Beautiful Freaks (17 page)

The queen
looked each way down the corridor
;
sure that the baby’s mother must be close at hand, yet the whole cast
le seemed deserted. B
eing of a caring heart
, she
picked up the basket and took it inside.

When the baby woke
,
it smiled at her
,
and for the first time in many years she knew what it was to love another being.

After a few days, when no one had come to claim the child, she dared to name her. She called her Seraphina
;
angel from heaven. With the naming of the child, milk flowed from her breast and the child and Queen
became
mother and daughter.

Years passed and each day Seraphina became more beautiful and accomplished. The whole palace adored her and filled her life with happiness and love. The King
,
however
,
had also seen Seraphina as she danced and sang
her way
through the pala
ce. Something between jealous
rage and desire stirred in him, for Seraphina was surely the most angelic
and beautiful young woman he’
d ever set eyes on.

*

Seraphina was a good child, knew nothing of wrong or evil. Her days were filled with sunlight and song
,
but the shadow of the King started to fall over her life. She’d catch him watching her from his window and he’d
taken
to demanding her to sing and dance at dinner. She shouldn’t have feared her stepfather but there was a cruelty and power to him that made her afraid.

One night after dinner, when she had been ordered to perform for the King and his friends, he beckoned her over and patted his knee, inviting her to sit. His friends laughed an ugly laugh; it was one that Seraphina did not understand.

“What age are you now child?” he asked.

“I am sixteen, papa,” she said nervously.

“Sixteen?”

“Yes, papa.”

“And so sweet a thing the world has yet to see.” He pinched her cheek. “It is time perhaps we found you a husband.”

Seraphina blushed. “I do not think I should like a husband quite yet, papa.”

The King and his men laughed and Seraphina was reminded of a pack of dogs, salivating and hungry. Sickness swelled in her stomach.

“A lover then? Someone to pluck the fruit whilst it is still sweet and not yet made rotten by women’s ideas.”

The King turned to Seraphina’s mother and curled his lip. The Queen looked on in horror, her hand to her mouth, her body tense to pounce. She understood the game that was being played and it broke her heart.

That night the Queen spent the whole night sewing jewels into the hem of Seraphina’s clothes and into the lining of a travelling bag. Into the bag she packed changes of clothes and Seraphina’s doll
,
which the
Q
ueen had lovingly made her from the remnants of her wedding gown.

The next morning she called Seraphina to her chambers.

“Are you travelling, Mother?” she asked.

“No my darling girl
, i
t is you who must leave. I have grave fears if you should stay.”

Seraphina sprang tear
s and wept, “But beloved mother, w
here should I go without you?”

“You must flee
.
T
ravel far from this palace and my wicked husband. He has
terrible
harm in his
thoughts
.
.
”

Seraphina hugged her mother tightly
.

“Remember, darling daughter, I lo
ve you with my whole heart. Your leaving
pains me more than I can say bu
t I will not have you
broken.”

“Won’t you come with me?”

“You must travel alone and make a place safe and happy for yourself. There will come a day when we will see each other again – until that day
,
you are
with me
in my heart and I shall never let you go.”

Seraphina listened to her mother’s escape plans and later that evening under the cover of darkness,
she
slipped out of the palace grounds and into the enchanted forest.

That night the Queen lay with her husband
even
though she hated him
. She needed to be sure that Seraphina’s escape went unnoticed.
A
ll through the dark hours she imagined how she might murder him.

In the morning
,
when the king called for Seraphina to go hunting with him and his men, there came the information that the
Q
ueen had hoped to conceal for a longer time.
Seraphina had fled.

When the King learnt that
the girl’s
mother had sent the girl away
,
he exploded into an almighty rage and struck the queen until she
lay
bleeding and dying on the floor. By nightfall the queen was dead.

*

The way through the forest was dark and cold
. Noises screeched and scurried in
every shadow. Seraphina made her way, mindful of staying to the
path
,
she
follow
ed
the small wooden arrows that would lead her to the town beyond the forest. The journey would only take a few hours and then she would be safe.

But then the path ran out. It just disappeared.

Seraphina panicked
, unsure of what she should do. I
f she lost the path she could be lost in the woods for days and she had barely enough food with her to last her until morning. As she turned to trace the path back, sure she must have missed a turning in the darkness, she saw a man.

He was sat at the bottom of a tree, devouring
the red flesh of
a
pomegranate.
For one crazy moment, Seraphina thought it had been a heart.

He stopped when he saw her watching him and tossed the leathery shell into the undergrowth before wiping his mouth and asking,
“Are you lost, My Lady?
”

Seraphina saw no need to fear; he didn’t look like
a bandit or cutthroat but then,
you never could tell. She whispered out across the distance, a sob catching in her throat, “Oh, I am very lost, sir.”

He smiled warmly. “Let me help you find your way.”

