So, finally back from Roma, which was AMAZING! And have a couple of chapters in reserve, so I'll be updating soon I hope. Thanks for reviews!
ELENA
As I stared out into the palace gardens, still smiling and still feeling the touch of Callum's lips on mine, a noise behind me made me start. Turning, I gave a quiet "Oh." Elena was standing there.
No, not Elena. I was Elena. Suddenly, my thoughts were whirling. If I was Elena, who was she? Why hadn't I realised what a question she posed? As I stared at her, all the pieces began to fall into place. I remembered – oh, the simple joy in being able to say that! – Hannah (Hannah! How could I have forgotten Hannah?) talking to me in my cell, back before the accident that had caused me to lose my memory.
"She is the daughter of a witch; an enchantress. She can change her features to become anybody she pleases. And when she has become you, Callum will be entirely in our power. Once they are married, she will find a way to become Queen, and then she and the rightful King, Thomas, will rule as they should."
Everything was spinning around me. This was the witch's daughter, standing opposite me with that cruel little smile on her face. And she was going to kill Callum.
"So you broke the curse," she said conversationally. "I'm surprised it took this long."
"What curse?" This was so unexpected that I could do nothing but stand there, mouth open. "There was a curse?"
She rolled her eyes and made a show of studying her immaculate fingernails. It was odd how much she looked like me. And she looked like the old me – the Elena who had been pampered and spoilt, not Helen who had had to work hard each and every day for a living and who had next to nothing to call her own. Even as I marvelled, however, she was changing. Her hair became even darker, turning black, and her features rearranged themselves to become what I assumed was her true self. She had a sharp, ruthless face, and it revealed her true age, which I judged to be far over her thirtieth year. The incongruity of her beautiful dress contrasted with her sly features would have been almost funny if I hadn't been so far from laughing. "Of course there was a curse." She sounded different as well. "Do you really think that you wouldn't have regained your memories naturally once you'd begun to recover from your fever? I knew you were still alive. The others hoped you had died in the fire, but I knew better. I searched for you for a long time, and finally I found you. The spell I cast should have been enough to keep you there, in that pathetic little village you called home, but it seems I was wrong. Unfortunately, there is a loophole even in the most elegant curse." She pursed up her mouth in disgust. "I believe the official term for it is True Love's Kiss. Disgusting. I suppose I should have seen this coming, but it amused me to watch you try and win his heart. Ah, well, you did your best."
I was reeling from this discovery, but I squared my shoulders and gathered my courage. "Yes, the curse is broken, and you have lost," I told her. "Get away from Callum, and stay away. He belongs to me."
She laughed, and the sound gave me shivers along my spine. "Oh, how sweet. You really think you have won. Enjoy the taste of victory, little princess, while you have it… because it will last approximately five more minutes."
"What do you mean?" I was frightened now, more so even than I had been when Thomas had locked me up in that cell. It was gradually dawning on me that I had no weapon whatsoever against the witch.
"Well sweetheart. You don't really think we're going to give up this easily, do you? We've been wanting this a long time, Thomas and I. Trust me, you are nothing but a minor setback, and it will be easier than batting away a fly to get you out of the picture. And then all I have to do is wait until your birthday, and the day you turn twenty, and my marriage with the gorgeous Callum will be celebrated. He is gorgeous, isn't he? I know I'm supposed to control him and kill him and all that, but you know, I might put that off for a while and have some fun while I'm at it. Can't you just picture our wedding night?" She was laughing at the look on my face, and I lost it.
"Leave him alone!" I screamed, and I launched myself at her. I don't really know what I was hoping to accomplish, but she merely flicked her hand at me and I froze, arms outstretched, one foot in mid-air. She was laughing so hard that it took her a while to get her breath back.
"Oh, what fun this has been. You know, I'm almost tempted to leave your memory intact this time. It would be so entertaining to know that your little heart was breaking as you thought of your darling Callum going to his doom. But that might inspire you to call off the wedding, and I really wouldn't like that, so… kiss goodbye to your memories once more, little princess. It's back to being a scullery maid for you." She blew me a kiss, and everything went black.
HELEN
"Why are you crying?" he'd asked me.
