11.
~~One Year Later~~
Sofia had to confess everything to the king, but she left Enchancia before learning what would be done about it. She had taken what little money she had managed to save and had decided that it would be enough. She travelled as far away as she could and picked up odd jobs to fund her new nomadic lifestyle. No matter where she went though, she stayed away from bookstores and anything to do with magic. She had nightmares. She cried. She eventually started to feel a little happier as time passed, but there still seemed to be a pit of coldness at her core.
The first time she heard the news she had been working in a small café in Tangu. She had been holding a tray of food and had let it crash to the ground. Enchancia had a new King, and it was the sorcerer Cedric. Rumors were that he was building an army, and there was a growing fear that soon no kingdom would be safe. She packed her bags and headed home.
#
Sofia walked into the village and frowned at how dreary and almost abandoned it appeared. Her mother had moved back to the kingdom she grew up in when the trouble started, but a lot of people had stayed behind. For them not much had changed, though there was a palpable sense of dread in the air.
It was still early in the afternoon, she stopped at an Inn and requested a room. They seemed baffled by her presence, no one visited the area anymore. They allowed her to stay in one of the nicest rooms at the lowest rate.
She left her pack containing her meager belongings behind and made her way up to the castle. Unlike when King Roland was in charge the gates were closed and guarded. However, there were people going in and out, so she walked up to the guards and requested entry.
"What business do you have here?" one guard asked her. He was a portly man, and she didn't recognize him from her days working in the palace. What could she say?
"I wish to speak to King Cedric," she said simply, reminding herself to add the 'king'. His name was the hardest part to say. It had been a long time since she had spoken it out loud. Both guards looked at her, as if waiting for her to continue, but she could hardly tell them that she planned to put a stop to his plans. That she hoped to talk some sense into him, she felt like the only person who might be able to.
"A lot of people wish to speak to him, but that doesn't mean they get to," the guard replied curtly. The other one nodded his agreement.
"He will want to speak to me, he knows me," she said. She sounded more confident than she felt. In truth she had no idea if he wanted to ever see her again. He had dismissed her so easily a year ago. She pushed away the unpleasant memory.
"Is that so?" the other guard said, rolling his eyes.
"Yes." She crossed her arms and tried to appear poised.
"Well I'll just go ask him then," the first guard said haughtily. "Who shall I say is requesting an audience with him?"
Sofia started to give her name, but found that she couldn't. She swallowed and finally said, "Tell him The Librarian wants to see him."
The guard rolled his eyes again and shot a look to the other one, but left to deliver the message.
#
Cedric paced anxiously in his room, occasionally shooting glances at the ill-fitting crown on his bed. A knock at his door made him jump, and he glared at it. He didn't have to answer it anymore, but he would anyway. Anything to interrupt his current thoughts.
"What do you want?" he demanded. A servant took a few steps back from him.
"A-a guard wanted me to give you a message." The poor boy stuttered, and Cedric felt somewhat guilty. Not too long ago he had been the one nervously twitching under the glare of royalty.
"A message?" not another order from Mamanu. The head of the dark magic order was more than a little demanding. So far he had always done as she wished, but it was getting harder and harder. Being king wasn't what he had hoped it would be, and he was starting to remember just why he had avoided dark magic for so long. He was so lost in thought he didn't hear what the servant had said, he looked down arching an eyebrow.
"What did you just say?" he asked.
The servant cleared his throat and repeated himself. "A woman is at the gates, she wants to speak with you." Cedric frowned, Mamanu wouldn't wait at the gates if she wanted to speak to him in person.
"Who is it?" he asked.
"She d-didn't give a name. She called herself 'the librarian'."
Cedric slammed the door in the boy's face before he could stop himself. His heart began pounding in his chest and he paced in true earnest now. It couldn't be, he thought. No one had seen her in, what, a year? He shook himself slightly. Had he really gone a whole year without so much as seeing her? She had left Enchancia last he heard, so why was she back now. She wanted to speak to him? He rubbed his chest just below his throat, and looked at his crown. He had done horrifying things this past year. He wasn't so sure he could look her in the eyes with the blood that stained his hands. But then, he also wanted nothing else but to see her again. He opened the door in time to catch the servant before he disappeared behind a corner.
"Have them bring her to the throne room," he ordered. He checked his appearance in the mirror, not much had changed. He felt silly wearing the crown in front of her so he carried it instead. Her last words to him rang in his ears, that she had loved him. Could she still love him? What would she think of him now? He knew better than to ask such a thing. She would probably be disgusted with him, but then why come to see him?
#
He walked into throne room after waiting a bit, and she was there. She wasn't facing him, but it didn't matter. He would know her anywhere. Sofia was walking slowly around the room, her hands casually clasped behind her back. She released them to run fingers through her hair, and he felt both happy and sad. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again. Cedric could still hear her voice in his head, telling him that she loved him. He had wanted to take back everything he had promised to the order, but then she had been whisked away and he had been thrown into a new, dangerous world. He had coped by convincing himself she hadn't really loved him, she had left after all. That had to prove it, but then here she was.
"You wanted to see me?" he said finally. He watched her freeze, and turn slowly to look at him. Her hair was a bit longer, but otherwise she still looked as he remembered her. He felt his chest tighten, and he wanted to go to her. He wanted to pull her against him and kiss her. She would probably smack him if he did. He could see the anger building behind those pretty blue eyes.
