Karla stared with happy abandon at Jaenelle. Her pretty Witch was wound up from the excitement of seeing all of her friends once again and, even if Karla had no clue who or even what most of them were, Karla was happy for her.
Jaenelle had been her only female friend as a child, the only one to understand that Karla could not stand the men who lusted after her, who wanted to touch her and steal the promise of her inheritance. Karla's violently masculine looks only made the men try harder. For Jaenelle, it had been a darker, more twisted desire that had followed her. It was the summation of those men's desires to break Jaenelle that led to the two years of her 'absence'.Karla would never tell Jaenelle how much she meant to the Glacian girl. Jaenelle was destined to be the
of the world and she, Karla, would be lucky to hold a steady court. Still, she was the strongest Queen in Glacia and Territory Queens did not serve other Queens. One day Karla would have to back away from her darling and take care of her own people.
So Karla smiled her icy smile when Jaenelle had whispered her dreams one afternoon back when Jaenelle was hers and hers alone, long before the 'accident' and her absence.
"I don't want a court, I don't want to rule, I just want to be," Karla's pretty Witch had said, her sapphire eyes the same glorious shade as Karla's Jewels, "Maybe we could run away together, you and me, and never ever let a man take us. We'll serve each other."
"I'd like that," Karla had whispered back.
Jaenelle had smiled and Karla had let herself hope, if only for a moment, that Jaenelle would one day truly be hers.