Once Upon A [Stolen] Time - [Stolen] Series I

CHAPTER 1

"It was written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice."
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

EDWARD
APRIL 1415

She is standing in the courtyard. Everything in nature surrounds her, hugs her, and is dazzled by her...including me.

Beautiful flowers of every hue and aroma are grown in this majestic garden. My eyes are burning. I am overwhelmed and awed by the colourful oasis. Never have I been so close to nature, to growing things. Her alchemy drives me mad.

She has gifted me with all the colours, but I painted her with darkness.

As much as I crave feeling the sunlight and the flowers against my skin, I want her touch too. I am cursed and doomed to never experience the beauty of the natural world. I am bound for eternal darkness.

She watches me with extreme hatred in her eyes—her gaze throwing fireballs at me. She knows not that I am already burning, but since she despises me so much, I cannot even dare to come close to her. I want to end this tortuous distance between us, but I was the one who created this venom in her.

She was a beautiful tender rose. I stole her fragrance, crushed her petals, and burned her in hell. If I knew the fire with which I was conflagrating her would come to engulf me, I swear I would not have done it. Her spell is too strong for me not to fall. Her curse is too mighty for me to run away.

Her deadly yet magical existence haunts me, excites me and has thrown me into a pit of desire. She is my prisoner, but she realises not that I am the one who has already submitted to her slavery when I first touched her.

Despite being her captor, I am still her captive.

She walks towards me, enthralling me with her grace and beauty, altering and accelerating my heartbeat. She has the power to throw me into hell but show me heaven at the same time. I have never been able to understand her witchcraft. I was warned to stay away from her sorcery—she was born and cursed with it—yet my heart kept running after her.

Now...there is nothing left for me to hold on to. She has both my heart and soul. Why is she here? What does she want from me now? Perhaps she wants to carve my heart out of my body...just to see if it is beating for her or not.

The distance between us closes, and I lean my back against the giant tree trunk—the same tree where I tried once to write her fate. She is holding my sword—my only weapon of protection—but it matters not now. She wants my life for her eternal peace, and I will give it to her.

Her steel-grey eyes are much stronger than any armour or shield I am wearing. She does not need my sword to kill me. All she needs to do is place her hand on my heart.

I will be undone.

Forever.