"I don't want to marry her," Malleus whispered as he stared at himself in the mirror. A black tuxedo, adorned with a single silver rose which he would give to his new wife the minute after they said their vows. Upon the exchange of the rose, they would be bound for eternity, never separated until their death.
Malleus thought back to the night he spent with Y/N, dancing in the garden, and pressed his forehead against the mirror, a single tear sliding down his cheek at the memory of her heartbroken face. Who knows what her mother had in store for her for punishment, but Malleus could only guess that it wasn't one he would approve of. It had been his idea to forgo their promises for the night, enjoying what once was.
'I should have been wary of the guards,' Malleus thought, looking at his grief-stricken reflection in the mirror. His eyes were thick with sorrow, his lips curved downward with sadness, and it seemed that even his horns had lost their usual shine.
He lifted his hand and gently ran his hand along one of them, smiling faintly at the touch. Y/N had once brushed her hand against his horns, sending waves of pleasure and love through him as she caressed his hair, releasing the stress from his body. But that was years ago, long before she had left, and long before Malleus had found out about her engagement. It seemed like centuries ago that they were happy together rather than a few short years.
A small flap of paper sticking out of the frame caught his attention and he sighed softly, reaching up to pull it out.
"Malleus? Are you ready?" Lilia poked his head into the room, peering around the door as he searched for the young prince. His expression fell when he saw Malleus staring at the mirror, and more specifically, at a picture that had been tucked into the frame. The picture was decades old, and yet, it was one of the prince's most valued possessions.
Lilia stepped into the room and shut the door behind him, quietly approaching Malleus as he traced his thumb over the picture. It was a picture that Lilia had seen many times before. A picture of Malleus and Y/N decades ago. They were sitting beneath an oak tree in mid-autumn, tangled in each other's embrace, each with a warm drink in their hands. Y/N was laughing at something, a blissful smile on her face, while Malleus stared at her as if she was the only thing in the world that mattered to him. It was before they had actually confessed their feelings to each other, but they both knew that the other loved them. They were lovers in all but title.
"Malleus?" Lilia lay a gentle hand on the prince's shoulder, bringing him out of his stupor.
Malleus jumped and wiped away a stray tear from the corner of his eye. Instead of tucking the picture back into the mirror's frame, he tucked it into his breast pocket, resting above his heart. He would keep this photo with him for the rest of his life. Perhaps he would even get it set into a locket one day so he could keep the picture close to him.
"Is it time," he asked with a shaky voice, turning towards his guardian.
"Not quite. I just wanted to come and see how you were doing."
"I'm fine." But his voice was quavering.
"No you're not," Lilia said gently. "Tell me honestly, Malleus. How are you holding up?"
Malleus swallowed the knot in his throat and turned toward his guardian. "I don't want to do this, Lilia. I can't do this. I don't love Lady Fayetta. I love Y/N!" He pressed his hand to his pocket where the picture rested, just out of sight. "I love Y/N. I love her so much that it hurts, and yet I can't have her!" The tears were starting to bubble, and Lilia felt his heart breaking when he saw this. "I just want her. I don't want the crown, I don't want the kingdom, I... just... want... Y/N." Malleus sank into a chair, holding his head in his hands as he sobbed violently. His muscles shook and clenched as he tried to hold in his sorrow, but when he felt Lilia beside him, the floodgates opened and he poured out his heart in salty tears that ran like rapids, falling onto the elegant rug below. "I don't want anything but her, Lilia. I want to tell her how much I love her, I want to hold her when we go to sleep, and I want her to be the first thing I see when I wake. I want her to be happy, no matter what that may be."
"She would be happy with you," Lilia whispered. "She loves you just as much as you love her, but..."
"But what, Lilia," Malleus nearly screamed, his voice hoarse. "What is holding her back from loving me? D-do I scare her? D-does she not love me like she once did?"
"No, Malleus," Lilia said. "She still loves you. She loves you more than she has ever loved anyone or anything. She doesn't fear you." He sighed and ran his hand over his face. Should he tell Malleus the truth and risk the wrath of the late queen? Should he hold his tongue and sentence them both to miserable lives? No. That one wasn't even worth considering. They were both like his children. As much as Y/N had helped him with raising Silver, she was a daughter to him just as much as Silver was his son. And he had raised Malleus after his mother had died.
