Once Upon A [Hidden] Time - [Stolen] Series IV

CHAPTER 61

MYRA
2 JULY 1415

Though I was the first thing he saw, his eyes roved around the hall, his body suddenly shaking in panic. The absence of his heated stare was both chilling and frightening.

"No!" he shrieked.

I could not blame him for that any more than I could blame an eagle with a broken wing for not flying. He was used to seeing only one beastly reflection—not thousands of them, reminding him that he was cursed for a thousand years.

"No!" His scream multiplied a million times, like his reflection.

"Edward, don't panic," I ran towards him.

"Stay away from me!" he ordered, pulling his hair wildly. Oh my God! What do I do? As if his soul was exposed—ugly and torn on display—he turned around to avoid me. "Leave me alone."

"Edward!" I reached out to him, upon which he jerked me away very harshly. I fell on the floor, hurting my lower back again. I tried to crawl towards him, but I guess I had pulled a muscle in my back, since it was aching like hell. "Edward, please!"

"Get out of here!" I hadn't seen him acting this way before. Panic erupted in me, white-hot and searing. "I don't want you to see me this way." He was looking everywhere in utter hate. He was never going to love himself.

"I still love you, Edward—whatever you are, however you are," I pleaded. "Just hold my hand, and I will take you out of here." I pulled myself hard to stand up.

"Do not touch me!" he warned. "I don't want to do something we both regret later on."

"Just hold my hand, Edward," I requested. "You can't stay here forever. Just think about Emma."

My heart was pounding in my chest, as if it feared that my soul wanted to carve its way out and run off up the stairs.

"I don't want to scare her, either."

"You are not bringing her here. She just got her Uncle Ed back." I reminded him of the last couple of evenings. "Just hold my hand."

I grabbed his arms, pulling him towards the wall, where I left my shoes. He was screaming and howling like a wild wolf, yet he was moving slowly on hearing Emma's name. I dragged him all the way to the exit and pushed the mirror wall with all my might. The wall rotated, and we both fell on to the other side in the library, my shoes abandoned in the mirrored hall.

Edward took his time to return to his senses.

"Are you okay, Edward?" I placed my hand on his shoulder. He cringed with distaste at my touch.

"Do not come close to me," he warned, glaring at me. "Don't you see I am a monster?"

He had never talked to me this way before. He was pushing me away from him. I agree that I was angry with him, but not mad enough to leave him. Oh, God! I take my words back from the other night. I didn't want any damnation on him. Why did I even curse him knowing he was already condemned?

"Just go away!"

I didn't move an inch.

"Go!" His scream resonated through the walls.

I must have stayed there paralysed and watching him for almost half a minute—until his eyes, disbelieving at first, then went aflame with anger, becoming so venomous that I thought he'd kill me right then and there.

"I release you from your duress, Lady Farrow," he announced, with a tone that seemed grown out of years of secret brooding. Nonetheless, it hit me like a blow. "You are free to go wherever you please." He paused. "Do not bind yourself in any promise or any hope for me."

His icy glare made its way between my clothes and licked at the bleeding wound in my heart.

"You are free to marry any man—James, the Medici, or the bloody King. I release you from my prison." The pain racking my body felt as if every muscle was beaten with a hammer. "If you wish to return to your betrothed," he pointed to the stairway, "I bid you farewell." He turned around to face the shelves. "You know the way to the chapel."

I hadn't had the stamina to produce tears or wail or beat my chest. All I could do was remain still and let his words sink in.

When he noticed I hadn't moved an inch, he yelled, "Go!"

The world froze around me. His raging and violent words reached me from afar, like the echo of a receding storm.

All that was between us was lost.

Struck with terror and dread and anger, I pressed my hands over my mouth to muffle a sob and walked backwards. The distance between us grew wider and wider, drawing a line that had truly now separated us with six hundred years.

With a heavy heart, I took the spiral staircase leading back to the King's chamber.

As I entered the room, I noticed a shadow and a soft sound of fabric ruffles. The drapes around the room were still drawn due to the early morning hours, and no one had stepped into the room after us since last night.

As if coming out of the misty fog, the shadow became clear.

"Lady Farrow?"

It was King Stefan.

It took me a moment to register his voice, and even his presence. And from his expression, he had noticed my wretched face.

"Are you all right?" I was back inside my ravaged body, cowering in a raw corner of my being and hearing myself whisper, No.

As he stepped forward, his face was contoured with concern, his voice so tender. I collapsed at his feet. It was as if he was the only beacon in my darkened world.

"My lady," he whispered, kneeling with me.

He offered me his warm embrace, and when I laid my head on his chest, I was overwhelmed by exhaustion, remorse, and dread.

"Who has dared to cause you suffering?" I couldn't even cry in the pain that Edward had caused me. "I will slay the head of whoever has done this." Would he? Would he truly kill his own son?

He pulled away, reading my face intently.

"Share your pain, my lady." Despite being held firmly in his arms, I still felt a feeling of vertigo as the world around me started to spin.

Even in the wake of dawn, darkness engulfed me, and I never wanted to wake up.