CH.31 And the curtain fell
Iris ran into the labyrinth. Prince Edmund invited her to meet him there. He didn't tell her why, but he sounded kind of serious. Despite that, she was in a good mood. She thought she had finally found a way to break the curse. And she was going to try it on the full moon.
She ran through the hedge corridors. The tangled branches led her to the very center. The prince was sitting there on a stone bench under an apple tree. He seemed uncomfortable. Iris crept up behind him. She hugged him from behind. The prince was frightened.
"A little bit scared." She laughed and kissed him.
But he didn't kiss her back. He backed away from her as if she had burned him.
"You're suddenly kind of cold. Is something wrong?"
"You tell me, Iris."
Her heart skipped a beat as he spoke her true name.
The shock on her face betrayed all her sins.
The prince approached her. She didn't take a single step back.
She allowed him to let the space between them disappear.
He took her left hand in his. With a gentle touch, he removed her glove.
Iris clenched her hand into a fist. She knew what he was looking for.
She already lost, but she was also clinging to her last hope.
"Don't do it, Edmund," she told him.
He didn't even have to force her hand open to know what she was hiding.
Rebel was right. This wasn't his Anastasia.
He pulled the gold snake-shaped hairpin from her hair.
She had worn it constantly since she'd started wearing gloves.
Come to think of it, that was the moment it all had to begin.
That night, when he thought she'd just fallen asleep.
Her fire-colored hair had returned to its original sunlight color. Her forest-colored eyes had faded to the turquoise sky. It was her gaze, her face. Her attitude of defiance.
"What did you do with Anastasia?"
"I was only trying to save you. You don't love her. It's just an enchantment that has fooled your mind."
She took a step towards him, but the blade of the sword separated them.
"Don't move, witch!" Commander Dominic hissed.
"I am not your enemy, Commander," Iris told him.
"Every witch is an enemy," he replied with resentment in his soul.
"Don't play around and tie her up," the prince ordered. With disappointment and betrayal written in his eyes, he turned his back on her and left. When he recognized her true face, the spell forced him to forget again.
Iris waved her hand. She hoped the magic within her would protect her as it had when she had thrown Luc away.
Nothing. Not a breath of breeze. She waved her hand again, subtly.
Nothing. The fire Luc had seen in her was silent.
And so she grabbed the commander's sword.
The blade sliced through the skin of her palm. Blood stained the blade.
"Ardeat !" she said.
The commander's sword flared with bright flames.
He let go of it immediately. But the sword wasn't the only thing burning.
The entire maze was engulfed in flames. Tongues of fire stretched toward the clear skies.
Like snakes, they crawled further and further, devouring everything in their path.
Iris took advantage of their inattention and ran away.
The commander tried to stop her. He grabbed her by the long sleeve of her dress, which reached down to the ground, and pulled her back.
He held her tightly, even as she tried to wriggle out of his grip.
Iris elbowed him in the chin. He spat blood.
As she pulled him away from her, she pulled a dagger from behind his belt and pointed it at him.
"Put down the dagger!" he told her.
"Never!" Iris refused to give up. She decided to fight until her last breath.
"You have nowhere to run."
"I can at least try."
The prince's scream echoed through the maze. The Commander turned toward the sound. His gaze darted from Iris to the place where it had come from.
"You must choose, Commander. Either save the prince or detain me. You cannot do both."
Commander Dominic did not hesitate. He fulfilled his duty and ran to the prince's aid. And Iris ran away.
She had to get out before the flames consumed her too. She could feel their warmth sliding across her skin. As if they were tasting her before they devoured her greedily.
She ran along the path towards the forest. She got out. But relief did not come. They were waiting for her there. A dozen soldiers pointed their swords at her. There was no way out. She could not escape. And in front of her stood her stepmother and Anastasia.
"Did you think you could get away with it?" her stepmother slapped her.
"I'm honestly proud of how I've been doing so far. You had no idea. But what gave me away?"
"That rebel friend of yours," she revealed.
Iris felt a knife cut into her back. The only person she truly trusted was the one who had betrayed her. But she refused to show the shock, which broke her heart even more.
"I will gladly see you burn at the stake," said Anastasia, venom on her tongue.
"Do you think this is the end, Anastasia? I will haunt you in your nightmares. For the rest of your lives. I will never let you forget."
"We'll forget about you right after the execution," her stepmother laughed.
Iris grabbed her arm and stabbed her. Stepmother's eyes widened in shock as the blade entered her body.
"Only if you live to see it," she hissed in her ear.
"Mom!" Anastasia screamed as her mother fell to the ground with a dagger in her stomach.
And only now was Iris willing to give up. Unarmed, she raised her hands in surrender. She allowed the soldiers to handcuff her. And even though she lost, she smiled as she watched her stepmother bleed and Anastasia panicked in an attempt to save her life.