"Yes," she said. She crossed the room to stand in front of him. She didn't curtsy, and he was glad. But now that they stood only a foot away from each other nothing was said. He couldn't read her expression, and wasn't sure what to say. He felt like he should apologize, but couldn't bring himself to do it. He saw her fists, clenched at her sides, but her face was relaxed and she met his gaze easily.
"Sofia," he said her name softly and it seemed to break the spell.
"What are you doing?" she asked. He blinked a few times, he wasn't really doing anything. Just standing there. "What happened to the real king?" she asked and he realized what she meant.
"He's uh, dead." He hadn't wanted to order the execution, but Mamanu had convinced him to.
"And the twins?" Her lower lip was quivering, and he didn't want to answer her. The weight of it threatened to crash down upon him if he told her. Hiding from his guilt had been considerably easier without her big blue eyes on him.
"They're alive, but…" he couldn't finish the sentence. She closed her eyes, and he knew that she could figure out what he had meant. They were in the dungeons. Mamanu had wanted them killed, and had even suggested Cedric marry the princess to secure his claim to the throne. But on that he had fought her until he had won.
"So what's you big plan exactly?" she snapped. "Were you just going to prance around in royal finery and then try to take over the world? Are you happy now? Now that you have everything you've ever wanted?" her voice was bitter, and servants were stopping to watch. He must have looked absurd standing there, the crown in his hand, being yelled at by Sofia. No one else would dare speak to him that way, not now.
He opened his mouth to tell her that no, he was miserable. He had been wrong about everything. He wanted her to forgive him, and he wanted to undo every atrocity he had committed.
"Is that truly how you speak to your king, peasant?" a voice shot through the room like lightning and Sofia crumpled to her hands and knees. Cedric reached for her but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Stop it," he glared at Mamanu. She always seemed to appear at the worst times, but he would not let her hurt Sofia.
"Guards! Take her away." Mamanu commanded, and they came forward to collect Sofia.
"Don't you dare," he said, causing the men to hesitate.
"You are the king, you can't let a commoner speak to you that way," Mamanu hissed, pulling him aside. He watched Sofia get to her feet, and an idea occurred to him. She would hate him, but he could explain to her later.
"You're right." He said to placate the wicked Mamanu. Then he turned back to Sofia, who was glaring at him. "And you were wrong. I don't have everything I wanted, not yet anyway." He retrieved his wand from his robes and pointed it at her. She took a step back and he saw fear in her eyes as she raised her hands defensively.
"What are you talking about," Mamanu whispered. She was skeptical, so he would have to convince her.
"I want the girl, and I will have her," he said simply.
"No you will not!" Sofia had lost her fear and was now storming towards him. With a flick of his wand she vanished in a cloud of green smoke.
"You intend to claim her then?" Mamanu crossed her arms but a smile tugged at her lips. "As a wife or mistress?"
"She will make a wonderful," he touched his mouth thoughtfully, "Pet." He had to convince the dark sorceress that Sofia wasn't any kind of threat to her plans.
"Sure you aren't losing your nerve?" She didn't look convinced, but she did appear to be quite amused with him.
"Of course not. She is very pretty," he pointed out. "But not pretty enough to sway me as you've already witnessed when I agreed to join you to begin with."
"Good." She held out her hand and a small vial of dark red liquid appeared in her hand. "Then use this."
He took it and looked it over curiously, "what is it?" he asked.
"A love potion. I doubt she'll allow you near her without it."
He smiled but it made himself sick to do so. Mamanu wouldn't let anything stop her from her plans to take control of as many kingdoms as she was able. Now she was calling his bluff, and he knew he would have to give Sofia the potion or Mamanu would do away with the librarian in order to keep her plan in motion. If he refused then she would know something was up. So he thanked her, and bowed. He'd just have to figure something out.
#
Sofia found herself in a locked room. It was a fairly nice room, where visiting nobles would stay most likely. She wanted to tear everything within the tidy chamber apart and scream, but instead she sat on the bed and waited. If Cedric thought he could treat her this way then he was an idiot. He had said that he wanted her, and a small part of her had felt just the slightest butterfly and that made her even angrier. She didn't want to feel butterflies, and she had already convinced herself that she wasn't in love with him anymore.
The door to her comfortable cell opened, and when she saw Cedric quietly enter she picked up the nearest object and tossed it at his head. The pitcher shattered harmlessly against the wall beside him, but he still flinched. He looked at her, eyes wide and closed the door behind him. There was a guard out there, but she only caught a quick glimpse.
Cedric cleared his throat and started to speak, but Sofia started looking for another thing to throw.
"Wait, wait!" Cedric said, crossing the room to get to her.
"Don't come near me!"
"Sofia," he said her name so tenderly that it made her pause. She had only managed to grab a pillow anyway, so she stopped herself from hitting him in the head with it. "I need your help, please, you have to listen to me," he whispered, glancing around the room. She also looked around the room, unsure of why he was whispering.
"My help?" she asked, speaking softly as he had. He took a step closer to her, and her grip on the pillow tightened.
"I've made a mistake, many of them actually." He reached for her, and caressed her cheek. She hit him in the head with the pillow as hard as she could.
A/N: ok so I didn't take a super long break from it. Still not sure when I'll have ch 12 up, but I do feel a little more refreshed writer-wise. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up by this sunday :)
I'll also just keep the story in here, it'll be easier to follow. Also, Mamanu is the sorceress from the emerald key episode, in case you were wondering. I feel like she is more intimidating then someone like Ms Nettle, and that way I don't have to awkwardly create an OC lol
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, can you see the happy ending far off in the distance? sort of?