The sight of the crimson shade tempted my mind to dance toward gruesome places.
“There’s a bathing room just through this door,” Sabrina said, knocking on the closed wood and pulling me from my near-spiral. “The maids have provided you with enough essentials…” She eyed my ensemble, the lack of belongings. “I shall ask them to provide some more gowns for you and sleepwear.”
I nodded, murmuring my thanks as my eyes flitted across the bare walls, the large golden trunk over by the lone arched window. “That’s beautiful,” I said, if not for something to say at all, as I stepped closer to take in the engravings upon it. The wood had been carved by an expert hand. Little creatures, squirrels and rabbits, played amongst trees in the gold-painted wood. A purchase, no doubt, from a Sinshell woodworker.
“Inside it, you’ll find your first round of projects.”
That pulled my hand away from the trunk. I spun to the queen, who stood poised, chin high with her hands clasped before her. “Projects?”
A small smile curved her lips, and then she sighed. “My dear, did you truly think we’d harbor a faerie princess for any reason other than to help? Surely, you are not so young as to be unaccustomed to such politics.”
Against my urgent wish for them not to, my cheeks warmed. “What would you have me do?” Mending, I guessed, or perhaps crafting paintings or pottery.
The thought jarred and awakened as Sabrina’s smile grew into something real and threatening. “Our son informed us of your ability to weave gold.”
Breath sailed from me. “I-I don’t,” I started, then tried again. “I cannot just—”
“Spare me your excuses, Princess.” Walking to the trunk, the queen opened it to reveal mounds of clothing inside, and I tripped back toward the bed. “Our armies have been decimated. The few left help to protect us, yes, but they won’t be enough should trouble arrive on our doorstep. And arrive it will.” She straightened, demure and unblinking. “We need more soldiers, and therefore more coin, our coffers draining faster by the month with every ship forced to turn away from our shores as they cannot risk the danger of trading with us.”
“You… but I don’t think you understand,” I said even though her words made perfect sense. “It is not something I can just do on command. Honestly, it has only happened a handful of times. All of them accidental.”
The queen nodded once, then looked at the ground, lips pursed. When her eyes rose, her voice lowered, deepened with warning. “Then I suggest you figure out how you did it, and do it again.” I blinked, eyes stinging with an onslaught of tears that would never arrive. “A great many times, and should you prove yourself worthy”—she tilted a bony shoulder—“then we will discuss marriage.”
She turned for the door, and I raced after her, pleading, “No, please. Wait.”
It closed in my face, numerous locks turning on the other side before I could rattle the handle. “No trying to escape. You’ll be captured before you even reach the castle walls.”
I slumped against the door, terror a stake tearing slowly through my heart.
“Oh, and none of that faerie magic. Unless, of course”—she laughed softly, the sound more of a tinkling threat—“it involves providing us with gold.”
Her steps downstairs were drowned by each stampeding breath burning past my lips. Swallowing thickly, I turned back to my new room. To my new home.
To my cell.
The late glow of the sun leaked over the wooden floors, slowly chased away by the growing shadows.
I didn’t light the lanterns nor the few golden sconces on the walls.
Upon the bed, I stared at that beautiful trunk, wondering how I’d gotten here—a prisoner and a murderer. As the moon formed the shape of a scythe, I surmised an ending of this nature was only fair, and perhaps this was exactly where I was supposed to waste my final days.
In a crimson and gold cage.
Beneath the low-lying arched window, the trunk mocked me—sang of promises I couldn’t see myself keeping and finding a way out of. For even if I could summon the energy to do as I’d been tasked and weave gold thread into the garments inside, they would still not allow me to leave.
My mother would need to send for me, but that would require an army, of which we were now lacking with the remaining soldiers needed to protect our kingdom.
The room had grown dark by the time a servant knocked on the door, then opened it to deliver a tray that shook in her hands. Young and pale, the woman stuttered, “P-princess, it is awfully dark in here.”
Before her next breath, sun-captured flames danced within the sconces on each wall, revealing her frightened blue eyes. I might not use magic to escape, but I’d use it as I would every other limb. It was a part of who I was, as necessary and vital as breathing. “Just leave it on the trunk,” I muttered. “Thank you.”
She did as requested, hurrying out of the room as though I would eat her for dinner instead.
I ate nothing, but I opened the window above the fish stew before flopping sideways over the bed to stare at the night sky.
The stars still twinkled, the moon still shone, yet it now felt as though they too mocked me from where they sat so high above us all—a foolish golden princess who’d fallen for a known enemy’s tricks and had brought ruin upon all.
Morning brought with it a visitor. My eyes fluttered open when the door did, a near-silent creak of the hinges and a familiar scent alerting me to the prince’s entry.
“Opal,” he whispered as though I were asleep when he could see my eyes upon him. Closing the door, he leaned against it and brushed his hands over his cheeks. “I don’t even know what to say other than I’m sorry.”
“Did you know?” I asked, sitting up and pushing my hair back from my shoulders. “Did you know this was their plan for me all along?”
Toying with the hem of his shirt, he took a cautious step forward, gleaming boots meeting the soft red carpet. “Opal, you have an incredible gift. One that could help us turn this nightmare around…”
“My mother will be very displeased.” I said the words with a low vehemence.
He received them for the warning they were, swallowing as he nodded. “I understand, truly.” I scowled, twisting my legs away from him as he came to the bed and dared to take a seat beside me. “We will marry, okay? We will make Nodoya the great realm it once was, but to do that, we need your help first.”
“Agreeing to marry you was help enough,” I said before I could think better of it, my eyes widening at my own arrogance. “But you humans never are content with all you’ve been given.”
A lilting smile shaped his lips, but it failed to fill the dark eyes that stared back at me. “True, but you must believe me when I say that if I thought any harm would befall you, I would not have gone ahead with this.”
“Liar,” I hissed, rising and taking the tray from the trunk. It clanged to the floor as I flung the wooden lid open, revealing rivers of color. “You’d have agreed anyway because you are no king. You are a prince, and you’ve little choice.”
His jaw clenched, teeth gritted.
I sat upon the floor, tugging a velvet-lined cloak from the chest and spreading it over my lap. “Leave me, for it seems I have miracles to tend to.”