A Curse and A Kiss - Volume 1

4

Verina woke up in a sweat. Getting herself up quickly, she felt her head spin and her vision blur and turn into little grey dots for a moment. Back to life after a nightmarish dream, but at what cost.

A gentle hand helped her lay down on the long couch again. She heard something, a few words, but couldn't grasp them; but that sweet tone... felt reassuring, in a moment of distress.

She slowly returned to her senses, and tried to understand where she was. That was still in the King's office... and she was on the couch...

The Princess was kneeling on the ground, at her side, with a glass of water. She looked worried, but most importantly, dressed again. Her face was still red and her eyes slightly swollen, yet Verina felt she was just as marvelous as before...

«I'll take this, thank you...» said the woman, getting up with some effort and taking the glass. She slowly drank the chilly water; was it stored with a frostone? That office sure had a lot of commodities...

«Are you alright, Lady Verina?» asked anxiously the girl, observing a bit fascinated for no particular reason the slender neck of the other move slowly at the passage of water.

Verina finished drinking, and left the glass on the table. «I apologize, Princess. Too many emotions for one day, I think... I have my limits for those.» She sighed, wiping her forehead with the back of her left.

Kara responded, remorseful «Forgive me, milady...»

Verina reclined again, and gazed at the candid ceiling. «No need. Really, this time.»

The girl looked at her, and smiled. She felt indeed sincere just now.

That smile burned in the witch's heart like a nail. "So... adorable..!"

Verina hesitated. Their eyes finally met again, and the swirl of emotions returned at the sight of those reddened blue gems...

«So...» she said, almost whispering «...girls, eh?»

Kara giggled. «Indeed.»

The powerless Sorceress closed her eyes and smiled lightly. «Was it really that obvious?»

«I don't think someone who doesn't understand it would guess it.»

«Uhm...»

Verina was purposefully breathing slowly and calmly, trying to regain her energies, but her heart was racing all by itself. She could feel it knock on her chest, hear it destroy her ribs. She laughed quietly, a bit embarrassed, hoping Kara wouldn't notice; it was, however, impossible not to hear from that short distance, faint but persistent.

«Do you express your preferences this vehemently to everyone?» joked Verina, opening just one eye and closing it again.

«Just to the girls I like, I guess..!» the other replied, with a little smirk. Verina felt like a boulder crashed on her chest, and blushed uncontrollably; she turned around on the couch, facing its backrest, while the princess chortled.

The princess stopped shortly after, turning serious for a moment «...and... my father...». Kara looked at that lavender dress with misery, remembering the altercation she mentioned before. She really did profess in anger that big secret... "What a fool" she thought...

Verina sat down, and Kara's eyes followed her. «Do you want to know what magic ailment is afflicting you?»

Her eyes widened. She sprung up quickly, and went to her seat, forgetting those unhappy thoughts, ready to hear the answer.

Verina adjusted herself on the couch, and exhaled.

«Your... "Symptoms", let's call them that... have actually two different yet intertwined causes.» The witch pointed at teacup and saucer in front of her and magically lifted them up in the air, making them swirl above her head playfully. «The first cause is your innate, latent magic talent.»

Kara lost all semblance of elegance for a moment, dropping her jaw in bewilderment. Verina chuckled; "I guess we are even, now."

«A-are you sure? Me? But I've never...»

«It has been dormant all this time. But your most recent emotions... have an influence, on how magic is expressed.»

Kara fell silent, still watching the cute dance of porcelain above Verina's head. Of her entire line, only her grandmother had expressed any magic ability... Such talent is, after all, not hereditary.

«Now...» she continued the sorceress, placing everything back on the table «...there are rare instances of... how can I say it... "convergent factors"?» She took the teacup, saucer and teaspoon and placed them in a line in front of her.

Kara expressed her confusion clearly, her eyes trying to follow the visual explanation like she was trying to win a 'three card trick' game. Verina pointed at the teacup «A dormant power,» then the saucer «an intense, suppressed emotion,» and the teaspoon «and... Genetics? Bloodline? Something along those lines.»

She recomposed the three, and lifted them with one hand triumphantly «And once in a million, you get... a 'Cantamen'.»

Verina paused, looking for a moment at the teacup, before putting it down again. She turned to gaze at the princess, flabbergasted. «You still don't know what that means?» She shook her head slowly, unable to speak.

«Of course you wouldn't. It is a very special condition, documented just a handful of times over the course of millennia, how could you know...»

The Sorceress stood up, and looked at the young girl from above histrionically, with a large, flaming smile, ready to astonish her.

«You, Princess Kara of Romiria, are turning into a Demon!»