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When I opened the door to my home, my mother was waiting for me which was weird. “My dear, you are home.”
I knew something was off. She never called me “dear” or “darling” except in rare cases. She looked anxious and worried. Something was really wrong. My mother was almost never worried, and that meant things were bad.
“You have a visitor, the king’s brother. He is waiting for you in the parlor.” That was strange. I had spoken too soon earlier. The day could get worse. What would Jonathan’s uncle want to talk to me about? I went to the parlor as calmly as I could. I curtsied and the king’s brother stood. He was a tall middle-aged man with blond hair and icy-blue eyes. If not for his cold eyes, he might be called handsome.
He looked at me like he was trying to decide if I was worth his time or not. “Let’s take a walk outside, my dear. I saw a wonderful park outside, and we should enjoy the fine weather while it lasts, don’t you think?” He had an equally cold voice.
“Of course.” We went outside and took the road to the little park.
“You are close to my nephew and his friend, aren’t you?”
Straight to the point.
“And you were there when my brother was killed, right?”
Accusation one. I had a feeling how this was going to go, but I would keep silent until he finished—or as long as I could control my temper.
“And they said that you are a healer since you healed both of them and many men of our army, so why couldn’t you save my brother? Your king?”
Accusation two.
“You should be careful with whom you associate yourself with; not everyone has the privilege of being friends with the heir to the throne.”
Accusation three.
“You do understand that he will be married to someone of royal blood, right?” That was enough. I couldn’t stay silent any longer. “I appreciate your uprightness, and you have every right to ask these questions, but you can let me explain. I am a friend with Alec and your nephew, but I only helped them when they were injured and needed my help. I could help them when they were suffering, and I did because I could.
“I am sorry for your loss, but I can’t help everyone. I tried to help, but in the end, fate decides how we will end.”
The king’s brother looked at me like he was trying to see behind my words, and I knew this man was dangerous. Calculating and cold, he would never do something rash, but he would think it through until he decided something final. I knew he would announce his decision for me soon. And I was not wrong.
“You seem smart enough. I hear you have a shop with herbs, but a shop like this can be opened anywhere. You will leave the village and go anywhere you want, but here. I don’t like you near my family; you are a bad influence on them. I am sure your business will go well anywhere since diseases follow poor people everywhere.” He announced his decision like it was already done.
Me? A bad influence? All I did was help people.
“With your departure, my nephew will focus better on his duties rather than feeling obliged to accompany you everywhere. You are a distraction and a bad influence on him. You waste his time. You are beneath him.”
I was stunned, but I didn’t say anything. I looked at him and I masked my feelings so my face would show no emotion at all. I might be angry and furious, but I would not waste my anger on such a petty man like him. I was a witch and I was not ruled by anyone. I smiled even though I wanted to cry and scream. “I wanted to help, but if you think that my help is unnecessary, then I will go and you will not see me again. But I doubt you will need me since the palace has the best doctors who I am sure know better than I do.”
I walked away trying not to run or to cry. Take that, you filthy pest. Even if you needed me and begged me, I would never come to your aid. Nobody talked to me like that. Nobody. I would leave since I promised, and I wouldn’t return, but I wouldn’t go far yet—maybe Portugal would be nice. I heard there were rare flowers there, and maybe it was time to see if that was true.
The king’s brother didn’t stop me from leaving. Maybe he thought I was obedient enough and I would keep my promise. Maybe since I was a girl, he thought there was nothing to be afraid of. He had no idea who I was and how dangerous I could be. His words still rang in my ears: “You do understand that he will be married to someone of royal blood, right?”
I always had known that. Even if we were both humans, we couldn’t really be together because of his position. I had never hoped because of this and because I wanted to protect him from who I was. I didn’t want to return home and tell my mother yet, but I would have to tell her soon. She would be sad, but she could visit me. Ritta didn’t have a house on Earth, so she could stay with me.
