will know it is I who will take your child from her mother's arms and raise it as my own."

Nicole pulled at the restraint on her wrists. "If you go near them I will kill you."

"One hour, remember. You gave me one hour inside your palace. It is mine to use when the time is right. Oh, I nearly forgot, I have a present for you. Something to remind you of home." The wizard left the room returning a few moments later with the mirror Nicole recognised from the theatre. "I thought this might keep you company. You can watch how the world forgets about you. What was it in the forest you said? Oh, that's right, your biggest fear is to be unloved."

"I am loved," she whispered. "I know I'm loved."

"Keep telling yourself that," the wizard scoffed. "Actually no, I'll tell you what your biggest fear is. You don't believe in yourself. Never have, never will."