Ivy dressed Sasha up in blue colours, the dress, the hairband and the long light blue gloves.  

“I’ve missed you”, Sasha said and hugged Ivy close.

“You shouldn’t have come”, Ivy said softly. “I was in no real danger and now you lost all your magic.”

“What if you had been in danger?” Sasha countered.

“You would have known”, Ivy laid her hand on Sasha´s heart and tapped.

Sasha could feel the soft healing power from Ivy. She was almost fully healed and really didn’t need it, but Ivy still pampered her.

“We were so close.” Sasha couldn’t bring the sentence to an end. Angry tears were stuck in her eyes. Ivy stroked her back.

“It’s never easy Sasha, but we will win, not now, but soon.”

“I want to kill them.”

“I know. But you have to believe. That’s why I want you to stay close to Elias tonight. If you feel the urge to kill, take it out on him, not the queen and certainly not the king.”

“You won’t help me?”

Ivy let go of Sasha and she started to sing an old lullaby. She looked around in the room, picking up a flower from the vases, sticking a white lily behind Sasha’s ear. It looked remarkably against her black silky hair. 

“I want you to look innocent today, fragile. They are not to know what they are up to Sasha. You have to earn their trust. Could you do that?”

“No”, Sasha shook her head. “I will try to be quit, but I cannot lie. If I talk, they will know.”

Ivy pushed Sasha in front of the mirror, it was not a soft pull, and Sasha knew she was irritated.

“Smile Sasha. Show me. We have practised, I know you can.”

Sasha wanted to chew on something, but she did as she was told.

“And now, what do you do if you want to punch something?” her sister asked and Sasha grinned. She knew this one.

“I kill Elias”, she said.

“Good, very good”, Ivy said. “Elias have burned down your home, with you as a witness, he is free of charge. You can hate him as much as you like, but when the queen talks, you smile.”

There was pure coldness in Ivy’s voice, and Sasha knew she had to rail her feelings back. It was not the first time she had gotten herself into trouble by not listening to her sister. This mission was too important to be careless.  

Ivy smoothened out Sasha’s hair. She took a deep breath.

“Don’t fail me on this one.”

Sasha nodded and closed her eyes. She tried to form a smile on her lips, but she felt like weeping.

“I´ll just have to check me outfit”, she said and disappeared to the toilet.

Sasha silently closed the door and locked it carefully. She tried to bring the warm magic from inside, but it was not answering. She put her hands on her heart and smiled to the figure in the mirror. The girl in the mirror was ugly and Sasha couldn’t stand looking at her. Her legs felt squashy and she sank down towards the floor. Luckily for her, the place was clean. 

“Are you ready?”

“No. Who will be there?”

“The queen, the king, and their closest servers. They wouldn’t like too many people to attend.”

“Not out of politeness I would suppose?”

“Certainly not”, Ivy laughed “Although dressed up and gorgeous that hideous blue eye of yours still disturbs the Lady.”  

Sasha smiled. She could live with a blue eye. What she couldn’t live with was not getting her revenge.

“I need a weapon Ivy. Do you know how to get one?”

“Asking Elias?”

“Yeah, sure, as if that would ever happen. He knows how I feel about the king.”

“Too bad you got yourself a watchdog. Not thinking of doing anything reckless are you?”

“If by reckless you mean hunting down a certain mister Aiden, then I would suppose you are right.”

There was a heavy knock on the door and Ivy swirled around. She looked petite in her light lilac dress, as a small Linnea flower too perfect to touch.

“Good. I think I could arrange a weapon, but for now”, Ivy whispered and pointed towards the door, her blue eyes the colour of ice, once again confirming that there was nothing fragile with her, “smile.”

“Yes misses mastermind. I will smile for you.”

“I know”, Ivy said and nixed as the door flung open. “Elias, how good to see you.”

“You are late”, Elias greeted.

His eyes left Ivy´s and landed on Sasha. He involuntary inhaled and lifted a brow. She smiled politely, trying her best to copy the untouchable grace that Ivy was so good at performing.

“You clean up pretty good”, he said and reach out his hand towards her. The eyes were amber yellow, fixated on her, shining with the same intensity as they had when they wrestled. “Really nice.”

“Thanks”, Ivy said and slipped her hand in Elias.

Sasha tried to cover her smile and walked two steps after her sister.

