Characters in this chapter-
Queen Elvira- Witch queen
-Queen Belladonna-Werewolf queen
-King Folmar- Elven king
Queen Morticia-Vampire queen
-King Thorne- Merpeople king
*Nymeria's P.O.V*
It had been several days since I had enacted my revenge on Queen Morticia. She had declared war upon me and now my hands were stained from dye being put in my shampoo. My face had gotten stained as well but Queen Elvira had used her magic to get rid of the stain. She wouldn't get the dye off my hands though. She had said that I had brought it on myself for dumping water on Queen Morticia.
That simply wasn't true though. Queen Morticia had started the battle when she had tickled me and I wouldn't say that I was sorry because I didn't mean it. I would just have to plot even more to double my revenge so that was what I had been doing as of late.
My plotting had been interrupted by having to go to dinner. It was a 7 course meal so I was a little bummed out. I didn't want to have to sit at the table forever especially since I had come so close to finishing my revenge plan.
"Princess Nymeria," Queen Belladonna's voice causes me to snap out of my thoughts. I didn't like when she called me that, I didn't like when anyone called me that! The royals had all taken to calling me Nymeria and I preferred it.
"Yes Queen Belladonna?" I question, looking at her curiously. I was a little nervous now, I could see that they were all giving each other looks.
"We have all been here for a decent while, we will have to head home soon," she informs me. That sentence made my heart drop. I didn't want to think about them leaving me. They simply couldn't do that.
"No," I say quickly, speaking my mind on the idea of them leaving.
"Excuse you?" Queen Belladonna's words made me shift nervously. I was fidgeting in my seat as I looked down at my salad.
"You can't leave," I state, looking away from her before she can say anything else.
"Why is that?" King Folmar questions me, drawing my attention to him. I just shake my head, a small frown on my lips.
"Cause I said so," I finally say when he waits patiently for my answer.
"Well you can not just say that we can not leave. We have our own kingdoms to run," King Folmar declares. I simply shake my head, fidgeting with my salad fork.
"Then you should just leave," I utter, the words lacking any of the many emotions that were running through me. I just wanted everyone to leave me alone now. They were going to leave me, I hadn't expected that. I mean of course I knew that they would have to leave eventually but I hadn't expected it to be so soon.
"I beg your pardon?" King Folmar responds. I shake my head, stabbing my fork into the salad. I shove the bit of food into my mouth quickly. I didn't have to respond if my mouth was full. I felt a hand move to rest on my arm. I kept my gaze on my salad until the hand tapped my arm lightly.
"Nymeria, that was not nice of you to say," King Thorne scolds me lightly. I knew that and a part of me felt a little bit bad but I was saved from having to reply when the main course came out. It was a roasted pork belly so while that was being cut up and served, I took a sip of my wine. Sip was a liberal use of the word, seeing as I had drained the rest of the glass.
"Can you fetch me a refill?" I ask one of the maids since she was standing nearby me. She nods her head before slipping out of the room. When she returns, she has the glass bottle of wine in her hands and carefully fills up my wine glass.
"Thank you," I say as I lift up the glass once she is done and take a sip. King Thorne's hand was once again resting on my arm and I was very tempted to push it away. However I quickly deduced that a decision like that would probably not be a good idea.
"You should not drink so quickly," King Thorne comments. I pull my arm away after a moment, angling my body away from him so that he can not touch my arm again.
"Nymeria, slow down with the drinking or I will take away your wine," Queen Elvira warns me. Her words actually make me pause so I set the glass down after a moment. "Now please have a conversation with us like an adult," she says calmly.
"You are the ones who wish to leave. I think I am being rather adult about the fact that I am being abandoned," I retort as I glance up. She maintains eye contact with me for a moment before shaking her head slightly.
"We are not abandoning you Nymeria, we have our own kingdoms that we must maintain," Queen Belladonna says. I huff as I cut into the roasted pork belly that was on my plate, taking a bite of it and chewing just to keep me from having to talk. Apparently my chewing was a bit too fast though because I did end up biting the inside of my cheek.
"Ow," I whisper as I frown. The pain had been a shock to my system and had also put me in an even worse mood.
"Darling, you must communicate with us," King Folmar states. I shake my head after a moment, resting my elbow on the table before I rest my head in my hand.
"Elbow off the table," Queen Morticia says. Her words actually startle me because she had never been one to correct my manners. I slid my elbow off the table, trying to find a way to show my disinterest in the conversation without my table manners being corrected.
"Why must you leave?" I ask quietly as I fiddle with my wine glass, swirling it around.
"Our kingdoms need us, just as your kingdom needs you. If we could stay we would," King Thorne informs me.
"How will this mentorship thing work out then?" I tilt my head while trying to hide my frown. This conversation was upsetting me. I didn't want to think about them leaving, I just wished to be held and have them take care of me.
