The Final Straw

Life, Identity

Ivan deceives Evelyn and she tells him to stop his advances before deciding to get her relationship with Fenneck back now that he was moving out of his parents house.

Evelyn opened her eyes and looked around her room nervously before waving her hand and relighting all the candles in her room as she awoke from her meditation. She had stolen almost every spare candle or lantern she could from the palace to combat the creepy shadows that plagued her room at night. She also had taken to burning sage and many other herbs that she'd read about combating evil spirits with. She was even experimenting with enchanting items to create wards to protect her at night, but nothing seemed to help. He didn't appear. She just knew he was there. Always watching her. The funeral had finally ended and her uncle had returned to Leniscow, taking General Antov with him after he and her mother had gotten into a screaming match over dinner one night about Evelyn's future. She had managed to take a neutral stance up to this point, hoping not to upset either of them. Ivan hadn't bothered her again but he would frequently stare at her from across a room, clearly trying to judge her position. She had been avoiding Dmitri for his safety, much to her disappoinment. Amalya was still here and from the rumors around the palace he was fullfilling his marital duties to her nightly as they worked to have a child. She hadn't seen Fenneck for weeks. Not since the night she saw him holding Erikur. She wanted to go to him many times but feared he wouldn't be interested in her anymore and she was growing more insecure about their relationship with the passing days.  She got dressed and went up to the balcony to get some fresh air. She always felt better in the open air, even if it was freezing cold. "Hey." She turned and smiled at hearing Dmitri's familiar voice. He walked up next to her and pulled out his pipe to smoke. "Hi," she told him. "How's the wife?" she asked him. "Fullfilled?" He scoffed at her crudeness and offered her the pipe which she happily took, grateful for a moment with him after these stressful weeks. "I suppose," he said half-heartedly. "I've missed you," he told her. "When I told you my wife was visiting I didn't mean for you to completely ignore me." She sighed guiltily. "Sorry," she said, turning her eyes down to look at the city below them. "Things have been... stressful." He nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "I just miss you," he said again, taking a step toward her, causing her heart to skip a beat with his closeness. "Um... I..." Evelyn stuttered nervously as he leaned his face toward hers. "Kiss me, Evelyn," he begged her. "I can't stand this insufferable pain I feel not being with you again," he told her. She squinted at him in confusion. "What- what are you talking about?" she asked him. "We just... we were never together, Dmitri," she told him. He cocked his head at her. "Darling, no one is here," he said, gesturing around the balcony. "Be with me," he said. "I know you want this. How do you think I feel? These nights I can't keep you out of my mind as I make love to my wife. I just see you and your perfect face, Evelyn. I'm going carzy with this love I feel for you." He caressed a lock of hair from her face. "Please," he begged her again as his hand found her waist and pulled her against his chest. She relaxed into his arms and leaned up as he kissed her lips. She tried to pull away as she felt a weird sensation of hair on her neck but he held her firm and forced her to continue kissing him for a moment before he finally released her. She jumped back in fear and gasped in horror as Ivan slowly appeared before her, having used a spell to disguise himself as Dmitri. She stumbled away from him. "You're disgusting!" she exclaimed as tears filled her eyes from his cruel trick. "Oh please," he told her. "I could tell you enjoyed the idea." He gave her a knowing look. She felt her stomach start to churn and she collapsed to the ground and threw up. He scoffed at her. "I'm not that disgusting," he told her in annoyance. She scooted away from him across the cold snow on the floor of the balcony in fear as tears started to stream down her face. "Why are you so mean to me?!" she asked him desperately. He looked at her steadily, unphased by her pain. "I needed leverage," he told her bluntly before walking over to a sightstone that he had left at the door, unbeknownst to her. He picked it up and she watched the smoke inside the ball swirl until it showed their interaction on the balcony that made it look like Dmitri had forcibly kissed her. He shrugged cleverly at her. "You're fucked up!" she cried at him in disgust. "He's your friend, why would you do this to him?" she asked Ivan in fear. He sighed. "I don't want to do this, Evelyn. I do, however, need you to cooperate," he said, taking an ominous step toward her. "I don't want this, Ivan!" she said again. "I don't want to be involved! I just want you to leave me alone! I won't ever speak to Dmitri again, I promise! Please don't do this!" she begged him. He shook his head at her. "I don't want that to be the case," he told her. "I want you to be able to love him. I want you to be free! But we can't have that unless you help me," he told her aggressively. "Together, with our combined magical abilities we can kill our parents and rule Lenisily together." She closed her eyes before reappearing behind him and swiping the sightstone out of his hand, sending it over the balcony. "No!" he shouted in surprise as they watched it shatter on the stones below them. Evelyn teleported into her room and ran out into the hall and down the stairs. She darted past the throne room and burst through the main doors to see Ivan already there, clutching at the broken shards of crystal. He glared menacingly at her and she ran up and grabbed a few of the pieces, knowing he wouldn't dare touch her in front of the guards who were watching the scene in confusion. She collected a handful and quickly backed away. "Fuck you," she told him telepathically. "You fuck with me again and Dmitri won't be the one who gets chopped up for raping a princess." He stared at her in surprise and what Evelyn hoped wasn't respect and she ran back inside the palace and darted up to her room, locking the door behind her.   