Stone Prison (4 page)

When the prince moved away from me, he walked towards his guard. This was to be expected. He would tell them to keep their distance while he proposed to me. The clock, with its hollow bells, chimed that it was nearly midnight. After I walked out of the ballroom, and away from prying eyes, I clutched the skirt of my gown in my hands and ran. But my shoes didn't want to stay on my feet. And they were so noisy that it sounded like a pot clanging on stone every time my foot struck the ground.

Stopping, I hopped and pulled the shoes off. Running barefoot, I held one shoe in each hand and darted up the servant's staircase on the far side of the castle. The narrow passageway was empty as all the household staff was tending to the ball.

When I reached the upper-landing, I looked out into the garden. My mother sat shrouded in darkness, waiting for a prince who wouldn't come. Her wrath would be worse than anything that the people dancing at the ball would do to me. Turning quickly, I sprang down the long hallway, and through a doorway.

I emerged in the Prince's bedchamber and slammed the door behind me.

Prince Phillip rushed at me, throwing his arms around me, and kissed me hard before letting go. His kisses were like last year, but also different and terrifying.

When he broke the kiss, he asked, What's wrong? What's happened that you're acting like this?

He held me in his arms, and I felt like I could tell him anything. That he'd protect me from her. That he'd rather die than see something happen to me. He'd said so many things to me, and I believed every single word. My mother was wrong.

The prince loved me. He would always love me, no matter what.

I felt my lower lip tremble as I looked into his eyes, and took the chance. I told him the truth. The woman who came with me tonight... she's been holding me prisoner since I was a child. This is the first time that she hasn't had an enchantment on me that sealed my lips and prevented me from speaking of her. Phillip, she'll kill me if she knows what I've done. We must run away. There is no other way. I looked into his green eyes as I spoke. His hands clamped around my waist, leaving no space between us. I would be queen if we stayed here, but it wasn't worth risking him. I had no power to overthrow the witch. I couldn't kill her.

The prince soothed me, holding me tightly in his arms. I'll take care of it, Ella. There is no reason to run. I'm a prince, and after tonight you'll be my princess and one day my queen. We do not run. My guards will take care of this woman, and punish her for what she has done to you. He paused, his eyes drifting lower, staring at my shoulder. He released me, and turned me slowly. His fingers pressed into the smooth bare skin on my back, where he'd seen the marks from the branding iron long ago. But now they were gone. He swallowed hard. She did that to you, didn't she? And she used magic to remove the scars for tonight? Ella you've always had those scars. I remember them. I remember asking you how you got them, but you wouldn't say.

It was done by the same person, wasn't it?

Phillip, please. You don't know what she's like. Please believe me. We need to run. If you and I are to be together, we cannot stay here. She'll figure out we aren't coming to the garden at any moment. Pulling on his arm, I tried to get the prince to walk towards the servant's stairs and run. But he wouldn't move.

Phillip shook his head, Do you not think I can protect you? Ella...

My Prince, that is not the problem. She is not what she seems. She has power that is unnatural, and has already killed.

Please. We need to go now...

He allowed me to pull him two steps toward the door and then stopped me. Turning me to him, he said, What is she? Tell me if you know. There can be no secrets between us.

Staring at his dark green eyes, I answered, She's a witch. A powerful sorceress. I paused, swallowing hard, and added, And she's my mother. I stared at him waiting for him to answer, but his mouth fell open.

He breathed, You're a witch, too? A sorceress? I didn't recognize the expression on his face. I didn't know what he was thinking.

I nodded, heart hammering in my chest. Yes, but I have no power. I have not used it, despite her. She has killed before. She slayed my father because he defied her. She killed your brother when he was a child, and she intends to kill you tonight. I can't stay here another moment. She'll destroy me when she learns what I've done. I have to run, with or without you. I turned to flee down the stairs when I felt his hand on my shoulder. He gripped me hard and turned me back to him.

Did you think I would shun you? Did you think that I would despise you when you revealed to me what you truly were? Ella... answer me, he demanded.

There wasn't time for this. We had to leave. But his grip on me was too tight. I closed my eyes, trying to hush the roaring of my beating heart in my ears. When I looked up at him I said, Love forgives many things, but blood so vile... I don't know.

Without a word he pulled me to his lips. His warm body pressed against mine as the kiss deepened. When he pulled away we were both breathless. I have always loved you. My heart has always been yours. It always will be, Ella. Forever. There is nothing you could do that would make me stop... He smiled at me. He took my face in his hands as he spoke of his affection for me.

My shoes were in my hand, clutched between my fingers, as I stared up at him. His words melted into me, making every lash of the witch seem like it'd been worth it just to get to this moment in time. I was in his arms. And he loved me even though I was tainted by my wicked mother even though I was a witch.

I barely recognized the toll of the clock. Midnight. From that point, things changed so fast that I didn't know what was happening. But I could feel it. Something within me awakened.

The prince's eyes changed from adoration to horror, as I felt my body thirst for something I didn't know I needed blood.

He backed away from me, saying, Ella, what's wrong?

What's happening?

But I didn't know. My face felt hot. Every part of me was screaming like I was going to die. I no longer knew who I was or where I was. The man standing in front of me was not someone I knew. All memories of him vanished, as my gaze transfixed on the thick vein on his neck. It pulsated like a frightened animal, making my instincts completely overpower my mind.

I lunged at him, dragging him across the room, and pressing him onto the massive bed. Phillip's back hit the bedpost before his body fell on the mattress. He let out a gush of air as his eyes widened in terror. The blow to the head made him weak, too weak to fight me off. He tried to free himself from my grip, but was unable. He screamed for help, but no one came. No one knew where he was. There wasn't a guard nearby to see what was happening. No one could save him from me.

