Haunted by the Past

A good day with a bitter aftertaste

A week later there was a grand celebration at the castle. It was the christening of Philip and Aurora's babies. The little Prince and Princess. Little John the second and little Maleficent. No, I still wasn't over the fact that they named their daughter after me.

"Are you excited to be going to a royal christening and actually be invited this time?" Diaval asked me. "Not really. You know I'm not that much into big gatherings." He chuckled, "Really now? Hadn't noticed." "No need to be sarcastic, Diaval." "I'm sorry. I'm just trying to make you feel at ease." I sighed, "Is it that clear that I'm nervous?" "To me it is. You know, if you want me to I could... make you nervous in another way," he said with a wink. "Not now, Diaval. Maybe later." "Maybe, huh? Well that's not a no." In the week after our kiss Diaval had made such... suggestions once or twice before. I had dismissed them, told him I wasn't ready yet because I wanted to take things slow. And I did. But sometimes it was fun to mess with him a little, and maybe I was up for... other things. Not going as far as he had suggested, not yet. But I wouldn't mind going a little farther than the kiss. "Are you messing with me?" "Maybe." "You can be so confusing sometimes." "Thank you."

I was looking at myself in the mirror, once again practicing my smile. Diaval walked up to me and put his hands on my shoulders. "There's no need to practice. When you're up there, standing on the dais I'm sure it will just come naturally." "I just hope it won't scare the babies." "You worry too much. I'm sure everything will be fine." "Well, last time I went to a christening the baby got cursed." "I vaguely remember you doing the cursing," he said as he carefully moved my hair away from my neck so he could plant his lips there. "Hmm. Yes... that is true..." I closed my eyes as he continued to kiss my neck. Honestly he was doing quite a wonderful job at calming my nerves. He pulled away, just a little bit, so he could say, "Nothing bad is going to happen today, alright?" "You also said Aurora would be fine when she was giving birth. And he almost died." "Right... maybe I should knock on wood." He knocked on the wooden dresser that was standing near the mirror. "Silly superstition," I mumbled. "People need some things to believe in." "Hmm, I guess." "They do," he said as he slowly ran his hands down my arms and kissed my neck again.

*

When we reached the throne room, Aurora was already waiting for us. "You're late." "Just a little," I replied. She looked us over. "Mother, what happened to your neck?" "What?" "There's these red marks all over your neck." "Oh... I have no idea how that happened." Diaval chuckled. Aurora looked us over again and squinted her eyes. "Uhu... okay." That's when I realised we had forgotten to tell Aurora about what had happened between the two of us. "Well. Let's just go," I said as I tried to cover up my neck, much to Diaval's amusement. Aurora looked us over once more, a look of understanding dawned on her face. Then she smiled, "Yes, let's go."

Today Aurora and Philip were seated on the thrones, just for this special occasion. The cribs were set down between them. Diaval and I stood behind Aurora. King John and his wife Queen Ingrith stood behind Philip. To be fair, I kind of zoned out during the ceremony. I somehow had this feeling that something bad was going to happen and I couldn't fully concentrate on what was going on around me. Diaval seemed to notice about halfway through the ceremony that I wasn't very comfortable. Or actually not comfortable at all. He carefully took my hand in his and gave it a light squeeze. I hoped no one else realised what was going on.

After the ceremony there was, of course, a feast. A dinner in the great hall. Obviously only the noblemen and noblewomen were invited to that. With the exception of me, Diaval, Dareah and several of the important Dark Fey, including Borra, Ini, Udo and Shrike, who had been flirting with Percival for months. Before the dinner, Queen Ingrith walked up to me and I suddenly found myself glad that I had let Diaval braid some flowers into my hair. "Maleficent," she said in a slightly less cold tone than usual. "Queen Ingrith," I greeted her just as coldly. Diaval was standing behind me and protectively put a hand on my shoulder. "I... wanted to... thank you." "What?" She sighed, "If it helps you to get over the shock, I am just as surprised as you are. But you did save my life." "And I already told you not to thank me for it." "I know. But... well, if you hadn't done it I would never have met my grandchildren." "Hmm." "And of course you saved Aurora, which has made my son very happy." She sighed, "And... well, as mothers that is... all we want, isn't it? To see our children happy?" I nodded, too surprised by her finally addressing me as Aurora's mother. "Mind you, I still don't trust you... or your... kind... but now that I have met Henry... I guess there might be worse creatures out there." "So I take it you regret hiring him to kill me?" She sighed, "I knew that was going to come up. I... would like to apologize for that." "Apology not accepted. Yet. I need to see that you mean it." Ingrith nodded, "I understand."