You feel your heart sink in a terrible way that you hadn't thought it capable of.
"What?" you manage, your voice catching in your throat as it tightens in dread.
She looks at you sadly. Your heart thumps and a terrible, sickly feeling washes down the back of your neck.
"What did I do wrong?" you implore, voice trembling, her silence making you feel so much worse.
She gazes at you pensively for a moment.
"Nothing, absolutely not a thing, my sweet girl," she murmurs softly.
You want her to cup your face, to draw you close and tell you this was all a bad joke or a misunderstanding.
She doesn't.
"Then... why? Why are you saying that our time is over?"
You feel sick. It's that same heart stopping feeling as when you tip too far back in a chair. The terrible moment where you know you are about to fall and there's nothing that you can possibly do to stop it.
She was letting you fall.
"You have served me so very well, darling girl," she begins, "but we both understood that this arrangement had a time limit, didn't we?"
You blink back tears.
"Alcina, that doesn't make sense. I still don't understand!" you exclaim, feeling your voice shake.
You hug your arms, suddenly feeling so very hurt and alone, despite her standing right there before you.
The hall feels deathly quiet, the air strangely cold and thick, hanging over you both heavily as she takes a deep, somber breath.
"This is my fault, for allowing us to become carried away with ourselves," she says softly, "allowing us to feel something more than we ought to. Best to stop it now, before things become... complicated," she finishes, looking away from you at that.
You shake your head in disbelief.
"So that's it? You've just decided to call it a day and bottle me now, all because we... because we were enjoying being with one another too much?" you say incredulously, wiping a tear from your cheek quickly, trying to remain composed.
You should feel frightened at the prospect of your death.
Your life, cut short, just when you had begun to truly enjoy it - before your blood turned stale.
You should feel frightened. Yet, all you feel is heartbroken by the notion that Alcina no longer wants you.
She looks back at you quickly then, a small look of surprise on her face.
"Bottle you? Y/n, I am releasing you. There is... There is absolutely nothing in this world which could compel me to harm you," she trembles, "I am letting you leave the castle, to start whatever kind of next chapter you wish to in your life."
"Alcina -"
"Do not interrupt me, you know better than that," she warns, "you are young, but you are mortal. Your time is limited. I no longer feel comfortable confining you here for my own sake. You are far too precious for that. You have far too much to offer this world to squander your days away here."
You can't stop the tears now. They roll down your cheeks, hot and ceaseless, as you feel your world crumbling down around you.
"But I want to spend my life here, with you," you manage, though you feel choked.
She shakes her head regretfully.
"Sweet girl, you must trust me - you do not want that."
You find her words provoke a sharp anger within you and before you can temper yourself, you're already speaking.
"Don't! Please, don't dismiss my feelings like that. Don't treat me as though I can't decide what I want for myself," you plead.
You expect her to lash out at you for raising your voice like this. Your heart hammers as you realise you may have crossed another one of her many complicated lines.
"What do you want for yourself, Y/n?" she responds, her tone challenging, but surprisingly not angered, though her eyes are uncharacteristically icy.
You pause, catching your breath.
What do I want?
"I... I just wanted..." you falter, "I wanted to be with you," you pause, taking a moment before you say what has been on your mind for what feels like an eternity - the declaration of your true feelings, laid bare to the woman you realise now you would do absolutely anything for. The woman you could not imagine a life without.
"Alcina, I lo-"
Before you can say anything, she leans down and places a soft kiss on your lips, withdrawing again and tracing your lips tenderly with her thumb.
"Sweet girl, do not say things you may regret in hindsight," she gently warns.
Her other hand reaches to wipe the fresh tears her words elicit in your eyes.
You feel like such a fool.
"Listen to me, Y/n," she whispers, now lowering herself onto her knees, so that she may look at you, eye to eye, "you are no longer that same meek, fragile girl I happened upon at the wine tasting."
You sniff, swallowing hard, wishing to god this wasn't happening.
"You've grown. You're stronger. I am confident that you not only have much to offer the world, but that you can also flourish within it now. If you stay here, with me, I will only serve to corrupt you. You deserve far better. You deserve the world," she smiles, her eyes sparkling with dewy beginnings of her own tears.
"I don't want the world, I want you," you tremble.
Her lips draw into a hard line and you see her jaw clench in spite of the welling sadness in her yellow eyes.
"Y/n, I am a monster," she says through gritted teeth, "you've seen the castle dungeon and that is only the tip of the iceberg."
You shake your head and begin to protest, before she cuts you off.
