The Christening ~ Pt. 3

Trigger warning for sexual assault

Carabosse awaited in the throne room where the wedding was to take place. There had been a crowd of onlookers, but they were now dispersed and she was entirely alone. Soon, the King and Queen of Athbhreith and the King of Saol strode in, talking in hushed voices. They all fell silent when they saw her.

“I keep my promises, as you can see,” she said, a smile curling up one side of her mouth. “Where is the little prince?”

“If you’ve done anything to him,” said the King of Saol, stepping toward her, “I’ll have you hunted with forces not even you can stand against.”

“You mean you don’t know where he is?” said Carabosse, her smile disappearing.

“What have you done with him?” shouted the King of Saol.

“I haven’t done anything!” she said, her voice suddenly shaking. With that, she turned on the spot and disappeared.

She reappeared in Aurora’s room. Prince Lorcan was just heading for the door. His face was flushed. Aurora’s wedding dress was disheveled, wrinkled, and torn a little.

Lorcan froze when he saw Carabosse appear. She wasted no time in snapping her fingers and lifting him six feet above the floor.

“What have you done?” she said. “What did you do to her?”

He spat at her. She held her hand up then slowly began to clench it into a fist. Blood started to spill from his nose and eyes.

“You’re the one who cursed her,” he said. “Why do you care what happens to her?”

A scream came from deep inside Carabosse. As it did, she flung her arm out in the direction of the window. Prince Lorcan flew the same direction, smashing through the glass. He died the moment his body struck the ground.

Carabosse ran to Aurora. She took a moment to smooth her dress, pulling the skirt down to her ankles, whereas Lorcan had left it up to her knees. Then she closed her eyes and concentrated.

“Come to me,” she said. “Dahlia, Mavis, Lobelia, come to me. I am here with her. Come as quickly as you can.”

In a moment, the Fae appeared.

“I need your help,” said Carabosse. “We need to wake her.”

“You cursed her to sleep for one hundred years,” Dahlia said.

“I created an exception,” Carabosse explained. “I made the exception that she could wake if a Light Fae and a Dark Fae were to come together and use their power together to reverse the spell. I made it under the assumption that I and all of my followers would never agree to it, but now it has become absolutely necessary. I need your help, Dahlia.”

“Why should I trust you?” Dahlia said. “You could have made the exception that receiving my help would kill her entirely.”

A knife appeared in Carabosse’s hand.

“I could kill her now if I wanted to,” she said. The three Fae rushed toward her. The knife dissolved. “I don’t want to,” she said. “All I want to do is wake her.”

“Again,” said Dahlia, “why should I trust you?”

Carabosse took a deep breath and told the three what the prince had done. Dahlia considered, then agreed to reverse the spell. They both hovered their hands over Aurora and began to speak. As soon as her eyes fluttered, Carabosse sank into the shadows.

Aurora awoke in pain. She rose slowly, supporting herself on her elbows. The room was dim, and it took her a moment to realize that four figures stood opposite her. Three of them came forward, and she saw that they were the Fae. Dahlia clutched her heart and heaved a sigh, but all three smiled.

“Are you feeling all right, Your Highness?” Dahlia said.

“Something hurts,” said Aurora. “I don't know why.”

She looked past the three Fae to the other figure. Carabosse drew farther into the shadows.

“Who is that?” Aurora asked.

The figure came closer, and her pale green face was illuminated by the candlelight.

“I am Carabosse,” she said.

Aurora drew back.

“I won’t hurt you,” she said. “Not any more than I already have. Tell her, then,” she said, turning to the three Fae. “I want no more part of this.”

Dahlia, Mavis, and Lobelia exchanged a glance.

“There is no need to tell her,” Dahlia said in a whisper, though Aurora could still hear her. “The wedding will go on as planned and it will all be resolved.”

“There will be no wedding,” said Carabosse.

“Of course there will,” Lobelia said. “There isn’t any reason to put a stop to it now.”

“There will be no wedding,” Carabosse repeated. “Prince Lorcan is dead.”

The expressions of the three Fae went from fearful to livid.

“This ruins everything,” Mavis said. “We needed him alive, Carabosse. Why would you do such a thing?”

Carabosse’s eyes widened. All the candles in the room went out. The walls began to shake. Aurora cowered on the bed, covering her face with her hands. Then the flames returned to the candles, the room was still, and Carabosse was gone.

Months went by. Aurora continued to live with her parents, receiving occasional visits from the Fae. She found little pleasure in her life as a princess, as every day the events of her sixteenth birthday weighed on her mind. Indeed, she fell ill only a few weeks afterward, though the royal physician could not find the cause.

Gradually, the cause began to reveal itself. Aurora’s mother was the first to realize.

“We need the Three,” she said to the king one day.

“Why?” he said.

“Because they have the power to know if there is life developing inside another person.”

The Fae were called upon, and when they arrived, they confirmed the queen’s suspicions. It was decided that they should be the ones to tell Aurora, given her relationship to them. Lobelia delivered the news as the others stood back a little.

“Aurora,” she said, “there’s something you ought to know. We found out why you’ve been sick. You are carrying a child.”

Aurora gasped.

“Well…” Lobelia said, “not one, but two. You are to be the mother of twins in a few months’ time.”

“How?” said Aurora.

Dahlia stepped forward.

“When you were asleep,” she said, “Prince Lorcan, he….”

Aurora’s eyes grew large.

“That’s what Carabosse told us,” said Mavis. Then her tone grew harsh. “We cannot trust Carabosse. Aurora, you told us you met a young man in the woods just before your sixteenth birthday. What did you do with him?”

Tears began to spill down Aurora’s cheeks.

“He kissed me,” she said. “That was all, I promise. I would never….”

She quailed under Mavis’s stern gaze. Lobelia took her hand.

