Chapter 1 Chapter 1: The substitute bride

Verbena

Legends say elves could grant wishes, the kind you carry in the deepest part of your heart.

They were our neighbours beyond the forest, but to them, we were filth.

"Don't go, Magnolia. I beg you," I whispered, limping to keep up with my older sister.

"Shut up, stay out of what doesn't concern you," she snapped, stuffing jewels and silver candelabras into a sack.

"The agreement with the elves will collapse, and we will all be in danger," I panted. My dog, Tori, tugged at the hem of my dress.

"And everyone is perfectly happy to hand me over to those monsters!"

The elves believed in forest gods and their prophecies. Each was said to be born with one, and the youngest prince foretold that he must marry a human, "a flower reborn from fire", to claim his father’s throne. Our surname was Phoenix. She had twenty, and her name was a flower.

Her dark blond hair gleamed like silk as she approached the balcony. She couldn't be that desperate. "Magnolia!"

She slapped me, her beautiful face twisted into a mask of hatred. Tori barked, and she kicked him, too.

"Listen carefully, little weed. I don’t care about this town. And you better keep your mouth shut, or I'll come back and lock you in the closet. Would you like that?"

I shook my head. Last time, a full day had passed before anyone realised where I was.

"Good," she said, and kicked me to the ground. Then she leapt from the balcony. I got up and saw someone catch her. She laughed as they disappeared into the night.

The next morning, the house imploded.

“Where the hell is she?”

"The wedding is today! How dare she leave?" my father shouted.

"We have to go after her," my brother yelled. "There will be war... and I'll have to fight." Nick had never been brave nor good at fighting.

"They'll kill us..." my father whispered, overwhelmed. I watched in silence, afraid to speak. Tori trembled in my arms. He was small with white fur and brown spots, and he had oversized ears.

Some people would ask the elves for gold. But money brought no happiness. Despite having everything, I was invisible, ignored, and unloved.

"There is someone else who can fulfil the role. You have another daughter, uncle,” said my cousin Doris devoutly and righteously. She looked at me from beneath the blue garments that covered almost her entire body.

My father turned around. So did my brother. And the servants. Suddenly, everyone saw me.

"Another daughter..."

"And she has a flower name" Nick murmured.

"But Magnolia..."

"The pagans' prophecy says a Phoenix flower," Doris said.

"I...I can't..." I took a step back, but I couldn't run away like Magnolia.

"There's no time to lose," my father said. Within minutes, they had dressed me in her long white gown.

"The prince won't want her. No one ever will,” my father remarked. I swallowed my tears.

"Father, please..." I begged as they took me in the carriage toward the forest.

The road was open. The truce had begun after decades of intermittent conflict. We travelled until Tori’s barking faded into nothingness.

"They'll treat you well. Elves are good," my father murmured, though we all knew it was a lie. "I'll bring your piano and the dog to keep you company. You'll save us. You won't be a burden anymore."

Halfway there, I saw them: tall and broad-shouldered, with mysterious eyes and long hair. Pale and ethereal. The castle looked carved from stone, majestic, beautiful, and cold. From the entrance, they looked at us as if we were cockroaches. Doris lowered my veil. "No one will see your ugly face until the last moment," she whispered, delighted to be rid of me. "Maybe you should leave it on while the prince fucks you on your wedding night. The old stories say they're huge... You might die tonight, cousin." I was terrified.

In a garden, there were a few witnesses, a secret wedding. A priest with golden skin waited with the prince. It was the first time I saw my future husband.

His dark brown hair was long and gleaming. He wore black clothes, and small diamond stars formed a constellation on his chest. But it was his face that struck me most: pale skin, sharp brows, a slightly crooked nose, full, perfect lips, pointed ears, high cheekbones, and eyes that were a deep blue, like the beginning of night.

He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen; my entire body trembled.

My father helped me walk to hide my limp and left me beside the prince. I lifted my hand to take his, but he pulled away.

"Do not say a fucking word," he growled.

"Prince River, heir to His Majesty the Elf King, High Warrior of the Forest, and Lord of these lands, do you accept this human as your wife?" the priest asked.

"So it has been decided by the stars," the prince declared, his dark voice a caress to the ears. No one asked if I wanted this. He placed a silver collar around my neck, from which hung a large silver eye. A shackle.

But when he lifted my veil, his expression was full of disgust and fury. I would never forget it.

At the end, he dragged me into a hall where my family waited. I don't know what the prince did, but my father fell to his knees. My brother began to cry.

"So your stupid daughter ran away, and you brought me your spare weak child, the damaged one, " he growled menacingly.

"Your Grace..." My father sobbed.

"Silence! Do not dare lie to me! I can see into your pathetic minds and beyond!" So it was true. Elves had powers. "Is she ill? Are you trying to deceive me?"

"There were complications at her birth... her mother died. She limps, and she isn't as pretty as her sister, but..."

“She is underage,” the prince snapped.

"She'll be eighteen soon, and you'll have your prophecy. Her name is Verbena, a flower. Her last name is Phoenix,” Doris explained. The prince didn’t even look at her.

"I will never forget this insult," he responded furiously.

There was a party, but I was hidden. My family left without saying goodbye. At dusk, I fear the worst. The prince dragged, but not to his chambers... out of the castle.

"Where am I going?" I asked nervously.

"Are you expecting a wedding night with me, human? I will never touch you... scum...” he snapped. "You'll get out of my sight until I decide...," he replied coldly. They put me in a carriage, and in the morning, I was in a field beyond the vast forest. A stone house awaited me.

"This place belongs to the Bloom family, allies of His Grace. They will take care of you, human," explained a warrior, and they leave me there. Alone with some bags, my belongings, dresses and jewels.

The house seemed unoccupied for years. For days, I didn't see a soul. I had been abandoned and discarded.

I bitterly understood that elves do not grant wishes.

They destroy them.