"Things are about to happen," she expands, a look of deep regret tangible as her brows knit together, "terrible, unforgivable things - by my own hand. I do not want you to be tainted by that. I do not want you to witness any part of that. I," she pauses, her voice faltering suddenly, she looks away for a moment before meeting your eyes again, "I don't want you to see me like that."
You're so confused. What was she talking about?
"I don't understand -"
"I don't want you to."
You both stare at one another, caught in this strange impasse. Your shoulders shake with the weight of your emotions.
You can't think of a single part of Alcina that was monstrous. You study her face, as she tries hard to appear stoic, though you knew better than to believe it.
"Alcina, I think... I think you're scared," you contemplate, your voice barely a whisper.
She almost manages a half hearted chuckle at that.
"You think I'm scared? Me?"
Her brow furrows, and you feel the sharp warning pressure of her nails, suddenly pressing into your cheeks.
She was trying to intimidate you. You find you don't care - it only serves to confirm your suspicions.
"You are! You're scared to get attached to me and you're trying to make excuses for it by claiming it's in my best interests that I leave," you protest, "Alcina I have bared everything to you and you've barely ever opened up to me in return. You are scared. Scared to show me, or anyone, who you really are."
Her fingers tighten around your jaw and you try your hardest not to wince as her nails drive slightly deeper into your cheeks. You find yourself determined to not show weakness or back down.
"Be careful, darling," she warns, her voice low, "you're forgetting your place. I'm offering you freedom. Be a good girl and take it."
You pull away from her grip, prickling at her bladed words and stumbling back from her, feeling your brow furrow in defiance.
"I know what you're doing. You're trying to frighten me away, for some bizarre reason which you can't face sharing with me," you exclaim, your heart pounding as you see a look of anger cloud her face.
Her lip curls at that and you see her nose flare, wrinkling with outrage.
"So be frightened," she barks, the sudden raising of her voice making you jump.
She raises herself back to her full height, towering above you menacingly now, the quickness of the movement and the echo of her voice sending a wave of air through the room so sharply that the candles you had so painstakingly placed and lit were all extinguished in a mere split-second, plunging the opera hall into darkness, save for the distant light of the hallway and the piercing yellow glare of her eyes.
She bares her teeth and you hear a small grunt of discomfort, coupled with the sound of unsheathed blades as her fingernails jut out at an unnatural length, just as they had when she had murdered the lycan.
You feel your skin erupt in goosebumps. You feel tiny, so small that if she wanted to, she could crush you under the heel of her shoe. Despite this, you stand your ground. You had to believe this was all a bluff - a defence mechanism to push you far, far away, with no real threat behind it.
Or, maybe it wasn't. For all you knew, she was moments away from slicing you to ribbons.
It's still not enough to hinder you.
"Alcina," you begin softly, trying to temper her, "I have been living with you under the premise that at any moment you would give your daughters the order to rip me to shreds in the dungeon. I have been frightened," you clarify.
She closes her eyes for a moment, as though it pains her to hear the words.
"Then I stopped caring," you continue, "because it didn't matter, not if it meant that I got to be with you. You aren't some monster and you don't frighten me. You never will," you say, forcing a weak smile through your tears, "you're kind, you're witty, you're beautiful and you make me feel good when I'm around you in a way that I've never known before."
She looks at you, the anger fading, though her expression disintegrates into one of deep anguish, her shoulders slumping as her hands shake by her sides ever so slightly. Your heart aches as you see the conflict stirring within her. You could see her battling with herself - the role of the monstrous countess she was so used to playing fighting for dominance against the loving, kind-hearted woman you had come to know and love.
Could she ever possibly trust you enough to fully share that vulnerable side of herself? The one you and only you had seen mere glimpses of; in her eyes, her smile, her caresses and her acts of tenderness towards you?
"You try so hard to be someone that Miranda, the servants - everyone, will respect, but you don't have to," you whisper, biting your lip slightly, "you're already perfect."
In the dim light, you swear you can see the soft glisten of tears welling in her eyes as her crimson lips begin to tremble. Her stony resolve begins to crumble, as though the mask she has worn for so long is finally slipping.
You take a tentative step towards her, beginning to bridge the gap between you both. She doesn't move away, though her claws remain.
"Y/n," she begins, her voice thick, "I -"
That's when you hear it.
So does she.
You both freeze.
Your eyes widen and you stare at each other for a moment, neither of you daring to say another word as you listen intently, determined not to move a single muscle as you strain your ears.
Your heart rises in your throat, a strange, sinking feeling that something was very wrong beginning to settle over you. Similarly, you watch the outline of Alcina's frame tense, her breath seemingly held.
The noise repeats again.
You hadn't imagined it.
Somewhere, far beyond the doorway to the opera hall, deep within the castle...
You hear the very faint sound of a baby crying.