Beauty

Cold and Collected

            To speak of the death from the witch trials in such a cavalier manner was truly heartless. For the briefest second, a strange prickling sensation irritated the corners of her eyes. Instantly, the cold gaze refroze her expression. For an instant more, she strugged to quench the surge of power that flared with her anger. Her cutting gaze seemed to penetrate him, and she knew very well how easily it could. She could nearly imagine the scarlet lacarations an how his dark fur would be matted with his blood. The image caused her to shudder with revulsion and horror. She would never use magic to kill, not even him.

            Though his life remained temporarily safe, her anger still raged. How dare he make her feel? The emotion, though nearly impossible to acknowledged, could only be described as sorrow for it rehashed memories and visions she had thought herself protected from. To protect already fragile emotions and veil the pain of the reminder, a snarky response lashed quickly from her tongue.

            Having regained control of her emotions, she gathered the loose drab fabric of her skirt lightly within each hand. With a graceful curtsy, she turned my gaze to the queen. Her head perched high as emerald met obsidian eyes. The queen hardly raised a brow upon the girl's assertive nature. Rather a smile graced her lips. She admired the young witch's bravery and placed the remainder of her hope within her hands. 

            “Your Highness, where might I find the library. Surely it would be best if I begin to research a potential remedy?” I spoke in almost a questioning manner. Being that they were royalty and she a mere witch, she could no longer do as  pleased and must succumb to their wishes. Detest filled her but her mind remained carefully and meticulously in control.

            “At this hour, my dear? You must be exhausted from your travels and it is but the early hours of morning.” Upon the queen's words, an almost sincere smile stretched along the witch's red lips.

The queen's goodness and kindness seemed to radiate. Witches tend to be an excellent judge of character, as if almost sensing the soul. She knew she was powerful, yet her specialty remained a mystery. Some witches specialty was the ability to see character through aura. Such was not the case for the young witch. However, she still was an excellent judge of character. And, being a witch, she knew the queen was genuine. Casting her gaze towards the silent, withered king, she could sense his plaguing sickness- not of diseas but in the mind. The king was frail from a darkened heart and he flinched slightly beneath her gaze. Lastly, she glanced upon the prince. Nothing. She could sense absolutely nothing. She hadn't time to puzzle more over the strangeness before the queen spoke again.

            “Christopher will escort you to your room. Won’t you?” she exclaimed with a firm glance at her monstrous son.  He simply nodded his head, ever so subtly, in agreement. The young witch could hardly resist smiling haughtily at his discomfort. Her grin stretched easily, silky and filled with mischief.

            “Thank you, Your Highness. I apologize for the unexpected visit at such an unreasonable hour,” she replied genuinely, with another brisk curtsy and a sheepish glance at the king whose head lolled sleepily upon his shoulder.

Author's Note: Hi! Sorry this update is so short and that it's been so long. I just wanted to take a chance to thank all of you amazing readers who commented and voted. You absolutely made my day. Anyway, I hope you are enjoying this and I would really appreciate if you could comment and vote.

Oh, and I'm thinking of bringing in some characters that reflect some of the classic disney ones from the movie. This story will continue to have a lot of twists and I need a bit of help from you guys for one of them. So....please tell me your favorite character...

Thanks!