"…Diamanthe lay asleep that night and dreamed of a prince that would take her away from her horrible life and keep her safe and happy and loved. She hated her life but knew that there was always hope for if she was both beautiful and good then perhaps some prince would come to rescue her and make her his. She dreamed of glass slippers and poisoned apples and sleeping spells…" the Witch Queen spun into the air. She pulled the beautiful girl into the story with a talent that she had expressed on other occasions also. She was determined that this child would not be ignorant of the evils of story.
"…'You must come with me, I love you,' said the Prince.
Diamanthe looked into his eyes and saw the truth of his words. She saw her reflection in his eyes, a reflection of the beauty that he loved. She sensed his fear of her beauty and his need to cage control it but she misinterpreted this as fear for her safety and a desire to care for her. How could she deny him his desire when he was her rescuer. Her Prince Charming.
'Of course I will go with you,' she answered. 'I will go with you to the ends of the earth. You are my love forever.'
'Forever' echoed the prince, sealing her love and her beauty and her trust and her happiness into the magical diamond.
She remains there still, sealed tight by the binds of a love that could not bear to see her beauty die. Sealed tight by the binds of a fear that could not bear to see her beauty uncaged. Forever…"
That night Shian dreamed that she was trapped inside a diamond and couldn't breathe. She woke up gasping for breath and it took her long to fall asleep again that night. Moriana was also awake that night. . She imagined what it could have been that had woken Shian. She knew that the story had frightened her. But better to be frightened now by a dream rather than fall for the false promises of story later. That was much worse, for dreams will fade and can be changed but life can not be re-lived. Moriana looked in at the sleeping child. But she is no longer a child she thought. She could see it in her eyes, in her restlessness. She thought back to herself at Shian's age. She saw her ignorance mirrored in Shian, her child, though not from her womb. And all this time she had run away from the influence of the castle, from the land of princes and fairytales, from the land of death and war and love. From what she thought was Story but in many ways was a reality. She had hoped that if one could escape the claws of story then more would follow. And yet here was her child. Ignorant of all that she had been shielded from, doomed to repeat the witch's mistakes. Doomed to the blissful pain of love that her beauty guaranteed. The Witch Queen knew the darkness that she was. She could see herself as the walls of this tower must see her, as an old witch. The questions, the 'whys' slowly driving her mad. Bitterness at her fate slowly eating away at her soul. Yes, sometimes she knew herself and she could never, never let her child become that. Never she whispered to the thick walls of the tower. Never.
She did not know if the water girl was beautiful. Her mother had taken away all the mirrors in the tower on Shian's twelfth birthday. She allowed no more mirrors for she disproved of beauty since it always attracted Story, so Shian looked at her reflection in the water. However Shian did not understand how a mirror made one beautiful, for surely a mirror was only a reflection of reality. She did not understand that beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder and a plain girl could see herself as beautiful or a beautiful girl could see only faults with her perfection. She pondered the shape of her lips, her eyes, in her reflection for a while longer oblivious to the protection the Witch Queen had placed on her by not allowing her to know of her beauty. For nobody ever wants to know of the plain peasant but only of the mysterious beauty. Moriana was trying to give Shian a gift that had been taken from her own life. She was trying to give her a life of choice… where she need not ride of into the sunset with her Prince Charming merely because she was beautiful and thus it was her fate.
Prince Enthralling watched her gazing into the lake. He very much desired to speak with her and hear her voice, which must surely be soft and velvety to match her beauty. As her dark silky hair fell across her face, he imagined how that hair would feel at his fingertips and shivers went up his spine. He feared that he would never see her again, for though she seemed young, the curves of early womanhood that she held seemed promising. She would be a beauty beyond the realm of all others. If he came back to his kingdom with her as his betrothed, his father could do naught but see what a man he had become. For if a man could win such a beauty as she, he would surely be able to win and control the hearts of the people. He would prove that he could be a King.
Treating her as he would a timid deer, he stepped slowly and silently from his hiding spot. She had not noticed him yet and so he started to move closer to her. She looked up, startled and suddenly aware of him as his boots rustled the leaves on the ground.
