Seven Deadly Sons

Melanie. (31)

My blurred eyes are drawn back to the queen, who I can see in sharp focus.

Even now, the queen looks beautiful; her deep skin radiating dominance in the reflection of the buzzing hallway lights. They are not made from any fire I have known, but glow a constant shade of white.

The queens hands are placidly folded upon her green skirts; the same as she wore at the trial. It was likely she had not yet slept, had decided to see me upon return from her night of revels. Perhaps she never slept, did not need to as a result of some spell.

Looking at her radiance, her power — to my bleeding fingernails and dirty legs; it made me feel like a monster. Unwarranted; thoughts of the townspeople I had sacrificed rather than forgave arose in my mind, and I shrank back further into the room under the queens gaze.

"Did you know, Melanie, that I was once in much the same position as you?" Gently, she floats to the floor and settles on her knees before me. Her skirts billow delicately around her.

I shake my head in response. The queen was once a prisoner?

She examines her perfect nails. "Yes, its quite true. I was born at some point in the 16th century. I'm not entirely sure when, but that is of no consequence now." She looks me over once, then returns to her nails. "I was both Lady of the bedchamber for Catalina of Aragon and slave. When the ælfin found me, I had been freed from servitude; they just brought me into another form of the same thing; just in Afalon, here."

She sighed, and gently laid down her hand on her skirts, looking off somewhere in the distance of my cell. I glanced over to where she was looking, but all I saw was more sweating rocks.

"Regardless," she stated, eyes snapping back to me, making me flinch. "I was in a cell here, and was offered a similar trade for the ælfin entertainment; solve the riddle, or face the human hunt.

Long story short, I solved the riddle well within the fortnight."

I nodded along like I understood where she was going with this, like I knew exactly why she was bothering to tell me all this useless detail.

"I have come to give you some advice, one human to another." She leant forward then, to place her perfect hand on mine. I saw the exact moment she noticed my bleeding forefingers, a look of disgust appearing over her face and disappearing just as quickly.

"Yes, advice. You need the help. You won't solve the riddle dear, it truly isn't worth trying." She patted my hand to punctuate. "You may as well choose the human hunt and get your misery over with. I suppose you may have a chance of winning..." she leant back slightly, either to assess my strength or get away from the undoubtable smell of urine.

I couldn't tell whether the smell came from me or had just soaked into my clothing. The queen held both my hands with a sigh, looking ready to answer for me.

"I can't run, ma'am." I cut in before she could reply, "I sit in a chair all day and— and have never really ate well." I looked hard at her, hoping she would understand. "I think I can solve the riddle, look; I've already wrote it down..." I let go of one of her hands, gripping the other with my own boney one, leaning back to show the scratches. The queen tilted her head, reading and assessing my work.

"What a waste of time dear, look; you've spelt how wrong and missed the an from the first sentence." She stood abruptly, kicking dirt and grime over my work.

Realising I was crying, I scrambled over to the pile and desperately tried to brush the dirt away from obscuring the words further.

"You shall have till this evenings hunt to decide." The queen appeared over me, using one silken shoe to rub the dirt in further. "Trust me, dear, I am trying to help you." She kicked my hand out of the way and finished obscuring the rest as I sob. The queen walks away from me dismissively as I curl into a foetal position.