Desdemona did not give Vagatha's request to visit Dolores a second thought. She was happy to get that clingy girl out of the castle, and to not have to deal with her constantly demanding her attention. Truthfully, she never wanted children. To her they were just small, needy, screaming little creatures who would never give you a moment's peace and were completely useless. A donkey was more useful than a child.
When she had become pregnant with Vagatha, she had not been radiant or aglow with happiness. She did not feel the warm eagerness of motherhood that most women in such a condition would feel. She felt fat and old and ugly. For nine months, whenever she would see her reflection in a mirror, she would glare down at her swollen belly with sheer contempt and disgust. She saw the unborn child as a parasite who was draining away her youth and beauty with each passing day.
Her first husband Radu had been just the opposite. The very moment he learned that she was with child, he became dewy eyed and rosy cheeked. He used the wood he chopped to make a most lovely cradle, bought the softest wool for Dolores to knit blankets and baby clothes with, and when Dolores was able to use an old gupsy trick to predict that the child was going to be a girl, Radu planted a red rose tree in the garden as a symbol of what that little girl would always be to her father.
"My daughter is going to be the most beautiful little girl in the world." He had said. "As red and pretty as those red roses."
Vagatha had been born in the Summer, when the air was warm and the sun was shining especially bright. Dolores's magic made the birth quick and easy with Desdemona suffering little to no pain at all. But once Desdemona had bore her daughter, she didn't try to hold the infant. She didn't even ask if her child was healthy. She just grabbed her comb and hand mirror off the nightstand, proceeding to correct her appearance which had been messed up by the labor.
Dolores made a disappointed look and then called Radu into the bedroom, handing the newborn to him. Vagatha had not been a quiet baby. As soon as she entered the world, she screamed and cried. Just screamed and cried, wrinkling up her little nose and making her face turn red. But Radu just smiled and cried, holding his precious girl close to him.
"Look at her Dolores." He said gazing down at the child with pure adoration. "Look at her bright red cheeks and those full red lips. I told you that my daughter was going to be as red and pretty as red roses, and she is."
"She is beautiful." Dolores agreed, her face expressing the same amount of pride and adoration for the child that her son in-law had. "But I apologize for the child not being a boy. A know a son is a very important."
"Oh who needs a son?" He joked. "Boys aren't good for anything anyway, I'm proof of that. No, I have a healthy, beautiful, perfect daughter and I couldn't be happier."
But his wife would never be able to see the child's beauty as he could. She could only see her own beauty and no one else's. She would not nurse her child or hold her child or kiss her child. She would just continue to do whatever it took to keep herself young and beautiful. And to keep herself in the position as the most beautiful.
When she was at last given time to herself and to do as she pleased, she went down into the palace kitchen and dropped the heart Striker had given her into the stew pot. The heart was salted and seasoned, served in a hearty broth which she gleefully ate. After that she stole away to her chambers and stood before her magic mirror, saying the usual chant to renew her looks.
"Flesh of thy maiden grant me her youth. Blood of thy maiden grant me her beauty. Death of thy maiden grant me her life."
The mirror secreted the same mist that surrounded her, but nothing changed. She remained looking the same as she did before. Well almost the same. When she looked at her reflection in the glass, she saw a wrinkle appear under her eye and a black strand of hair turn grey.
"What is this?!" She almost screamed. "I should look even younger. Even more beautiful. Wrinkles and grey hair are the last things that she should appear! I consumed the heart of the most beautiful woman in the world!"
Or did she? Ever since she first discovered the spell that would give her the youth and beauty of any maiden who's organs she consumed, she would instantly appear younger and more attractive upon saying the chant. Yet even though she had eaten Charlotte's heart, the heart of the fairest of the fair, her transformation seemed to go in reverse slightly. That could only mean one thing and there was only one way to know for sure.
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"
And the mirror answered.
"It couldn't be more clear, must you be told?
Voice of an angel, and hair of sunshine gold.
Charlotte still lives as the most fair,
Have a care."
Desdemona's face turned red hot with rage.
"She's still alive?!"
"I was going to tell you sooner." The mirror said. "But found it more entertaining for you to find out on your own."
"But that's impossible! She's dead! Torn to shreds! Her corpse is rotting on the forest floor! I ate her heart myself!"
"The alp lied to you. When he tried to kill her, she escaped deep into the forest and he lost her trail. So he killed a wolf pig and it was a pig's heart that you ate."
"What?!"
"Truly, once it was cooked, the salty taste and smell of pork should been a dead give away."
"He tricked me! That lying, cheating, underhanded scoundrel! Doesn't he know who I am and what I am capable of?! The loathsome mongrel! For this, I'm going to skin him alive in a very slow and painful manner then make his miserable hide into a new fur coat!"
"Don't let your temper get the better of you." The spirit warned. "Remember, he knows your little secret. He knows you schemed to have the princess killed. Liar or not, he has leverage on you now."
"That's a very good point." Desdemona admitted, calming herself down. "But I'm the queen and he's just some low-life creature. Who's going to take his word over mine?"
"Don't forget, your attempted murder on Charlotte isn't the only leverage he has on you. And he can use that as evidence for his case."
"Still it's my word against his and I am the queen."
"But do you really want to take that risk? Think about it, you're not exactly a beloved queen. The people have probably spent ages waiting for just the right excuse to see your head roll. Now over taxation won't call for your execution by the court, and not even killing peasant women to sustain your looks will lead to that. But attempted murder of the royal princess? They won't even give you a chance to defend yourself."
"Very well. But he must be punished, and Charlotte still must be destroyed."
"Is that wise? Her father is no longer present and she's much too frightened for her life to even consider returning to the castle. As long as she stays in the forest, she poses no threat to the throne. Why not forget her? Cast a spell to ensure that she never leaves the forest again? It would be far less troublesome than trying to kill her."
"In the forest, she may no longer pose a threat to my crown, but as long as she's alive she poses a threat to my beauty and my power! I cannot rest until she is dead and I have consumed her life! But apparently, that goal has become difficult to accomplish. I mean, how did she even escape?! He's a trained assassin, she's a sheltered, stupid, little girl! It should have been a quick and easy kill for him!"
"Well there were complications. For one thing, Charlotte isn't as stupid as you think she is. And another thing, she had help."
"Help? What help?"
"Help from a most interesting individual, and it's really amusing how, out of all those who could have come to Charlotte's aid, it was this person in particular."
"Is there something you're trying to tell me?"
"Consider it leverage on Striker, to ensure that you can bind him to your will without fear of him exposing your secrets."
"What leverage? What do you about him? Tell me!"
"This isn't the first time Striker has botched an assassination attempt. Twelve years ago, he was hired to do away with a very special boy. But just like Charlotte, the child got away due to the interference of others, and when Striker couldn't find his target, he deceived his employer. But unlike you, his employer never had an all seeing looking glass to confirm if the boy was still alive or not."
Desdemona's anger turned to intrigue.
"Hmmm...This employer of his, would you say that he and I are an equal footing."
"Yes."
"So if Striker's old employer was to ever learn that he had been deceived, what exactly would happen to the lying bastard?"
"Well one of the penalties for lying to royalty in that kingdom is death by liquidation. And this monarch has a special liquidation by gold penalty."
Desdemona grinned maliciously.
"Tell me more about Striker and this king and this boy. Who are they? And I want to know every last detail of that assignation plan. Who wanted who dead and for what reason?"
"As you wish."