Torture Me Sweetly
Chapter Three

Mira and Blair were sitting on Elsa's favorite plush couch drinking iced coffee when Henley exploded into the house, his eyes filled with a fury that frightened Mirabelle. He grabbed at his hair, looking like he was trying to pull it out, before he collapsed onto the carpet. Mira screamed and rushed over, not knowing what was wrong with him. His eyes seemed to be moving from behind his closed eyelids, as if he was having a vivid dream.

Dream, Mira thought, thinking about the hotel and casino. When she thought about the Dream, she thought about Blue's suite. Mira shook her head. Now is not the time to be thinking about that situation when she had this situation with Henley to deal with. She screamed for Blair to call 911 as she tried to wake Henley up. Mira noticed something in his hand, so she unwrapped his fingers from their tight grip, grabbing at the uncovered piece of paper. Loopy cursive filled the page up. It looked like some of the notes Viv's stepmother sent Henley to tell him what needed the most work in the gardens.

Mira read the paper quickly, scanning it for anything out of the ordinary. It was just a regular note, until you got to the last line.

And Henley, be a dear and rip Viv's heart from her chest. It's finally time to enact her curse. Won't she look marvelous in her glass case? Fingers crossed her prince will never come.

Mirabelle stared at the note in disbelief. It was written casually, as though it was just another suggestion about the garden, not attempted murder. No wonder Henley was acting this way. He was fighting the urge to murder Viv!

Mira took out her cell phone and pressed Viv's contact name. She needed to be warned that her curse was near.

"Hello?" a sleepy Viv answered. She sounded so normal that it broke Mira's heart to think that she was taking away her calmness and safety.

"Viv, we've got problems. Your stepmother has asked Henley to cut out your heart, and he's collapsed, possibly from shock. The ambulance will be here any second, but look out for any poison apples. And please Viv, be careful."

"OHMYGOD," came from the receiver before the line went dead. Viv probably accidentally hung up in shock. Sirens were suddenly heard outside, and EMTs with a stretcher came through the open front door. They loaded him up gingerly, rapidly asking Mira and Blair questions as they were both herded into the ambulance along with Henley.

They both answered what they knew, leaving out his curse and the note from Viv's stepmother. When they finally arrived at Beau Rivage Regional Hospital, they were greeted at the front entrance by Bliss and Elsa, Mira's fairy godmothers and guardians. Mira hugged them both quickly, passing on the news that Viv's curse might be happening soon and that Viv's stepmom has already asked Henley to take her heart.

Blair and Mira were pulled from Bliss and Elsa and were herded into the empty waiting room. They were able to see glimpses of a sleeping Henley in his hospital bed from the small glass window in his door, but then the curtain was drawn and their view was cut off.

Mira began calling all of her friends, and soon the waiting room was crowded with cursed teenagers. Jewel was coughing up emeralds, which is what she usually did when she was worried or stressed. Rafe and Layla were actually being civil to one another, sitting down on two uncomfortable hospital chairs. Blue and Freddie were flitting around her worriedly, waiting for her to freak out or panic. Mira didn't have time to panic. She needed to find a way for Henley to empathize with Blair and break his curse. No curse, no attempted murder.

Once Henley was stabilized and the doctors cleared out, Blair and Mirabelle went into his small hospital room. He was hooked up to wires, and an oxygen mask was covering his nose and mouth. Mira took his cold hand and began to speak to him, hoping he could hear her.

"Henley, I spoke to Viv. She's still alive and awake, which means her curse hasn't been activated yet. And I know the last thing you want to do right now is to listen to a story you have no interest in, but I think it's for the best." Mira stared at a confused Blair before mouthing, 'Your curse.'

Blair raised her right eyebrow questioningly, before shaking her head to clear her thoughts. Mira took a step back from the bed and allowed Blair to take Henley's hand in hers. "My curse is a Romantic one. At first, I was cursed so that every boy who professed their love for me would die, but then Salya, a light fairy, softened it. Now, every boy who professes his romantic love for me instantly falls out of love with me. So yeah, Henley, I know what it's like to sometimes be loved and then to be immediately dumped like yesterday's garbage. I know what it's like for people to say they care about you and then go back on their word. I know how hard it is to hold yourself back from people just because you don't think you're good enough. But hanging out around our friend Mirabelle has shown me that we're not just placeholders for other people's curses. We're our own people and we deserve to be loved like anyone else." Blair took a deep breath to calm herself before finishing her speech. "My name is Blair Allard, and I empathize with you."

Henley sat up in bed, deep breaths filling up his lungs. He ripped the oxygen mask away and stared at Blair in wonder. He stared at her as if drinking her in, and she blushed under his scrutiny.

Henley looked over at Mira and grinned, which is something that no one had seen before. "Mira, I'm free!"

Mira turned him over onto his side and stared at his exposed back, but still saw the mark of the Huntsman. "I don't understand," Mira whispered. "How can you be free but still be the Huntsman?"

Henley shook his head and clarified. "I'm not free from my Huntsman curse, I'm free from my obsession with Viv. I was blinded by her beauty and all her alluring qualities and failed to see how horribly she treated me. She doesn't deserve me, I know that now."

