She Wears The Crown

Chapter XII: Twists and Turns

"Breaking News: Mirage, Duchess of the Osloway has paid her duties to the city. She has exposed the half-witch daughter of her cousin Hans Westergaard. If there are children, we advise you to remove them. Extreme violence and disgraceful content is present" the reporter said.

Doug stirred in his sleep, suddenly hearing the TV. At first he thought it was a dream. That was until he blinked his eyes open and saw familiar blue hair on the screen. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to remove the sleep. Watching in pure shock, he didn't want to wake Evie as she peacefully slept, her arm dangling over the edge. 

Oh, Poisoned Apples, Doug! He thought to himself. You knew! You really knew!

But it wasn't long until Evie began to stir and fluttered her eyes open. "What's wrong?" She asked sitting up. Her eyes weren't completely open, but her ears definitely were.

"Eve, I—" Doug could barely get out before she completely opened her eyes and looked at the screen. She saw herself standing up, yelling and her hair flashing... blue? Hans looked in disappointment. It showed her leaving and Hans with a smile on his face.

She looked down and felt tears brimming her eyes. Doug had been right. And I told him to forget about it. She glanced back up at the screen as the corner read 'viewer discretion advised' and the reporter returned after the video.

"After that chilling clip, Mirage, Duchess of Osloway is looking for our national support to protest the half-witch's presence in our monarchy. Cast in your support to the National Council and the Duke of Weselton. She has been exposed and we cannot have that kind of behavior exhibited and taint our land"

They switched to the weather and Evie let some of her tears fall. Doug turned to Evie and hugged her, letting her wet his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," Doug said as Evie shook her head.

"It's not fair"

"I should have done something"

Evie was shaking as she suddenly let go. "What could you have done?! They destroyed me. Slandered me, Doug. She altered what actually happened! And how could you have stopped that? That's what I want to know. You probably verified it with Mirage that you knew about the painting and she went ahead and did it in spite" she wiped her eyes and sniffled.

"Well, that's not very rational. I'm sure she had plans before I called her. She would have went along with her plan anyway. I don't know how I could have stopped her, but if you didn't tell me that I was overreacting, I could have tried Ben and Mal. Or asked Carlos to hack the new station, replacing the file"

"So you're telling me that I am to blame for this?!" Evie said she got up and took out her braid, her face red and puffy.

"No... actually kind of," Doug began before she interrupted him. Evie turned around, a deathly glare on her face. "I still don't think you should have gotten so upset with your dad and well, I did tell you about Mirage and you blew me off. I should've just went ahead with my instincts"

Evie didn't say anything as she scoffed. "This whole time, you've just been so—so... different!"

Neither one said anything more as Evie went in the bathroom to change her clothes. She stared into the mirror, having no idea what she was going to do. From the slanderous media, to the failed chat with her dad, to her newfound opportunity to become queen, Evie felt lost. Even so, she and her boyfriend had tension.

Why weren't things going as smoothly as she planned?

***

After breakfast, things got even more tense when Evie decided to mention her title again. They sat in silence for the entire morning since the newscast that slandered her.