Crown and Cloak

Prolouge

This may be my last entry. The unthinkable will soon happen today, and I'm sure I won't survive. My life hasn't been long or what some people would call fulfilling, but you can credit my early and untimely demise to my mother. She is the sole orchestrator of all my misery. Her constant torment has worn me down to the stubs these last few months, and I now embark on a journey (at her behest) that will most likely end in my death. To whoever may find this decades from now, know that--

"Darling, you're going to be late!" My mother's voice rings in my ears, echoing through the empty room. My journal sits flat on a large desk, the last item left to fill it. The room held so much space for one person, but Mother insisted on it when we moved here. No more laying in a ginormous bed in this ginormous room with nothing to do but write and think. I'd been dreading this day, and now it was finally here. "Aoife!" My mother's voice calls again. I huff out a sigh before slamming my journal shut and throwing it into the bag hanging over my shoulder before I walk out of my room. She's waiting for me outside, and a carriage has pulled to the front of our castle. My mother stands tall and proud at the door, all deep red hair and deep blue eyes. Once I set foot outside, I glance at the usual gargoyles and sharp spires that adorn our home. There is a faint outline that glows off the edges, the proof of my mother's magic.

"They've already loaded your things," She begins, making her way over to me to examine my outfit. Everything about her is perfect, not a hair out of place or a smudge of dirt in sight. One thing I admired about her was her ability to put her best foot forward. She grimaces when her eyes land on my shoes. "Could you not wear something more becoming, Pet?" In a quick, sly flick of her wrist, my usual smaller platformed heels change into black wedge heels whose straps crisscross and wrap around my calves. "There now," She takes my face in her delicate hands. "Better."

"Don't let them take me." My mother drops her hands to sit on her hips. "We are not having this conversation again," I look at my mother with a slight scowl. "It's just school, and I, for one, think you're being very dramatic." She says so casually you would have never thought there was anything but calmness weaved into her tone. I was one of the only people able to hear the annoyance she harbored. Doesn't she understand that I'll hate it? Doesn't she know that the one person I hate more than anything will be there, and I'll have to deal with her existence in the same school and not be able to do anything about it? "Why go to a school at all? I'm just fine learning from you." Mother didn't reply, just pointing to the carriage holding all my belongings, waiting for me to get in and take me away. The coach looked as if he wanted to ride off and leave me there. I hoped he would, stalling in place as long as I could before I finally trudged over and climbed in.

"Remember what I told you," The look on my mother's face is something I cannot read, and it causes anxiety to pool in my stomach because I read her so well. I do not have time to react as the carriage pulls off and away to Adronia Academy, the last place I'd ever want to be. I dig through my bag and fish out my journal. I try to wait to ride over flatter ground.

I can't escape being sent away, but I don't think being shipped off to boarding school is my biggest problem. Something is off, and that something involves Mother. Maybe sending me away is her way of keeping me out of it or keeping me safe. Whatever is going on, I can't shake the pit in my stomach that tells me something is coming.