She threw the shards into the bottom drawer of her vanity and saw the pipe he had given her and she felt herself start to burn with anger at him. She wanted to hurt him. It had taken everything in her not to shoot a blast of fire at him but she didn't want to cause any more fighting. She just wanted this ungodly nightmare to end. She wondered if she could get away with accusing him of raping her. It would be nice to get rid of him and she found herself missing her brother's overprotective tendencies. Ivan would never have dared to touch her when he was alive. She also felt scared. It was her word against his and she wasn't so sure the accusation would hold up. Even if it did, the idea of causing his death was too cruel, even for all the devious things he'd done. She poked her head out of her door and saw a servant whom she beckoned over. "Will you please order all my meals directly to my room for the day? I'm feeling very under the weather and I would like to not be disturbed." The servant nodded. "Of course, your highness," he told her with a polite bow before walking back down the hall. She barricaded herself in her room, trying to distract herself with her spellbooks until night rolled round, bringing with it the insufferable fears of the darkness watching her. She tried to press through it but all she really wanted was to not be so lonely. She wrapped a robe around her shift, turned invisble and teleported to Fenneck's room.   When she arrived she looked around in horror at the almost empty space and saw Fenneck and Erikur walk in and look around the room. Erikur picked up the single box on the floor and carried it out of the room and Evelyn grabbed Fenneck's arm. "What's happening?!" she whispered to him as she sent a wave of magic into him so that he could see her. "I'm moving out!" Fenneck told her in a frantic, quiet whisper. "You need to leave. I live on the first level now," he explained as Erikur walked back into the room. "Hey, who you talking to?" he asked Fenneck suspiciously, unable to see Evelyn's invisible state. Fenneck turned to him and the two shared a look. "Ah," Erikur said in understanding. "I'll watch guard, I guess," he said before walking back out into the kitchen. Fenneck turned back to Evelyn. "I'm sorry," he told her. "Can we try to talk about this later?" he asked her sadly. "My parents will be back any moment now." Evelyn nodded. "You have your own house now? On the first layer?" she asked again to confirm. He nodded. "I live next door to Naertho. Blue door about ten doors away from the shop. I'm officially a tailor now so I... I get to live up there." They heard the front door open and he nodded for Evelyn to leave. She nodded and teleported back into her room.    It took her a moment to process this. He was getting his own home? She felt a wave of sadness wash over her as she realized how disconnected she was from him and his life. She wanted him back. She wanted herself back. She wanted to feel how she had the day they met in Naertho's shop, before all this family drama started and before her frightening new companion. She curled up in her bed, hiding from the shadows and closed her eyes, trying to remember her perfect, happy memories with him. When she opened her eyes the next day she decided to take what she could get. She needed to be with him. To be happy again. To feel alive again. She turned herself invisible and snuck into the kitchen and filled a magical bag she had full of food and ingredients before going back to her room and locking the door again with another sign saying she wished not to be disturbed before making an appearance in the kitchen and collecting some bread and fruit and telling them she wouldn't be needing any meals for the day. She locked her door with the usual bolt before performing a spell on it to make sure it was secure. She then turned herself into smoke and sneakily made her way through the palace and down into the first level of the mountain. She passed the shop and counted the doors until she saw the pretty blue door he had told her about. She slipped under the crack in the door and investigated all the rooms, making sure no one was there and recognizing Fenneck's belongings before she reconstituted herself in his living room. She set the bag of food she had down on the table and wandered through the house, admiring it. She found herself wishing she could have this. This life. This simple, innocent, happy life. She thought about how wonderful it would be to grow old with Fenneck here. To have his babies and be his wife. She imagined playing with their children together and she started to cry. She wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and she sat on his couch, crying softly as she dreamed of a happier future for herself, away from all the evil, horrible people in the palace. She finally collected herself and went into the kitchen. Her goal was to make him a celebratory meal for his new home and promotion. She also wanted to make up for her weeks of silence. She took out the ingredients and food and pulled out the little cookbook she'd stolen from the kitchen. "This should be easy, right?" she muttered to herself out loud. "It's like a spell... sort of?" She spent nearly half the day figuring out how to make this knish recipe. It was very stressful and Evelyn found herself struggling to understand the recipe and how to cook in general. She took one look at the oven before shrugging and magically making a fire inside it and she put the somewhat sad-looking rolls into the oven. She then walked into the bedroom and waved her hand over the bed, creating a flurry of red rose petals to cover it. She had a lot to make up for, after all. She checked the time and realized he would be getting home soon and she threw her robe off and laid down on the bed, hoping this stupid plan wouldn't backfire.