"You will still be able to visit us," Queen Elvira assures me. That answered part of my question but also left part of it unanswered. I didn't particularly fancy the idea of having to travel a lot. I suppose I hadn't put much thought in the fact that they had to leave. I never was good at thinking ahead most of the time. That was probably why my revenge had failed. I should have planned to run after dumping the water.
"Nymeria," King Folmar's hand is near my face when I snap out of my thought and it does startle me. Quite a bit. I flinch away, making my wine spill over the top of my glass and onto the white table cloth.
"Shit," I whisper as I grab a napkin, blotting at the stain as best as I can. I feel like crying. This dinner had just felt so overwhelming with them announcing their leaving and then me embarrassing myself by spilling my wine.
"Nymeria...Nymeria...leave it," Queen Elvira's voice is suddenly right behind me and I freeze. She gently grabs my elbow, pulling me back towards her. I sort of expected for my legs to hit my chair but she had apparently moved it away when I was having my mini freakout. "Let's go have a chat darling," she whispers to me as she leads me out of the room by holding onto my elbow.
"I didn't mean to spill my wine or to curse. I am really sorry," I plead with her to understand, to not be angry. I couldn't stand the thought of her being angry with me. The dining room doors shut behind me and suddenly we are in the hallway, the air feeling heavy and oppressive. It feels hard to breathe all of a sudden.
My breath comes out in this sort of strangled way, my eyes burning with tears as they fall down my face. I had screwed up, I always screwed up everything.
"Nymeria," Queen Elvira crouches down to be eye level, keeping a hold on my elbow so that I couldn't pull back or squirm away from her. I held eye contact with her as my eyes burned with tears, my vision blurry.
"Oh my dear, you mustn't cry. I was not very pleased with your behavior when we were trying to have a conversation with you but I think you're having some really big feelings right now and I know that must be hard. Talk to me, walk me through that mind of yours," she says softly. The words seemed to trigger the dam breaking and I can feel the tears falling freely down my face as I wrap my arms around her neck to cling to her.
"I know you have your own kingdoms to run and I know I shouldn't be so upset but I am. You are going to be so busy once you leave and I don't want you to forget about me. Plus I've gotten so used to being able to go to one of you that I am terrified of being alone," I say. The words are rushing out of my mouth in an attempt to explain. I was bad with emotions but good with words so I hoped my explanation was enough.
Queen Elvira pulls back and I glance up at her. The look on her face makes my heart just drop. Her lips are pulled back into a frown and I can tell that she doesn't seem happy but I don't know why. I had expressed how I felt. Wasn't that what she wanted? Her look made me second guess myself and I was seconds away from taking back everything I had just said when she opens her mouth.
"Nymeria, never ever think of yourself as someone that can just be forgotten about. I do not know who or what made you feel that you were so easily forgotten about but if this was the last time we ever spoke I would never forget about you. You are such a kind, sweet, albeit a little bratty young woman. You have such a big heart and sometimes I think it works against you because you have all these feelings that you never speak about, you close yourself off to people emotionally," Queen Elvira says. I open my mouth to speak but she raises an eyebrow and I close it.
"I think emotionally, you never have had someone so willing to let you explore those feelings and you need to do that. I can help you but you have to make the first step towards doing that. Let yourself feel your feelings. Let yourself get upset, sad, angry, happy. Just let yourself express those emotions and talk about them. If I had not pulled you aside tonight, would you have told anyone how you felt?" she asks.
"No ma'am," I whisper, my head bowing in shame. My face felt hot and I could feel embarrassment rising within me. I couldn't even talk about my feelings correctly.
"None of that," Queen Elvira says as she tilts my head up with her free hand. "You must learn to talk with people when you are upset and I want you to know that someone will always be there for you. Whether you think you've had the worst day of your life or you just feel a little sad, you can come to me," she states.
"But you are going away," I point out, nearly bursting into tears again.
"Yes but I will always be with you in the ways that it matters," Queen Elvira insists. As if to emphasize her point, she reaches up and takes off her crown. The movement startles me and I gasp when she puts her crown on my head. "This crown will allow you to come to me at any moment, at any time. I was going to say it was for emergencies but anytime you want to work through those feelings of yours, you can come to me," she promises.
"Really?" I whisper, looking at her with wide, teary eyes.
"Really," Queen Elvira nods as she smooths the back of my hair out and kisses my forehead lightly. "Now how about we finish dinner and explain to you how we're going to keep mentoring you once we leave?" she asks as she offers me her hand.
I hesitate for just a moment before taking it, nodding my head firmly. I had to learn how to talk about how I feel and also learn to trust these people that care for me so dearly so I would make that step today. By trusting them and their words on how they would continue to mentor me and care for me.
Trying out a new writing style. What do y'all think? It's more dialogue heavy than what I usually write.