Tears of Raven

74

*I cried.*

Raven dashed, grabbed a poker on her way to the queen and rose it but the women didn't wince and that made Raven halt.

"Have a seat dear, i won't hold you long."

"Why, because you will call your son on me? Tell me I'm here so he can finish me?"

The beautiful doll before me sat on her usual spot on the long sofa as she crossed her hands before her and pointed to the chair right across. Raven didn't move.

"If I wanted to set you up, I wouldn't have called the guards off from your dragon's patrol, don't you thinl?"

There were no guards.

But she could be bluffing.

"There was no way you knew I'd come here again. Not after what your son did to me."

"I know you better than you think Raven. You have been a pawn in my scheme since the moment you caught that dragon's attention. I needed you to complete my plan and you played in beautifully."
Raven's legs shock but she didn't dare to sit.

"You have been nothing but mean to me. Why should I believe you? did you lsot your mind, you killed my friend."

The queen's glare faded as she stared at the fire. "I did what I had to do to keep you safe Raven. Believe me or not but without my hand, you'll be really dead."

"I already died in case you didn't notice."

"Unfortunate, but you're here aren't you?"

"Not because of you."

"Not entirely, not. You played a little out of my original scheme but have been a wonderful allay without even notice."

She was insane, there was no other explanation.

"You have denigrated me from the second I stepped into this castle. You have spitted evil words, insulted me and undermined me so that even your son grew to despite me without an apparent reason. You have been many things to me, woman, but surely an alley is not one of them."

She fixed herself better, her eyes now sharp.

"Why do you think I used one good word for you? I did all I could to keep you safe so that you could break this curse, Raven. even spite you was part of my plan."

"Your son, he is a monster-"

"And you believe I didn't catch on that?"

Raven stumbled forward, her hands found the chair and she sat. "what are you saying?"

"I made that monster. I fed, nourished his ego to the point he became the exact copy of his delusional father but with so much power and greed that I alone couldn't ever believe to stem. I birthed that nightmare lavishing him with gifts and all the love I could find in myself. But his father, would show him things, things he did with his noble men, things those men would to girls, girls like your maid and even if he never indulged, he never forbade it. When I found out what he did in his free time, I understood that for twenty-five years, I had been watering a stone hearted soulless boy and he was angry. Angry because he couldn't kill his father to get the crown and maintain his powers. And when I got to the point that I couldn't contain him anymore, that he would flip if I attempted to tell him something, I prayed Myra day and night for the curse to be real, so I could finally get rid of them."

Raven's countenance had turned white.

"You want to be queen?"

"I want them to pay for their evilness."

It made no sense; this must have been a trap. Raven looked around for a signal, for guards hidden behind the curtains, anything.

"When my son came to tell me, he had found the girl with the dragon, I prayed for you to be what I needed you to be. And the second my eyes stopped on you, I almost lost it. You didn't resemble the strong heroin I was expecting. You were tall but so glacial, a blow of wind could break you."