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January 9 - January 10, 2021
“Like many of us, Maleficent, those loathsome sisters were unable to think clearly when their family was in peril.”
Maleficent had laughed at the old queen, whom she knew as Grimhilde.
For her to be speaking to Maleficent of concern for family of all things…But she’d choked down her words like jagged stones, unwilling to speak with the old queen about her daughter, Snow ...
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Grimhilde reached beyond the veil of death to keep her daughter and her family safe. Perhaps that was Grimhilde’s punishment for trying to kill Snow White when she was a child. Grimhilde had taken her own father’s place in the magic mirror. She would forever be Snow White’s slave, as Grimhilde’s father had once been hers. She was cursed to be Snow White’s protector—never at rest. She was always watching Snow White while she slept, forever shielding Snow’s children and grandchildren. Eternally bringing happiness to that infernal brat and her brood.
The odd sisters had decreed that the brat queen and her family were to be left alone, so as not to anger Grimhilde. But Snow White wasn’t entirely untouched by the odd sisters, was she? The old queen Grimhilde could not control her daughter’s dreams. That was not her providence. That was not her domain. Dreams belonged to the good fairies and to the sisters three.
Damn Triton for the damage he did to his sister! Damn him to Hades for his complicity! Damn him for making Ursula hide who she truly was. Damn him for turning her into a loathsome creature by his own design!
family was capable of causing more harm than anyone. Family was true heartbreak. They could rip out your heart like no one else. They could destroy your spirit and leave you alone in the tangled depths of despair. Family could ruin you, more than a lover might, and surely more than even the dearest of friends could. Family could hold its power over you. Circe knew all too well what it was like to have her heart broken by family.
Circe was sure she didn’t even know about all of them. But none of those things seemed to matter now. Not while her sisters lay broken, as if dead, under the glass dome of the Morningstar solarium.
You’d think the fairies would have thought of something more creative. Practically every princess in peril has been saved by Love’s First Kiss! For goodness’ sake, between witches and fairies, can’t we think of something more original?
Why must a young girl need a man to save her? Why can’t a princess fight for her own life, break her own curse? Why must it always be a prince? By Hades, I want to kill Prince Phillip on principle, just so we don’t have yet one more prince kissing some helpless sleeping girl, making her feel like she has to marry him out of gratitude.”
Maleficent laughed. “If by ‘saving herself’ you mean jumping off a cliff in an attempt to take her own life because she was heartbroken, only to be saved by witches, then you are correct. Though I will say her story is more original than most. I will give her that.” Tulip hated hearing Maleficent speak to Popinjay that way.
“I was afraid,” Nanny admitted. “It wasn’t until the odd sisters came to me for help with the little princess that I knew what you had been going through. But then I had Aurora to consider. She was small and defenseless, like you had once been. She needed a home. And she needed someone to care for her and love her.” “So you put her in the hands of the three good fairies? You gave my daughter to them! How could you?”
“You could have taken her case! You could have stepped in!” Maleficent shouted. “You were always Oberon’s favorite. No one would have questioned you. You could have done that for me! You could have cared for her yourself! My goodness, in a way, she is your granddaughter.”
It’s why I stayed a dragon for so long. I was afraid of the pain involved in transforming back to my true self. And I was afraid of who I would become once I took my true form.
“That is, until the odd sisters found me. They had lost their little sister, Circe, and they were deeply saddened. No matter how much I questioned them, they wouldn’t say what had happened.
“‘Maleficent. Please let us help you,’ the sisters begged when they came to see me again. ‘If you won’t come to live with us, if you won’t let us love you, then please let us give you a daughter. Let us give you someone to love. Someone to care for and someone who will care for you.’
Something was being taken away from me. Honestly, I’m not sure if it was just a strong visceral reaction to the spell, but my body and my soul reacted forcefully. I think it was because I was trying to fight what was happening. Every time the sisters said the words, I was overcome by the same feeling. It was agony.
“‘Her name is Aurora, for she is my shining light in the darkness.’”
“Children often don’t think of their parents as real people with their own lives.
“Why do you think I chose her sixteenth birthday? Do you think I just picked an arbitrary number out of the ether? I came into my powers on my sixteenth birthday and I destroyed the Fairylands. I almost killed everyone I loved when I came into my powers, and I don’t want that for my daughter. She will have my powers. She’s probably already showing signs of them now! I don’t want her to suffer the way I have. I’m trying to save her that pain. She needs to stay in the land of dreams!”
