May Death Do Us Part

222 Chapter 222 : Through the looking glass

When the elf maiden Ronda had first heard of Gareth, a few years had already gone by since the queen taken her under her wing. Ronda was orphaned when her mother, who had been the queen’s head maiden, passed away, after which the elven queen decided to raise the girl as a sort of homage to the woman who had been loyal to her for so many years.

Over the years, Queen Tauriel would speak of her son throughout the morning whenever Ronda would be helping her prepare for the day, she would talk about how she missed him and how much he had grown over the years. Finwe, who Ronda had familiarized herself with fairly well already, looked a lot like queen Tauriel, and Gareth on the other hand resembled the late king more from the stories she had heard from the queen.

Even though the two men were twins and shared several similarities in features, queen Tauriel would always mention how her two sons differed, even from the day she first laid eyes on them.

Every once in a while, the queen would use a magic looking glass to watch her son, prince Gareth, throughout the years. It would show her his distinct facial features and how they changed as he got older in each lifetime, but unfortunately, the looking glass could only show her just that. The queen could only use the magic mirror to watch her son in real time, hence she could never know where he was or what exactly he was doing, all she knew was what he looked like.

Looking at someone through an elven magical looking glass was akin to staring at a portrait painting of them, still and unmoving, only changing its form as the person aged.

One day while the queen was in her chambers looking at her son, Ronda was serving her breakfast like she always did, and on that particular day Ronda was really curious about knowing what prince Gareth looked like after hearing about him for so long.

“Oh no need dear,” queen Tauriel instructed the blonde green eyed elf, who was about to set the tray of food on a low glass table that was centered in the queen’s room. “I’m leaving for an urgent meeting with the council that I’m already late for.” The woman got to her feet and walked towards the door, “I will have an early lunch instead, you can take that away.”

Ronda nodded and watched the queen disappear down the hallway, leaving the looking glass in plain view with a picture of Gareth still displayed on it. Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Ronda walked to the queen’s dressing table and very carefully picked up the object.

Looking at the magical artifact, one would think it was nothing more than a simple hand mirror, when in fact it was a very valuable item. The late king had gifted it to his wife on one of her birthdays and she treasured it to bits, so Ronda had to be careful not to accidentally drop it and end up losing her head.

.....

The green eyed elf gazed at the image on the glass curiously, taking in every feature of the handsome face in front of her. So this was Finwe’s twin brother? He did look a lot like Finwe only more.. handsome.

Unlike Finwe who had a feminine type of attractiveness to him, Gareth was all man, very handsome and a little rugged. Ronda didn’t think it was possible to fall in love with a man you have never met before, but the moment her eyes landed in his hooded brown eyes, her heart was set on him. It was destiny that they be together, their stories aligned oh so perfectly after all.

From that day on, Ronda dedicated her life to becoming the perfect woman for Gareth. If he was going to be king one day, then she had to prepare herself to be queen. She would help him reign, support him, comfort him and do anything and everything he would ask of her as a wife should.

In the days that followed, Ronda would take notes on how the queen carried herself, her antics, how she spoke and most importantly how she carried out royal duties, all to ensure she would become the perfect wife and queen once Gareth returned to Ervelon.

Queen Tauriel did not fail to notice Ronda’s change in behavior over the few weeks and it peaked her curiosity. Before, Ronda would be very hesitant about learning from her, especially when it came to etiquette, complaining that it was uninteresting. But now it was like she wanted to literally become her.

“Ronda dear come here..”

The elf put down the book on political strategies that she had been reading in the library and walked towards the queen. She curtsied before asking the woman if she needed anything.

“Come, sit with me and let’s have a chat..” the queen sat down on one of the library chairs and pat the seat next to her, gesturing the young woman to sit next to her.

Ronda sat down feeling a little nervous, had she done something wrong? The queen had never asked her to sit down and talk unless she was in trouble or did something wrong.

“Ive noticed that you’ve taken quite the interest in some new things,” the woman explained, “is there a particular reason for this? And don’t try to lie to me, I’ve known you for enough to know that there is a motive behind it.”

Ronda clasped her hands together nervously, it was true, the queen did know her well. But would it be appropriate to tell the queen that she was doing all of this because she had fallen in love with her son? Would she be even approve?

“Well i...” Ronda bit down on her lip before gaining the courage to look at the queen and responding. “I saw Gareth through the looking glass a few weeks back your highness, I didn’t mean to pry I swear!.. and well.. I... I just..”

The queen scoffed before getting to her feet. The elf didn’t need to explain herself further for Tauriel to know what was going on, it was quite obvious that Ronda had developed a little crush on Gareth. That explained why she was working so hard to be poised and elegant, she wanted a chance to be with him.

The thought of her son finding a woman had never crossed the queen’s mind, especially because Finwe had never really shown interest in courting whatsoever, also the last time one of her children fell in love, it did not end well.

Her eyes fell on the young elven woman before her, she was beautiful, she was hard working, and she did have a good head on her shoulders, if indeed Gareth decided to be with Ronda at some point in his Iife, queen Tauriel wouldn’t be against it, but she would not egg the young woman on just in case Gareth didn’t reciprocate her feelings.

“No need to explain,” the queen responded and turned for the library exit, “I’ll leave you to it then.”

Ronda watched the woman walk out the library door in shock, had the queen just given her her blessing to continue pursuing her dream of being with Gareth? Well she didn’t actually mention it but she did insinuated it right? The green eyed woman leapt into the air and shrieked in excitement, she couldn’t wait for Gareth to get home so they could finally be together.

*

[The present]

Ronda watched closely as Melissa pushed her plate away and as Gareth pushed it back towards her before mumbling some words that made the nosferatu princess roll her eyes and continue eating her food. That should have been Ronda sitting by Gareth’s side, he was suppose to be giving her love and attention not that little tramp.

But it was alright, soon everything would be fine, all Melissa had to do was to drink that ichor and half of Ronda’s problems would disappear.

“I can’t eat any more..”

Gareth peeked into Melissa’s bowl before looking at her pouting face and smiling. He missed this adorable, whinny and stubborn side of her when she was away, her being stubborn made him want to take care of her even more. He hoped that when the baby came, he or she would be as stubborn as Melissa, being a father to someone who challenged him would be very interesting.

“Alright I suppose you have eaten more than usual today,” Gareth responded and wiped the corner of his wife’s mouth. “You can have some desert now.”

“You should have your ichor dear,” Marceline reminded her daughter, “we don’t want you starving the baby.”

“Oh of course..” Gareth grabbed the cup ready to give it to his wife. “I know you said it smells odd but just have a little bit.”

Rond’s nails dug into the concrete of the pillar she was hiding behind as Gareth moved the cup to Melissa’s hand. Any minute now...