Dark Queen: The Cybelline Prophecies

Epilogue - Miri - Part 2 of 3

The immortal king walked calmly towards the Lavender gardens and entered through the main gates. Today the vast gardens did not hold many lovers as it usually did, being that the summer solstice celebrations were held in another part of the city. He walked on the granite stones that curved through the grass and roses, towards the hill in the distance. The sound of water met his ears as he saw, over the gently sloping bank, a lazy river with a red bridge that connected it to the other side.

He knew where he was and it was a punch in the chest. This is where she died. This was the battlefield that they had fought on. This was the tree that she had stood under, holding her sword in front of her, protecting the fae. 

The giant Purple Fern stood like a king over his domain, the purple flowers by the millions, flowing with the breeze, dancing on the dark branches.

His heart pounded in his chest as he approached the woman in the gardens. Her back was to him as she was crossing the bridge towards the grand tree. 

"Lady?"

The figure on the bridge paused and turned around. 

Three hundred years had passed since they looked at each other. She stood at the top of the bridge, looking at him, with a question in her eyes. 

The one who was cursed to remember. 

And the one who chose to forget. 

He held up his hand, and in his palm was a delicate silver pin with sapphire roses.

Miri's hand flew up to her hair, "My hairpin."

Her voice was as he remembered, soft and lyrical, yet it held the will of iron and steel.

Miri looked at the stranger and smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry sir, but in my country it is considered unlucky to touch the hand of a stranger when I am only three days from my wedding."

"Of course. I understand." He placed the delicate hairpin on the pillar of the bridge.

She came over and picked it up with a grateful smile, "Are you also waiting for you intended?"

The man blinked, "I'm sorry?"

"I thought you were here for the same reasons as me and my betrothed. We came to pray at the Lover's tree." Miri gestured to the large tree with swaying purple flowers.

"The lover's tree?"

"Yes, long ago, a woman planted this tree, praying that she would one day be reunited with her love. It's tradition in our city that before marriage, the man and woman come to pray for a long and happy union."

Three hundred years ago...This place. Her. He closed his eyes in pain. 

She had stood here, bleeding and broken, her sword in front his armies, blocking their path. She had told him that he would never cross the river as long as she stood guard.

"Yes, I was waiting for my intended." He forced himself to say, hoping for a few more words with her. Grasping at straws, "Is the hairpin very important to you?"

"Very much so, it's a family heirloom." 

"It suits you." As if he couldn't help himself, he asked, quietly, "Are you happy?" 

Her smile brightened, and the sight nearly blinded him. The image of his Miri and this girl seemed to fold together, pulling him back to the times where her smiles belonged only to him. 

"Yes."

"Forgive me for being so forward" He said softly, "How did you know that you found yours?"  

Miri paused for a short while as if in thought. When she responded there was a quiet, dreamlike quality to her voice,  "When I was little, my grandmother told me that we are all tied by the red threads of fate. Some will bring you joy. And others sorrow." Her eyes seemed to hold wells of contentment, "He has brought me nothing but joy."

She clasped her hands together, "How can I not be happy?" 

Her smile was like the sun. It blinded him until only the inky image of her dying shadow passed through his eyes.

"But what if one day, he disappointed you? If he brought you only sadness?" Jasreth asked softly

Only the sound of falling flowers and rushing water could be heard as she thought about his question. 

"Then I will leave." She said after a while, a slight frown on her face, "I will forget him."  

These were words that a lady of her standing would never say. A lady would say her lord would never do anything to besmirch her honor. Or she would smile and not answer the rude question. But she did, before she could stop herself. She blinked, confused by her very own answer. 

The immortal saw her confusion, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." 

Miri pulled herself out of her reverie,"No, it is I who should apologize, I don't know what came over me." 

"Not at all." He added quietly, "I am glad that you have found someone worthy."

Miri looked at him a little puzzled, "Have we met before? I can't place it, but there's something so very familiar about you."

But the name would not come to her. She was reminded the lemon drops she used to eat as a child, the name dissolving on the tip of her tongue, a little sweet, a little sour, a little bitter.

The immortal bowed, "Thank you. I must leave you now." He turned away from her.

"Sir." Miri called out, "I hope you and your love find happiness."

Then he said something that she would never understand, "She is already the happiest I've ever found her to be." 

He turned to leave and swallowed the bitterness and longing, it's bile burning its way back down his rib cage. 

The strings of fate have been cut between you and I, and I can only watch as you fly away into the winds. What is gone is gone, the price for pride and ambition.     

Once he was out of her sight, he raised his spells once more, making himself invisible to the world

He turned around to stare at her. He was a shadow of her past, a smudge that time had already erased. 

But she was everything to him, the coming of spring in the dying winter. 

One last glance. His reward and punishment for eternal solitude. 

Miri blinked at his abrupt exit, not quite sure if the conversation had been real or a dream, for it had happened as suddenly as it had ended. 

She turned away, her back to him as she walked towards the lover's tree, into a snowstorm of purple blooms. 

He did not see the single tear that rolled across her cheek, nor the expression of shock as she touched her own face, not knowing why she wept.

He smiled, burying that seed of extinguished hope him underneath his heart once more. 

I only want you to be happy, even if I can't be the man who makes you smile.