Sophia’s Revenge
It was at that moment that I realized my mother must be stopped. I set down my mother’s journal, which detailed the horrible plan for her make her husband, my father, promise that he would not remarry unless he found a woman as beautiful, charming, and captivating as she was. I did not like my mother, but I knew she was the most beautiful person in the world, especially to my father, and he would agree to the promise, which left my poor little sister defenseless. She was not the smartest girl, but she was just, if not more, beautiful than our mother. I looked over at Spooks, who was licking his paw, and I handed the journal to my familiar who took it back to my mother’s room.
When my mother got sick, I killed her. I snuck into her room and poisoned her with a poison I had developed during my studies. I did not know if the sickness would have killed her in the end, but I was so tired of dealing with her shit that I killed her anyway. She deserved it for everything she did to me. I did not regret it, but I knew that it would devastate my sister who adored our mother. She did not know her like I did. She did not know her red wine addiction and her resulting abusive blows that she took out on me. I wasn’t nearly as pretty as her, and she said everything she did was to make me prettier One time she wrapped a corset so tightly around me that a couple of my ribs snapped. I think that’s why I became a witch. The magic chooses you, and the magic saw that I needed help. First, it sent me Spooks, who entered my room at night, and I knew he was my familiar without his saying so. He does not actually talk, but he is intelligent, and we can understand each other. After that, it all rushed into me. I found old books on magic in the palace library and studied them in all my free time. I practiced in the royal gardens.
Then, my father sent me away. I tried to convince him not to because Cindy still needed me. She was still a girl, only fifteen years old. But my father said that she was better off without me, and I knew that he had reached the conclusion to marry his own daughter. The bastard. I stormed off to Cindy’s room to tell her the bad news, and my heart immediately melted when I saw her staring into her mirror, trying to brush the tangles from her beautiful blonde hair.
“You’re going to pull all your hair out, Cind,” I said fondly and walked over to help her finish brushing her hair. Spooks knew we were leaving, and he comforted her, purring on her lap. His gray fur shed onto her white night gown as she pet the soft fur on his back
I sighed and remarked, “You look just like Mother.” I said it with all the sadness that her beauty meant, but she did not catch on. She was still so young, so sheltered from the real world.
“I wish Mother was still here,” Cindy said, and tears filled her eyes.
“Me too,” I lied because I could not bring myself to tell Cindy the truth yet She deserved a better mother. “Look, there’s something we need to discuss.” I moved the conversation quickly away from Mother. I set the comb back on the vanity and walked over to Cindy’s king-sized bed. I sat down on the bed, and Cindy picked up Spooks and sat
down next to me. Cindy stared at our feet hanging off the bed as she continued to pet Spooks.
“I have to go away,” I finally managed, regret filling my voice.
Cindy’s eyes snapped up to meet mine, and I noticed the tears already starting to gather, creating the illusion that her eyes glowed I grabbed Cindy’s hand in my own and continued, “Just for a little while. I need to continue my studies, and I can no longer do that here.”
“You can’t leave me,” Cindy said desperately. “You can’t leave father.”
My face curled in disgust at the mention of our father. If only Cindy knew, I thought sadly. “Why can’t you study here?” Cindy asked.
“I need a special kind of education,” I lied again. I excelled in all my studies, even the magical ones. “One I cannot get here.”
Tears rolled down Cindy’s cheeks, and Spooks leaned up and licked her tears away.
“I need you to be strong, Cindy,” I said, forcing her to look up at me. “I need you to take care of yourself.” I tried to get my meaning across to her, but I was not sure that Cindy fully understood.
“Princess Sophia,” a voice from the door said. I glanced up at my father’s royal attendant. “A word,” he said and motioned for me to follow. I sighed. He would send me off sooner than expected then. I reached the door and turned to look back at Cindy, sitting there with Spooks. Spooks flicked his tail, asking if he should follow, but I held up my hand. Cindy could use the company right now.
I followed the attendant to my father’s office, where he was leaning over paperwork. To my horror, I saw that it was the marriage document. I glared at it.
My father followed my gaze and said, “It must happen.”
“You should be embarrassed that that document even exists,” I hissed. I felt the sudden urge to kill him too, but I was not yet strong enough or willing to fight my way past all the guards.
My father chuckled at my passion. “I appreciate your love for your sister. Your new motherly role,” he spat. “But it won’t be necessary anymore. You will leave in the morning.” With that, he waved a hand of dismissal.
I fumed in my anger, but I did not know what I could do or say to change his mind. I left. After Cindy had fallen asleep, Spooks joined me in my room, and I talked to him as I always do, relating the entire conversation to him even though he already knew most of it. We were linked, him and I, in a way only a witch can be linked with her familiar. He felt everything I felt, and he was equally enraged with my father right now.
“But there’s nothing we can do, Spooks,” I said.
His tail flicked multiple times, agitated, and he bore his eyes into mine.
“We cannot kill him,” I muttered in reply. “Not yet anyway.”
His tail flicked again, and I said fiercely, “We will still protect her. I will not let anything happen to her.”
We went to bed late that night, studying the spells in my book and trying to grow our magic even stronger for when we would inevitably need it.
I left early that morning and ventured to the far edge of the country. My father didn’t care where I went, just as long as I left and did not come back. I found a comfortable cottage and bought it with the money I had stolen from my father. In that time away from Cindy, I continued to practice my magic by the water where it felt strongest. Spooks ran back to the castle every once in a while to gather information and report back to me. He told me the day of the planned wedding and about my sister’s request for extravagant dresses. But they were not extravagant enough to stop the wedding. I traveled to the dress shop in charge of making it and asked them to stall, but they would not because my father had threatened them and their families. It built up my hatred for him even more, and I started the long journey back to the palace on foot.
