Please, read the last few chapters if you've forgotten what's been going on. This is the last chapter of Golden Delicious. Thank you for all your reviews- it's been fun! I was actually going to update two weeks from now, but I had a change of heart. But please stick around-
Also, just to answer a couple questions,
1) Jessica and Aster do NOT know that Annabelle is floating around all over the place. They think she's dead, but aren't sure whether to bury her or not.
2) To clarify, the genre of this story is romance/fantasy. Rated T for some language, in the Ella Enchanted section. Also in C2 of the Ella Enchanted section.
3) The elfish language I put in the story is completely made up. If there is such a language, it was not followed or modeled after mine, or vice versa.
Thanks, and enjoy.
She sharpened her arrows and tested the bow. Good. It didn't break this time. There would be a death tonight, and nobody was to stop her. After years of misery, she was going to kill, and only good could come of that. Only good.
Jessica and Chenate chatted uncomfortably.
"Aster should be back soon. She went to get some water from the well."
"Who's Aster?" Chenate said, adjusting his cloak.
I tried making a noise in my throat, but my body stayed still. I hadn't counted on Chenate and Aster meeting. What would happen when Chenate found his sister, who wasn't dead and many years older? Would he leave in rage? In grief? Would he even see me at all? I floated to a nearby wall, where I had a better view of Chenate.
"She's someone else who lives here too." Jessica said simply. "Let's move your belongings." I wondered where he would go to sleep, when I realized that my room was the only one empty. Just then, Aster knocked on the door.
Chenate was going to miss me! In my mind I watched as he left the cottage and in a state of chaos, left me to die, sleeping forever. But he just stared at the knocking of the door and neither he nor Jessica made a motion to open it. In panic and frustration, I hit the wall with my hand.
It took me a while to remember I didn't have a hand in this ghost-like limbo, and looked to my body. My left hand twitched, but nobody noticed.
I stared at my body to see if I moved anymore, but I looked like I was dead.
Suddenly, Jessica ran to the door to a red-faced Aster, carrying two heavy buckets of water.
"Jessica! You can at least open the door. Now take this and-" She stopped short, staring at the guest.
She eyed him as he walked towards her, arm extended. "Hello. I'm-"
"Chenate." She said in an unbelieving voice. His wary smile disappeared.
"Who are you?"
"Asterline Misha." She said shakily. Both royals stared at each other in disbelief. Jessica sat stunned and confused at the two. I prayed Chenate wouldn't leave. The entire cottage was silent, and it seemed so was the entire town of Havyne.
Chenate recovered first. "You're alive?"
"I…I ran away."
"But we had a funeral. It would be impossible for you to come back to Tantua. The entire world thinks you're dead. You ran away? How could you just run away? And how did you end up here? You could have been in so much danger!"
Aster winced as his voice became louder and louder. "I pretended I was a servant in our castle. Have you seen how they were treated? I told father how badly they lived and he said he would take care of it. He never did. I was so angry at him, I left as a lowly servant." She whispered steadily, giving Chenate time to calm. "I had much money," she continued. "I stole a horse and used protective spells."
Chenate peered at Aster and found nothing but the truth. Before he could say any more, Aster started again.
"But what are you doing here? Why are you dressed…" she motioned to his burlap clothing.
Chenate looked at her incredulously. "I came to see Annabelle."
The world fell silent under his words. Aster stared stonily at my body and Jessica crumpled into her torn green skirt. The fire dimmed and flickered as if I had just died suddenly, instead of two days ago. Jessica started to sob and Chenate's gaze turned to where Aster looked.
Time seemed to stop when his eyes reached my face.
"Who?"
"Annabelle Snow, of Tantua." Chenate said resolutely.
"Snow? She died on Tuesday." Aster said flatly.
I tried to scream. I screamed about how wrong she was and how I could come back to life if only Chenate kissed me.
I begged for him to kiss me like the handsome prince kissed Snow White and they lived happily ever after.
I screamed about how Desdemona poisoned me, and how she was still on her way, and that if he didn't kiss me, she would kill me for good.
I yelled through my tears about how Aster roasted her apples in a special way that it took out most of the poison and left me sleeping, but not dead.
I screamed for eternity, but time was still standing still and Chenate was still looking at me with his heart broken.
He kneeled by my side and his shadow covered my face. With his fingers, he touched my face and I could feel them, cold and strong. Brushing my glassy black hair away from my eyes, he held my hand with his other hand, and squeezed it tightly.
Everything I knew in that moment killed me. Chenate wasn't going to kiss a dead body. I cried from my spot floating in the air and in my rage hit the wall again. This time my eyes fluttered. We both noticed this time.
And then he did it. His lips were on mine. I could feel myself back into my body and I was kissing him back. He jumped suddenly at the instantaneous warmth and for the first time in days, I opened my eyes. The cottage was so much brighter than I had remembered, even with Chenate's shadow.
My eyes hurt. Looking was painful. I threw an arm across my face.
"Annabelle?"
It took me a few seconds to register. My whole body was in pain from lack of food or water and my muscles were weak from disuse and the poison.
Across the room I heard Jessica. "Snow?" She said, confused.
I grunted in response. My voice felt like it was going through puberty and the arm I was supporting myself on gave way.
