Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
― a queen's duty
THERE IT WAS. Elodie slows to a halt and lifts her skirts ever so slightly. She heaves a dramatic sigh. "Your Majesty?" A soothing voice calls. The woman looks to her left to see Dorian, Royal Attendant, and Butler. He had been assigned to Elodie the day she vowed to be Queen. It was only natural, seeing as how he somehow seemed to know everything happening in the castle and everyone. He was her right-hand man - unofficially, however, he was the closest thing to a friend she had in the Unseelie Kingdom. His hazel eyes dart knowingly to her heeled boots, taking in the busted shoelaces as obviously as he could. "Oh, dear," he drawls out, "I shall go fetch a maid at once."
The Queen nods stiffly, "Much appreciated." The man wanders off, his eyes searching dramatically around every corner. Elodie watches his figure disappear before her long, pointy ears perk up as she pauses to listen down the long and gloomy corridor. When nothing but the harsh wind rattling the windows and the creaking of the lights hanging from the tall ceiling is heard, the brunette slowly lifts her skirts and bends down towards her broken boot. A bright golden shimmer appears at the ends of Elodie's long and polished fingernails, following her pointed finger to the shoelaces. When the satisfied woman lets her dress fall, her now-fixed boots disappear behind the fabric, and she quickly scurries to what had caused her to stop in the first place. With her hands on ceiling-to-floor double doors, she quickly peeks to her left and right before pushing one ever so open, inconspicuously stepping through.
Closing the door behind her, Elodie turns and makes quick work of the seemingly normal guest room that the King forbids anyone to enter. Her dark eyes glaze over as the room turns black and white. She looks down at the carpeted floor and spots the large black footprints that belong to none other than her husband. Following them to the wall next to the vanity desk, her eyes trail up to find a handprint on the wall light, prompting her to place her hand in the same place and turn it to the left as if drawn to do so by instinct. Her eyes clear when her pointed ears hear a soft click! beside her. A small passageway has been opened. Not hesitating, she goes through it, feeling her course of action somewhat familiar. Descending the stone staircase, rounding corners, and finally, she spies the ominous red glow from under the door at the end of the hallway presumably deep underneath the castle. Her steps are quick as she goes through the door that holds the King's dark secrets. When her eyes adjust, her thick eyebrows furrow in confusion. "What the...?" Elodie mutters to herself, eyes scanning the multiple glowing orbs that float around the room, bathed in red. As the woman walks into the room, they shy away, not daring to be touched, and reveal a large mirror suspended to the back wall. Elodie recognizes it immediately from her lessons as a girl.
The woman lounges in her chair, twirling her scarlet hair in between her slender fingers. "Otherworld Mirrors," she says ever-so-casually as the young Elodie takes the scroll from her hands and unfolds it, "are a form of communication method able to be hidden from everyone but those on the other side of it. Completely unseen, unheard, and dangerous if in the wrong hands."
