Thud
Pause .
((Breathe in))
Crash
((Breathe out))
"She ruined my slippers!"
You're not particularly surprised;
just a stereotypical royal
(powerhungry&pretentious&capricious)
your eyes lift to hers - so filled with contempt and inflated self-image
You sneer back, watch the little princess falter
"I beg your pardon, Princess Eva."
You go to the ball in that gorgeous red gown;
fIrE&danger&aforcetobereckonwith -
never again will they put you down
(the poor, poor Miller's daughter)
but even after you've been found out,
her eyes still bLaZe back at yours
oh, the servant girl has come to play dress up!
and as the cruel smirk spreads back over her pale pink lips
you vow to make her pay
So you win the challenge King Xavier gives you -
(with a little help from a certain man named Rumpelstiltskin)
and you get Prince Henry's hand in marriage
who darling Eva was brought to specifically court
and even better yet,
you will no longer be the miller's daughter .
And on your wedding day -
the miller's daughter is marrying the prince!
you look at her again.
you expect to se
(sorrow&guilt&embarrassment)
but instead you see this:
fIrE locked behind a sheet of ice the color of the sea
and something doesn't sit particularly right in your stomach at that .
Princess Cora
(it has a nice ring to it, don't you think?)
not as nice as Queen Cora, but it's a work in progress
and with being a royal comes responsibility
i.e. royal visits to the north
to see Princess Eva
you know they call her the fairest of them all
and up close, he now, you almost agree
lips red as blood
hair black as ebony
skin white as snow
And you try to fill your smirk with as much repugnance as possible
you falter, slightly
she still notices
and she grins
"You know, Cora means 'heart'." She says with a biting smile
you almost laugh
((oh, the irony))
and you hate all these days spent in the north because you have no power here
everything is the king and most importantly Eva
Eva Eva Eva Eva Eva Eva Eva Eva Eva
you don't know why the name gets under your skin so much
you tell yourself over and over again that you've bested her
(you're the one who is going to be Queen!)
but it still feels like you've accomplished
and there's also this strong urge to go home, but at the same time to stay
and then one night:
she's standing so close to you
you can feel your blood bOiLiNg in your veins
you should be thinking about your husband (no more than a puppet, really) but you're not
and then -
her breath washes over your face
and she says those dreadful, unforgettable words
your whole body freezes
part of you wants to SCREAM -
you kiss her instead .
you learn more about her
she likes daisies
she rides horses
her mother died young, leaving her victim to an emotionless father
she's sweet, too
(compassionate)
(but oh no, that kind of personality does not work in a court so powerful as her own)
you were the pauper trying to be princess
she was the royal hiding her true self
her kisses taste like summer berries
and when you leave,
you're sortofkindofmaybe in love with her
you hear of her marriage to Prince Leopold
and part of your heart pangs a little
(what, did you expect her to wait around for you?)
and that's when everything goes to h e l l
There's a bloody war that Leopold's father issued on your land before he died
swords&carnage&death
and you lose
and suddenly it's King Leopold and Queen Eva
you beg and plead with her to let you (and your husband, of course) keep your kingdom
and you are certainly not one to beg .
"There's nothing I can do." She says cooly, not meeting your eyes
oh, but there is, you think bitterly, darkly, dangerously
but nevertheless you stay a member of the aristocracy
just without the crown, and most importantly:
the title
She has destroyed your life
e. v. e. r. y. t. h. i. n. g. you've worked for
with one sleight of hand
your hands clench and unclench
you can't stop pacing
you will not be lower than her
oh no, you will not be so subservient again
maybe you've lost your shot a queen
but your legacy -
yes, you will make Eva pay for what she's done
and you can argue that it wasn't Eva's fault, it's true
but somewhere, (admittedly), your feelings got involved
you thought she loved you
and now poof! everything you had is long forgotten, frozen
because after all,
it wasn't rumplestiltskin who taught you how to crush hearts .
"You know, you're still just the miller's daughter"