Once her marriage to Maximilian had been dissolved, Blanche imagined she would feel somehow happier or at least relieved because their union had never been anything more than a contract.She didn't feel anything different.Almost a year and a half after her husband's departure and the news about his ship being submerged by sea rovers her life was still the same.Surrounded by mean servants and relatives who sympathized with her but were secretly glad that things evolved that way, Princess Blanche couldn't feel more abandoned.
At the same time, she had to accept that her daughter, Isabelle, was truly abalienated.The girl was already 8 years old but she didn't speak and continued to withdraw even more in her own world.The poor mother came around to believe that maybe it would have been better for everyone if she had died along with her sisters, seven years ago.Even so, Blanche was grateful that Philibert, her youngest child and also the family's heir, was healthy and of sound mind.He grew up accompanied by his mother's ladies in waiting and by other nobles' children, barely seeing his mother.
The years flew past for everyone, especially for the new widow and her daughter.
One spring evening Blanche was preparing to retreat into her own chamber, when she noticed her daughter revetting her eyes upon the dancing flames in the fireplace.The spring was still weak and Blanche insisted that the servants would kindle the fire in all the castle's chambers.
The hours passed, but the young girl remained in front of the fireplace until early in the morning, when the flames quenched and the room was wrapped up by the cold air radiated from the old walls.
Still in her nightgown, Isabelle slunk outside.In a matter of minutes she was already crossing the stone bridge, not paying attention to the freezing morning air.The few servants that were awaken by her soft steps mistook her for an eidolon from the forest and stood aback from her.
The young girl soon got access to the old tower, which had been latched for the past twenty years.No one would ever know how Isabelle got possession of the old key nor how she managed to unlock the massive rusty gate.She teared upstairs, knocking in hurry over some old armors that had been encrusting in dust and rust over the decades.
In a split second everything ended for the child, as she fell fell into the void, laughing and mumbling unknown sounds.
Blanche woke up from a nightmare, panting and gasping for air.The same moment a frightened handmaid barged into the room, crying and shaking, her clothes and hair full of ashes.
The entire castle was in flames and the fire already burned most of the rooms.Everything around was a chaos.Servants running and hollering, riding roughshod over scared wailing children, while the flames kept spreading.
All Blanche could recall back from that fateful night was someone tacking her hand and pulling her down the burning stairs.Then nothing more but a burning sensation taking over her body.She managed to get outside, her entire body painful and her face full of ash and burns.
As she was drifting unconscious, Blanche thought about her children, her family and her childhood.A face came into her mind and almost seemed to take shape right in front of her eyes.She thought that death was close aboard so she closed her eyes and backed off.
She certainly didn't expect to wake up, especially into an unknown a room with a young man's face bent over her.She tried to move, but her whole body was painful so she gave up and closed her eyes again, letting a small smile appear on her lips.
The second time when she opened her eyes she expected the young man to disappear.He was still there though, watching her patiently but still concerned.
Now she also knew that she should have been afraid.The stranger in front of her was anything but human.As she studied his greenish skin and pointed ears hidden by short locks of silken chestnut hair, the weatherbeaten former Princess smiled away her tears and let a single word escape her lips: Seith.The young men returned her affection and gently placed his cool hand on her scared forehead, luring her into a deep and restful sleep.
Now Blanche remembered everything.Her adventures in the forest back from more than 20 years ago.Her recounting stories about friends and everybody claiming that it was just her imagination.Day by day and year by year she grew to believe them and abandoned what everybody considered only childishnesses and puerility.
Now, more than 20 year later she couldn't believe that she met him again.Seith.And he changed so much over the years.She had no idea how old was he, because she already knew that his people lived far more than normal humans, but judging by his looks and by the fact that they spent they childhood together, Blanche supposed he could be around her own age or a little older.
As the days elapsed, Blanche became to recover.Seith related her about the night when the castle burst into flames and how he found her the next morning lying on the ground, covered in ashes and burns.How he carried her away and brought her deep into the forest, in an old refuge, where he tended her wounds.She also remembered about that night, but only fragments of images and mostly blurry sensations, though she could still recall the moment when the ceiling collapsed over her and her servant.
She studied her face in a mirror, observing the still green wounds that disfigured her face.
As every wound started to heal, so did Blanche and Seith's old friendship, which soon transformed into something more.
After an unhappy arranged marriage, after being left by her husband and learning to grin and beat it, Blanche finally felt happy.She didn't care about her scars, or about her family.Not even about her children, because Seith made her forget everything.
Unfortunately, by the end of the summer, both of them had to call a halt to everything.They both knew that they couldn't continue living like that, away from the world, no matter how much they desired it.Seith's people didn't approve of any connection between the two worlds and Blanche understood that sooner or later they would have learned about the two of them.
As the spring turned into an early summer, Blanche prepared for another separation.
One spring morning Seith guided Blanche through the forest, close to the royal domain, where the the two of them took adieu one more time.The Princess continued to wander for a few more hours until she heard the hunting horn announcing the men's arrival.She identified her brother as one of the horsemen and soon she was among relatives again.
Never revealing anything about how she survived or who her saviour was, Blanche simply resumed her title as Madame Royale, passing into silence the months spent in the forest.
There was only one last thing that reminded her of Seith, Blanche said to herself as she glanced into her newborn baby's eyes, while tracing with her fingers the pointed tips of the baby's ears.
Madame Royale secretly smiled, taking the child to her bosom.
No one would ever know ...
