Here is the new chapter. Sorry for the long wait! It's always a challenge to write in another language :) I hope that you'll like it! Big thanks to Darkfire2466, who was so nice to beta the story!

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!

Love, Dana

The Beginning

Her room faced east and many mornings she would wake up just before dawn to sit down on the window sill. Most of the sky still held the purple tones of night, but along the horizon the sun was painting a brilliant stripe of orange and pink. Yellow was right there at the bottom, ready to creep out of its nightly hiding place. Everything was still silent. The creatures of the night already yielding their claim of the Isle to the citizens, and the other residents were still asleep. In these few moments the Isle was all hers.

No expectations and limitations.

Just her.

Mal watched the colors of the sky changing. She sighed deeply, closing her eyes just for a second to rest. She would never admit it, but she never saw the sun rise, because she was an early riser or because she partied through the night. No, she saw the run rise, because she'd been awake too long. Because she couldn't sleep. Being sleepy wasn't the issue. It was the sleeping itself. What a joke when one thought about her mother's famous sleeping curse. But no, Mal just lay in her bed and waited. And waited. And waited. The problem was inside of her. A restlessness that came back, night after night, preventing her from embracing the nothingness, that would surely lull her to sleep.

It was throbbing. Consuming. Captivating.

Her very own sleeping curse.

But what was the cure?

Squinting her eyes against the rising sun, Mal heard the first sounds of the awakening Isle. Maybe that was the problem. The Isle. Her very own purgatory and prison. She knew there was more inside of her. Sometimes she could feel the magic simmering under her skin. Like it was searching a way out of her. It was frustrating beyond belief and a few dents in her wall could bear witness to her outbursts of fury. There was no way, that she would grow old here on this damned Isle, stripped from her privileges as a fairy.

She felt herself drowning in her dark thoughts, the bleakness of the situation choking her, when suddenly her phone chimed and a message popped up on the screen: Mal, come down. We're meeting in ten. xoxo E

Leather jacket on.

Rotten to the core.

Game on.

Mal still stared at her mother with big, unbelieving eyes. Glancing around, she saw that her friends were wearing the same expressions of befuddlement.

Leaving the Isle and attending the school at Auradon with prissy, pink princesses?

This had to be a sick joke. Yes, only hours ago she had desperately wanted the flee the Isle, but never as a showcase project for successful integration. And once again she could feel her magic boiling under her skin, like an itch she could never scratch.

Her mother was sitting at her desk, filing her nails while having the audacity to look bored.

"You will go and you won't argue anymore.", she said in a low voice, but Mal knew that this was only the calm before the storm.

Before she or any of her friends could reply, Maleficent fixed her steady gaze on Mal and motioned her forward. "If it were up to me, these shameful little copycats, who you call your friends, can go to hell, but I respect their parents too much to let them vanish into thin air! So please," she purred "make them leave. Now!"

Signaling her friends that it was okay to leave her alone with her mother, Mal perched herself on the edge of the big oak desk. As soon as the door closed behind Evie, Carlos and Jay, Maleficent stood up and approached her daughter slowly.

Like a tiger on the hunt, Mal thought dryly.

"Darling. Has your mother ever done anything without excellent reason?"

Mal shook her head slowly as Maleficent began to walk up and down the room, her black dress fluttering behind her.

"Completely right. Mal, my time…" stopping for a few seconds, she looked at her daughter and sent her a fleeting smile "….our time has come. This is the chance we have waited for. The Prince has passed the new law allowing children from the Isle to visit Auradon. The Prince who'll be King in a few short weeks. With King Adam, the old fool, we had no chance to reconquer the kingdom. But with his little pup - young, inexperienced, innocent…" she snarled the last word, "…we'll have easy game."

Trying to keep her face blank, Mal fought with the two sides inside of her. She wanted to leave this awful place behind, she wanted to embrace her magic and she wanted to free her people. She had hated Auradon and most of all the royal family since she'd been a toddler. But her intuition told her that something was horribly wrong. The spark of insanity in her mother's eyes made her cautious and she felt her nails digging into the edge of the desk.

"What's exactly the plan, mother?", Mal asked through her teeth, her whole body tense.

A slow – oh so slow – smile stretched across Maleficent's ageless face and Mal feared for a second that the skin would surely crack under the unaccustomed strain.

"You go to Auradon,…"

One step forward.

"…you'll make him fall in love with you…"

Two steps closer.

"…and you'll marry him. My daughter – Queen of Auradon! You'll have him wrapped around your little finger and he'll grant you every wish. Magic will be restored; the border will be lifted and your good ol' mama will join you in your new home. Maybe a little heir to the throne would be helpful too."

"A…heir?"