I wandered in the village, and when I passed in front of my shop, I ripped the paper from the door—I wouldn’t be opening soon. I went inside and gathered the herbs and everything important, and I made them disappear. Sometimes being a witch had its perks. Tomorrow, before I left, I would leave pigeons for the people I knew needed medicines. This way, even from afar, I would be able to help them. But could something like this be explained? No, but I would try. I would leave at dawn so nobody knew. I would be silent like the night.
I saw Ritta smiling at something in the market stalls, and when she saw me, her smile melted. “What’s wrong?” I gave her a questioning look.
“Your aura is all black,” she said as she came toward me.
Right, nobody saw my aura except when I was angry or sad, and right now I felt like I had lost someone. I told her everything but I spoke using telepathy because I didn’t want anyone else to know. I was sad, but I didn’t want them to be sad too. Ritta was so angry that the flowers at our feet withered.
I took her hand. “Who is the one with uncontrollable powers now?”
She didn’t smile. “Who does he think he is? The stupid, the bastard... He can’t just do this. The pig, the animal.” She said some more unkind words, and I was glad no one could hear this conversation, or we would have been thrown in jail for sure.
“Yes, he can because he is the king currently, and whatever he says is the law. You cross him, you die. Poor queen.”
Ritta looked sad. “Can’t you stay? You can be invisible or change appearance...”
I almost laughed at that. “And how am I supposed to help people? No one in the world—as far as I know—does this kind of job and has the same abilities as me. Do you think that the king won’t suspect a blonde that does the same job as me when I am nowhere to be found?”
She sighed. “You’re right, but that’s not fair. But not blonde, you would be terrible in blonde. No, nope.”
I smiled a little.
“Does your mother know?”
I shook my head. “Not yet.”
“And what are you going to do about them?”
“I will leave pigeons in the morning. If anyone wants medicine, I will be able to send it without coming here.”
She gave me a puzzled look, but then she smiled. “I wasn’t talking about the village’s people.”
Confused, I tilted my head. “Who were you talking about then?”
She shook her head. “I was talking about them.”
I followed her gaze and then I saw them: Alec and Jonathan. Just my luck. Couldn’t I have a bit of peace on my last day here? Obviously not. “Nothing can be done. Maybe they already know, but I will say nothing on the subject, and neither will you.”
Ritta looked at me with a smile. “Maybe they know you are leaving, and they came to say goodbye. How sweet.
I gave her a pointed look. All right, all right, I will not say anything.”
The boys saw us and walked to greet us. “Hi,” they said in chorus.
If I didn’t know them, I would have mistaken them for brothers. “Hello,” we said.
“What are you doing here?” Jonathan asked.
“We live here,” said Ritta.
“What I meant was what are you doing here this late?”
What are you, my mother? And it wasn’t late; it was barely six in the evening. “We can go anywhere we please,” I said in an even voice.
“Don’t you have curfews?” he persisted.
“Don’t you?” I shot back. I was hoping he would hate me, but since I couldn’t make him hate me all this time, I didn’t see how I could make him hate me now.
He smiled. “Not yet.”
“Are you all right, Eva?” Alec asked.
I stared at him. How did he know? I didn’t say anything. Then I remembered he had a blood of an angel. That was why he could sense other peoples’ needs and the reason he was so perceptive. “Melec blood,” I said to Ritta.
“What?”
“Alec.”
She nodded. “I see.”
I smiled at Alec. “I am fine. Thank you.”
He studied me but said nothing. Maybe he could sense I was lying, but he said nothing further.
“Are you going somewhere?” Jonathan asked.
“Nowhere in particular,” said Ritta.
“Can we join you?” Alec asked.
“I don’t see why not,” said Ritta.
We walked through the village and passed a woman who was singing and I caught something of her song: “A broken heart is leaving, a frozen heart... my love, don’t go away...”
Exactly; I was frozen with a frozen heart, but not a broken one. We continued walking in the village, talking about random things, but none of the boys said anything about my departure, so I guessed, they didn’t know. Or if they did know, there was nothing they could do.
“How can they not know what the king’s brother had done, Eva? They live in the palace and Jonathan is the heir. Shouldn’t he know what’s going around here?”
