A Lover and A Liar

The Loophole

Taking a deep breath, Alina walked to her queen-sized bed and sat down on the edge of it as she went through the conversation she had just had with Max a few minutes ago.

He knew... But he wasn't going to use it against her, Alina was sure of it. And perhaps this was one of the few times when she didn't feel that much alone in this castle. Not that outside of it she had a loving family to wait for her. Except for her grandmother that was still under the threat of Vincent's wolves, Alina had no one.

Her fingers rested on an open book, and it took her a second or two to realize it was actually one of the Grimoires she had recently found on the library, opened in a random page she didn't actually remember.

Prominens Alica, was written as the title of it, in a beautiful handwriting. Projecting Spell. 

Alina's eyes went down the lines almost involuntary, her heart racing faster. It was a strong spell, she could feel the magic rolling off of the old paper of the Grimoire, but it was not a dark spell.

Without losing time, Alina formed a circle on the floor with many candles she already hidden on her room, sitting cross legged in the center of it with the Grimoire in front of her. It was a kind of magic she had never tried using before. Protecting spells required light-witches of rare powers, but most importantly, old witches of high experience. When in fact Alina was just a twenty-year-old, inexperienced witch, that had no idea about her unexplored powers.

But if there was someone who could help her, it was Granny Margot. And if there was a way to reach Granny Margot, it was this one.

So she closed her eyes, and mumbled out loud the words she had already memorized on her head.

"Hoc magicae utar,

esse ubi non sum.

Hoc magicae utar,

videre non possum.

Ibi me mittere, Ibi me proiciamus,

Paulisper, ambulare ubi non possum.¹" 

It didn't work at first, so without losing hope, Alina repeated the words once more, a bit louder this time.

Nothing.

It was making her feel frustrated, worthless, but one last time Alina closed her eyes and said the words in their language, this time picturing clearly their small living room in her head, where her Granny would be, throwing woods on their fire-place, or cleaning the house.

And the next second, before she knew it, Alina was standing legs-crossed on the floor of her own living room, and there were no candles around her although she could still feel the heat coming from them.

It was like an out of body experience, one that was similar yet so different to the one she had used upon Max. That day, she could see the world from another being's eyes. Right now, it felt like she belonged in that room, but in the same time she did not.

"Lina?!" Granny Margot's voice came strained and shocked and thick with emotion. "My sweet child, you're alive!" A pot fell from her hands, breaking into thousands of pieces, but the old witch only ran to her and attempted to take her niece in her arms. Only that it didn't work. It seemed Alina couldn't touch any object from this room she had projected herself into. "What's wrong?" her grandmother asked.

"Prominens Alica," Alina explained in two words, and realization filled her eyes.

"There's no way you could..." she trailed off, shocked, "you could... know how to project yourself here." But it seemed like realization made its way to her face, like she had figured something out on her own.

"Yet I could." These three words and the tone behind them hid a deeper meaning to them; all the questions Alina had that her grandmother had never tried to give any answer to. "But I don't have time for this, Granny. I need your help."

Margot was magicless, it had always been like that since Alina could remember. She had never told her niece the reason why, but that was the cause of her sickness. Which meant magic powers wasn't the kind of help Alina was asking for. And she wanted to know where things, explanations, spells that weren't written in Grimoires.

To be more specific, a reverse spell. If there was a way she could break the fake bond between Julian and Katherine, so Julian could feel the bond to her, she could explain everything to him. He would believe her then.

Forgive her, though? Alina did not think so.

"You have to help me," she almost pleaded. "There has to be a way."

"A way for what?" her grandmother asked her, worry written in her face. "What has happened to you, my child?"

Alina had the urge to just hide herself in her grandmother's loving arms and never get away from there; but that would be impossible. Giving up from her mate now was not even an option.

"I need a reverse spell," she requested, her voice desperate. "One that reverses a curse that has messed up a mate bond."

Margot's eyes widened in shock, her mouth hanging open. "But that's impossible. Messing up with fate, with the willing of the Gods and Goddesses is pure dark magic."

Tears filled up Alina's pleading eyes.

"What does this have to do with you?" Margot demanded, her voice trembling. "Lina, what have you done?"

The tears rolled down her face freely. "Please. It's about my mate," she begged, crying. "I had no other choice. But I have to change this. I have to reverse this, I have to do something or he'll die." Her body had started to tremble. "There has to be a loophole, something I have overlooked somewhere."

Margot had tears in her eyes as well. "There is a loophole, my child. Like every other curse, this one has a loophole too," she explained, stroking Alina's curls although all she could touch was air. "But is not one you can cast."

