Heart Spell

Chapter 15

Theron chuckled to himself. "I'm sure you've already heard it from him, but let me tell you the tale from my perspective." He turned to Evolet, still sitting frozen. "The tale begins with two brothers – well, half-brothers really. One son was born of pure royalty to the king and his wife, the queen." He placed a hand on his chest, gesturing to mean himself. "And then an illegitimate son was born of the king and his forest harlot," he swept his gaze over to the stag who was lying hunched in pain. Evolet could see the deep gashes of the claws on the stag's body oozing dark red blood.

Theron turned back to Evolet and continued, "Naturally the elder son, born of the royal queen would be the next in line for the throne, but the king was so bewitched by the nymph that he couldn't give the blessing straight to me." He spat the word as he said it, as if it was a shameful and disdainful thing. So the younger prince was part Fae, born to a Fae mother.

"Then, the nymph disappeared and the king wept and grieved, more than he grieved over his own wife after she died from illness. He died later. Some say from a broken heart. I say rather from foolishness. But anyways, his sons grew up and now ruled the land, but only one could officially take the throne" he began stalking toward Evolet, "I admit I felt threatened by the younger half prince, so I devised a plan to rid of him. I had seen a white doe in the forest, and I knew a creature of such beauty could only be Fae." He reached into his cape as he inched closer. "I crafted a special weapon to bring down the doe. So one day, I manipulated him into joining me to hunt the doe, promising him half the throne if he took down the animal." He pulled out the arrow – the golden arrow Evolet had pulled from the ground in the forest where the stag had taken her.

"I gave him this arrow to be used. It was so simple. I'd heard lores and such things from my wet-nurse. It would be a crime for a human or even a Fae to kill another Fae. My plan would have worked, but then the goddess of the forest appeared and trapped us both within her curse – one of us to be enslaved by the night in a beastly form, and the other to be permanently changed and hidden in secret."

"You had tricked me," the stag snorted. "I did not know of my lineage. You knew."

Theron whipped his gaze over to him, "And yet, the enchantress still punished us. But," Theron turned back to Evolet, "She allowed a way out."

"Which is?" Evolet asked in a small voice almost a whisper.

"She told us, 'only a heart could spare us' so I began searching for that heart to free me." He drew in a breath. "I thought Desi might be the one to break the curse. She was already willing to give me her desires, but then I realized she was just a needy, pathetic little thing. Her love was nothing than mere idol worship. Useless. I tried to pry her off me that night, and I thought she had gone back inside while I went to the forest to transform. But after I had changed did I realize she had followed me and seen me morph. And I couldn't have her revealing my dark secret. So I did what I had to do.

It suddenly clicked. "You," Evolet breathed, shock coursing through her veins. "You killed Desi!"

"Again, I did what I had to do. I did not want to kill her."

Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. "How could you? She was sweet and kind. You broke her heart!"

"It's not her heart that mattered to me. Her heart would not have been the one to free me."

"But she was still a person that had a heart and feelings."

"Evolet, I promise she did not suffer, but I did what I had to do. Besides, you were the one meant for me. I knew it had to be you. But you wanted nothing to do with me, so I thought maybe if words or heroic acts would not sway you, perhaps gifts would. I see you are wearing one of them now."