Clutching the slippers in my hand, I swung them at the stone wall. The shoe shattered into a million pieces. Without a thought, I picked up the longest, sharpest piece. My hands ripped open the prince's shirt. Wildly, I pressed my fingers into his flesh looking for the pulsing spot. My fingers pressed against the rib, feeling the soft skin right below. Without a word, I plunged the glass shard into his chest, tearing an opening large enough for my hand to pass through. The prince screamed so loudly that I nearly stopped, but when his warm blood covered my hand and dripped off my wrist, the insatiable thirst returned.

On instinct, I cut the prince's heart from his dying body.

Blood soaked the bed, as the prince screamed with mortal terror.

His blood stained every inch of my white gown as I worked the organ from his body. But it didn't matter. I had the thing I desired. I watched the prince's heart beat in my hand.

There was no comprehension of what I'd done. I spoke to Phillip like he was still alive. I told him what I thought our future would be like, and that I'd wanted him since the first time I saw him. It wasn't until my mother stood in the doorway that I noticed something was wrong.

Bring it here, Ella. Her voice commanded me, but I didn't move. She had no power over me. And her golden hair had grayed at the temples. That meant she'd used much of her power to stand before me at that moment. And when she aged this time, she would die. That I knew. I felt it within me. Something that said blood allowed us to live. To survive.

No. His heart belongs to me. He said so! I expected Phillip to speak, but he didn t. His body lay still where I'd slain him. Clutching his heart close to my chest, I said, You cannot have it. He's mine!

My mother took a small step toward us with her hand outstretched. It was like she was trying to coax a madman with a knife. Yes, your prince is yours. Let's put his heart in the golden stone before it dies, Ella. You did what you came here for. The guards are coming. We must act quickly.

But her words threatened me. She would not take his heart from me. His heart belongs to me. You cannot have it! I shouted despite her protests. My mother aged before me as she tried to use her power to make me surrender his heart. But I would not release it. Power flowed from somewhere within me, refusing to let him go. As the witch withered back into her ancient form the guards appeared in the room. They surrounded us, pointing their weapons at my mother and myself.

The captain of the guard's jaw fell open as he took in the scene. I was covered in the prince's blood, and there was an enormous hole in his chest. When the guard's gaze landed on me, he shouted, She's killed the Prince! Take her! As the solders approached, they tried to take Phillip's heart from my hands. At least that was how it seemed. My aging mother used the little magic she had left until a spear embedded itself in her chest.She cried out to me, Ella! Save me! A drop will save me!

Please Ella! But her cries fell on deaf ears. No one else would have his heart. No one else could share him. Phillip had accepted me. He didn't care that I was a witch. And as long as I held his heart in my hands, as long as it was the twelfth hour, I would know no different.

The guards came at me, but I killed every last one of them.

In the end, their armor didn't matter. I was able to cook them like meat in an oven by heating their protective metal. When no one threatened to take Phillip from me, I sat on the bed, and lay down next to him. His beating heart slowed, but I held it next to mine. I awoke when the clock chimed one; I saw what I'd done and Phillip's heart was gone.

CHAPTER NINE

I stood before a vast hole dug into the earth. Cold wind tugged at my hair. My tattered gown still had Phillip's blood crusted to the bodice. My mother was right about everyone, except Phillip, which made what I'd done even worse. When the guards came and captured me in Phillip's room, I was instantly damned. There was no trial, since there was no question that I was a witch. But there was one thing that terrified them most of all. And they hesitated to kill me until they learned where it went. Where was the prince's missing heart? They asked me over and over again.

I stared at the hole in the ground blankly. I recalled the fuzzy state of the nightmare that started at midnight. Phillip had just said he loved me. That he accepted me and my vile blood.

But when I awoke, he was dead. His heart was carved from his chest, and the only other person who was still breathing was me.

They peeled me from his cold lifeless body, as I cried. Phillip may have accepted me, but it didn't stop what I was... what I was capable of.

I found out later, after it was too late, that the evening a witch becomes of age, she will feed off her lover's heart, much like a black widow spider devours her mate. When the clock chimed twelve, in the dark of night, I became something else. I was a dark creature that needed that boy's heart to live. My mother knew this. She tried to make it less painful for me. I didn't understand. I didn't know what I was or what I was capable of.

A large man with a large gut hollered at me one last time, Where is the crown prince's heart! This is your last chance.

I did not answer, as I could not. I didn't know where his heart went. When my haze of bloodlust lifted, his heart was gone, evaporated into thin air like all our hopes and dreams.

The large man screamed again, demanding that I tell him.

When I did not answer for the third time, he shoved me. My hands were bound behind my back as I fell into the pit they'd dug out for me. I fell on my back and was unable to get up. This would be my final resting place. This is where I would die, slowly, horrifically as my mother had warned.

Every member of the court stood around the pit. The king and queen glared down at me. The king threw the first massive stone. The boulder fell into the pit, and crushed my leg. I let out a scream. The queen threw the next. The rock hit my head and rolled next to my face. A ribbon of blood ran down my cheek.

One by one, the rocks fell from above, crushing me. I felt every last one as the hole was filled in slowly with stones. The weight of the rocks should have killed me, but I didn't die. I remained quiet. No doubt they all thought I was dead. But I was a witch a real witch. And no stones could crush me. Not with the power that flowed through my veins.

As dirt fell from above, I heard the gravediggers speak as they filled in the tomb. So, where do you think she put the heart?

Sand and rock fell from above, surrounding me. Soon there would be no air. I could not survive if I remained where I was. I could shatter the stones on top of me, and crawl out of the deep grave, but I didn't want to. Part of me died the night I destroyed my beloved.