I had shaken my head. How could I tell him? How could I tell him that I had finally admitted it to myself, finally realised that my world would never be the same? How could I tell him that I knew I loved him even though we could never be together?
He held me close and let me cry on his chest, stroking my hair, and he whispered in my ear: "I love you."
I had wanted to say it back but I couldn't, I couldn't bring myself to speak the truth when it would only lead to more pain for the both of us. "Callum…" I began, planning somehow to tell him that this would never work, that we should stay apart before it got too far, but he interrupted me.
"Helen, stay here," he said. "I have to go and do something very important. But I'll be back in a moment, I promise. Just wait for me, all right?"
"All right," I sniffed. I could do that, couldn't I? And then I'd tell him, when he came back. Yes. That was what I would do.
The summer night was warm, but I shivered without the comfort of his arms around me. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe this thing between us could work out. After all, stranger things had happened…
But even as I was thinking it, I knew it was a futile hope. I could not ask him to betray Elena for me. Whether he loved me or not, he loved her more, had loved her for longer. And she was betrothed to him. There was no way that the wishes of a servant could take precedence over those of a princess.
I started crying when I realised what my only option was. I fought with myself, argued desperately that maybe I was wrong and maybe I could stay. But in the end I knew what I had to do. Tears streaming down my face, I bent down and took off my glass shoes. One of my tears dropped onto them as I stared at them, and shone there like a diamond. I was going to leave the pair, but ultimately I couldn't bear to part with both of them, so I simply left one on the balcony. Then, as an afterthought, I unpinned the snowdrop – still perfectly fresh – and laid it gently beside the shoe.
It was the work of moments to go back to the servants' quarters and take off all my finery. Fortunately no one was there; they were either working in the kitchen, or sneaking glances at the ball and trading gossip. I would have left a note, but I had no paper, and anyway I knew Annie would understand. Folding the dress into a neat pile, I carefully placed it on her bed along with the earrings, shawl, and as many of the pearls as I could claw out of my hair. Then I changed out of my maid's uniform and into the old dress I'd been wearing when I arrived at the palace, gathered the meagre bundle of my possessions including the shoe, and left. I allowed myself one last look back at the palace as I slipped through the servants' gate: the windows all lit up, and people dancing, talking, laughing, eating. The clock struck twelve, and I turned and walked away.
CALLUM
I don't like to think about the remainder of that night. I think I went a little mad. Whenever I try to remember it, all I see is a blur of faces and people, some sympathetic, most disapproving, others downright angry. The ball was still going and I had to at least perform some semblance of my duty, so I danced with pretty girls whose faces all merged into one eventually, made polite conversation with court ladies and gentlemen, apologised to Elena's parents for my strange actions, and danced several more dances with Elena. I had expected her to be upset – the old Elena surely would have screamed at me and blackmailed me into an apology – but instead she just smiled and chatted and was as sweet as honey. Her conversations ,were full of do-you-remembers. Did I remember the first time that she had gatecrashed this midsummer ball? Of course I did. Marcus and I had been sixteen and rather proud of being allowed to be adults for the first time; but though we never would have admitted it, the ball was intensely boring until Elena somehow got in without her parents noticing and proceeded to play a series of pranks on her father's advisors – switching drinks and plates and the like. Then the following year she'd been strictly banned from the festivities, and had spent the entire evening with her nose pressed up against one of the windows, begging us to sneak her titbits to eat – which of course I did. The memories did make me laugh, but no matter how interesting her conversation was I couldn't fully concentrate on it. Where had Helen gone? What if I never saw her again? The very thought was unbearable.
Finally, finally, the evening was over and I could collapse in my rooms, alone. I couldn't be near anybody else right now. The night of Elena's disappearance had been like this – this sick panic, deep in my gut, this inability to concentrate, this longing to break and tear things if it could help with the agony of knowing she was gone. And yet in some ways this was worse. Helen had left me voluntarily, I was sure of it. She hadn't been kidnapped – she had just walked out on me. How could she? How could she abandon me?
I yelled in frustration and kicked the object nearest to me, which happened to be my bedstead. It was made of oak, and though I may have scuffed the wood slightly the ensuing pain in my toe was more than enough revenge for that. I sat on the bed and clutched my foot, waiting for the pain to die. When it did I felt defeated. I might as well go to bed. There was nothing else I could do.