Once Upon Many Times

Night of the Celebration, Part 2

As Brielle is talking to Adam, hope buzzing within her, Athelyna moves about the palace, her eyes taking in all the luxuries to be found. She starts to glide towards the stairs that lead up to the private rooms, looking for one particular room, Brielle’s. Once she had found it, she entered, closing the door behind her, quietly. She takes her time touching everything within her sight longingly, her eyes take on a twinkle of mischief and envy. She starts to think about the first time she has met the family and their precious daughter, Princess Brielle.

Flashback

“Athelyna, I’m going to need you to stay in the back and quiet. Mommy is going to have a guest, and I want you to stay here for me, okay, sweetheart,” Seraphina says as she places her four-year-old daughter in her playroom, her homemade toys placed with her. The young girl happily plays with her toys, not understanding why she needs to be in the back room right now, but she feels OK, knowing her mommy is nearby. As the young child plays, she hears a foreign voice and her mother’s, but doesn’t move from her spot.

As time goes by, Athelyna is sent to the playroom as her mother has frequent guests who come to the hut, including the really pretty lady whose belly is really big. Mommy tells her she is having a little girl too, and that maybe one day, they will be friends and grow up together. Little A, as her mother calls her sometimes, smiles and nods her head. It does get lonely sometimes when her mother has to work, and Little A would like to play with someone other than her pretend friends and toys. One day, her mother is excitedly packing some of their items and toys for her. The queen is in labor and needs her mother to help her with her unborn daughter. Little A is happy too. She gets to leave the hut for a little bit while mommy is helping the queen, and she gets to see what a palace looks like. Maybe it’ll be like in the stories her mother tells her as she gets ready for bed. Happily, mother and daughter venture out of the woods towards the palace for this great day of adventure.

While Seraphina is in the birthing room, Athelyna is in a room with other children. Some of the children belong to the staff and a couple are royals. They play together, the staff's children, with Little A, showing and sharing some of their toys and other items; the two princes do not, though one is nearing two-years old, so he hasn’t learned how to share, but his older brother, who is five-years old, does. She’s okay with that, they’re boys, and she doesn’t want to play with them if they don’t want to play with her, she thinks to herself.

The day moves slowly, and Little A is getting bored. Her new friends have moved on, some going home with their parents, who were done for the day. She is still under the watchful eyes of the nanny of the prince and is eagerly awaiting her own mother so they can go home. She is feeling tired. When all the staff have finally left for the day, the boredom becomes difficult for her, causing her to sneak away from the nanny and wonder around the large palace in search of her mother. She listens out for her mother’s voice, hoping to find her, when she hears someone screaming, grunting, and yelling, terrifying her tiny little heart. Suddenly, she hears her mother and walks quickly towards her voice. She opens the door further that was never fully closed and sees her mother at the end of the bed, with the queen also on the bed, her legs bent and face red. She looks angry to the little girl, her cheeks puffed as she breathes heavily before she screams again. Fearfully, the child is silent, watching it all, not understanding what is going on until there is then a little screeching sound, and her mother’s voice exclaims, “She is finally here, my Queen. What a truly beautiful little girl you have here.”

As her mother quickly cleans the baby before wrapping her in a tiny blanket, she walks towards the king and hands him his newly born daughter, saying a short blessing before returning to the queen, to get her cleaned and begin the healing process. It is as her mother moves towards the bottom of the bed when she notices her own daughter is in the room.

“Athelyna, darling, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be downstairs.”

“Is that a baby, Mommy?” she asked in astonishment.

“Yes, sweetness. She is the new princess. A blessing from the Moon Goddess. She’ll do great things when she is all grown up, and you’ll get to witness it when the time comes”, her mother answers.

“Okay,” was all she could say before she walked to her mother, sleepiness beginning to take hold of her. “I’m tired.” She then promptly fell asleep.

Ten years later

Athelyna is in the palace with her mother, looking around, her eyes soaking in all she sees, jealousy colors her emotions. She and her mother live in a hidden hut in the middle of the woods, the path marked with intricate marks only known by those who pay well for it. Here, the Royals have everything, all the luxuries they don’t even use, maybe don’t even know exists. While she has little to nothing, the Royal brats have too much, especially the princess, treated like she is oh-so-precious. All the pretty dresses, the best toys, always given as gifts by visiting pack members. It just wasn’t fair!

Shaking herself, trying to have a clear mind, Athelyna heads towards Princess Brielle’s room and walks in, closing the door quietly behind her. She knew the girl wouldn’t be in her room because her mother and the queen were having her checked out, “because she’s SOOO special,” she said mockingly.

She throws herself on the bed, feeling the softness of the bed, the comforter, pillows, Goddess, everything. Her bed was made of a thin sheet stuffed tightly with straws, no pillow, and a woolen blanket. Everything was always itchy, drove her crazy while she tried to sleep. She was always miserable with the little sleep she got.

“So, what do we have to do for this prophecy to come to fruition, Seraphina? She’s ten-years old now, what are we waiting for here?” the queen asked, her voice carried in the hallway, close to the princess’ room.

Panicking, Athelyna tries to hide under the bed, questions buzzing in her head. ‘Prophecy, what does that mean? And what does the little brat have to do with it?’

Her mother answers her questions unknowingly, "What I believe we are waiting for is the day she and her fated mate claim and mark each other. Once that happens, she will become powerful.”

Hearing her mother’s words shocks Athelyna to her core. She is completely taken by surprise, anger thrumming through her as she asks herself, ‘What? Why is she being favored? What is so special about her? She’s nothing, just a dumb princess, ugh!!! Well, I won’t let that happen. She’ll never be claimed and mated; I’ll be sure of that.’

Present time

Her trip down memory lane completed, she leaves the room and heads back to the party, in hopes of finding the princess before her time comes for her first shift. That would be the time she could possibly find her mate, something she needed to stop at all cost. She needs to find the girl and make sure that she never meets her mate. She had learned all she could from her mother, but unbeknownst to her mother, she had also gotten some help from some witches who had helped her create a curse. During her many times visiting the palace, she snuck into the princess’ room and gathered some items necessary. She has finally gotten the last bit tonight, and will complete it while she still has time. Midnight is only a couple of hours away. Just enough time to get it all set.