A Curse so Twisted And Cruel.

Annalise.

⚠️WARNING: Slight Gore.

"You see, Dax was really keen on becoming king, having prepared for it his entire life. He loved his father, and wanted to be a just king, following in his footsteps."
Meredyl's voice is soft, and she has a faraway look in her eyes.

"But then, about a year before his ascension, he fell hopelessly in love with a dukes daughter, Annalise, and proposed to her. She accepted, because she loved him too, and they were happily married in a few months." She pauses, and I look up at her, a bittersweet expression on her face.

"His parents were happy for him, but they told him not to love her as fiercely as he did, because she was sickly, and she could die at any moment, but he told them that he couldn't help how he felt about her."

"He would come in these gardens every day; he loved growing things, and he would pick for her a lily. She couldn't be in the garden because of her allergy to pollen, so he built for her a room from the palace leading here, so she could come watch him while he planted.
They were a very happy couple."
Meredyl's eyes shine with the memories and I see all that she says, as if it's happening in front of me.

Then," She continues, fiddling with the hem of her muddy dress. "The day he became king, some rebels from the outskirts of the kingdom managed to kidnap her by bribing the guards.
They told him that if he didn't step down, they would kill her, and he was willing to do it, but his father stopped him. They fought over it, and the rebels, who were halflings, killed her. They sent her head to him in a box." Mel's eyes are filling rapidly with tears.

"He was..." Her voice trails off, searching for the word. "Broken. After he saw her, he went to his room and stayed in it for three weeks. He didn't eat, sleep, or come out of it. And whenever he eventually fell asleep, he would wake up screaming. I would..I would comfort him, and he only told me of the nightmares." She turns to me, tears spilling from her eyes.

"He would tell me everything, and I tried my best to help him, but I couldn't. So I redirected his focus to the ones who killed her, hoping it would make him feel a bit better if he took revenge. It distracted him, yes, but he was still a wreck. He tracked down the rebels within two days, and he killed them all, every single one. But," Mel pauses.

"It wasn't enough." She whispers to me, shaking her head, tears falling down her cheeks. "He started killing all the halflings, and I begged him to stop, but he didn't listen. He told me that every time he killed one of them, his nightmares became more bearable. So I just-"

"You stopped trying." My voice is hoarse with either emotion, or lack of use, but my sudden anger is not. It rises in me like flame, and I struggle against it. It's not her fault, I chant in my head. But my brain doesn't accept that as an excuse.

"You let him kill the halflings because it made him feel better?" I spit at her, more harshly than intended. She recoils, buring her head in her hands. "I-I didn't know what to do. You don't understand, I had to ease his pain or he was going to-" "He could've eased his pain another way. Not by killing other people." I whisper, my anger evaporating when she looks at me, her eyes filled with regret.

"So he didn't tend to the gardens again." I say, my voice quiet. She heaves a sigh, tears still falling from her eyes. "No. Nor did he allow anyone else to."
A heaviness settles on my shoulders, and I'm suddenly exhausted. I stand up and dust myself off, before making my way back to the cure rooms. I hear her call my name, but ignore it. She should at least know that what she let happen would take more than just regret to fix.

•{§∆§}•

"Jass?" Silvey's brown orbs find me and she runs to me, jumping into my arms.
I laugh and spin her around, before collapsing onto the soft grass.

She starts braiding my hair, her quick fingers sliding through the strands. I close my eyes, content.
The smell of lilies reach my nose, and I instinctively reach out and pick one.

I turn around to give it to her, and a sharp gasp escapes my lips when I see her lifeless form on the ground, blood seeping from her neck. I drop the lily, and the blood coats it a deep, sticky red.

I look around wildly for the one who did this, the one who took everything away from me.
The advisor strides up to me, his face gloating.

Before I can even think about what I'm doing, I reach up with a dagger from nowhere, and slit his throat. His blood sprays onto my face, but he morphes into someone else as he falls.

Silver hair matted with blood, faded blue eyes staring blankly at the sky. It's the Hazer I killed.

Then everything goes blurry, and it seems like time rewinds. The advisor stalks up to me again, and I slit his throat. He falls to ground, but a different face stares blankly up at me.

Yet again, everything goes a blurry red. The advisor comes towards me, and I slit his throat, but again, when he falls, it's someone else's blank face.

It keeps happening, over and over, until I'm covered in the sticky, potent red liquid. The bodies grow around me, yet I feel no relief.

I don't feel anything. Only blood.