I lay in my bed the next day, no longer crying; I felt empty. Was I so disgusting that the prince would never touch me? he likely would have been all over my sister Dianna; she was the most beautiful of the three of us. How could I succeed in my father's plan if he never touched me? I did not want to let him down or fail in my duties. No tears; I must have run out of them.

Faith and my icy-haired maid, Nema, crawled into my bed the next day after it was clear I was not going to be moving and held me. Still no tears.

I rose the next day and found the king eating breakfast at the table. He gave me a kind nod. But one that was laced with sympathy; I had gotten many sympathetic glances since I left my room. Am I so pathetic that they need to be concerned? Indeed, I am not the only woman who has cried after being jilted like I was.

"your majesty, this dining room is lovely. Did your wife decorate it?" I asked, hoping to relieve the tension.

"my first wife did actually, Bethini; my second wife liked the look, so she left it," he leaned towards me conspiratorially. "I also think she wanted me still to have pieces of my late wife around the house."

"that is very kind of her" I smiled; many women would have been insecure and removed all traces of the other woman.

"I married her for her kindness, she had never met my late wife, but she thinks if she had, they would have been fast friends. My Rachel takes good care of me even when I don't deserve her kindness."

"I'm sure you deserve to be loved and to love your majesty. Everyone deserves that"

"Right you are, my dear" he looked up as the door to the room opened. His Queen Rachel walked in. she was grace in carnet; it was as if she floated to the king. She kissed his cheek, then his other. The king went to catch her lips, but she swiftly kissed his first cheek again and then escaped with a soft giggle at their game. In love, that is what they are; the happiness in their eyes could not be faked.

"I come bearing a letter for you, my love." Her voice was melodic, almost as if every word was part of a never-ending song. "one of the servants was bringing it to you, so I offered since I was coming to breakfast anyway."

"let me see" the king took the letter as the queen sat across from me. She gave me a smile and a slight wink before grabbing food. She never finished because the king roared angrily and yelled for one of the valets as he left the room, ire, and fire in his eyes. It shocked me that the man who was just kindly talking to me and laughing with his wife was not scaring all the castle residents with his palatable anger. The queen looked after her husband but made no moves to follow. Once his sound faded, she rose and looked at the letter.

"Oh, my dear," I rose to see what could have caused this change. When I saw I understood.

Father,

I write this letter out of respect for my king and love for my father. I know what you did for our country, and I can respect that, but you did not do it for the love of your son. I begged you to let me like you marry for love, and yet you denied me the very thing you cherish most about mother and now Rachel. I do not begrudge you that love. In fact, I am jealous. I hope you understand my reasoning for leaving. I had to see her again. My heart and soul call to Cora. She is my light in the night that is calling me home. When you are ready to accept me and my chosen love, I shall return until then. Father, know that I love and respect you as a king and a father; my actions in no way reflect my feelings towards you or our country.

Tell Jared and Damon that I am sorry I will not be able to teach them to hunt until I get back. Tell Chastity that I want to hear all her stories about her fairy kingdom that she imagined when I return. Tell little Juniper about me, make sure she knows the story about the prince and the firebird since you know that was always my favorite.

Rachel, I know you will read this letter once my father leaves in a rage. So to you, I wish to apologize since it will be your responsibility to calm my father's wrath, but no one does that quite like you; just as you say, no one causes his rage quite like me.

Finally, I need you to do the most challenging part: tell Estell that my actions are not about her, nor am I rejecting her. I am simply following my heart. And she is not the holder of it and never will be. Perhaps you can phrase it nicer. Of course, that will be if she ever stops crying in her room.

Your son,

Dimitri

he left, and he doesn't plan on returning. I ran to find my sister. She was sitting with Nema in my room.

"Nema, I hate to inconvenience you, but I need to speak with my sister privately." Nema bowed to me and left; at least she saw me as a princess, unlike the prince.

"sister," I raced around the room, closing curtains and checking the servant's entrance, "get out the trunks."

"Father said to keep that sort of activity to a minimum, so we aren't caught and hung" Faith stared at me hard.

"sound stop," I said, and with a flick of my arm, no one outside this room could hear us.

"so it is serious" Faith pulled out the trunks and started setting up the alter.

"We need to perform a summoning ritual to bring the prince back to the castle by any means necessary,"

"the prince left; tell me what happened" Faith started casting a circle while I wrote the wish that we would be burning to the goddess.

"he left to be with his lover, which I could care less about if he had actually finished the deed with me. But since I am not yet with child, he needs to get back here and fix that," I explained. Faith nodded and started chanting to the goddess in a tongue not spoken often in this area.

"oh goddess and mother, we, your children who only endeavor to serve you, are lost without your intervention. We burn our prayers in the hopes of losing the maidenhood as you have done for us. teach and assist so that we can become wise crones as you have led by example." Faith finished and nodded to me. I burned my wish for Dimitri to return to the castle. We had to be specific about what we wanted. I can not wish for him to love me since that is against the laws of magic, but asking for him to return and stay at the castle could be arranged. The ashes of our ritual flowed out of the window and into the air.

"Please, goddess, if I don't succeed, we won't create a safe nation for witches," I whispered. Faith set about cleaning up and hiding the evidence of our craft.

"I think she will listen, sister, but when he is back, you may need to be more aggressive in your pursuits" I nodded. She was correct; I needed to complete my mission. "for now, we will keep busy and keep our heads held high."

Although Faith and I put on a brave front and didn't get involved in the gossip of the castle, that did not mean that we didn't hear it. It was getting wildly close to the truth while still being completely wrong. There were rumors that the prince had jilted me and ran away. While they are true technically, they didn't feel genuine. It was not that he didn't want me. He wanted someone else; we were strangers, not lovers, so his being upset seemed reasonable. Another rumor was that the prince was abdicating the throne, which was not true; he repeatedly said that he respected his father and the country in the letter. My least favorite was that I was an ugly beast and the sight of me ran the prince from the castle. One said that the prince had already impregnated Cora, and he, on principle, refused to marry me. The whole thing was a lie that the king made to get my father's money.

Since Faith and I were not directly involved in the gossip from being new to the castle, we had Nema keep us up to date on everything.

I could stand all the talk of me and my life if only I knew that our spell had worked. Please, goddess, bring the prince back to the castle.