The dark being wound itself about Mirabelle from behind, coiling around her, enveloping her. It encircled her, slithered inside her, and clung to her heart. But the hate-filled young woman noticed none of this.
“Cursed shall he be! The evil prince shall pay!” she swore. Her bright voice had turned deeper, had grown raspy and rough, but she did not perceive the difference.
“I would like to help you,” a dark voice whispered in her ear. “You are not alone. I shall curse the prince for you.”
Mirabelle sat up and took notice. “Who’s there?”
“I am here to help you, to stand by you at a time when no one else remains by your side,” the unknown, cajoling voice continued. “You need not be alone. Stay with me, and I shall help you. I shall avenge you. I shall punish the prince—as long as you stay with me. Will you do that? Never alone again? With me for all time?”
“Who are you?”
“I am the strength of those who despair, the cry of the lonesome soul, the power of those who have lost all hope. I am here beside you. You are not alone. I shall help you. I shall exact your revenge. The prince and his family shall suffer for what they have done to you. Accept my gift, and you shall no longer be alone.”
Mirabelle began to sob. “You want to avenge me? To stand by me? To remain by my side?”
“Yes, I shall help you. We belong together. You are a part of me, and I am a part of you. Say it. Say: I accept your offer. Say it! Now! And your cares shall be over for all time!”
“I accept your offer!” whispered Mirabelle.
Everything around her went black. She no longer saw or felt a thing. Absolute darkness took hold of her.
The weeks went by, and Mirabelle was neither alive nor dead. She was slowly wasting away in a darkness without form.She heard nothing, saw nothing, felt nothing. The Evil she had entrusted herself to was holding her heart in its grasp. She felt no yearning or pain but also no happiness or hope. She was little more than a shadow, a lost soul, trapped for all time somewhere deep within the darkness.
She remembered nothing at all. Everything that had ever been was gone—the pain and the thoughts, the anguish and all the memories. She did not know how many weeks had passed and scarcely knew why she found herself in this darkness. Her mind was blank, and she never gave it a second thought.
Until one day, when she heard a voice—a voice that was calling her. For the first time in a long while, she heard someone speak her name. And with that sound, a wisp of memory returned. She was Mirabelle. And this voice was familiar. She had known it since the start of her days. Since she had first come into this world.
“Mirabelle, where are you? Mirabelle?”
It was her mother’s voice. What was she doing here? In this darkness? And why was she herself there? Why couldn’t she see anything? Where was she imprisoned?
Slowly, slowly, the memories returned, one by one. Her illness. The night of the ball. The flight to the forest. The ingratiating voice.
How much time had passed since then? How many hours had she spent in this gloom?
“With me for all time!” she heard the dark voice say as it echoed from somewhere within the darkness.
“No, I shall not allow it!” Her mother’s voice rang out again. “Release her!”
“We made an agreement. That is binding for all time! She stays here!”
“I beg of you—she did not realize what she was doing. She’s still so young. Please, let her go—I beg of you.”
“No! She is mine for all time!”
“There must be a way! I have found my way to you, and I shall not leave until my child is free! Release her from the curse!”
“She agreed. She obtained her revenge, and in return she remains here! With me!”
“I beg of you, have mercy. Take me instead of her!”
“You?”
“I beg of you. Let her go. She’s still young and did not know what she was doing. Release her soul!”
“Only a blood relative can take on the curse!”
“We are blood relatives. I am her mother!”
