Beauty Hides The Beast

This is Part 7 of an on-going serial I’m writing called, “Lyr the Enchanter”. To read the story from the beginning, you can find the story index, here.

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She was beautiful. Like a goddess or a water spirit. Radiant. Graceful. And she was waiting for us on the shore.

The Boatman guided the boat through safe waters and beached the craft on the shingle. He didn’t get out.

‘Until our next meeting,’ he whispered as was his want. ‘I wonder what will have become of your soul by then…’ His hushed words were laced with amusement. He knew I didn’t want to be here. Moreover, he knew what would happen now that I was.

I clambered out. ‘Lady,’ I said, with a slight bow of the head.

‘Must you really be so formal, Lyr? I’m your wife. Or have you forgotten?’ She spoke with a sneer that she reserved just for me.

The glamour of her beauty shattered with her caustic tone. I sighed. ‘What is it you want, Arastia? There is a prison cell in the castle that I’d like to get back to.’

‘Why must I want something?’

‘Because I know you. You always want something.’

A blinding light flashed behind my eyes. Between the brightness and the pain, she told me what she wanted.

Death.

But whose?

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Written for Crimson’s Creative Challenge #7 – Again, I’m well over the word count, by about 40 words – eek!  As the story develops, I’m really struggling to keep these chapters tight and to the word limit…