This Enchanting New World

Chapter 23

"I was born out of lust and desire," he exclaimed.

Villains aren't born out of love. We're made for all the wrong reasons, he had told me.

Now I understood.

"That's why I distance myself and don't let myself get too intimate with you-because what I think is love is most likely infatuation. Because I've never forgotten how my dad's feelings for someone had such..consequences."

He quieted.

Boys, I thought. They never want to show their feelings.

"Calahan," I started, "You told me the truth of the Andalasian throne because you cared enough to think I deserved to know, and you couldn't look at me when you said it because you were interested in my feelings and well-being. You know my hopes, my dreams, my deepest, innermost qualms, and now I know yours. We've had problems and suffered through them together. You were a shoulder to cry on during the most devastating moment of my life. If this was infatuation, you wouldn't have cared about my feelings, and you wouldn't have told me I wasn't in line to rule. But you did."

"That's how I know that this is different than what your father felt for Esmerelda. That's how I know that this isn't infatuation," I concluded.

The faintest hint of a smile played out on Calahan's moist lips the color of flesh, and for the first time since we met, his ghostly pale skin had color and his chilling blue eyes had warmth.

I'd never seen him happy before, and it warmed my heart that I was the one to bring that happiness to someone as cynical as him. It made me feel important and special, as if I had a power no one else could touch. I never thought I could feel that way without being queen, and it felt so good that I wanted to keep going.

"Tell me something you've never told anyone," I suggested blithely.

"Didn't I just do that?," he pointed out.

Oh my gosh. I should've known.

"Oh, be quiet. Unless you want me to set your shoes on fire, that is," I elbowed him playfully, my poncho billowing around my arms.

"Well...my dad named me Calahan because it means 'one who loves churches."

I snorted. "Wait, what?," I replied between fits of laughter.

"Yeah," he said bashfully. "It's French. He was a bit of a religious fanatic."

"Just a little," I smiled wryly. "But if you think that's bad, just wait until you hear my potential names. I almost ended up being Princess Narcissa."

Calahan almost doubled over laughing.

"Seriously?," he gibed, in usual Calahan Frollo fashion. "That name makes you sound like a complete egomaniac."

I gave a rueful, hollow chuckle. "Yeah, well," I shrugged, "Evil moms. What are you gonna do, you know? But it gets even worse." My eyes lit up, I leaned into him, and I raised my eyebrows with every word. "I almost ended up being Princess Clarissa Narcissa."

We burst out laughing at the same time, united in our joy and amusement. It was almost blissful.

"Imagine how that would sound at a coronation," he teased.

"Announcing your once and future queen, your angelic sovereign, the almighty Queen Clarissa Narcissa!," he joked with a horrible attempt at a regal, formal accent.

I cracked up so badly I thought I might break. 

"You're gonna make me cry!," I said ruefully, though from laughter or sorrow, I couldn't say.

He went dead silent, the white returning to his cheekbones. 

"I apologise," he said, looking down at the floor. "I forgot."

He looked deep into my dark eyes that were like smoky quartz in shadow, searching the depths of my soul.

"You forgot, too," he asked quietly, almost in wonder. "Didn't you?"

"It's funny," I said, smiling. "Until you made that joke, I actually did."

He put a cold arm around my poncho-draped shoulder. "Clarissa, I never want to make you cry. Now."

I thought with amazement about how far our relationship has come since he tried to steal my crown on the Isle.

"Calahan," I pondered aloud, "You're something more than a friend to me, and yet, at the same time, something less."

"And you're nothing and everything to me."