Eternal Sleep [On Hold but Not Forgotten]

Strategy

We entered the regal throne room, having put Charger aside in the stables so that he wouldn't cause more of a scene than he already had—a throne room was no place for a horse. Phillip and I waited, chewing our nails absentmindedly to ebb away the nerves along with the keratin on our fingers. My father was taking his time, that was for sure. At least, so I thought.

A heavy wheezing echoed about the throne room as a rather disheveled image of the man my mother had falsely shown me before came stumbling into the room from a private quarter behind the throne. He didn't bother to sit, but instead rushed forward to come and get a closer look at me. Tears stung my eyes and came flowing before I could stop them. I had so wanted to meet my father in the flesh; here he was now, after all these years of my existence. I wished I had taken the time to have visited him when I was living in the cottage. I hadn't been allowed, but weren't rules meant to be broken?

"Aurora," he cried. "What has that witch done to you? Why are you in your Traumwanderung form, of all things?"

"Father," I answered lowly. "My mother tricked me. I am asleep for all eternity, lest Phillip should come to save me. That is why we come to you today. My mother had me believe that I would be married as chattel to unite kingdoms or end some fickle war. I have failed you and the rest of the kingdom; I am sorry."

My father waved his hand dismissively as a few stray tears sprung forward from his own tired, kind eyes. Though I looked nothing like him, his mannerisms and softer gestures were indicative that I was of his bloodline. Surely this was where I escaped the evil witch dynamic that my mother had going for her. Why had he chosen Lilith to bear a daughter to him? Why not the queen he now had as a wife?

"You are of no fault here, Aurora. No one can outsmart the daemon witch at your age, especially without proper context," he chortled. "I admire your responsible nature, but I must say, you are not the one to blame here. If anything, the fact that you have risen above the deceit and chosen to step forward and try to fight this evil speaks to your true nature as the future queen of my humble kingdom."

I bowed graciously, my dark locks falling in front of my hazy form and guarding against the truth of the excess tears that now spilled down my face in greater fervor than ever. Why was he so forgiving of me? Why couldn't he just be angry with me like a normal father might? Or perhaps how the people might? My arrogance and ignorance had potentially cost the kingdom everything it was worth and more.

"She and I have been talking, and we don't think she's in a tower," Phillip started, leaving context to the wind and beginning upon a ramble to try and tell the king what was going on. "Lilith tricked her and had her believe she was kept in a tower and—"

"Phillip, my boy, slow down! You've got to tell me what's happened! Gracious, I know I've got more than what meets the eye in terms of abilities, but mind-reading and omnipotence are not of those abilities. Now, why don't we all sit in my private quarters and discuss this," my father said, his eyes glancing toward the window sill of the throne room.

That same raven was haunting our every move; this case was no different. I nodded almost imperceptibly and followed my father as he continued back toward the room from which he had come. Phillip rushed ahead of me, eager to start this war against my mother as quickly as possible. The determination set in his brow foreshadowed a terrible ending to my mother. In this light, I could see the daemon influences in his features and finally understood just how much I and this kingdom meant to him. If my mother were to meet him while he was in this current mood of his, she would be torn apart by his bare hands. This much, I knew without him even having to speak.

We shut the door behind us and my father muttered some incomprehensible words of magic to bar the door from paranormal intruders. I still remained paranoid—so did Phillip, who kept his voice low as he proceeded to regale my father with detailed tidbits of how my mother had lied to me and what we knew so far. My father nodded here and there, but said nothing until Phillip was satisfied that he had covered everything.

"My poor daughter!" my father exclaimed. "How much do you know of the kingdom, your lineage, of anything? And your mother tricks you so craftily and with such ornate magic? She shall pay with her life, I swear it! If there is a way to wipe someone's existence from the book, I shall make it my eternal goal to find out how and use that knowledge to ensure she is the one to suffer such an ending!"

My father was blustering with rage as he paced like an angry lion about his quarters. A rushing river of gratitude overwhelmed me all at once—I wished to whatever powers oversaw the land that I could hug him and be a little girl again—to get the chance to be his daughter in the childlike sense that every little girl should. But that time could never be recovered. I shushed my emotions as best as I could, but the lingering sadness could still be read like a map across my darkened features.

Phillip noticed this first, but he could do nothing to reach out and console me; he wasn't about to point out my moment of weakness to my father. Instead, he proceeded to make various funny faces at me to get me out of my stupor. Before I knew it, I was stifling giggles instead of wails and all was well with the world. He knew just what I needed to make me happy again; for that, I was grateful.

"We have to beat this awful creature," my father continued, oblivious to my near break in stoicism.

"Well, first, can I learn what your real name is?" I asked suddenly.

My father offered me a small smile.

"My name is Richard. Richard the Sixth, of the Ryaldon monarchy. I have ruled this kingdom for twenty years now—I was so young when I had you. I hadn't found a queen at the time of your birth; I wanted a daughter so desperately. And I chose to have you with your mother, and the kingdom was not averse to the thought of having a bastard child, for they needed an heir to promise them the fortune I had just as much as I wanted the companionship of someone like me. Sadly, I didn't know at the time that I would have only part of my wish granted. Your mother did not present herself as she does now. I had considered making her my queen, but she would not have such a thing. Looking back, it is clear that she wanted the throne to herself, rather than to share a kingdom with me," he shook his head sadly.

I grimaced, but I could find nothing to say in response. I couldn't imagine such a terrible thing happening in a relationship. To find that the mother of your child is a power-hungry maniac?

"You had just been born when this became clear. She tried to kidnap you. When she failed and was caught, she cursed you to die, but the faeries altered the spell so that you would sleep so that you might live at the awakening of true love's kiss. They found Phillip early on because they knew you were ultimately doomed to end up together. When they found that he would suit you well, they cast a second spell: you would fall in love with Phillip upon first meeting him."

So this explained why it had been so easy to trust and love him. We were under a spell. I didn't know how to feel about that. I knew the love would have been genuine either way and that this situation required that he fall in love with me fast and vice-versa. But at the same time, it took the independence and realness out of the feelings that I had for him to hear such a thing. I couldn't look back or hold this against him now though. His eyes caught mine and a wave of relief passed through them when they saw that I was on board regardless. So he had known. I smiled to reassure him that I wasn't angry at him keeping such a thing from me. He had to have been nervous; I couldn't blame him. I probably would have done the same thing.

"So, what do we do now? How do we find where I am?"

"My strategy is that we out trick the trickster. We have to deceive Lilith," my father answered.

Phillip and I stared at him, our mouths agape.

"How do we do that?" Phillip finally asked, the shock wearing off of his face.

"That," my father winked, "is what I'm about to tell you."