A wolf whistle sounded from the doorway, and all the teenagers who were out in the waiting room now crowded into the hospital room.

Blue walked up and clapped Henley on the shoulder. "Well done, dude. Finally you see through her disguise."

Jewel hugged him before handing him a pile of deep green emeralds. "These belong to you, Hen. I was really worried there for a second."

Mira cleared her throat and got everyone's attention. "Maybe we should all leave Henley and let him get some rest. He did have a panic attack just over an hour ago." As everyone filed out the doorway, Mira grabbed Blair's arm. "Not you, B. I think you should stay with him."

Blair leaned in close and whispered to Mira so that no one would overhear. "When Henley woke up, my Heart sizzled and felt like it was burning. I think my curse is broken, but I'm not for sure."

Mira nodded understandingly. "I'll get Bliss and Elsa and ask them to check it out. They'll know if it's broken or not for sure. Be right back."

Blair cautiously approached Henley's bed. "Uh, hi there."

Henley stared at her. "Hey Blair."

Blair bit her bottom lip in nervousness. "I'm sorry that I used you to break my curse, getting you to empathize with me like that. Mira thought that you were one of the only people who could Curse-wise truly understand me."

Henley gave her a closed-mouth grin. "Trust me, I understand you. And I would have done the same thing, because I do empathize with you." Henley placed his hand over hers. "I wanted to thank you, Blair Allard, for breaking my curse."

Blair blurted out, "But I didn't break your curse! You're still the Huntsman."

Henley shook his head and smiled. "Not that curse. My curse for letting me stay in an abusive relationship. I was her plaything. I was nothing to her while she was everything to me. And you broke me free of that restraint. So thank you."

Blair shrugged. "Honestly, it was all you. So stop thanking me."

Henley smiled and squeezed her hand. "So I was wondering, now that I've broken free of my curse, would you like to go out sometime? We could go to a movie or get some dinner or something. You know, if you wanted."

Blair smiled at the gardener. "I'd like that."

Mira smiled in delight at her guardians. "So her curse is broken, just like that?"

Elsa nodded. "Just like that. Salya is the best at softening curses. She has a way with words that could practically unbind any magic spell. Blair can finally allow others to love her, and I think the Huntsman might be the first one to give it a try."

Bliss squeezed Mira's shoulder affectionately. "Clever idea, Mira, about getting the Huntsman to see that him and Blair aren't so different after all. You are one of the most quick-witted teenagers I've ever met."

Mira shrugged and smiled at her godmothers. "I learned from the best."

"We know," Bliss and Elsa agreed at the same time. The family of three left the hospital and returned to their home. Mira sent a text to Blair saying that her curse was definitely broken.

But when they arrived at the house, Mira was startled by the sight of Viv sitting on her front porch.

"Viv? Are you all right?" Mira asked curiously.

Viv shook her head. "All this time, I've been waiting for my Honor-Bound prince to come save the day. I've pictured what he looks like, what he sounds like, how he'd save me. But it was all such a sick joke."

Mira became confused. She sat down next to Viv on her front steps. "Joke? Viv, you found your prince?"

Viv looked despairingly at the ground. "I was asleep, Mira. My stepmother force-fed me a poisoned grape. Not an apple, but a stupid grape. And what's the face I wake up to? A six-year-old boy's!"

Mira gasped and tried to hold back her giggles. "Your savior was a little kid?"

Viv frowned. "Jace is no savior. My stepmother found him and brought him to me. He was the only Honor-Bound prince with an apple on his lower back exactly like mine. I've never seen any other guy with the same marking as me. When you and Freddie found each other, I hoped that my guy was just lost like yours. But no, mines a kindergartner who can barely string together a sentence. And when I woke up, my dad asked me if I could put all this behind me and get along with my stepmother now. Can you believe it?"

Mira didn't know what to say. Even her curse wasn't this bizarre, and she'd had to cut herself on a razor blade to save herself from being murdered by her cursed boyfriend who was sucking the life out of her through his kissing. She began to rub soothing circles on Viv's back. "It's over with now, Viv. You don't have to worry about your curse anymore. It was quick and painless, and you don't even have the option of being with your six-year-old prince. Neither of us have to worry about eternal sleep anymore, Viv. Isn't this your dream come true?"

Viv sighed. "I guess. Just not how I imagined it playing out, you know?" She sighed in despair again. "I can't be around my dad or my poisoning step-mother. Could I stay here tonight?"

Mira nodded and began pulling her into the house. "Sure, of course. Stay as long as you'd like. You want me to invite Layla over and make it a girls' night?"

Viv shook her head and stared down at the ground. "Not tonight, please. I just really want to rest."

Mira led Viv to her bedroom and they both crawled into the queen-sized bed. As she shut the lamp off, she patting Viv comfortingly on the shoulder. "Sweet dreams, Viv."

Viv rolled over and gave her a reluctant smile. "Have a peaceful sleep, Mirabelle."

A/N- The two girls destined for eternal sleep are having a sleepover. Ironic, huh? Enjoy the chapter? Are you glad Henley's free from Viv's clutches? And what do you think about the Henley/Blair situation? Leave a review and let me know!
Raegan