“You saw how huge the palace is, while they live in the same place, they could go days without seeing each other. Jonathan is the heir, but he doesn’t rule yet, and his uncle would never say something like this to him. Jonathan would go against his uncle’s wishes. He’s a teenager, after all.”
I couldn’t see her expression since she was walking in front of me with Jonathan; it was funny that we were having a silent conversation without others knowing about it while still holding a verbal conversation with people around us.
“Who does he remind me of?” Ritta asked.
I tried not to scowl since Alec would ask me why. “Be quiet!”
“I am quiet.”
“Shh.”
We were walking in a meadow now, so I took out off my shoes and walked barefoot in the grass.
Jonathan looked at me like I was crazy. “Why did you take your shoes off?”
I smiled. “I like the feeling of the grass under my feet.”
Alec laughed. “Me too. It’s like a rug with flowers.”
See? Someone understood me.
Jonathan gave him a look that said it all. “I don’t believe it.”
Ritta had taken off her shoes and was lying on the grass moving like she was going to make snow angels—or should I say grass angels? I started laughing and joined her. I looked up and saw Alec coming to join us on the grass. We were all laughing. I wanted to enjoy my last night with my friends. One last night.
“You are crazy, you know that?” Jonathan said.
“We know.” The three of us said in unison.
Then he did something that surprised me. “Then so am I,” he said and joined us in the grass.
After a while, we saw stars and Ritta and I—as always—began our contest: who could find the most constellations. The boys were looking at us in awe.
“How do you know so many?” Alec asked.
“My mother loves stars so she taught us most of them.”
Jonathan picked a white flower from the ground and offered it to me. “I don’t know about stars, but I know this is a star flower. You seem a little preoccupied today. Are you all right?”
So he had noticed something. “I am fine, thank you. You are lucky. This flower is only for beauty; it doesn’t have healing abilities, so I can keep it.” I smiled. A gift on my last night. I would keep it with the other flower he had sent to me—which I had carefully preserved.
I wished I could stay here forever with my friends, the stars above us, and the flowers. Alas, that was impossible. We had to go because it was late and past their curfews. We said goodbye, but none of them meant it like I did—it was the last time I would see them all together, but I tried not to think about it.
Alec touched my arm. “If you ever have a problem, I am here for you.”
I was stunned. He knew something was wrong, but he didn’t push me and tried to reassure me instead. He had much kindness in him, and I would miss him. Jonathan came to my side next. No, no I didn’t want to say goodbye.
Please don’t say goodbye to me, I begged.
He smiled—this mischievous smile I had come to like—took my hand, and tried to kiss it, but I didn’t let him. He looked hurt. I had cut his courtesy in half, but I wouldn’t let him kiss my hand on my last night—and not any other night for that matter.
“What was that about?” he asked.
“You could say goodbye like everyone else.”
He looked at me thoughtfully. “You always say I don’t have any manners at all—”
“Because you don’t.”
“And when I show some, you don’t like them.”
“This is not manners. That’s a thing all gentlemen do. Poor or rich, they do it to impress the ladies. Manners are to hold a lady’s hand when she descends from a horse or a staircase, no matter her status.”
He looked at me and tried to understand, but he couldn’t. “No one has ever said something like that to me. Why are you so negative toward me?”
I was getting angry. “Negative? What am I supposed to do? Be afraid of you because you are the heir?”
He looked shocked. “No, but maybe be a little friendlier toward me.”
I tried to calm down. “And why’s that?”
“Because I am handsome.” He smiled arrogantly.
What a nerve. “I am sure all the ladies think you are great, but I am not one of them.”
He looked hurt. “Why?”
Was he stupid? Did he argue with me just to make me angry? “Have you ever heard the word humility? To help people because you want to and not because they pay you or you are of a higher status.”
He looked uncomfortable. “So, you don’t let anyone kiss your hand?” he asked, trying to change the subject.
“I don’t like that gesture.”
“Why? Not even from a person you care for?”
I scowled. “I don’t care about you, and no, not even from that person.”
“You cared about me enough to come and save me.”
I gritted my teeth. “I did it for Alec.”