“All of my children in the same room.”

The queen´s eyes were misty. She smiled and looked at Elias and Ivy.

“Mother”, Elias said and gave her cheek a kiss.

“Darling. You will always be mine. As will you”, the queen continued and welcomed Ivy with a hug.

The smile was even brighter as she turned to Sasha. Sasha looked at Ivy, and she smiled. It was not touching her eyes, but she did her very best.  Her mother took her hands in hers.

“I´m so sorry we have missed so much time.” She squeezed softly and the eyes became even more moisty.

Sasha felt pain in her face, the smile rigid, as if painted and sculptured in place. She couldn’t answer, couldn’t reciprocate. The queen tugged her closer, giving her a soft hug.

“You can call me Anna. I understand that this is hard on you.”

“Anna”, Sasha tasted the word. She didn’t even know her mother’s name until now. She was the almighty, the queen. No one said anything else.  

“Leonard”, Anna said and looked behind her shoulder. “Come and welcome our children.”

The king rose from his chair. He looked fondly at the queen and squeezed her shoulders gently.

“Three such nice kids”, he said and looked briefly at them. “You will make Anna happy.” He eyed them up “I want Anna to be happy, to get back the years that were stolen.”

Sasha felt real pain in her face muscles. 

“But you have been lucky, having Elias to console you”, Ivy said. “He is such a fine man, a copy of the two of you.”

“Well isn’t he”, Sasha agreed, and she grinned naturally. “He plays with magic as expertly as the queen herself.”

Ivy nodded approvingly, the queen and the king beamed. Elias looked with narrow eyes at her.

“My ladies”, Elias said and pointed towards the table.

He pulled out a chair, firstly ensuring that Ivy got seated, whispering something in her ear before turning around to Sasha. Sasha heard her sister snicker, and she saw the approving look from the queen. Anna really did have a soft spot for her sister. The king missed the scene completely, being totally focused on the queen’s dress.

Elias pulled out another chair, looking expectantly at Sasha.

“You could dress the cat in the finest cotton, but the claws will still be sharp”, he said and laid a hand on her hip. He steered her down in the chair, then seated himself in-between her and her sister.

“If you say”, Sasha replied under her breath. “I assume you know her better than me.”

Elias chuckled.

“You looked better as a mud wrestler, your skin soaked in dirt.”

His voice was low, it raised fond memories and Sasha squeezed her hands in her lap. Elias patted her on her back and then turned to look at his parents.

“I assume it is shrimps?” he asked as the waiters came in. “Or do we have something extra for the guests?”

“It´s Friday” the queen answered. “Off course we have shrimps.”

Elias didn’t touch the bowl of seafood. He endured the dinner at silence, as did Sasha. She concentrated on the scrimps, listening to the queen and Ivy chatting. Elias reached forward and took some bread. He ate it with his fingers, tearing it to small pieces.

“About next month’s competition. Do we add two extra or am I free to go?” he suddenly asked, interrupting the queen midsentence.

“They all have been looking forward to the competition”, the king said. “And it is a perfect opportunity.”

Anna slowly pulled the head of a shrimp. She tugged at it, savouring the taste.

“It might be wise to reconsider, digesting this new landscape. Or what do you think Elias?”

“You have been prone to find me a wife for the better part of the last year, just chancel the bloody tournament.” He took another piece of bread and shredded it into pieces.

The queen rolled her eyes and frowned. The king was looking out the window, seemingly more interested in the sunset than the conversation at the table.

“Tournament?” Ivy asked.

“They have created a magic labyrinth, designed to find me the perfect match”, Elias said dryly. “You know, this wonderful creatures with less than three brain cells, that could think of nothing better to do, than to plan the next big dinner for the castle to hold.”

Anna inhaled sharply and laid a hand on her chest.

“Elias!” the king yelled. “That’s more than enough. It would make your mother happy to have some more folks around here.”

“Well, by hell, why don’t you get yourself some more children then.” Elias said and he rose from the chair. “Sasha, you are coming with me. We don’t have time for this. You need to train.”

Sasha looked from Ivy to the queen. Ivy nodded just so slightly, stay close, she had said, especially when you feel murderous. Sasha smiled broadly at Anna.

“Well, you can’t have a weak witch, can you?” she said and hurried after Elias.