But suddenly, there was someone knocking loudly at the door. Of course. It was Desdemona. She was going to kill me. I tried making noise with my throat, but each attempt stung wildly. The pounding of bone on wood was resounding in my head painfully and I covered my ears with my arms as best as I could.
Aster went to open the door; obviously not realizing it was Desdemona. I mentally shouted, but she ignored me. An old figure hunched with age hobbled in. Any twisting in my stomach left my body.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Desi was not here. Yet. She could never fit under that cloak. I still had time to gain strength before she tried to kill me. While Jessica and Aster tended to the strange guest, Chenate sat me up in silence.
The hooded figure turned to look at me and glared. With amazing speed she pushed Jessica away and flew to my side. I looked underneath the hood and recognized the eyes.
I turned to Chenate in horror. He only got half my message. "Please, give her some air, miss."
The hooded Desdemona gave me an evil look and smiled sweetly at the same time. "Of course, sweet." She shuffled backwards and from under her cloak, produced an apple. My eyes widened as she handed the apple to Chenate. "Feed this to her. It'll make her feel better." She laughed again, ridiculously loudly and urged Chenate to feed me the apple.
A whizzing arrow that sounded like thunder pierced the apple in an instant. The five of us snapped our heads to see Terencia still poised with a bow in front of the cottage window.
"Who-"
But Chenate didn't have time to finish before she fired up another arrow and hit Desdemona square in the shoulder. She roared coarsely before striking her again in the heart. Nobody said anything for several minutes, but Chenate looked oddly at the apple, which was starting to wither and turn black.
Soundlessly, Desi dropped, facing forward onto my legs. I feebly tried to push her off, but my heart was beating wildly and my arms were exhausted.
Terencia's harried breathing was the only reminder that she was still outside and Aster moved hesitantly to let her in. Jessica followed her with her eyes. She looked lost. But perhaps it was the sudden onslaught of strangers finding their way to the cottage, or my strange 'death'. Or Desdemona's for that matter.
Miraculously, none of the children awoke, and only gave Aster and Jessica quizzical looks before being shooed away for the day. None of them saw me, and if they did, didn't say anything until they left.
Nobody had spoken anything since Desi was killed. Without a word, Chenate carried the old frail body outside. I followed him after inhaling a roll. It was more air than sustenance, but more sustenance then I had in days. The three other women looked at each other, none of them knowing the full story. I gave them a small smile and left them to acquaint, or reacquaint themselves with eachother.
"Chenate!" I croaked, wheezing. He waited for me to catch up.
I staggered towards him and looked up. His hair had grown longer since I last saw him, but his eyes were the same jade green. I smiled at him, and he grinned back weakly.
"Thank you." I said, and we continued walking. He grabbed a shovel from the back of the cottage and handed it to me.
"You're…welcome." He said back tiredly, shifting the body in his arms. My sense of speech failed me. We walked in uncomfortable silence until we reached a barren area. He put down the corpse and I gave him the shovel.
"How did you know where I was?" I asked quietly. He didn't look up.
"The magic mirror. She told me about your prophecy."
I closed my mouth, embarrassed. I hated the prophecy. Chenate sensed it. "CinderElla was a prophecy too." I looked at him, to ask if he was lying. But one look at his solemn face told me he was telling the truth.
He changed the subject. "I taught Aster that recipe before she ran away." He said. "We went through a phase which we thought we could be attacked at any time. That recipe takes out poison, but I think her poison was too strong to take all of it out."
I nodded. But I still had a question that I needed answered. "What about…" I swallowed.
"The princess?" He finished, smirking. Chenate paused digging to look at me. "She found a better suited…suitor." He laughed.
I silently sighed in relief.
"But I came back for you." He said slowly.
I smiled at him hopefully. "Can duke's daughters marry princes?" I joked.
The light in his eyes changed and he grinned. "Would they?"
I took the shovel from him and knocked it to the ground. My knees were weak and my dress was torn, but I embraced the prince of Tantua and he looked back at me.
"Yes."
"Velatine, should Ihave turquoise orblue for my wedding flowers?" I asked dreamily.
"Lahina," Velatine complained in my Elfish name. "Your language lesson!" I looked at her and smiled sheepishly. She gave in and laughed too. "Turquoise." She said decisively.
"Thank you." I said, but I caught myself. "Bihaja."
"Sunda, good." She pointed to a new verb, but closed the book when she saw I couldn't concentrate.
"Terencia and Darren are coming today. I want you to meet them, Vela." I plucked at my new gowns. I could hear Father negotiating with the cooks for the reception dinner from my new room, which used to be Mother's.
I was happy to see everything had been returned from Desi, whether it was forcefully or not. Father and I never talked about her at all, and he seemed intent on keeping it that way.
I couldn't believe the wedding was in a month! I giggled again. The whole province was invited. As for Jessica and the rest of the children, they moved into Tantua and a suitable house was found for them with no taxes, and a nanny was supplied. Aster preferred to stay away from Tantua and settled for Penepia, though she sent her best wishes.
Only Chenate and I really knew of her whereabouts (aside from Jessica) and we visited every so often.
A silver engagement ring of Chenate's with the royal crest emblazoned on it by gnomes sat on my finger and I stared at it, mesmerized.
I sighed happily, because I knew that now, it was going to be all right. Chenate and I were going to live happily ever after.
Or in Velatine's language, jevinata dozunha halor.
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The End.