“Mavis,” she said, “we know that Carabosse is untrustworthy, but I can’t think of a single reason she would deceive us in this. Leave the girl alone. She’s troubled enough as it is.”

In another part of the castle, the king paced back and forth as the queen buried her face in her hands.

“If he had only waited until they were married,” she said. “Then it all would have been all right.”

The king nodded.

“To know all this time that Carabosse could have simply revived her and let him be,” he said. “If she had just done it, then we could have had the wedding and no one would be the wiser. Now he’s dead and nobody else will have her in her condition.”

“What is to be done?” said the queen.

The king sighed.

“We will send her away a while longer. Rid her of the children when they come, then bring her back and find another match for her, if and only if the news of this business hasn’t reached every corner of the world.”

Far away, Carabosse could sense the spell used to find the lives that were inside Aurora. It took her three days to make up her mind, but when she did, she arrived at the door of the throne room with a snap of her fingers. The guards opened their mouths to speak, but she tossed them aside with a wave of her hand and opened the doors. The king and queen stayed seated as she approached.

“What do you want?” said the king.

“I want to speak to Princess Aurora,” Carabosse said. “Where is she?”

The king hesitated, his eyes moving back and forth slightly as though weighing options.

“She is in her bedchamber,” he said.

In a moment, Carabosse was standing outside the princess’s door. She stood outside a long time, pacing back and forth, wondering if she really wanted to face the princess. Then she knocked. Dahlia opened the door.

“Why are you here?” she said.

“Can I speak with her?” Carabosse said. “Alone?”

Dahlia gave her a piercing look.

“Please?”

Dahlia sighed and opened the door, then beckoned to the other Fae to leave. All three stood outside the room and did not take their eyes from Carabosse until she closed the door.

Aurora sat in a chair, her hands on her stomach. She tensed when she saw Carabosse and looked in every direction as if she were trying to find a means of escape.

“You have every right to be afraid,” said Carabosse. “Every right. But please, please just let me say something to you.”

Aurora said nothing.

“I’m sorry,” Carabosse went on. “You have no idea how sorry I am that this has happened to you. It’s my doing.”

She gestured to a seat opposite Aurora.

“May I?”

Aurora nodded. Carabosse sat and closed her eyes, rubbing her creased brow with her thumb and forefinger.

“There’s a very old bit of magic, Aurora,” she began. “They say if you dream a thing more than once, it’s sure to come true. In the days leading up to your birth, there were three nights all in succession when I dreamed about the prince taking you against your will. Though I was not wanted, I came to the castle the moment I discovered that your mother had given birth. I thought that the spell would keep you safe…I wanted to explain to your mother and father…but what was my word against all the hopes and expectations of two royal families? I, a Dark Fae. And had I killed the prince at any time, the Light Fae would execute me. But to know now, Aurora, to know that it was my attempt to prevent this occurrence, this awful, unspeakable….”

Here, she stopped, clapping her hand to her mouth and stifling a sob. Aurora sat in silence for more than a minute. Then she spoke.

“I was going to marry him,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” Carabosse said between sobs.

“No,” said Aurora. “I would have had to spend my entire life with him. I used to believe in fate. I’ve believed in it since I was a little girl. When I found out that I was to marry the man I had met in the woods near my cottage, I believed in it more than I ever had. I would never have wished for this to happen, but to be subjected to it for life…I suppose what I mean is that while I don’t believe in fate, such things as this happen to some people. It is the measure and degree of the injury that can be influenced, and you saved me from many, many years of imprisonment. I thank you.”

Carabosse looked up at her.

“I should have killed him,” she said. “I should have struck him down on the day of your christening.”

“That isn’t true,” said Aurora.

“Yes, it is.”

“If you had,” Aurora said, “I’d never have met you. Ever since my birthday I’ve felt something was wrong. I’ve felt…not like myself. Like I’ve changed in some way. I thought it was the curse, but now I know the truth. You were the only one who tried to tell me. Now, you’re the only one who is concerned for my well-being and not for the fact that I am unmarried.”

Carabosse wiped the tears from her face.

“You are kind, Your Highness,” she said, “but I don’t believe I’ll ever forgive myself.”

“I forgive you,” Aurora said, “if it helps at all.”

She rose and walked to Carabosse, wrapping her arms around her. Carabosse stiffened momentarily, then returned the embrace. She stood and gathered herself.

“What will become of me?” Aurora said.

“Well,” said Carabosse, “it is unlikely that you will ever marry. This kingdom has been declining since before your birth, and as such, it will be conquered and absorbed by another, probably in your lifetime.”

There was silence between them. Carabosse turned to the door and began to move toward it.

“What of them?” said Aurora, placing a hand on her stomach. Carabosse looked over her shoulder. “What will I do?”

Carabosse strode to her and took her hands. She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, then gave an exasperated sigh, dropping her chin to her chest. Then she looked up at Aurora and said,

“I don’t know.”

Aurora looked at her.

“I was raised by Fae,” she said. “Will you help me raise them?”

“I couldn’t,” said Carabosse.

“If what you say is true, I won’t be royalty for many more years. As such, I cannot give you commands. So I ask you, Carabosse, to please help me raise my children. The queen only cares that I am unmarried. The three women who raised me suspect me of being in these circumstances of my own free will. I need a mother. My children need a mother. I am hardly a mother. Please help me, Carabosse.”

Carabosse gave a weak smile.

“Very well,” she said. “Very well, Your Highness.”

“Aurora.”

“Very well, Aurora.”

~ ~ ~

There are many tales in this world to be told, but the tale of Aurora and the christening has come to an end. I know no more of her, or her children, or Carabosse. All I know is that the place on the ground outside the castle where Prince Lorcan met his end has never quite been purged of his bloodstains.