"Malleus," the old fae said after a moment, "I need to tell you something." He waited for Malleus to look at him before continuing. "I'll start by apologising for not telling you this sooner, but I had my reasons for not telling you before."
"What is it?"
"I will deal with the punishment that comes," Lilia muttered to himself, "but you need to know this," he said, taking a seat on Malleus' bed. He patted the spot beside him, and Malleus frowned at him. What was he talking about? He glanced towards the clock and bit his lip. They only had a few minutes before they were expected down in the hall.
"Don't worry about the time, Malleus," Lilia said, pulling the boy's attention away from the ebony grandfather clock.
Malleus sighed and walked over to the bed, taking a seat beside Lilia. For once, he didn't hold the traditional stiff posture expected from a prince. His shoulders drooped, his back was slouched, and there was no expressionless look on his face. His emotions were written clearly across his face. Sorrow, heartbreak, confusion, and too many others created a whirlpool in his eyes.
"What is it that you wish to tell me, Lilia?"
Lilia reached out and took Malleus' hand. "Your mother was the one who sent Y/N away."
Malleus' eyes widened. His mother? But she had died so long ago, how did she have a hand in this?
Lilia continued before Malleus could ask his questions. "Just before your mother's death, she had a portrait of herself done, and she placed a powerful enchantment on it that would allow her consciousness to remain in the paints, just as it had been with her in life. It was her way of assuring that she could watch over you as you grew up, and keep an eye on whatever was happening in the palace."
"How come I was never informed of this?"
"Most of the council was not aware of it. Only I and a few trusted officials were informed of the portrait's placement in the castle." Lilia paused for a moment and stared out the window at the rain clouds brewing on the horizon.
"When your mother found out that you and Y/N were romantically involved, she asked me what I knew of Y/N. I told her that she was from House Umbra, and I fear that it was House Umbra's low status that caused your mother to hate her. She ordered me to take Y/N to see her, and I did. She told Y/N that she would never be allowed to be with you. Right then and there, she gave the ultimatum that either Y/N leave the castle and never pursue you again, or lose her magic and immortality."
"What," Malleus breathed. He could feel the tears pooling in his eyes as he listened to Lilia's story. So it wasn't Y/N who had run off? He hadn't scared her as he had thought. The nightmares of her being scared of him were simply that? Just nightmares... She wanted to be with him, but his own mother had made that impossible.
"We were both sworn to secrecy," Lilia continued. "That is why neither Y/N nor I, ever told you."
Malleus glanced up at Lilia. "And what happens now that you've told me?"
Lilia sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. I suspect that I shall have to endure some form of punishment, but I don't know what. Your mother never said."
"But why are you telling me this now? Y/N and I are both promised to different people."
Lilia reached out and took Malleus' hand. "Because I couldn't stand by and watch you two be miserable because I didn't tell you the truth. If Y/N saw you, I do not doubt that she would tell you the truth as well. Nothing is holding her back, save for her mother's wishes." Lilia's head drooped slightly. "Not anymore."
"What does that mean?"
Lilia didn't answer, but Malleus quickly put the pieces together.
"Her magic... My mother took her magic and immortality, just as she said she would..." Malleus shot to his feet and started pacing, pulling at the roots of his hair. "B-but i-it wasn't her... I was the one who..." The tears were falling freely now, coursing down his cheeks and slipping onto his jacket. Because of him, Y/N had lost her magic, and she had lost her fae life. She would live as a mortal now, doomed to die in a few short years. She would suffer from sickness and disease, from wounds and injuries that her body normally would have been able to withstand. And it was all his fault. Because he had kissed her. Because he had pursued her. Because he hadn't listened to the subtle hints she was dropping that there was something more going on that was keeping them apart.
"I can't marry Lady Fayetta," Malleus suddenly declared, spinning around to face Lilia.
Lilia smiled. "No. You can't."
"But what do I do? The wedding has already been planned and the council..."
"The council can't dictate everything. They are only pushing you to do this because it is your mother's dying wish. She wished for you to be married to someone the council approved of."
Malleus felt a smile slowly creeping across his face. "But if I could make the council see that Y/N was the one I truly wanted..." He was beaming now. The tears had stopped falling, and he felt like a boy again.
Without another word, Malleus tore from the room, running down the halls towards the wedding hall. He had a wedding to stop, and a council to convince.