Cast A Spell On Me

Prologue

            In a land far away in a very different time, girls weren’t made of sugar and spice. Instead they were wicked con artists that followed their evil leader, Madame Lilith. To them love was a sin and men were the terrible. Madame Lilith tricked them into thinking the royal family was corrupt and needed to be overthrown. In reality the royal family was good to the people and was doing all they could.

            King Edward Leroy of Oldhelm was my father. My mother Queen Jasmine Leroy of Oldhelm died when I was just seven years old. The king was heartbroken, so heartbroken in fact that he was convinced he would never love again. Then came Madame Lilith, an evil seductress that seemed at first sweet and innocent. King Edward soon fell hopelessly in love with her and her many tricks. She treated my brother, Basil and me like we were the most precious children she had ever met. But it was just another hoax. She always insisted that she cooked even though we had a world class chef. Once you ate her roasted chicken or garlic mashed potatoes you instantly fell in love with her.

             One day I decided to visit my Aunt Silvia. It took a few days ride by carriage to get there so I had to stay at an inn. Right after I ate dinner there I began to see Madame Lilith more clearly. No longer did she seem innocent and naïve but deceitful and evil.

             The next day when we passed through the many different towns on our way, I noticed how neglected the kingdom was since Madame Lilith arrived into our lives. People were starving and the royal guard no longer protected the people from enemy raids and invasions. The people were hungry, cold, and had no more faith in my father. I began to wonder how all of this had escaped my father’s attention. How had it escaped my attention? I went to the villages surrounding the palace whenever I could. I was even friends with some of the villagers. Thinking back in the past two years I had barely seen any of my friends. Madame Lilith had entertained us with her friend’s children and even selected all of our current staff and palace servants. She even had picked out my father’s advisors! All the people surrounding my family were tools of Madame Lilith! And why did she always have to cook? She had even cooked my cake at my 15th birthday party! We had dozen of pastry chefs that could make breathtaking cakes. I had just thought she wanted to be a mother figure to us. But every meal was a little bit much. What am I trying to say? That Madame Lilith had put something in our food to make us like her? Why would she do that? What value would she get out of fake love?

                Aunt Silvia would have the answer. She always had answers to the most unexplainable questions. As a duchess she was elegant and worldly. As an aunt she was lovable and fun. When my mother died she acted as a surrogate mother to both Basil and me. She never judged my father during his time of mourning. But when he declared Madame Lilith to be his bride, she was very upset. Then the king told me she was just being unreasonable about my mother legacy but in my heart I knew Aunt Silvia had bigger reasons than my mother. Aunt Silvia insisted that Madame Lilith would never be a mother to us and that we would be safer with her. The king was outraged at the accusation that Madame Lilith was unsafe and that he could not protect us. Though, he couldn’t protect us against something he didn’t know existed.

        When I look back on the day just one year ago I do not remember it as a happy memory. I remember it as the day where my whole world came crashing down. I felt hurt and deceived. Even now in the harsh times of revolution it is still the worst day of my life. I fell for every single plot and trick Madame Lilith had sent up for my family and me. We all had been deceived to falling in love with this kind and caring person that did not exist. Instead in her place was a liar that toyed with our emotions.

        As the carriage came to stop with a loud clatter I was unsure of what to do. Should I go in and have all my questions answered? Or should I go back to a life full of lies and games? If I discovered the whole truth I may not be able to return to my normal life ever again. But was it really normal? For the past two years I had been living a lie. That wasn’t normal at all. To have someone else pick out your destiny, that wasn’t normal. If I walked into those doors I would have something I had never had before. Freedom.

        After my internal battle was over I ran out of the carriage not even taking the coachmen’s hand. I rushed up the marble steps up to the gigantic oak doors and pushed it with all my might. Once I had pushed the doors completely open I left my arms fall to my sides. I leaned against the door, panting probably wrinkling my blue silk dress.

        Standing in the doorway smirking at me was my cousin Violet. Her dark brown hair was down and wavy. Most women in Oldhelm wear their hair up in braids or coiled. But Violet was always the rebel. So were my mother and me. We hated wearing our hair up. We didn’t care what was custom, we did what we felt. Lately I hadn’t done anything that was rebellious. None of us wore the suffocating corsets that most women wore. We all were naturally thin so there was no point in making us look smaller. Violet was wearing a flowing dark green dress that made her look like the faeries we read about as children.

        “Violet!!!” I screamed as I ran towards her. I was so overcome with happiness by just seeing a familiar face that I ‘attacked’ her with a great big bear hug. For a second she just stood there shocked but she recovered and returned the hug. By now both of our dresses were wrinkled. In any normal society we would have been looked down upon. No like we would have cared.

        “Riana you’re here! I thought you weren’t coming until next week!” she said breathlessly. I hadn’t realized how tight I had squeezed her. I was just so happy to be free once again. I was so happy to be just myself.