Alina furrowed her brows together, wiping her tears with her wrists. "What does that even mean?" she questioned. "I don't care if it's dark magic, Granny, I don't care if it kills me as a consequence! I just have to know the words. Please, look in mother's Grimoires, it has to be something in there." If she didn't find a way soon, Alina would go crazy. The powerful spell was consuming all her energy too, she could feel it in her body, she didn't have much time left.

"They weren't your mother's, Alina." Granny's voice had turned cold, like every time she talked about any of Alina's parents. "They were your father's. They are Dark Grimoires, and you cannot touch them."

Alina was confused. That they were forbidden to touch, Alina was aware of; Granny had always hidden them well. But why, she had never known. "What do you mean father's? Father was a potion-maker, he couldn't perform dark magic, right?"

Margot didn't answer to that. "There is nothing you are searching for in those cursed books, Alina," she reassured. "Because there doesn't exist a safe wording spell that reverses the mate bond one, neither light nor dark."

The world could have collapsed right now, it would mean nothing to Alina. "But- but," she stuttered, "but, this cannot be possible..."

"Love breaks the fake bond," Margot sighed in defeat. "He has to choose his true mate over his fake one, from the depth of his soul, completely on his free will. That is the loophole. It only depends on him and his choice. If you mess it up again with your magic by trying to fix it, you might lose your mate forever."

"No..." Alina shook her head, desperate. "This cannot be true. I'm running out of time."

As she looked down on her hands, they were starting to disappear.

"Make him realize who he really loves."

"How?"

But she didn't get an answer. Instantly, Alina found herself back on her chambers, legs-crossed on the floor, with a circle of candles around her and tears on her eyes. The spell had drained her of all energy, and all she wanted to do was lie down and sleep.

Or perhaps it was not fully the spell. It was how hopeless she felt.

There was a knock on the door that made Alina instantly get on her feet, hiding the candles and the Grimoires by moving them with her eyes, that took a lot of energy as well, and when she opened the door, she room was perfectly clean of every trace that could give her away.

But it was just the maid assigned to help Alina, no matter how much she had protested it was not necessary at first.

"I'm preparing you a bath, my Lady," she informed Alina, which was strange because Alina had not requested such thing, but she was too tired physically and emotionally to object. A bath was good. A bath was what she needed right now.

When the maid was back, she started searching around in Alina's wardrobe, all gowns that she had found here in the guest chambers because surely, none of them had ever belonged to them.

"Which one, my Lady?" the maid asked, showing her two gowns, one black and one golden.

Alina frowned. They were too big and fancy for it not to be a royal event. "What would I need them for?"

"For the ball, of course," the maid said it matter-of-factly, as if Alina was supposed to know something she didn't.

"What ball?"

The young maid gasped in shock, like there was a ghost and not a witch in front of her. "You don't know?!" She facepalmed herself.

Alina was tired of this game of words. "Don't know what?" she demanded.

"Lady Katherine is pregnant! Her and the King are organizing a ball. Although I think Lady Katherine is organizing it herself, the King isn't very fond of balls. I bet now he'll even mark her, maybe there will be a wedding too..."

The words blurred on the background, there was nothing but a buzzing noise that numbed her head, and a heart ache.

And it was a piercing one. Like someone had put a knife right through it.

It was agonizing.

Alina tripped on her feet as she tried reaching her bed to sit down on the edge of it, and it was the maid that help her stand up. "My Lady, my Lady..." she called, but the voice sounded like it was coming from afar. "What's wrong? You look sick."

Breathe, she told herself. Breathe, Alina. Breathe.

Taking deep breaths, Alina managed to somehow steady her strong-beating heart.

"My Lady, are you alright?"

She only managed to nod as the maid offered her a glass of cold water.

It helped. Alina could see the room clearer again.

"Do you need me to call the doctor?"

"No, no," Alina said the words faster than breathing. "I'm alright... really. Just a headache." Her eyes fell on the gowns that were laying on the other side of the bed. "Black," she said. "The black one."

"But, my Lady, I think the golden one will suit you more, especially with your eyes."

Alina wanted to laugh bitterly, but she didn't find the strength inside herself to do so. She felt numb.

"No, the black one is perfect," she insisted in a small voice. "It's no different than a funeral to me, anyway."

.

.

.

___

Translation:

¹ "I use this magic,

to be where I am not.

I use this magic,

to see what I can not.

Send me there, Project me there.

For a short time, to walk where I can not."