A Tale Of Shadows (Wattys 2023) - REPLACED BY DIVINE ASCENSION

Chapter 4 - The New Life

Everything was not so great in the coming days. Melinda had many things to do as Queen, which slowly began to stress her out. She had to restore a scorched, corrupt and overall decaying state, which was not exactly a walk in the park. She was not ready to resign immediately, but she was not very hopeful. 

That feeling of hopelessness brought yet more hopelessness with it, causing her to constantly remember her buried traumas, which seemed inescapable. The two years she had spent as Hemingway's captive have damaged her psyche forever. On top of that, she had to suffer Maria's betrayal, the burning of the country, as well as Jeffrey's death, which took a heavy toll on her soul.

Douglas was dismayed to see the pretty visible disappearance of her happiness. He saw her brooding often, but he was unwilling to interfere because he believed himself to be helpless. On a random night, while she was standing perched on the balcony fence beneath a starless sky, breathing in sighs, he approached her suddenly, startling her.

"Douglas!" she gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"This is the most life that you have shown recently," he said darkly. "My dear wife, why do you so eerily resemble the face of Death? Why cannot you enjoy my company and be grateful for the lavish life that I have given you? Many women would kill to be in your position, yet here you are, still as a statue and grave as a tombstone."

"Not everyone is as frivolous and uncaring as you," she spat. "Our country is in decline, it is not certain whom we can trust, and Jeffrey, the love of my life, died. I try to forget him, but I cannot, for how can one forget the literal love of their life? And he was your friend, too! Why do you not appear to be mourning him?"

"People are whispering," he said sternly. "Besides, life is for the living, thus we cannot lose ourselves in death, even though we have to confront it sometimes."

Melinda's face turned red. "I don't care that people are whispering! It's just some morons who've never had to work for anything in their decadent little lives and have nothing smarter to do than to judge all those who are not themselves. Besides, why should I not mourn Jeffrey and regret my choice? Are we not terrible people for entering a marriage so quickly after his death? It's false, but it does not seem that way. I'm close to you, pleasuring you every night in hopes of giving this dynasty an heir, but what if it does not happen at all? Think about it!"

"What does he have that I don't?" Douglas snarled before remembering the other thing that she said. "Wait, how come is there a possibility of our not having a child? What are you hiding from me, Melinda?!"

"I've had three pregnancies..." she said, bursting into tears. "All three were miscarriages... I'm so sorry..."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" he screamed, shaking her intensely. "You're such a liar! This marriage may fail because of you!"

He was screaming the first things that came to mind without thinking because of how surprising all of this was to him, not expecting her to be affected by his words as she was. She collapsed to the ground, looking like she was about to faint, and he immediately came to her aid, his eyes filling up with tears. He knelt before her and cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently on the face many times in hopes that it would return strength to her body, which worked.

"I'm so sorry," he said tearfully, trying to help her stand up, but she pushed him away as she did it on her own.

"No, you're right," she said, her voice bereft of emotion. "This marriage was meant to fail."

"No, wait, I'm sorry!" he shouted as he ran after her, but she ran faster, so he merely let out a heavy sigh and gave up, going to bed and hoping with his whole heart that things would get better soon.

Things did not get better soon. Melinda knew very well that she was being seduced by the dark magic that The Spells From Shadows contained, and now that it was in her vicinity, she could hardly ignore it. It gave her many hallucinations of her evil self not unlike the one at her wedding and many nightmares, nightmares even worse than she ever could have imagined. 

She dreamt of power, of conquest, of falling into a pile of mud in a dark forest and staining her white dress, of a luxurious feast that contained every food and drink one could desire, of Malcolm doing her roughly against the bark of a tree on a beautiful, sunny day. The dreams made no sense, but they also did make sense, which was immensely confusing and terrifying.

On a random morning approximately three months into her marriage, she looked into a mirror while washing her face, but this time, it was different because her reflection looked evil. Punching the mirror in rage, she marched into the courtyard, forgetting to cover her bloody hand, beginning to pluck the flowers the moment she came there.

It was a marvellous day. The golden sun shone brightly on the blue sky, the birds sang and the butterflies flew in perfect harmony, and the plants all around the castle were filled with life, thus filling her heart with life as well. She formed a wide smile as she grazed the flowers gently with the tips of her fingers - the many-coloured roses, the tulips, the hyacinths, the daisies, the violets, the chrysanthemums, the carnations. 

Amanda quietly walked over to her, so quietly that she failed to notice it. She did not see her bloody hand, but she saw how immensely beautiful and kind she looked at that moment, that strong, yet delicate figure kneeling deep in the grass, moving the flowers between her fingers with the utmost grace and care, brimming with life as she formed her bouquets like more decadent queens formed banquets. Her beauty was so overwhelming, it was beyond words.

"Oh, hello, Amanda," Melinda said the moment she saw her, genuinely stunned. "What are you doing here?"

Amanda smiled innocently. "I just wanted to tell you how immensely grateful my sister and I are for your services. Really, I can't describe my gratitude. You seem like such an admirable and good person and I simply wanted to remind you of that, though I suppose you don't need a reminder."

Melinda laughed awkwardly. "Thank you. It was the least I could do. I have to go now, though. See you later."

"See you," Amanda said wistfully as they parted, wondering what was going on in that very mysterious woman's head, having no idea that the period of joy was soon going to end as her flaws came flooding to the surface.