Princess Adeline peered through the dark for some hint of the speaker's identity. Her heart was beating violently in her ribcage, quite over-exerted from the emotional mountains she had been climbing in the last hour.
"Who's there," Adeline asked the darkness. "Show yourself."
There was a slight murmur of amusement from the opposite corner of the room. The princess felt goosebumps grow up all over her arms and legs.
"Do you think that wise, dearie," the female voice questioned.
Princess Adeline did not like to have her commands ignored, nor did she feel comfortable speaking to someone she could not see. So, Adeline held her shoulders back with royal authority and took control of her raging emotions. She wiped her tears away with two swift motions and said,
"I demand that you show yourself!"
The unknown intruder sighed very unconvincingly, "Very well."
Princess Adeline heard the snap of fingers first. Then, all the candles in the room suddenly sprang to glorious light. The princess blinked away the painful adjustment of her eyes to brightness. She looked at the floor for a few moments to recover her vision. Finally, she lifted her blue eyes to take in her persecutor.
"Oh my," she tried not to cry out as she realized in whose evil presence she stood. She did not want to believe her eyes, yet denial would only lead to greater damage down the line. Adeline steadied her back against the door for much needed poise.
"I suppose I should consider this unexpected meeting a compliment," Princess Adeline said with disgust. "Only very upright and devoted rulers become objects of your interest. Or am I mistaken...Lady Jacqueline?"
The wicked woman smiled at the young lady's sneering pronunciation of her name. The black feathers that formed the collar of her ladyship's cape ruffled against her unnaturally white skin. Her indigo eyes maintained a deadly stare upon the fair monarch, causing Princess Adeline to swallow a jagged lump of spit and insecurity.
"I see my reputation precedes me," Lady Jacqueline stated. "But don't believe all the horror stories you hear."
"My father taught me everything I need to know about you," Adeline said, stepping forward with sudden anger. "You think you can talk your way into my confidence, Your Vileness, but you are mistaken. I will not listen! You might as well leave directly."
Lady Jacqueline ran one of her fingers down the upholstery of a gilded chair nearby, tearing the handsewn bouquet of spring flowers right down the middle. She did not notice the destruction, though Adeline's eyes bulged in terror at the sight. Lady Jacqueline was too busy thinking she might have underestimated the girl. This perhaps would have been a day darkening revelation if the witch had no other cards up her long sleeves. But the enchantress did have other tricks to play, due to her inside knowledge of Once-upon-a Time's interpersonal workings.
"Ah my dear," the mistress of Distress sighed, "You take everything so personal. You are not the only important being in this part of the map."
Princess Adeline's brow wrinkled. "Why should Once-upon-a Time draw your gaze?"
"Location, location, location." Lady Jacqueline giggled in a nauseating fashion.
"Oh, I see," Princess Adeline crossed her gloved arms over her chest. "This is one of your ill-planned attempts to take over Fairy Tale."
"Guilty as charged." Lady Jacqueline's lightness of the issue, being the destruction of every creature in Fairy Tale's hopes and dreams, disgusted Adeline. How could anyone condemn an entire land to dim, dreary days in flippant amusement? The princess imagined the dark lady's soul was full of spiders, snakes and red-eyed rats – and maybe not just metaphorically.
"I hate to be the one to inform you that, yet again, your plan will fail."
Lady Jacqueline lifted a thread-thin, inky eyebrow. "Are you now? Sorry?"
"Some civilized beings still know how to be polite, even compassionate," Princess Adeline told her enemy. "You've lived so long in savage company, Lady Jacqueline, that you've no doubt forgotten such noble feelings."
Lady Jacqueline's eyes twinkled towards Adeline. The princess felt uncomfortable under that particular look. She felt as though the scheming criminal was inside her mind, flipping through the secret pages of her memory. Could Lady Jacqueline read an account of the young woman's every cruel word or deed? It almost felt as though the offender was turning Adeline's blue and white ballgown into shades of red as her every sin was brought to light.
"Oh, my dear little princess," her ladyship warned, "I can be compassionate. You soon shall see how sympathetically generous I can be."
I'd really rather not, Adeline thought to herself. She pulled her long gloves up tighter at her elbows and said,
"Lady Jacqueline, I have had enough of this conversation. I will not hear anymore. I know what you intend for Fairy Tale, and I will not let you begin your revolution in Once-upon-a Time. I cannot let you harm my people. I have a duty and a promise to uphold and I will uphold it, even to my death. Now, I am giving you a chance to leave peacefully, but if you persist in this insanity I will call the guards and let them lay strong hands upon you. That is my final word."
Lady Jacqueline clapped her hands together to applaud the princess' fine performance. Adeline frowned and looked up to the ceiling.
"Very well said, my dear girl. Such fine oratory skills. I do believe every word, truly. I know you are not like the former princess of what is now Dark and Stormy. You deny yourself every selfish whim so you can fully attend to your people's needs. I have no doubt you would give up your very youth and beauty, if it meant saving them from ruination."