The sarcastic smile I hated appeared on Jonathan’s face. It made me so frustrated. “Right. So you won’t let the person you love kiss your hand?”
What? What was he saying? “No, not even him. I want something unique with him, just for the two of us. Not something that means the same to everybody.”
“I see.”
I continued to look at him suspiciously.
I turned and saw Ritta and Alec laughing.
“What?”
They tried to shake off their laughter, and Alec said, “You two should perform at the theater. That was really entertaining.”
I scowled. “What? That was not funny.”
“Actually, it was,” Ritta snickered. “You know what they say.”
I took her hand and started walking. “If you say a word, I will wither all your flowers in your garden in the White Land.” She kept quiet, and I told her about the tarot reader, so she wouldn’t say something else.
She was silent for a long time. “That is so strange. I mean, this reading must be fake or the cards were not tarots, because you can’t have two contradictory cards like Life and Death in the spread.”
I nodded. “But it was all odd. The curse, the sacrifice, and that she insisted on that reading, but she vanished so quickly that I couldn’t ask questions.”
Ritta looked a little worried. “What will you tell them?”
I turned to look at her sadly. “I won’t tell them anything. I leave at dawn.”
As she turned to look at me, anger flashed in her eyes. “I hope you are joking. You can’t leave them like this. They’re your friends, and they will blame me.”
“No, they will blame me for leaving.”
She threw her hands in the air in exasperation. “Why not just tell them the truth?”
I laughed. “The truth? Then I would deliver all our heads on a silver platter to the king. Besides, they might discover it sooner or later; they live in the palace.” I turned onto the road home, but Ritta didn’t follow me right away.
“You... idiot.” She yelled at me. I probably was.
When we reached my house, Ritta went in the bedroom. I went to the kitchen to find my mother knitting. “So, where were you, Eva?”
I looked at her. “How did you know I went anywhere?”
She looked up. “I always know where you are.”
That was hardly fair. I couldn’t sneak out anymore? I sat in a chair and she put down her knitting.
“What is wrong?” She always knew when I was troubled.
I told her everything that had happened. When I finished, she said nothing. Her eyes turned purple, and I knew she was angry. I wasn’t afraid of my mother, but when she was like this, it was wiser to get out of her way quickly.
“So, you are leaving?”
I nodded.
“You didn’t tell them. Why?”
Maybe telling her was a bad idea. “Because I would deliver us to our deaths.”
She was shaking. “No one can harm us. Do you forget who we are? Do you forget who you are?”
I had not forgotten, but I was still worried. You didn’t talk about magic with common people or you would end in fire. “Someone with a heart made of ice.” And a broken one.
Some of her anger dissipated. “You are someone with a caring, warm heart with a kind word for everyone.” She put her arms around me. “But not everyone”—she smiled—“deserves it.”
I put my head on her shoulder. I felt like a little girl again when she had the solutions to my every problem, but I wasn’t a little girl anymore, and I had to find my own way. I couldn’t sustain my tears any longer. It had been a long day with many bad things and the princess heir thing—I couldn’t consider it good—and my concerns and fears spilled out.
“I always knew you were special.” My mother made it sound so easy and good. Everything was crushing me so I cried more. She caressed my hair and whispered, “I will always be with you, my little girl.”
After much time had passed, I heard a “meow,” and I turned to see Midnight putting her paws on my leg with an expression on her face that said, “you are going and you are not taking me?”
“You should take her. She’s more faithful to you than anyone else,” my mother said.
I smiled a little. “It’s not like I have a choice.” I picked up Midnight.
“Correct.” My mother laughed.
“Goodnight mom.” I hugged her.
“Goodnight my Eva.” She took her knitting with her, and we went to bed.
I woke up at dawn. I took the things I had packed yesterday—it wasn’t like I had many things—and Midnight followed me. She was not letting me get away. I took the small package of food my mother had set out for me and left the house. After a few steps, I turned and looked at my house for one last time. “Goodbye, house, goodbye village, and thank you.” I looked at Midnight. “Time for a new adventure, right?” The only response was meow. I took the road which led out of the village.
