Over the next few weeks, I experimented as much as I could. Mostly on animals and such, but it was producing some nice effects. I managed to stop a squirrel's heart after I got it to eat a magic-infused peanut. I cursed a chipmunk to remain frozen in place. My most successful experiment was on a stray cat. I blew a power I had created from dried rose petals, nightshade berry, and a touch of my own magic into its face. It immediately fell asleep, but the effect was temporary.

Once in a while, I would hear whispers from the castle. The wedding was getting delayed so much. One day the Prince would have food poisoning, the next Briar Rose would be having an allergic reaction to the flowers that someone kept placing by her bedside. Prince Joseph was doing a very good job. My favourite rumor was the one about Briar Rose's wedding dress. It had somehow been dyed black.

But I hadn't seen Joseph in weeks. We used the mirror to talk sometimes, but we always had to leave. We could never touch each other, either. As the days passed, we took great pleasure in seeing the princess's misfortune. Our dark wish had turned from a necessary evil to a malicious plot.

Dark desires started to fill our heads. Our wildest, darkest fantasies, directed at her. Sometimes we would imagine killing her. Other times it would be torture. And as long as Joseph was with me, I felt that nothing was wrong with that. Because we were in love, and if this darkness was what bound us together, it must be doing something, right? How could love be evil?

Eventually, I struck gold. I knew I had the perfect spell. A stray dog who had been looking for scraps was my victim. I took him into the woods, baiting him with food. When I got there, there was indeed food, as well as water. Water that I had poisoned with the curse.

The curse was fairly simple, but hard to work with. It required nightshade berry (to coax the person into sleep) dried rose petals (to turn the death effect of the berry into sleep) rust from a broken clock (to freeze time in the spell) and the most important part, my magic. In fact, the spell could only be done with my magic. Or at least my blood. If not, it would be useless.

I had set up a bowl for the dog, that I had previously prepared with the curse. It was a dust-like substance that dissolves completely in water. There was no way to detect it, except for the smell. It gave off the incredibly strong aroma of roses. You could smell it a mile away, but the dog didn't seem to notice, or care.

I watched intently as the dog drank the water. In only a few seconds, it was asleep. I left it under a blanket of leaves, so that no one would find it.

Over the next few days, I checked on it. Every day, it was still asleep.It kept breathing, too, even though it should have died from starvation. It was frozen in an eternal sleep.

My curse was ready. I was ready to use it on the princess.