It was almost a quarter to twelve when Leora waltzed into the castle. She had just said goodbye to Aden to go to sleep after a rather enjoyable day walking the wide courtyards of her castle. It was great, she had never met a real wizard before. She had listened to him talk about all kinds of adventures he had been on.
Humming to herself, she made her way around a corner of the hallway only to find herself bump into Damien.
"Eh, oh, sorry…" He said trailing off as he went around her, not noticing it was Leora. It was strange, he looked as though he was in a trance, like a zombie or something. So, Leora followed him and turned him around.
"What's gotten into you? You've been acting strange all day!" But he just stood there, not even looking at her.
Leora groaned angrily, and, she did something she thought she'd never do to him, again at least. She slapped Damien across the face and said, "Stop ignoring me you jerk! I'm so sick of this!"
She turned to walk away, but then she realized that he was holding her hand. She turned around and saw Damien looking at her worriedly.
"Hey, what's the matter? Is everything alright?"
"What? How can you say that? How can you pretend like everything is normal?"
"What are you talking about?" He asked confused.
"First, you were talking with Reena all during the wedding, second, you danced with her at the party, third, you LAUGHED IN MY FACE at the party, and now you're getting married to that blonde-headed arrogant swizzle stick!"
"Swizzle stick?"
"She's the skinniest person I've ever seen! It looks like she hasn't eaten in the past month!"
"Wait, what are you talking about? I never danced with Reena, I never even talked to her!"
"Don't give me that! I saw you! I tried to cut in at the party! But you two were too busy making fun of me! That stupid bimbo has done something to you!"
"Hey! Don't call her that! You don't know her Leora, she's not as ruthless as you think she is!"
"Oh I KNOW she is! And don't you tell me what I know and I don't know!"
"Obviously you don't know much at all, seeing as you're being a overly jealous stuck up witch!"
Leora glared at him, and said in but a whisper, "What did you call me?"
"A WITCH! And that's what you are!" Damien was turning red with anger.
Without a word, Leora formed a fist, pulled it back, and hit Damien square in his right eye. As he lay on the ground recovering from the blow, Leora bent over and smiled evilly.
"I never thought I'd see the day when I'd have to hit you again. But, since I did, I decided I'd hit you in the opposite eye than before; I hope your eyesight never comes back!"
"And if you say that I am to marry Reena, than I will! Just so I don't have to hear you're bickering ever again!"
"That's it! You know what? You won't have to! I'm leaving…tonight!" She stood up, and stomped off. Damien moaned in pain and slowly stood up. He walked around the corner and away from Leora, away from his only love.
"Ohh! I can't stand him! Him and his precious queen bee!" Leora pondered angrily on Damien and his engagement to Reena. 'He had to be lying about not knowing he was engaged, he just had to be, right?'
She stopped in her tracks. Maybe he really didn't know about it. Maybe he was under a spell. Maybe Reena was evil. "Wolf! He must've meant the library!"
Without hesitation, Leora ran down the staircase to the gigantic aged library that had been in the castle for at least 200 years. Leora looked and looked through all the bookcases, but had no luck. She couldn't find anything on Reena, not a single thing that could help her.
Despairingly, Leora sat down at the large reading table and put her face in her hands. It was hopeless. Sighing, she lifted her head up to look at the clock. Five minutes 'till midnight.
'I should probably go to bed.' Leora thought.
"But I'm just not tired! And I want to find that book! I know its here some-" Leora stopped herself when she saw a large book sitting across the table, open.
"Where!" She finished. She ran over to the other side, since the table was so wide, and picked up the book. She was about to read the title at the top of the page when…
"It's in here somewhere!" She heard a voice say. Leora shut the book and ran up the staircase and hid behind one of the wooden bookshelves. Peeking her cavernous green eyes through the books, she saw Reena come into the dark room with a candle lit.
"Once I find the book, nothing can stop me!" She whispered. Leora looked down at the book she held, and knew immediately that she had what Reena was looking for.
Then, Reena came up the staircase when the candle. Leora turned around and put her back to the shelf, frozen. Reena squinted as she looked at all of the books in the section on the opposite side of where Leora was standing. She tried not to breathe, not to make a single sound. Then, the worst possible thing happened.
Leora felt her nose getting scratchy, and very bothersome. 'No, don't sneeze!' She thought to herself. It was building and building inside of her, and without warning, she blew.
"IT'S NOT HERE!" Reena screamed at the top of her lungs and Leora conveniently sneezed.
The blonde bigheaded brat growled in rage. "It's okay, it's alright! Doesn't matter, that boy is completely entranced by me! He will marry me! Damien will marry me in two weeks! And we will dance the night away at his humble abode! My plan is perfect!"
Reena snickered in her delight and left the library, and everything was dark again.
Leora came out from behind the bookcase grinding her teeth. So, it was true, they were getting married, Damien did love her. With a heavy heart, Leora headed back to her room.
Shutting her door, Leora looked around her room. She had chosen to live in her great grandmother's old room, Lady Aurora's room. The walls were designed with roses and the bed was a deep blue with silver drapes pulled back. Leora even had her own balcony which was open, so she could see out into the vast courtyard and beyond.
Going over to her bed, Leora realized she was still holding the book. She looked at it, admiring it's black leather cover; then set it down angrily on her bed. She didn't care anymore, she didn't love him anymore.
So, she made her decision. Leora went to her wardrobe and changed from her bride's maid outfit into a dark green velvet dress. It had long draped sleeves and black ribbon delicately woven into it. She tied the black pieces of ribbon tight at the back of her dress coming up to her mid back.
Leora looked at herself in her full-image mirror. She took the clip out of her hair and it fell gracefully down her back in ringlets. She then took her dark black silk bag and laid it on her bed. Then she took out clothes, food that she had hidden, and a map of the 9 kingdoms. She piled them onto the bed, and then stuffed them into her bag.
More and more did Leora become upset. She couldn't stand being here anymore. She didn't get the respect she deserved, from anyone. Leora was young, and she had her whole life ahead of her. She wanted to go out into the unknown land and find it, find what she was searching for. There was nothing left here, only pain.
After she wrote a note to her maid Georgina, Leora went to her open doors to her balcony and shut them behind her, trying so hard not to look back. She went up to the end of the terrace, she leaned over and cried. Tears began to fall, and Leora had no one to she the unbearable pain with.
Then suddenly, Leora felt something warm on her face. She opened her eyes to find Aden catching a tear from her eye. He wiped the others away and said softly, "I don't like to see you in so much pain."
Leora was speechless. She didn't know how he found her, where her room was, she tried to speak but she stuttered.
Aden shushed her, and said, "Are you going somewhere?" eying her bag. Without a word, she nodded.
Looking at her with his dark eyes that seemed to read every word in her head, he asked, "Can I accompany you? I'd kill myself if something were to happen to you."
He held out his hand, and Leora looked up at him earnestly. She took his hand, and he smiled at her. She smiled back. Then, she realized that her feet had left the ground. And, that Aden had been in front of her the whole time, floating fifty feet from the ground.
Gasping, Leora grabbed onto Aden. He smiled and spoke softly, "It's alright, you won't fall. I'd never let you fall." And off they flew, over the castle walls, over the courtyard, and landed deep in the forest, just the two of them.
Back in her room, Leora's bed lay barren, with nothing bright anywhere. Except, the eternal rose that Damien had given her. It was glowing very faintly; and then in a flash, it turned to darkness. The eternal rose was dead.