Blood Red (45 page)

Vivi Anna

T
he castle was very lavish. So lavish it was
almost oppressing.

Red crept along the quiet gold trimmed hall. She
felt fabrics hanging as she passed them. The materials felt
soft in her hands. She kept on, stopping now and then to
pick up a lavish trinket and marvel at it.

She stopped in front of a floor length mirror. She twirled
around. Her new fancy dress billowed around her. She was
a twelve-year-old girl again, with rosy cheeks, long radiant
red hair, and a sparkle in her green eyes.

She perked up when she heard voices down the hall. She
walked cautiously toward them. Her Grandma had told her
to stay in the library, but she had soon gotten bored and
ventured out into the halls. She was sure her Granny
would not be mad.

She crept up to a set of large wooden doors. There was a
crack of an opening. She slid along the smooth wood and
peered through the slit.

She saw her Grandma sitting in a high-backed ornate
chair. Red thought she looked pretty in her new dress and
hat. She was speaking to someone else in the room.

“I told you she won’t be trouble. She’s an obedient little
girl. She’ll listen to me.”

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Blood Red

“But what of her mother? Surely, she will interfere.”

The voice was high-pitched and squeaky. Red instantly
thought of a mouse.

“Her mother will be of no consequence. I will take care
of her, as did I her father.”

Red’s throat closed up. Her heart raced. She felt her
stomach turn over like she’d eaten too much candy. She fell
against the door. It slowly creaked open.

Grandma rose to her feet as Red stumbled into the room.

“I told you to stay in the library. You are very naughty.”

“She’s very naughty, indeed.”

Red looked over at the two men in the room. They were
both tall and spindly. They reminded Red of animated
willow trees in the winter. They smiled at her, teeth stained
yellow with age. She shuddered.

Red ran to her Grandma. Before she could embrace her,
one of the men grabbed her arm. Red tried to pull away.

“She’s strong.”

“Of course she’s strong, she came from me, didn’t she?”

Red looked over at her Granny. She saw more in the
aged face then she wanted to.

“We should take her now. She knows too much,” the
other man said, his voice also cracked and high like a girls’.

Her Grandma tore Red from the spindly man’s grip. She
hugged her to her chest. “You can not have her until you
give me your word.”

The two men looked at each other. They nodded. “You
will have your wish. To be Queen of all the lands. Now give
her to us.” Spindly Man held out his long hand.

“You can have her in five days time. It will give me time
to prepare her, and her mother.”

“Very well.”

Red struggled in her Grandma’s arms. She looked up
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