"Something unclear?", her mother retorted icily.

Well, everything, Mal wanted to answer, but she suppressed all the undefined feelings, which were trying to emerge.

Betrayal. Fear. Panic.

And these were only a few of them. The ones which caused her head to spin and her stomach to revolt. Swallowing back the bile, rising in her throat, the purple-haired girl was sure that there was a misunderstanding. Her mother couldn't want her to…to…demean herself like that.

"You want me to seduce the Prince of Auradon…the soon to be King?"

Clicking her tongue, Maleficent's eyes roamed slowly over her daughter.

"Mal, sometimes you're too dense. Must be the genes of your useless father."

"But mother – seducing…that's not my style. Evie would be a better choice. She has the…experience."

Dark alleys. Wandering hands. Poisoned lipstick.

And always victims with a smile on their faces.

Evie would be perfect for the mission. It was in her nature to seduce, deceive and to manipulate. Where Mal used her wit and ruthlessness, Evie fought with her body and insidiousness. Like two sides of the same medal. Identic aim, but different approaches.

Lost in her own thoughts, Mal winced as her mother barked in her ear, "And why should I want the little slut on the throne? Is she my daughter? No! Is magic in her veins? No! She's useless. As if it's a skill to seduce a teenager.", cackling loudly, Maleficent patted her daughter softly on the head. Outsiders would believe this gesture to be motherly, but Mal felt a pang of pain, as her mother's palm touched her hair. Maleficent's magic may be suppressed, but there was still a little spark left. And it could hurt like hell.

Continuing to stroke her daughter's hair, the dark fairy's voice turned soft.

"His hormones will never be stronger darling. And word is on the street that traces of his father's curse are running in his blood. You can use this…appetite. Besides, of course I'll help you to start the charade. As soon as you're in Auradon you'll be able to access your magic. A little love spell, wrapped in sugar, flour and butter and he'll be your brainless slave. But – these love spells are tricky and fleeting. True loves kiss could erase it. And as soon as another fairy will get wind of our ruse, it'll be too easy for them to lift the spell. But the moment you two will be bound by flesh, the curse will be irreversible."

Bound by flesh.

"Irreversible."

Maleficent fisted her daughter's hair, holding her head so far back she couldn't move and whispered in her ear:

"For better, for worse – until you're parted by death."

The time between the talk with her mother and the arrival in Auradon was nothing but a blur. Mal remembered bits and pieces, but it could've been hours or days. She had been prepped and primed until her mother was satisfied. Her mission was clear:

Bewitching the Prince. Seducing her lover. Sacrificing her body for the good cause.

And killing her husband in the end.

"The key to a successful seduction," Evie pontificated from her spot next to her in the car, "is to keep the balance between unfulfilled desire and just the right amount of physical attention."

Such a statement would normally have little bearing on the life of Mal, but Evie's comment hit painfully close to her heart. Rolling back her shoulders, Mal tried to activate the last bit of self-preservation she had left.

"You mean that I shall be a tease."

Rolling her pretty eyes, Evie sighed dramatically. "Well with these clothes you won't tease anyone."

Looking down at her favorite leather outfit, Mal shrugged her shoulders inelegant.

"I don't have to tease anyone, there's a spell in my pocket and even with greasy hair and bad breath the Prince will desire me."

Never love. Just an all-consuming and maddening desire.

He'll be on the brink of sanity, darling.

"Yes, but everybody would be suspicious and ten minutes later the fairy godmother would disenchant him. Good thinking Mal," the blue-haired girl stated sourly and crossed her arms over her chest. Mal asked herself if her best friend knew that the gesture pushed her breasts forward becomingly. At least she caught the wink Evie gave the driver in the rearview mirror.

"Mal," leaning forward in his seat, Jay addressed her for the first time since their weird travel had started. Resting his elbows on his leather-clad legs, she noted the compassionate look on his face. But in a fraction of a second, his usual cocky grin was back again. Trust Jay to keep the façade up. "We all know that this isn't easy for you. But think about it. We gave the Isle and our parents everything. And our bodies are just another means to an end."

Means to an end. For the greater cause. Collateral damage.

How she hated those phrases.

Before Mal could answer, the car rolled to a halt and she could catch the sound of voices and music. They sounded…happy. How weird.

Stepping out of the limousine and into the bright light, she was overcome by panic. There was too much light, too many colors, simply too much goodness around her. They were cheering, and clapping and an overly smiling woman, clad in light blue, was greeting them.

Crossing her arms, her stance wide, Mal kept her face remarkably blank. Nobody would know of her inner turmoil.

And then she caught his eye.

And her mother's last words came back to haunt her.

Until you're parted by death.

tbc.