Empathy's Curse

Ch. 3 Snow

There happened to be two other chairs in the small area against a staircase. Elizabeth chose the one on the opposite side of the lady, a small side table in between them. The courage that was present in her veins before had begun to evaporate- she was expecting to fight for her and her mother's life, but the strange woman had simply dropped her defensive nature. Elizabeth wasn't one to start a fight if there was no need to, and although she hadn't received an answer yet, she didn't want to use aggression to get it. Aggression with someone more powerful than oneself was a recipe for disaster unless it was the only option left, and Elizabeth truly felt as though she were out of them. A criminal who had broken into this woman's castle, and narrowly escaped her... well she wasn't certain what those women were to her- anyone would have wanted her dead. She was in no position to demand for answers. For all she knew, her mother had done the very same thing that she had.

"What is your name?"

It was the lady who spoke first, not Elizabeth. Elizabeth was too concerned about what her mother had possibly done when she reached the castle. She was a passionate woman, and sometimes that fire was dangerous.

"Elizabeth Snow," Elizabeth said tentatively. The confidence, too, had begun to dwindle. Her eyes did not meet the golden orbs of the stranger next to her. She just wanted to know what had happened to her mother...

A small smile formed upon Alcina's face. So she was not the woman her mother had harmed. She hadn't thought about her Mother in quite some time. Of course she spoke with her as needed, but it had been some time since she had seen the woman, and the image of her popped into her head almost instantly when she thought about the power dynamic. Why did she care about thinking empathetically towards this prey? This hadn't happened before... and cases like hers had occurred beforehand. She had met daughters, brothers, fathers and mothers in search of their kin, but their deaths were swift, or she toyed with them, like she did in the fantasy she had previously. What made her dwell on that simple thought? If she hadn't, she would still be toying with Elizabeth...

Was she becoming soft? Weak? Mother Miranda would have called her weak. Pathetic.

"May I ask what your name is?" Elizabeth ventured.

"I'm sorry?" Alcina said, distracted by the pressing thoughts of Mother Miranda in her mind.

Elizabeth turned to the woman, and asked again. She felt as though she was being rude by not looking into the eyes of whom she was talking to. But she soon found out it wouldn't have mattered anyways because the lady was looking elsewhere.

"I am called Lady Dimitrescu by most, but my name in full is Alcina Dimitrescu," the woman said, suddenly coming back to reality. She turned to look down at Elizabeth, her eyes much softer than before.

"Where is my mother, Lady Dimitrescu?" Elizabeth asked. The fire was gone from her voice, and now she sounded rather defeated, but this time, she kept eye contact.

Alcina would have told the woman beside her what had happened at this point- nothing to hide and nothing to lose. But she did have something to hide and to most certainly lose- the trust she could cultivate with this woman. But why? Why bother forming a bond with her? And why her? Alcina wasn't entirely certain at the time, but she felt as though the empathy she felt for the woman should not be wasted. It just puzzled her greatly that she hadn't had a moment of empathy for the other women she had bitten or torn apart. She had been so caught up in the brutality of it that even if a thought had crossed her mind about the pain she was causing, she dismissed it as if it were nothing. She must be going soft. There was no other reasonable explanation.