Lady Jacqueline paused. "What a shame all your sacrificial labouring goes unrewarded."
Princess Adeline's eyes grew to dry, panicked pearls. She felt her nostrils flare and her tongue glue itself to the roof of her mouth. She grabbed her puffy skirt and spat out, "Enough!"
Princess Adeline jolted to the door, clutching the golden knob as if it could transport her from this distressing scene. With strength not natural to her petite frame, Adeline tore the door open. The wind of the wood moving so fast caused loose hairs to swing across her forehead and eyes. Just as one of her glass-heeled slippers crossed the threshold of the room, Lady Jacqueline said,
"He fell in love with the handmaiden, didn't he?"
Princess Adeline felt a brick wall of cold reality hit her in the face. She was frozen as her brain exploded in a red fire of hate and sorrow. Flags of alarm rushed across her decision-making mechanisms. Her grip on the doorknob slackened, her silky gloved fingers slipping from its golden surface. She had to momentarily remind herself to breathe. She wanted to leave and yet she felt shackled to the room by an iron chain. She deeply desired to resist it, but the invisible chain was pulling her ankles back into the room to face her nemesis.
Princess Adeline hated to look Lady Jacqueline in the eye once more, but as she knew she must, she decided she would pour all her disgust into that look.
"What did you say?" Adeline asked, stressing every word.
Lady Jacqueline did not smile devilishly. In her serpentlike sneakiness, she chose to show an outward sincerity. Her white, luminous skin softened, every wrinkle relaxing. To all appearances, it looked like Lady Jacqueline was actually sorry for the poor princess.
"One can hardly blame Prince Darrik, my dear," Lady Jacqueline said. "She is very lovely. Pretty as the princess she was born to be."
Adeline's head twitched in confusion. What did Lady Jacqueline mean by "the princess she was born to be?" Adeline brought forth a picture of Eudora in her mind's eye. She saw Eudora's exquisite beauty, her spontaneous poise and swanlike grace. Yes, perhaps the handmaiden was destined to be Prince Darrik's bride, for she possessed all the features of a queen. Eudora had what it took to be a princess, and so Prince Darrik had fallen in love with her. He was attracted to her destiny.
"She will always be a princess in my eyes," Adeline muttered through her distraction. "They deserve each other."
Lady Jacqueline shook her head. "How sad that you truly believe that sentiment, my dear."
"Sad?"
"Oh yes, very sad," the wily woman replied. "Sad, because you have become convinced of your own inadequacy. You have gone unappreciated too long, Adeline. The critiques of court leadership have quite broken your spirit, dear girl. They have devoured your confidence, all your government officials and distrusting citizens, and thus, they have stolen your hope."
Princess Adeline's eyes became tired with a wet layer of confessional despair. Why did Lady Jacqueline have to put the facts into eloquent accusations? Now the dark lady had the upper hand. Adeline had so many, many weaknesses; it was not hard for her enemy to uncover them.
Lady Jacqueline stepped towards Princess Adeline with her hands folded behind her back. Her purple eyes were soothing instead of severe.
"You give them everything and yet they still deny your success. This burden would not be so hard to bear if only there was someone, anyone, to love you. Isn't that how you feel?" Lady Jacqueline waited for an affirmative from the princess, but none came. Ah, I have not convinced this one quite yet, she thought. What remarkable judgment and character. It is going to be even more delicious to bring her down.
"It is a shame, after all, that the one thing that could have saved you, a marriage with a handsome prince, has been your heart's undoing. They will never forgive you for letting him get away from Once-upon-a Time without a ring. To be so close to happiness and then to fall so far. No, they will never believe in you again, those vile subjects of yours. The only thing sadder than that is the knowledge you will never believe in yourself either."
Princess Adeline shut her eyes tight, as if darkening her vision could also cut out the words that rang so true. She had jammed and crammed all her hope for the future into her relationship with Prince Darrik. Now that they had no future together, Adeline had nothing to look forward to. There would be no Fairy Tale wedding with rice and doves. No white frosted event that would seal a smile upon every Once-upon-a Timeans' face. From now on, single and slaving away for their safety and satisfaction, Princess Adeline would be their shameful sovereign. Every citizen, whether a lowly farmer or high-ranking, governing head, would consider her a failure. As she squeezed her blue eyes shut, Adeline could not help but agree with them.
"But it doesn't have to be like that," Lady Jacqueline whispered near Adeline's ear. The enchantress began to circle the princess, surrounding her with the sense of having only one path to choose. Adeline's eyes fluttered open. The candles in the room dimmed under Lady Jacqueline's dramatic spell.
"You do not have to suffer solitary sorrow for the rest of your life. Nowhere is it decided that must be your fate. You can escape it."
"Escape what?" Princess Adeline almost pleaded. She was so pathetic, a white and blue blur in the middle of mists and shadows, like a flame just as it is about to be puffed out. Lady Jacqueline sported a tiny smirk and almost laid a hand upon Adeline's arm, before she recognized this physicality could snap the young lady out of her insecure trance.
