Kieran

Fire.

All my flesh has been consumed by fire. My bones are no longer; I can barely feel my own weight against the multitude of hands and shoulders that try to drag me out of the throne room and up the staircase.

Every superhuman ability the monster has granted my human form had been taken away when Selaena inflicted her magic upon me, but once my toes knock against the first stone step of the staircase, I feel it return in waves.

I cannot say I am very grateful for the reassurance of my immortality.

“Allow me,” Bayorn says to the others. Immediately the pressure of the others’ hands on my flaming skin lifts; only Bayorn is left to heave me up the stairs.

I stumble blindly to what I can only suspect to be my own chambers. The sun is too bright today. Earlier, it was a good sign: a promise of hope. Now I just know that hope is a coping mechanism for the foolish. An instrument of torture dressed as a dream.

My body weighs like stone before he can drag me towards my bed at the far side of the room. We both tumble to the floor, panting from the struggle.

Bayorn, true to his nature, does not give up. He inhales deeply and readies himself to stand and pick me up again.

When he lays a hand on my back, a sharp pain shoots up my spine.

“Leave me,” I growl, shying away from his touch.

“Master, just a little more -”

“Leave me alone, Captain.” I cannot look at him, cannot gauge his reaction at my sorry state. I already owe this man too much.

He rarely ever needs to be told twice. This time, he lingers, his breaths still heavy. “Master…”

“I am ordering you to leave!”

So he leaves me. He leaves me face-down on the floor, barely even able to crawl, like a helpless infant. I stay anchored to the cool polished stone and try to repair my breathing against my screaming ribs.

“I don’t believe I inflicted upon you magic of a magnitude so great that it would immobilize you for nearly a full day.”

My eyelids flutter open.

I sit up to address the long mirror resting beside the window. Maybe moving it from my little sister’s study to my own bedroom wasn’t such a fantastic idea – I just couldn’t risk Astrid finding it again. What if she accidentally enters it?

“Go away.”

“Does this mean you’ll be resuming your usual visits again? Using the mirror for its proper purposes once more?”

I do not answer her. She is no longer adorned in one of her elaborate gowns. Now, she is dressed in what is called a white T-shirt and a pair of shorts.

She catches me surveying her attire and smirks. “Are you going to try the twenty-first century? You can meet me in 2010’s Japan right now. I might even pull up a spare duvet for you.”

“Don’t patronize me,” I sigh.

“You’re still thinking of trying, though, aren’t you?”

The method of using the mirror to find young, impressionable maidens and attempting to woo them had failed in the past. True, some – many – of them were won over by the charm I’d picked up during the years before the curse. It used to be so easy for me. Some of them even agreed to return to the castle with me, just to see what it was like. Just to test the truth of my words.

That never worked out in their favor.

This was a failed method. I know it. A distraction. But what other choice do I have?

Unless…

I rise to my feet and approach the mirror. Selaena crosses her arms and watches me with a slight tilt in her head.

“What if…” I rub at the creases that form upon my forehead. “What if I didn’t have to look?”

She narrows her eyes. “You don’t want to try?” her tone is dubious, as if she thinks I’m stupid. She probably does.

“I mean...if I didn’t have to look beyond the castle grounds. If I could somehow find the solution here.”

It takes her a moment for it to register.

“Oh. Oh.”

Selaena’s curt laugh stops me short. Already a mix of embarrassment and disappointment starts to form a cloud over my head. Still, I pretend like this idea should make sense and fight the urge to turn my face away.

“Oh, I see,” she nods seriously, looking as if, though amused, she really is considering this. “I suppose such a scenario would be ideal, would it not, if both you and Astrid could conveniently break the enchantment yourselves.”

Convenient. Everything is a game to her.

“It could be a genuine possibility,” I argue. Then I add hastily: “Hypothetically.”

“Yes, well. As sweet as it would be, the answer is no. The rules just don’t work that way, love.”

“Are you sure you’re not just making these rules up yourself?” I grumble under my breath.

Thankfully, she does not hear me. She continues: “Otherwise, perhaps your curse could have been broken a long time ago. ‘The love you so desire’, right? Imagine if you could find it in your current company: the respect of the innocent, the loyalty of a friend…”

“That’s enough.”

“The love of a mother…”

“I said that’s enough!” My fist slams against the edge of the mirror. Directly next to her image. A crack spreads like a disease under the pressure of my strength.

Selaena surveys the damage and clicks her tongue disapprovingly. “I won’t replace your mirror, Your Majesty.”

I barely hear her. My head sinks against the frame. Fleeting pools of moisture gather and dissipate on the glass where my quickened breaths struggle to combat the rising anxiety seizing my shoulders. Eleven months. I’ve already wasted one full moon not knowing whether we even stood a chance.

“Am I telling you something you do not want to hear?”

Selaena’s voice beside my ear is gentle, almost kind. Almost as if she were the young girl I used to know. Sometimes I wonder if the ghost of that girl still lingers within her, or if she ever existed at all.

“You can break this curse, Kieran. Magic rarely works to give someone a second chance. There must be a reason for this – something you must learn. Let nature take its course. Anything can happen.”

I shut my eyes tightly. Promises or lies?

“After all, she is the wild card, is she not?”