A love gained and a love lost. I was never one to believe in soulmates, but that is what I thought I had found—someone I could be with forever. But it was all a lie.
Maybe it wasn’t all a lie, but it now felt that way.
​
He had taken my heart and I thought it would be safe with him, until he shattered it into shards so sharp I had to let them lay where they fell. It would never be safe to handle my heart again. Not even by myself. I guess I should understand. Really I should. It wasn’t his fault that he was the prince no one had ever been allowed to lay eyes on. It wasn’t his fault that his father insisted he marry a princess.
The day we met had started like any day, with me going for a run and then swimming in the lake before dawn and before it was busy out. I enjoyed the dim light in the morning and the silence except for my own breathing. But that morning something was different. As I surfaced from my dive into the lake, every fine hair on my body stood on end. And I knew it.
I was no longer alone.
Then from the trees he emerged. At first all I could see was his form in shadow, until he stepped to the lake’s edge. His blonde hair reflected the colors of the sunrise that was just starting to peak between the trees. But, what really stood out was the violet color of his deep set eyes.
We stared at each other for what felt like the longest time, then I found my words.
“Who are you? And what exactly do you want?”
He didn’t say anything at first, just kept looking at me. And when he finally spoke, I
almost let myself drown.
“You. All I want is you, Magdalena.”
Love Lost, Love Gained
Part I
Love Lost, Love Gained
Part II
I just stared at him. What had he said? I was sure I hadn’t heard him right. No one had called me that name is literally hundreds of years.
​
“You must have be mistaken with someone else.”
I had stopped aging when I had turned 17. I had been cursed by a witch to be forever stuck at the age when love was flitting—fast and gone, never to stick around. A witch cursed by a witch. One would think that as a witch, after all these years I would have been able to find a way around the curse, but I hadn’t. So, I never stayed in one place for more than a few years and was constantly changing my name. At that moment, I went by Rose.
The sun had started to peak over the trees and I needed to get out of the water and dressed, but he stood over my clothes. And then, as if reading my mind, he reached down and picked up my clothes and turned his back to me while holding them behind his back. I was skeptical, but I swam to the edge of the lake anyway and snatched my clothes from him, quickly slipping them on before he could turn and catch a glimpse.
Something was radiating in the air between us and I couldn’t put my finger on it. It wasn’t an uncomfortable feeling, it was like a small heat wave was connecting our bodies. He turned to face me and I felt his eyes sear into mine. I blinked a couple times. I had seen him before. I wasn’t sure where or when, but I had seen him before. I knew that much for sure, because there was no way I would ever forgotten those eyes on mine. Before I knew what was happening, he reached out and took my face in his hands.
“I have dreamt of you for many nights. I wasn’t sure you were really. I had to come out of here and find out for myself if you were and you are.”
Then it hit me. That was where I had seen him too. My dreams. They came flooding back, hard and intense, they didn’t feel like they were dreams at all. More like memories. I was wrapped in his arms and laying in a field of flowers in a white dress, a ring on my finger and him in a dark suit, with a matching ring on his finger. I shook my head.
“This isn’t possible.”
As if he had read my mind with the images I had just had, he reached into a bag that I hadn’t seen before and pulled something out. He held it out to me and I took the shinning white material in hands and unfolded the dress I had been wearing in my memory. I looked between the gown and his eyes.
“Who are you?”
“Valcon and I’ve been looking for you for years.”
Years. He couldn’t be more than 20, 22 years old. The name resonated with me, like a ghost who haunts their lover until the pass as well. I knew this man. And he knew me. How was this possible?
“How did you know my name?”
“Because I know. I have known you all my life.”
He stroked my cheek with a finger, brushing a strand of hair out of my face. I inhaled sharply. The electricity in his touch was undeniable. I took his hand in mine without thinking. My heart, as cheesy as it sounds, skipped a beat or maybe two.
“Well, what do you we do know?”
Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the woods and it got loud quickly. Then came the voices. A lot of them in a cannon.
“Prince Valcon!”
Prince? The one no one had been allowed to see and no one knew why, other than his father, the king, a narcissist, and the land was doomed to fall into war soon because of it. I had planned to be far away from this place when that happened, but now …
He interrupted my thoughts with one simple word that held such power behind it.