When I finally got back to the castle, I had barely made it in time for the wedding ceremony. I walked around the guards at the front door, who let me in easily since I was the sister of the bride, and pushed into the grand hall at the palace where the wedding was progressing.
“That is quite enough,” I said, barely managing to keep my voice even and calm, so I wouldn’t scare Cindy. Then, I grabbed Cindy by the arm and started back up the hall. My father fumed with anger and shouted at the guards to stop us, but I waved my hand and the guards turned into lizards at their feet. That was something I learned to do without murmuring the spell while I was away. Cindy stared wide-eyed because she did not yet know my secret. Spooks jumped into the carriage in front of us, and I pushed Cindy inside. Once inside the carriage, I could not contain my anger any longer and snapped, “What did I tell you? I told you to take care of yourself. Do you think that was taking care of yourself? I did not kill our mother-”
“What?”
Shit! I had not meant to let that slip, but I was just so angry. It was blinding. Of course, I planned on telling Cindy the whole story eventually, but now was not the time. I teemed with frustration, and Spooks was starting to get worked up as well.
“What did you just say? You killed our mother?”
“She was about to die anyway,” I said even though I wasn’t really sure that was true, but the sickness did make a good cover for the poison. No one suspected a thing.
Cindy slapped me across the cheek. I could have stopped her, but I knew she needed to vent some of her anger. I almost felt like I deserved it for not telling her sooner. Spooks jumped onto my lap, hissing defensively. Cindy recoiled.
“It’s okay,” I told Spooks, and he backed off, sitting at attention in my lap.
“Stop the carriage!” Cindy shouted, and before I could stop her, she jumped off the carriage.
“Where are you going?” I yelled after her.
But she did not respond and marched onward.
I decided that she needed time, so I went back to the castle, where things were still in disarray after the botched wedding. My father had gone through all that work to silence the council members who disapproved that he was not happy with this outcome. I walked straight into his office, refusing to let anyone stop me.
“What did you do, you little”
“That’s enough,” I said and quieted him with a spell. “Don’t you realize your mistake? Don’t you realize that this was never going to work out for you? You cannot expect to marry your own daughter and live happily ever after!” I paced back and forth in his office, and then I calmed myself, rubbing a hand through my hair, which was sticky with sweat. “You need to let it go. Stop pining after your own daughter and let her live the life she deserves.”
I started to walk away, releasing my father from my spell, but then he said, “I will find her again, and there is nothing you can do to stop our marriage.”
I snapped. Well, I snapped his neck. I’ll admit that I have some anger problems, but nobody is perfect. I walked out of the office and commanded the servant to not let anyone in to bother my father until morning when I would already be long gone. He was hesitant at first, but after a little magical persuasion, he agreed.
I looked down at Spooks. “Let’s go find my sister.”
My sister was falling in love. I wasn’t sure what to think about that. I had Spooks spy on her up close while I watched from a distance. The prince did not seem like a terrible man. He never, for example, tried to marry his mother. But that did not mean he was good enough for my sister. I had to get closer to find out.
I went to every single ball on Sundays and got to dance with him once before he stole away to go see my sister. He was sweet and charming. I was starting to think he would treat my sister well. I watched as he wooed her, and she was so hesitant, so injured by everyone, that she pushed away. It saddened me to see her that way, but maybe the caution was good for her. It meant she hadn’t married him already, anyway. But eventually, she did agree to marry him, and I knew that it was my time to get back into my sister’s good graces. The prince, James was his name, convinced Cindy to see me all on his own, another reason that I liked him, even though I was ready to step in to manipulate the situation.
When the time was right, I sent Spooks to go collect Cindy, and I waited for her by the beautiful fountain just outside the castle’s grounds. I used my magic to swirl the water up before dropping it back down.
“I really hoped you would eventually want to see me again,” I said when I felt her approaching.
Cindy ran to me and hugged me tightly, and I knew then that she would forgive me and all would be right with the world. I hugged her back, and then I pulled away and examined Cindy’s dirty face and donkey skin cloak. I chuckled, “And what are you wearing?”
Cindy pulled it up over her shoulders slightly. “A disguise,” she said defensively.
“Not a very good one. Besides, I already put a charm over you that will make it almost impossible for our father to find you.” Another lie, but it was something I could’ve done. It was my plan, anyway, before I killed him.
“Why are you a witch?” Cindy blurted out, never great at delicately forming her words, one of the reasons she could never be a witch.
“Because I just am,” I replied gently because I could not tell her the real reason. “Are you ready to hear my side of the story now?”
Cindy nodded, so I told Cindy of how our mother was a vain and jealous woman She punished me for anything she could. She argued that everything she did she did for me, but that wasn’t true. She was embarrassed by me and hated that I was smarter than her. She thought I should have been more beautiful than intelligent. Suitors wanted a gorgeous wife, not a smart one. Our mom had been raised in a rough home life, and when she married the king, she did not want anyone to take her place. She did not want anyone to replace her, so on her death bed, she was going to make her husband promise to never remarry unless she be as beautiful, as charming, as captivating as herself.
“I killed her, so you would be safe. It didn’t do any good, anyway, and I knew as soon as Father sent me away that his plan was to marry you. I needed to protect you.”
It was hard for Cindy to hear. I knew that, but I also knew that she would forgive me because even though she was not stupid, she wanted to believe the story I had just told her. It wasn’t all false.
“Should I marry James?” Cindy asked suddenly, wanting my insight just like she used to
I smiled at my sister, and confident that James would not hurt her, replied, “That’s for you to figure out.”
And if he ever does hurt her, I’ll be ready.
