Her Maiden

Chapter Twenty-six: Mask

You feel your heart sink in a terrible way that you hadn't thought it capable of.
"What?" you manage, your voice catching in your throat as it tightens in dread.

She looks at you sadly. Your heart thumps and a terrible, sickly feeling washes down the back of your neck.

"What did I do wrong?" you implore, voice trembling, her silence making you feel so much worse.

She gazes at you pensively for a moment.

"Nothing, absolutely not a thing, my sweet girl," she murmurs softly.

You want her to cup your face, to draw you close and tell you this was all a bad joke or a misunderstanding.

She doesn't.

"Then... why? Why are you saying that our time is over?"

You feel sick. It's that same heart stopping feeling as when you tip too far back in a chair. The terrible moment where you know you are about to fall and there's nothing that you can possibly do to stop it.

She was letting you fall.

"You have served me so very well, darling girl," she begins, "but we both understood that this arrangement had a time limit, didn't we?"

You blink back tears.

"Alcina, that doesn't make sense. I still don't understand!" you exclaim, feeling your voice shake.

You hug your arms, suddenly feeling so very hurt and alone, despite her standing right there before you.

The hall feels deathly quiet, the air strangely cold and thick, hanging over you both heavily as she takes a deep, somber breath.

"This is my fault, for allowing us to become carried away with ourselves," she says softly, "allowing us to feel something more than we ought to. Best to stop it now, before things become... complicated," she finishes, looking away from you at that.

You shake your head in disbelief.

"So that's it? You've just decided to call it a day and bottle me now, all because we... because we were enjoying being with one another too much?" you say incredulously, wiping a tear from your cheek quickly, trying to remain composed.

You should feel frightened at the prospect of your death.

Your life, cut short, just when you had begun to truly enjoy it - before your blood turned stale.

You should feel frightened. Yet, all you feel is heartbroken by the notion that Alcina no longer wants you.

She looks back at you quickly then, a small look of surprise on her face.

"Bottle you? Y/n, I am releasing you. There is... There is absolutely nothing in this world which could compel me to harm you," she trembles, "I am letting you leave the castle, to start whatever kind of next chapter you wish to in your life."

"Alcina -"

"Do not interrupt me, you know better than that," she warns, "you are young, but you are mortal. Your time is limited. I no longer feel comfortable confining you here for my own sake. You are far too precious for that. You have far too much to offer this world to squander your days away here."