He stood, revealing himself to be quite tall. Seraphina found herself blushing. Not because he was particularly handsome
but because there was something about him that made her feel completely beautiful.

He held out a hand, just as he might have done at a ball having invited her to dance. “My name is Louis.”

In the darkness his hand was the colour of pearls. She found her own small pale hand reaching out for it. She felt as light as a feather, her feet could not feel the ground. All she cou
ld feel was the spinning feel
of the waltz. At her back
,
great wafts of cool air caught in her hair as if someone were using a large fan.

In front of her, her strange and bewitching companion looked deep into her eyes.

“You are an
absolute
angel,” he whispered.

And she knew
that
he was right.

A bright, glorious light burst forth from her, lighting up the darkness of the forest. Her heart pounded a
soft
bass note to a song that was coming from her mouth. It’s beauty wrapped around them both.

At last the song stopped, her heart calmed
,
and she found herself standing once more on the earth, her hand in the hand of her strange companion. The darkness returned.

“How did it feel, Seraphina?”

“Glorious,” she gasped. Then she noted how he had used her name and yet she had not offered it to him. “How did you know my name?”

“I have knowledge of all things, my dear.” He smiled and flirtatiously chewed at his bottom lip.
“It felt good didn’t it?
Power beyond possibility.
Imagine how it would feel to have the power of both the light and the dark; the angel and the dragon!”

Seraphina looked at him, confused by what was on offer. He reached in his pocket, held out pomegranate so perfect and reflective that at first she thought it might be made of glass. He took small penknife from his pocket and flipped it to reveal a nasty little blade. The blade sank into the flesh and within several precise flicks of the blade
,
the pomegranate parted t
o show the blood-
red seeds inside.

“All you have to do is eat,” he breathed.

He handed half of the fruit to her and she cu
pped it in the palm of her hand. It
felt
heavy and solid.

“I just have to bite?” She looked at him, her eyes wide with temptation.

He nodded, “Yes, that’s all.”

“And then what will happen?” she asked.

“Then the world will fall at your feet, Seraphina. You will be Queen of wherever you chose.”

She thought about how her world had turned in the last three days. Before the incident with her stepfather she would never have considered such a proposal … but now she felt so utterly powerless, and so totally alone.

She raised the fruit to her
mouth,
let its cool leathery skin rest against her lips. She waited for something to stop her, some form of divine intervention – nothing happened. Her pretty little lips parted
,
and the flesh pressed against her teeth. Then she bit. It was
bitter-sweet
and full of juice. 

A swirling ribbon of darkness
spun
around her, it was at once rich and intoxicating. Reds and blacks gave way to images of intense luxury. The beautiful bodies of men and women danced freely, wine flowed
,
laughter
and joy filled the space. Every particle
of
Seraphina’s body fe
lt bathed in warmth and energy. M
ost of all she felt power, the power of her own body and her own being.

The candlelight cau
sed flames to flicker through
the scene
,
and at the heart of them curled a dragon. He lay on a bed of silk pillows with his great dog-like head resting on a giant pearl. He was stretched out on his toad-belly so that his back seemed impossibly long. It was patterned in a series of
nine-by-nine
black and red scales so that it almost looked like a chessboard. Curled up under him, his eagle talons hid their true nature.

“Seraphina,” he breathed out her name. “My
bride, you are welcome to the Court of the D
ragon.” Smoke curled from his
nostrils,
filling the air with sweet, opiate incense. As he addressed her, hands stroked her body, sending delicious concentric, tightening circles of desire.

Seraphina should have been afraid but she wasn’t, she went to him willingly and his fire lit her soul bright and warm.

*

The next morning she woke to find herself curled amongst the forest ferns. In her hand lay the empty shell of the pomegranate. She sat and checked herself
over,
fearful that the stranger may have drugged and misused her but she found nothing amiss.

As she stood, thinking on the mysteries of the previous evening, Seraphina felt something stir, as if moving at the base of her spi
ne. A smile lighted on her lips. I
t was not the innocent smile of an angel, it was the sly power of the dragon and she knew that the events had not been a dream.

Seraphina
made her way
back to the lake and stopped to look at her reflection. She
saw how her eyes blazed with a new, darker glory and then shifted to the blue innocent beauty of the angel.
She closed them
, focused on the purity of the light and when she opened them she saw wings, six
-
foot high and dazzling white
,
flapping behind her. Golden strands of her hair moved in the wind.

She closed her eyes again, took herself back to the red decadence of the dragon’s
lair
. She allowed her imagination to wander through the hall of naked lovers towards her dragon lord. A rich desire spread through her and when she opened her eyes she saw that her reflection was bathed in flames.

Seraphina sat
.,
H
er mind
was
full of
voices
. T
hey told her everything she needed to know. She would return home, slay her stepfather and place her mother on the throne.