"Please do not go, beautiful maiden, I shalt not harm thee," he called softly, speaking the language of story.
Shian jumped away as he came closer, shocked at seeing another person. Confused she prepared to run away to her tower.
"I am Prince Enthralling, and sorrowful am I if I have frightened thee, but thy beauty touched my heart and I knew that I would have no peace till I had spoken to thee. I Prithee, Darkhair, wouldst thou not give me thy name so that I may at least know who it is I sorrow for when you disappear from mine life."
Shian recognised his speech as that of the fairytales her mothers had told her. And he said he was a Prince! A real Prince! And he called me beautiful! Am I dreaming?
"My name is Shian."
"Shian…" repeated the Prince with a soft look in his eyes and a small smile on his face, "it is a beautiful name," he answered slowly coming closer.
Shian remained transfixed by the Prince as he got even closer to her. Her eyes widened in surprise as he gently grasped her hand and she was too shocked to think to pull away as he bent to kiss her hand.
"I am honoured to have met thee, beautiful lady of the lake," said Prince Enthralling
"Where did you come from?" asked Shian regaining control of herself as he let go of her hand.
"I come from a kingdom of everlasting happiness at the centre of the World. My father is King of the land and he sent me here, to the edge of the world, on a quest of survival. It was to prove to him that I am capable of being his heir, for it is not enough to be born a Son of the King. I must also prove my bravery and courage," he answered, reverting to common speech.
"May I ask you what so lovely a lady as yourself is doing here at the End of the World," he asked her.
"I did not know that it was called that. I do not think the name suits it for it is a forbidding name and this place is neither the end of anything nor is it forbidding," she answered.
Prince Enthralling frowned slightly at her avoidance of his question and the questioning of his naming of the place before he remembered that he was meant to be charming so that he might win her.
"I must go," said Shian, remembering Diamanthe's fate.
"Fare thee well," answered the prince, resisting the compulsion to chase after her and grab her by force. He knew he would see her again and then he would woo her into his arms. She would give herself to him freely.
Shian waited until she was out of sight of the prince and then ran home for the tower, trying to make her track difficult to follow. She did not want him to follow her home for she did not think her mother would look kindly upon the interruption. The Witch Queen had gotten quieter of late and her tongue had sharpened in reprimand against the girl. Shian felt her unhappiness and feared for both herself and her mother. She remembered when her mother had spoken to her in a softer voice and when she had smiled and the warmth had reached her eyes. There had always been a sadness in her mother, but since her twelfth year this sadness had turned more inwards and made Moriana more bitter than sad. Her stories had become even more portentous, warning Shian of the evils of story. Shian feared the prince, for the Princes in her mother's stories were always trying to trap the beautiful in their webs of lies and deceit. They feared the beauty of a woman and so tried to tame and cage it. The prince had called her beautiful, so Shian knew that she must be careful of him, lest he try to steal her away with words of love. But though she knew all these things, she felt a strange thrill of joy in the thought that she might see him again. She wanted to tell her mother about him and ask her what she should do but she knew that in her present state, her mother would only unleash her hate and destroy the prince before she found out the truth about him.
"Where have you been today, Shian?" asked Moriana
"Down by the lake," answered Shian trying to keep her voice calm.
"Do not stray so far from the tower, Shian. If you are away from me, it will capture you and destroy you."
"I am safe, mother," answered Shian, trying to divert her mother before she started going mad again.
"You will never be safe, Shian. It will always hunt you, lying to you. I wondered why it does that. For Story seems such a joyous thing, but it is not. It feeds on unhappiness… Happily Ever After is a lie, Shian. It will destroy you. Do not go so far from the tower, Shian. It will find you. Perhaps it already knows you are here!" exclaimed Moriana, a gleam of madness in her eyes.
"I am safe, mother. You have taught me well."
Moriana looked at Shian, the gleam of madness replaced by cold purpose.
"Be careful, Shian," she said, walking away into the gloom.