Arranged Marriage to the Fairy Prince

Chapter four

I don't know how long I stayed in that position. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours, but all I felt was the pain of what I had lost. After god-knows-when time past a little bell sounded and a floating tray appeared with my breakfast on it.

My first meal to arrive in the glass prison consisted of a crepe, with sweet, rich chocolate oozing out and a delicious looking caramel frappe. It was my absolute favourite breakfast but my stomach really wasn't in the mood for eating and besides, I was so pissed off with the world that I wasn't going to give it the satisfaction of knowing I needed anything from it.

As I looked at the food, tempting me, I replayed what happened this morning (or was it yesterday?) in my head until I felt so much anger and hatred that I grabbed the tray, ran out on to the balcony and threw it out the window, pretending it was my dad. I couldn't see where it landed because of the clouds but I liked to think it landed on his head and he ended up at the healers centre.

I don't think it was particularly healthy to have those kind of thoughts but I wanted to hurt him so badly. This pattern of chucking my food out the window continued for the next few days and each time I would imagine a different person; the king, the guards that hit my mother, the prince, even old Dandelion because she called me a witch as a child.
And with each meal the tray would get bigger too, always holding more scrumptious food than the last. But the tray could have held a cake made of gold dust and I still would have thrown it out the window because I was just so full of rage and anger.

It only took one week though before the king  decided to do something about it. I was staring up a the ceiling lying on the bed when I heard a knock on my door and a woman entered.

She had thick auburn hair which was hard to tell the length of because it was tied up in a braid circling round her head in a crown. (Picture of hair on first page, photo credit to 12kelkat ) And she had lime green eyes and was wearing an amazing dress that glittered with every single jewel I knew and more. Every inch was covered top to bottom with riches. It must have been incredibly heavy but she carried herself like the dress was made of feathers. She was the queen.

Even though I know I should hate her, I couldn't help admire her in her posture and the regal way she walked.
She sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at me with a sad expression on her face.

"I'm sorry," she just said. Her accent was British, and she had a gentle tone, which reminded me of my own mother.
But I didn't think about that at the time, all I could think was, Why are you apologising? This isn't your fault! But I said nothing. I just stared at her. After a few minutes she gave up and walked out with the same grace and class as when she walked in.
I would have gone after her, Told her to 'wait!' and asked her questions but I didn't have the energy.

As soon as the door slammed shut though, I immediately regretted my decision to remain silent. I realised how lonely it was in my glass box and the next time my meal arrived, I decided not to throw it off the balcony. Instead I ate it, but all the time thinking, I'm doing this for the queen, I'm doing this for my mother.

I can't explain the impact her visit had on me, but those two words really hit me hard and I realised the how not eating was hurting the people loved as well as hurting the people I hated.

The next day there was knock on the door and the queen came in again. She was wearing a dress the exact same shade as her eyes. It was tie-dye, but not like the long haired hippie loose shirt kind. The top was tight and lime green then it faded into emeralds near the bottom. It was even more beautiful than the dress she had on yesterday. She looked like she wanted to say something first but before she could I said, "Why did you come yesterday?"

She walked to the glass table and fingered the glass chess pieces, marvelling at their incredible detail.
"I see you haven't thrown your meal out in the hallway again," she said, "I was wondering how long I would have to keep sending the maids to clear it up before the king saw,"

"What do you mean? There's no hallway out there, it's just clouds." I questioned, very confused.

She smiled and then said, " You haven't figured it out yet, have you?"

"Figured it out what?" I asked.

"You're not in a box, Violette. Most of this furniture is just wood," she explained.

"Huh?" What is she on about? I thought.

"What I mean is, the room has been altered so it looks like there's no way out so you couldn't escape,"

"So...you've put a spell on me?" I sat up and looked around.

"An optical illusion," she said, "But yes, it is magic."

"That's so weird," I said my thoughts out loud, "How to do you do the spell?"

"I don't actually know," she confessed, "It was done by a group of some of the best magicians in country."

"But surely it would be easy, just use a simple colour (<----this isn't a spelling mistake that's the English spelling of 'colour') spell, and change the shape of some of the furniture." I said.

"It isn't that simple," she picked up the chess piece she had been looking at earlier and showed it to me, "Tell me what you see." She ordered.

I stared at it and then said, "Umm...I see a glass chess piece, I think it's a rook," I answered as best as I could. I never really played chess and I wasn't familiar with the piece names.

"You want to know what I see?" She asked and without waiting for me to reply she said, "I see a plain block of wood,"

I just looked at her.

"You don't get it," she said, "The magicians didn't just morph the furniture, they made it so specific to your eyes that only you could see it. Do you know how hard that is?"

"Oh..." I said, finally getting it.

She said a small spell under her breath to tell the time and then said, "I have to go, the king will be expecting me back soon." She looked worried, as if she was afraid of him.

"He doesn't know your here?" I asked.

She walked towards the door, ignoring my question but as she turned back to look at me I could have sworn I saw her wink.