“Run.”
Love Lost, Love Gained
Part III
We ran. He was fast, but I was fast too and able to keep up.
​
But I heard his guard keeping up fast enough with us. And then they were all around us. And we were forced to a screeching stop. He put his hand on my waist and pushed me behind him.
“Prince Valcon, you are needed at the palace.”
“I’m never going back.” He stated with such ferocity that it almost scared me as he squeezed his hand on my waist.
“You don’t have a choice,” a voice from behind the guard said with authority.
Then, the voice approached and the guard, in unison, stepped apart, allowing the voice through. The king stepped into view and I started to shake. The king did not have a reputation to being kind to those that got in his way, and clearly he wanted his son and I was the reason he son wasn’t behaving the way he would have liked.
“Princess Mora is waiting for you at the castle.”
“I will not marry her.”
Marriage? Suddenly I was envious of this girl I had never met because of a guy that I barely knew, well, I guess I knew him more than just a few minutes, but I still didn’t know how that was possible. But what I did know was that I would give my life for him.
“Do you want war? Because that is what will happen if we don’t make this alliance.”
The king almost sounded scared. Maybe his sorceress had a vision of him losing the war or dying in it.
“It is your war, not mine,” Valcon snapped at his father.
His father smiled a gnarly smile. “True, and it will happen eventually. Just not now. And, you damn well know why.”
“Your impending death is your own doing.” I was right, he had seen his death.
“Enough!” The king shouted!
It was the last thing I heard as a searing pain scorched my neck and the world went black.
Love Lost, Love Gained
Part IV
I woke in a dungeon and for the first time in a long time, I wished I still had my magic.
That was another lovely gift from the witch who had cursed me. I would never age. I would fall in love and be shattered by love. As if that wasn’t enough, she also bound my powers. And to top it, she never even hinted at how I could break the curse. I stood and ran to the gate that caged me in. I shook the bars in a futile attempt to break free. Of course it didn’t work. I screamed at the top of my lungs and fell to the floor.
I heard trumpets from above me. a wedding processional had started. At first I wondered how long I had been out. Then, the tears started to fall. Love lost again. I had been in love many times over the years, but nothing had felt like what Valcon and I had unwittingly shared. I curled into a ball on the cot in the room and shook.
I was snapped out of my self-pity by a blood curdling scream from above me. Then, eerie silence. I stood up and went to the gate, trying to hear, something, anything. Minutes crept by slowly and I heard nothing. Then, the faint sound of footsteps approaching from the stairs in the distance.
I backed away from the gate and slunk into the darkness of the corner, figuring stupidly that if I couldn’t see who ever was approaching that they couldn’t see me. A childish wish.
“Magdalena?” It was Valcon’s voice.
I stepped cautiously out of the shadows as the gate flew open and in ran Valcon, scooping me into his arms. We held onto each other for I don’t know how long, but when we pulled apart, I felt a sticky substance between us. I put my hands to my chest and they pulled away covered in red. I looked at Valcon who was covered in what I
could only assume was blood.
“Please tell me that’s not yours,” I pleaded.
“Shhh,” he whispered, running his blood soaked hand through my hair. “It’s the kings. I’m fine.”
“Wait, what? What happened?”
He smiled at me. “My father’s sorceress was right. The war would kill him. He just didn’t realize that to end the war before it started was not to marry me off, it was for me to kill him. I knew what I had to do all along, I had just secretly hoped it wouldn’t come to that.” He looked stricken with pain at what he had done.
“Oh, Valcon, I’m so sorry.”
He smiled at me. “It got me you. That’s all I care about.”
He bent down and kissed me and the sparks that flew felt so familiar. I leaned into him, not caring about how bloody we both were. And then there were new sparks and something jerked me out of his arms and into the air.
Light erupted from my body and I felt a pressure being pulled from my body. Gently I was placed back on the ground and I felt like my old self.
“What was that?” Valcon asked.
I smiled, having a good idea about what had just happened. I raised my hands out toward him and whispered under my breath and watched as the blood that covered him slowly
disappeared leaving him standing in sparkling marriage robes.
“I’m back,” I whispered.
Valcon pulled me to him and kissed me gently.
“We’re back.”