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"So this year it's finally my turn."
You mumble to yourself, staring out the window of your room, picking at the ruffles of your dress. The tower of your royal family's castle offered a broad view over the city and the forest beyond, but even this gorgeous view could not soothe your worries.
Especially since you knew this was the last day you could relish in luxury like this. The thought of passing through the thick forest and entering the enemy kingdom that spread its paths through it was intimidating to say the least. But tomorrow, you would have to do just that.
It was a tradition, a curse, a deal that your father, the king, was forced to make in order to keep his kingdom safe from the wrath of the neighboring kingdoms witch queen. I exchange for protection from any kind of harm, the evil ruler demanded to be offered a maiden every six months. So far none of which had returned which inevitably led up to you being the last one left old enough to be considered a maiden.
The view now made you feel so sick with dread that you had to turn around and lay on your bed to rest for the night.
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The next morning, you were up before the birds started singing. Nervosity had your body running on full capacity but your thoughts were spinning so many ways this day could end that you didn't snap out of it until you were standing at the gates of your home town, citizen and your family alike crying and wishing you well.
Up until this day, you had never been outside the protecting walls alone. Stepping into the woods knowing that you would never return felt like you left your soul back home and the one who was walking was only the empty shell of your body.
As you walked, your thoughts shifted from missing your family to anticipating whatever awaited you on the other end of the path. You wondered what the queen would look like as you had never seen her in person, thanks to your fathers protective nature. A witch, an intimidating aura, dressed in black… or maybe something you would not expect at all.
You shuddered, trying to shake off the uneasiness. Then, in the distance, a figure appeared with their back to you, standing still.
Slim and tall, dressed in a long flowy black and blue dress complimenting the short golden hair. Was this one of the other maidens that got sacrificed? Had she been sent to pick you up or could you dare and assume she escaped the rulers claws?
"Excuse me…!"
You exhaled as softly and friendly as you could, careful not to scare the person off, just in case. The dress wrapped around her legs as she calmy turned around, a smile as bright as the sun reflecting on her crown.
A crown?
Realization washed over you, noticing that not only was this not an escapee, it was the witch queen herself coming to take you away. All your friendlyness dissapeared in an instant and was replaced by fear activating your fight or flight response.
"Hello, dear."
The woman in front of you greeted you politely and leisurely strolled over to your position. Her actions contradicted her aura and you were forced to stay paralyzed in one spot, waiting for something to happen that would justify you running away. She stopped in front of you and reached out her hand to your cheek with another eerily friendly smile.
Before her fingers could touch you, your paralysis dissapeared and you jolted backwards, staring back at the witch like a bunny in front of a hungry fox. You knew that if you decided to run away, then now was your only chance. Lifting your foot slowly to turn around, you felt your heel hitting a thick root.
'Please, don't let me trip now', you thought and risked a quick glance at the ground to find somewhere safe to step but to your horror the root that you thought to be easy to maneuver around was now wrapping around your ankle. Instead of an earthy brown root, a thorny rose vine climbed up your leg, your waist, your chest until your body was completely stilled.
"Don't leave me now, sweetheart. You belong to me now, understand?"
Her voice sounded much more threatening than before, the look in her eyes underlining the fact that she had absolutely no intention of letting you go. A small flick of her wrist made the vines comply and lift you into her arms, disconnecting from the ground to keep you tied up. All you could do was to comply and pray as there was no way to reason with her, you had no grounds to stand on, both methaphorically and literally.
"Let's return home, shall we?"
The kingdom you dreaded to enter all your life was now going to be the place you call home and you hated it. Yet, you couldn't deny that the first thing that came to your mind was the witches castle and not your own room. Had you already been tainted by the witches influence? Was there a spell cast on you?
Or did you just feel comfortable in her arms?
•-----------»⧼✦⧽«-----------•
You didn't know how many hours it had been, maybe it had only been minutes of walking, maybe days, but the both of you finally arrived at the intimidatingly huge doors of the witch queens kingdom. Instead of people operating it, the wide entrance swung open seemingly by itself, only a few rose vines at the ground pressing against its sides.
Once you were carried through the gate and heard the rumbling sound of the entrance shutting close, you felt like the last hope of escaping was extinguished and it made itself noticeable with a sigh. At least now you were let down from the princess carry and your wrists and ankles were released. To your surprise, both were completely unscathed despite the countless thorns on the queens vines.
"Princess! It's really you!"
A cheerful and oddly familiar voice called out to you, soon joined by various others. You identified the caller as your best friend's who had been taken hostage the years prior.
"You… you all…?"
You stuttered in confusion, not sure what to make of the situation. Seeing all your old friends so happy, so content, so at peace after you had to tell them goodbye forever felt surreal. Rather than vines, you were now wrapped in friend's embraces, tearing so hard at your heartstrings that you couldn't help but let out an audible sob.
"I missed you! I can't believe everyone is alive!"
You cried out with a shaky voice. All the faces you never thought you would see again made you forget about your kidnapper still standing behind you and you snapped your head around at the realization. But none of the previous dread or fear returned, instead you were filled with warmth.
Released from the reuniting hugs, you walked up to the queen. Her atmosphere changed from before, almost as if she was a different person. You were so confused, you needed answers.
"Why… why did you abduct all of us?"
The most important and most complicated question spilled out of you without muchh hesitation. The witch queens expression softened, seemingly used to answering the question for every new citizen.
"Because you deserve it."
She answered in few words and despite how threatening it should have sounded, you understood. Your kingdom was not the wealthiest around and even though you didn't experience it yourself as much, you knew that many of your citizen suffered from hunger and sicknesses.
Rather than abducting people, this queen was rescuing one person after another, making life easier for the remaining citizen as well. This kingdom she had selflessly established just to take care of others…
…it truly was a home.