Villain

12.Confrontations and Betrayal

"I am waiting mother.The King and Queen of Darkness have agreed to the seperation. They value this bond,"I tell her, gesturing to Cel and the Prince. My Mother stares,dumbfound, her face one of pure shock. "Its a trick my dear. Theyre lying to you.Only people with high power has golden rings,and Marcella has no magic,"my mother is calm and sure of herself. Pretending that she still has power and control when her box was stolen by Prince Lucien. DOes she know it is him who has it Surely not. "Why would anyone lie about a perfect match,"I ask her, my anger clear in my voice. "Power Dawn. Marcella is not as good as you think she is. She is a killer and would hurt you to gain her freedom within the blink of an eye,"once again she is so confident.

"If you are done wasting our time, the King and I have important things to do. Inter is almost ready and you and Prince Lucien will be the rulers,"she says dismisavely. The guards appear and I know we have no choice but to leave. How dare she just dismiss us like that? Brush it of as me being fooled by magic?I watch as Cel goes after a furious Ptince Lucien,determined to calm him down. I shut myself in my room. My mother has always dismissed me so easily. She always treated me as an incompetent child and ensured I would never know enough to question her authority or challenge her. She never wanted me to be a good canidate to become the next Queen, doing everything to cling to her Power and Throne.

I sigh as I think back to the Kingdom of Darkness. Of the dress sent to me by the Prince. Did he purposefully send a dress the wrong size? He didnt seem bery surprised when he had seen I had swapped the garments. Of course he planned it. He always felt the connection. He was always attracted to Marcella.I never had a chance. I sigh heavily, guilt building up. Somewhere between the walks in the gardens and breakfast meetings I found myself liking him more than I was supposed to. He is not meant to be mine. Its just a crush.

It will go away. It makes me nauseous knowing some of the anger under the spell was my real feelings. I sigh heavily. There is a war going on. My mother is planning something terrible. Cel and her Prince are pushing their feelings aside to put a stop to it all. Yet here I am, feeling sorry for myself. Poor Dawn. Didn't know anything. Played like a fool. Let herself be used like a puppet .By her own mother. I sigh heavily as the thoughts fill my head. Well, I know now. Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I can finally help.

Cel is nothing like my mother. She keeps me well informed while still keeping me safe, and I know she will actually let me unleash my potential. She is always motivating me and staying positive for me. Especially now, when I just cant find it in me to be the bubbly princess of light. I have been betrayed and it hurts. I feel so pathetic for being so weak and useless, and on most days Cel is the only one who changes my perspective of that. I always thought I was the perfect Princess. That I would do my Kingdom proud, and now reality has come crashing down on me.

Its suffocating and overwhelming, and I barely know what to think or who to believe anymore. The only person I know I can trust for sure is Cel. She has always looked out for me and I'm giving up to easily when its my turn to help her. Here I am, idle in my room thinking about how useless I am instead of trying to help. I get up, new determination filling my body as I march over to the Kings Chamber. I walk in without knocking, finding him alone. He looks up at me in surprise. "Dawn," he says.

"How could you sit by all those years and let her torture your oldest child," I ask him, and he stares at me wide eyed. "You are the King! You have a say. Yet you sit back and let that monster rule," I scream at him angrily. "Dawn, things are more complicated than that," he says. "What about me father? You let her misinform me about so many things in our Kingdom knowing it would make me an inadequate leader. She cursed me and yet you do nothing," I sob, wondering why this man has never done anything to stop her.

"Your mother is powerful, beautiful and cunning. You are not the only one she has spelled," he says tapping to his wrist where his veins look black. I stare. "What...what is that," I ask him with a shaky voice. "My curse. My burden to carry. I do what she says or I die," he states simply. I stare in pure horror. "She draws on your life force," I gasp. My father nods, confirming that my mother practices the one magic that was banned from the Kingdom of Light. "Why is she so obsessed with controlling the actions of others," I ask him, honestly confused.

"Your mother was a Lady. Every decision for her life was made by her father. Her mother died when she was young. Perhaps she likes to gain control because she was controlled her entire life," my father explains. I stare in pure horror. "That is no excuse for her evil. Anyone else would sympathize and make sure no one else suffered the same fate," I argue, wondering why he defends such a horrible woman. Wondering if he has any choice at all. "I honestly don't know what to say to you Dawn," he says.

His words anger me. "Say you will do the right thing! Say you will help us. As long as we get your approval we don't need hers," I tell him. He shakes hid head sadly. "I cant do that Dawn. It would risk to much," he says solemnly and I find myself frustrated. "You're a selfish coward," I yell at him, before leaving his chambers , angrily making my way to my room.

I find Cel there, staring at my obvious anger. "She has father under a life-force draining curse," I tell her, watching as her eyes widen in shock. "I don' t understand why she does it," I cry. Cel pats my back. "No one does. Even if she has a reason she finds justifiable, her actions are still wrong," she tells me calmly. "This is all so confusing. Its so much bigger than us," I tell her. "I knows it feels impossible, but its not," Cel tells me gently. I sigh deeply. She has it all figured out. Shes the key point in stopping a war for good. I feel so small and insignificant compared to her. I scold myself for the thoughts. It cant be easy for her. Just because she seems collected doesn't mean she has everything figured out.

I cant believe I'm so selfish. "Yo have been dealing with this your whole life and here I am with my petty complaints," I tell her softly. "Its not petty Dawn. Everyone handles things differently. You'll be okay. You're so much stronger than you realize," she says. I let myself absorb the words and breath deeply. There is nothing wrong with the way I am reacting. Its normal and I need to stop being so hard on myself and try and take each day by a time. Thinking to much wont help me.

"Youve always been so good to me," I tell Cel, hugging her tightly. She freezes, not used to close contact or acts of affection , before slowly wrapping her arms around me. "You're still so full of light," Cel chuckles, almost as of talking to herself. Something flashes through her eyes as she pulls away. "Do you promise to never hate me," she says, sounding worried. I laugh at her question. "I could never hate you Cel. You're my best friend. My sister. My protector and my hero," I tell her. Cel smiles at me, the smile not reaching her eyes. She must not be used to positive words.

"I'm going to take a walk. The Queen is planning something and I need to figure out what," she says. I smile as she leaves my room ,an odd feeling filling my body. I look at the black band on my wrist. Cel and I destroyed the items made by the box, all except this band. A bit of her magic remains in the box, and I cant help but wonder why she never asked me to destroy this band. Its magic is much like the box. It can control her for a limited amount of time and turn into a weapon. The only weapon that can kill Marcella Blackwell.

I think back to the Kingdom of Darkness, remembering the promise I made. "Promise you will always do what is right," she had said after explaining how her magic worked. I had agreed, but now I find myself wondering. Did Cel make sure she left my band so that I could kill her if I needed to ?