"Escape from the judgment, the loneliness, the doubts, the memories – oh my dear child, escape from all of it, everything. Leave this hard, cruel life you've only ever known behind for something new and spotless," Lady Jacqueline explained. Her voice sounded jubilant, almost giggly. Her words made this place or option sound sunny and sumptuous, quite the opposite of the chilly dungeon Adeline envisioned for her internal future. Without realizing it, the princess began to lean closer to the raven-tressed rabble-rouser.
"In the Forest of No Return, there is a cave. It is a special doorway that only legend recollects. Those that walk through the mouth of this cave receive the ultimate gift of creaturekind, for those that enter it have all their tragic remembrances wiped clean. The air that leaks from the rocks is magic. It washes your tainted consciousness to be once again white as snow."
Though she was hardly aware of it, Princess Adeline's brain began to ache. She wanted to soak in that purifying air. She yearned to wipe out every distasteful thought, every repeated scene of disappointment and rejection. What a lark life would be if she could only be released from her emotional baggage.
"Don't you see, Adeline, my sweet, what you must do? You will never be kind and true to yourself as long as you carry the scars of others' jagged treachery. Every wound will be healed if only you go to the Cave of Lost Memories, deep inside the Forest of No Return. For once, child, do yourself a favor. You are the only one who can end this spiral of hurt and vain fighting. Give up their expectations. Save yourself while you still have the sight to see your strength."
A tiny spark sprang to life in the barren, soggy terrain of Princess Adeline's heart. What a remarkably uplifting idea! Yes, she could and should redeem her own lost dreams. "Save yourself" echoed in her ears, bouncing from ceiling to floor of the dismal cage where her will meagerly dwelt. You can do it, Adeline! You can turn this whole nightmare into a fantasy. No one else can manage it. No one else but you! A strange heat began to embolden her vitals.
Save yourself, Adeline, her ego screamed.
Princess Adeline gasped in anguish, out of nowhere.
"No," she cried, turning on Lady Jacqueline. "No, I cannot listen to you."
Lady Jacqueline drew back a bit, not used to such violent self-defense following her seductive hooks. Princess Adeline grabbed her blonde head, a gloved hand on each side of her face, as if she could shake the words of doom out of her mind.
"What have I done?" she asked herself. "Only a total fool listens to the villainous Lady Jacqueline. You aren't looking after my good! You're the enemy of Fairy Tale. You want to lure me to some cave in the middle of an uninhabited forest and have me...I don't even want to imagine what you have planned for me."
"The Cave of Lost Memories is real, Adeline," Lady Jacqueline said. "Now that you know about it, you won't be able to forget its existence. Your curiosity, your pain won't allow you to forget it."
"I've heard enough, Your Ladyship," Princess Adeline ran to the door and swung it open. She took a deep breath down to her belly and yelled, "Guards! Guards!"
"They will be overseeing the departure of your esteemed guests," the sorceress replied.
"It's past midnight by far. My guards know their duty." Princess Adeline re-entered cockily. "Your time is running out, Lady J."
Lady Jacqueline's purple eyes mocked the young monarch. She was amused, not threatened. She wrapped her large, black cape around her body almost like she was warding off the cold.
"You are almost convincing my dear, but I am a connoisseur of deception. You cannot protect Once-upon-a Time forever. You cannot protect it from your own weakness, and, oh my, they are plenty."
Adeline glared the wicked witch down. Her stance and the flash of her eyes said she would defend this land to her very death. She was small of stature, but strong of conscience. Princess Adeline was the protectress of Once-upon-a Time, so long as she could see her enemy.
"Well I hate to leave right when the party's getting interesting, but," Lady Jacqueline moved across to the long curtains on the exterior wall of the room, "I have kingdoms to conquer. My job here is done."
"Hardly," Adeline protested. "You have accomplished nothing tonight so far as I can see."
"Ah, but that's just it," Lady Jacqueline replied. "I've done more harm than can be witnessed with sight. I have planted an idea – a disease not so easily eradicated. No my dear, an idea is far more damaging than any dagger or dragon. I can't wait to see what you do with yours. Well then...time for me to fly."
A gray puff of smoke exploded around Lady Jacqueline, enveloping her caped figure. Suddenly, a great gust of wind pulled the glass doors behind the curtains open. The moon shone in the night sky. Out of the cloud of smoke, a raven flew, soaring out of the palace with no intention of looking back. Princess Adeline gaped at the magic trickery still playing out before her.
Finally, she staggered forward to the opened doors and pulled them shut. As she exhaled for the first time in what felt like an eternity, Adeline sensed a certain hollowness in her stomach. The seed Lady Jacqueline planted was already taking root. As she turned around and looked into the darkness of the empty room, she permitted every doubt to seep back into her psyche. She might do everything possible to defend Once-upon-a Time, but there was no one present to defend her.
Princess Adeline was utterly alone...and that thought was the one that made her want to forget everything else.
Lost Memories sounded more delicious by the minute.