The Lady's Secret (School for Good and Evil)

I Love you

Japeth watched as the ring was dissolved into the fire. He looked down towards Tedros and the king's gold crown lifted off his head. Slowly, the crown made its way through the air and landed gracefully onto Japeth. The Snake smiled over the Kingdom Council and they immediately bowed down.

"All hail King Rhian!" the fairy queen of Gillikin called out. The rest of the leaders echoed this message as they smiled up to their king.

But the crown was faltering on his head, about to vanish into thin air.

"I am not yet the One True King," Japeth's voice thundered, and the celebrations ceased. "For that I will need my beautiful queen who stays with me no matter what!" he shouted, his eyes sifting through the crowd looking for Sophie. He found her.

Japeth smiled at his queen to be.

And to Agatha's horror, Sophie smiled back.

Japeth beckoned for her to stand with him on the carriage, and the guard released her, pulling out her gag. She took a deep breath and locked eyes with Agatha, evil brewing inside them. She sneered at her best friend and without hesitation, Sophie walked the length of the garden. The Kingdom council's eyes were on her as she strutted towards the Snake.

It's another ploy, Agatha thought. Sophie always had a plan, always had a scheme. This was just another one. It was just a plan.

She took a deep breath. "Sophie won't betray you," Agatha whispered, almost silently to herself as if wishing it were true.

Hort's eyes followed her, filled with betrayal, and for a moment Sophie stopped. Her face softened as they locked eyes, as if her trance was broken. Hort reached for her hand and she stepped forward. The blonde girl slowly walked over to him, both of their eyes filled with tears.

Tears of love.

Except they weren't.

Sophie looked up at him, a wicked grin forming across her face. She smacked his hand away before she reached up and grabbed his face, pulling her lips to his ear.

"No one will ever love you, just like I never did," Sophie leaned back and sneered at him.

Hort's eyes were welling with tears as he stared at her, heart completely broken with no chance of ever being mended.

"You just weren't enough for me," Sophie shot.

Hort looked into her eyes, searching for a hint of the Sophie he knew, the Sophie he loved, the Sophie who loved him. He stared into the depths of her soul and only saw hatred.

Sophie turned to face Japeth and her heart flashed with passion.

She flounced towards him, without so much as a look back at Hort: the heartbroken weasel.

He used to be her weasel, but now she had a snake.

Her snake.

Japeth reached a hand down and she grabbed it without a thought. He pulled her up and they stood together on top of the carriage.

Slowly, Japeth lit a gold finger glow and scrawled a message into the air. Even his finger glow color was magically changing to be like his brother's in the presence of the Kingdom Council. The words exploded into the sky and gold dust started raining down on them. Sophie reached her hand up and grabbed at the air of gold. She brought it back down and opened up her fist. In her palm lay two golden rings, identical except for a diamond on one of them. Japeth gently grabbed the jewel encrusted ring out of her hand.

"Sophie of Woods Beyond, I take you as my wife and Queen," he said, as he slipped the diamond ring onto her finger.

"Rhian of Foxwood, I take you to be my husband and King," Sophie repeated. She withdrew the plain gold band and put it on Japeth's finger.

"To my Queen's request we won't seal out love with a kiss. Instead we will seal it with a kill," the Snake said.

The Kingdom Council leaders looked appalled. They stared at Japeth, the color draining out of their faces.

"You may ask why, but you must remember, my new Queen is evil. I, the greatest good, and she, the greatest evil, will wed to bring the entirety of the woods together. And if you contradict me, the One True King, you will suffer the consequences," the Snake taunted in his most regal sounding voice. The last sentence was aimed straight at the Kings and Queens in the crowd. None of them knew what consequences were earned from disobeying the One True King, but they didn't want to be the first ones to find out.

"The kill?" Sophie reminded her new husband with a smirk.

"Yes, the kill," Japeth answered. His eyes roved over the crowd of students and teachers. "As it was your request, you may choose, my love," he cooed.

Sophie didn't even have to look over the crowd before she had the name picked out. She said it quickly, as easily as taking a breath.

"Tedros," Sophie grinned.

Agatha's heart dropped to her stomach. The entire scene seemed to be moving in slow motion. Quickly Tedros's guard started forward, pulling the blonde boy through the grass. He had been given a gag as well, and his hands were now tied behind his back with cold metal.

Sophie and Japeth climbed down from the carriage to stand on the grass next to Tedros.

He gave Sophie pleading eyes. "I trusted you!" Tedros howled.

"What a bad decision you made, so-called King," the Witch of the Woods Beyond sneered.

Tedros gaped at her, and his face went pale. Sophie locked eye contact with him as her finger glow lit up pink. A cruel grin spread across her face as her glow started to magically form a stage.

Agatha's face dimmed as she realized what was on the stage. It was a chopping block, with a huge axe. The guard shoved Tedros forward onto the stage. He stumbled down, fighting with everything he had, but it was too late; his neck brushed the chopping block. Sophie put her left foot onto his back, shoving him down so that his bare neck was exposed.

Japeth gripped the axe, and grinned at his wife. Sophie smiled back wickedly. The Snake took a step and swung the axe upwards.

Tedros's eyes met Agatha's in the crowd. They were full of fear, as if he knew nobody was going to be able to get up to the stage in time to save him.

He mouthed three words before the axe came crashing down.

I love you.