Daughter of the Night [A Twisted Wonderland Fanfic]

Chapter 15

"I don't want to marry her," Malleus whispered as he stared at himself in the mirror. A black tuxedo, adorned with a single silver rose which he would give to his new wife the minute after they said their vows. Upon the exchange of the rose, they would be bound for eternity, never separated until their death. 

Malleus thought back to the night he spent with Y/N, dancing in the garden, and pressed his forehead against the mirror, a single tear sliding down his cheek at the memory of her heartbroken face. Who knows what her mother had in store for her for punishment, but Malleus could only guess that it wasn't one he would approve of. It had been his idea to forgo their promises for the night, enjoying what once was. 

'I should have been wary of the guards,' Malleus thought, looking at his grief-stricken reflection in the mirror. His eyes were thick with sorrow, his lips curved downward with sadness, and it seemed that even his horns had lost their usual shine. 

He lifted his hand and gently ran his hand along one of them, smiling faintly at the touch. Y/N had once brushed her hand against his horns, sending waves of pleasure and love through him as she caressed his hair, releasing the stress from his body. But that was years ago, long before she had left, and long before Malleus had found out about her engagement. It seemed like centuries ago that they were happy together rather than a few short years. 

A small flap of paper sticking out of the frame caught his attention and he sighed softly, reaching up to pull it out.

"Malleus? Are you ready?" Lilia poked his head into the room, peering around the door as he searched for the young prince. His expression fell when he saw Malleus staring at the mirror, and more specifically, at a picture that had been tucked into the frame. The picture was decades old, and yet, it was one of the prince's most valued possessions. 

Lilia stepped into the room and shut the door behind him, quietly approaching Malleus as he traced his thumb over the picture. It was a picture that Lilia had seen many times before. A picture of Malleus and Y/N decades ago. They were sitting beneath an oak tree in mid-autumn, tangled in each other's embrace, each with a warm drink in their hands. Y/N was laughing at something, a blissful smile on her face, while Malleus stared at her as if she was the only thing in the world that mattered to him. It was before they had actually confessed their feelings to each other, but they both knew that the other loved them. They were lovers in all but title. 

"Malleus?" Lilia lay a gentle hand on the prince's shoulder, bringing him out of his stupor. 

Malleus jumped and wiped away a stray tear from the corner of his eye. Instead of tucking the picture back into the mirror's frame, he tucked it into his breast pocket, resting above his heart. He would keep this photo with him for the rest of his life. Perhaps he would even get it set into a locket one day so he could keep the picture close to him. 

"Is it time," he asked with a shaky voice, turning towards his guardian.

"Not quite. I just wanted to come and see how you were doing." 

"I'm fine." But his voice was quavering.

"No you're not," Lilia said gently. "Tell me honestly, Malleus. How are you holding up?"

Malleus swallowed the knot in his throat and turned toward his guardian. "I don't want to do this, Lilia. I can't do this. I don't love Lady Fayetta. I love Y/N!" He pressed his hand to his pocket where the picture rested, just out of sight. "I love Y/N. I love her so much that it hurts, and yet I can't have her!" The tears were starting to bubble, and Lilia felt his heart breaking when he saw this. "I just want her. I don't want the crown, I don't want the kingdom, I... just... want... Y/N." Malleus sank into a chair, holding his head in his hands as he sobbed violently. His muscles shook and clenched as he tried to hold in his sorrow, but when he felt Lilia beside him, the floodgates opened and he poured out his heart in salty tears that ran like rapids, falling onto the elegant rug below. "I don't want anything but her, Lilia. I want to tell her how much I love her, I want to hold her when we go to sleep, and I want her to be the first thing I see when I wake. I want her to be happy, no matter what that may be."