MANY CENTURIES AGO,IN A VILLAGE POOR AND SMALL SOMETHING GREW DARK FROM THE PAIN OF A BROKEN GOLDEN HEART
My lungs and heart felt too heavy. My body leaning foreward from the weight as by eyes ached from the hours of pouring tears. How could he betray me? I, the most beautiful girl in all the land. The most sweet and gentle. The most generous and thoughtful. The fairest of them all, as my mother says. He is all I ever wanted much to my mother's displeasure. He is the only man I ever loved. We grew up together. Talked and played together. Planned to wed, and he left me at the alter for another woman.
She is far less beautiful than I. No manners. No care for hierarchy. I went to find him after having waited outside the chapel for hours. He was in her bed, I was told. He had been with her for weeks and I had not known. It hurt. It hurt too much and for the first time in my life, I knew hatred. I knew utter and pure despise for men and how what they really want is not a sweet and caring wife, but something warm to bury their cocks and if it is good for them, they'll stay. I had not given myself to him. I was waiting for our wedding night and he had been floundering with that worthless woman in her bed behind my back.
My body felt a cold seep completely through me. My breathing harsh and unsteady. My eyes swept across my room and to the mirror on the wall. I saw myself, what I looked like to him. I looked like a fool. An innocent fool he played and lied to. I approached my mirror and looked at my face, an expression I had never seen upon it. It was hard and unmoved. I clenched my fists at the thought of how innocent I had been. How many others had taken me for a fool? How many others lied to me or thought me dull for being so innocent? Something changed and surged within me then. I gasped out at the sudden feeling and noticed my hands had started glowing. Within a matter of seconds my whole body was engulfed in light and I screamed at the burst of power that now resides in me. Then I saw only darkness.
My mother taught me how to control my magic. Told me to use it to benefit myself. She told me that she was the only one I could trust. So, I did. She had me married to a nereby King. He found me too beautiful to live my days as a peasant and whisked me away to his castle. The woman and my ex-fiance saw the entire ordeal. All faces in the village in shock. I heard their whispers.
"She is beautiful, but a fool."
"Such pretty faces have no brains."
"She will live the rest of her days in ease while we live among the dirt."
My mother climbed in the kings carriage and I on the back of the King's horse. I looked like a damsel, so I played the part for a while. The king and I married, but several months later, he fell ill after I lost our first child. He was a greedy king. He wanted many children. He wanted the most beautiful queen. He wanted his queen to manage all of his duties so that his could focus on conquering other kingdoms, but that's what I thrived in. The king died with no children and I was a widow with vast land and power.
Anyone who apposed me in council was taken care of by my mother. I raised the taxes in my old village. Soon, a sickness settled in the old village. I visited the last living villagers. A smile on my face and a new person. I smiled down at their weakened bodies. To see them in such pain. Those who thought me a fool. My ex-fiance was un-ill, but it was only a matter of time. He begged me to take him with me. The girl he betrayed me for was in the room as he begged. She was very sick and had little time left. He didn't want to die of sickness. I stared at his dirty face and laughed. I pried his grimy hands off of my revealing and golden gown.
"Alas, my love, it seems that you are ill. I would not have my court fall to this sickness."
"But Thérèse, I am not-"
He could not get anymore words out. His breath were jagged. His eyes wide and coughs erupted from his throat. His eyes watered and his whole body felt like life was being drawn from his. He looked at the queen and saw a darkness in her bright eyes. Her skin grew a slight hue to it and her hair more luster. He knew then, that the plague of their village was no accident.
"My love, you are unwell. You should rest with your...she's not your wife, then she is your whore. Time is little and your life was worthless. I want you to know that I am enjoying seeing you like this. It gives me great pleasure, your suffering. You thought me a fool, an idiot for being so beautiful for not seeing through your lies. Now look at me. The Queen. The fairest of them all. No man to answer to. I rule and I rule on my own."
His eyes widened as he noticed I was no longer the same. My party and I lit the village aflame as we left. Not a single soul was left living.
A year passed before I married a new king. Our kingdoms joined and his castle was bigger, so my mother decided that we would move to his castle. This man was like the last and within a year, he was killed in the battlefield. My mother gifted me a mirror that was magic and utterly honest. I asked it only one question: who is the fairest of them all?
The third king was very different. He was actually sweet. Not at all a fool. Not demanding of me to have children. Did not pressure me for sex or demand extra duties of me. I was actually happy with him. He made me smile and I felt that we were a true match. But it was too good to last.