The thin line between love and hate

Eva's POV

"Eva?" Cecilia entered.

I regained my composure and turned to her. "What?"

"Good morning,"

My eyes narrowed. It had been a long time since she greeted me like that, that it sounded foreign coming from her mouth.

"Can we talk?"

I shrugged and crossed my hand to signify that I was all ears.

She took a deep breath. "You must know why she is here?"

"I don't know," I only had an idea but to me, it seemed too far-fetched. How would she know after twenty years that she had a child somewhere? There were so many things that did not add up.

"I did not know either but I talked to her this morning and she told me everything,"

"Okay?"

"You need to see her."

She was the queen, she had the power to force me into submission but Cecilia was, trying to coerce me into talking to a Queen. "Why?"

Cecilia's blue eyes grazed the room before she spoke. "Is she gone?"

I blinked. "Who?"

"The witch,"

I swallowed involuntarily. "What are you talking about?"

"There is no need to pretend," She said softly.

Tongue-tied, I stared in shock at her. "I am not. Is that why she is here?"

"The queen?" She asked, surprised at my question. "Of course not. She is here for you."

"There is no one here," I told her. I could not trust her one bit.

She gave me an understanding smile. "You must really care about her."

"I don't know who you are talking about." I insisted.

"Whatever you say." She still had a knowing look on her face.

"You said that she is here for me?" Trying to divert the topic of discussion.

"Yes, we all need to talk,"

I was still very stunned at her talking about Rosé. We were never caught once but not only did she know I had someone up here, she knew it was a witch. I felt threatened by her knowledge of what had been going on so I would have to bend to her whims. I needed to secure Rosé's safety any way I could even though I did not know where she was.

"We will," I assured. "Let me dress up first."

"About that..."

"What now?" I tried to hide my irritation. For Rosé's sake.

"Wear this when you come down." She took out a beige dress that she had made for me but had taken it away.

I took it from her.

"Won't you shower and brush your teeth?"

I normally don't do that until I am done with all my hectic morning chores. "There are people outside."

"Use mine." She offered.

There was no use refusing. "Sure," I said.

****

I bathed in Cecilia's bathroom and used the warm water she had prepared for me. I still felt very feverish and nauseous. Once I was ready, I came out fully dressed in a dress that did not have holes or patches. I accessed myself in Cecilia's mirror and was met with a total stranger. I understood she was only doing this so no one would suspect the maltreatment but the dress looked too ill-fitting on me because of my skinny frame. You could have arranged coins on my shoulder blades and my legs looked like they could have given way to the wind.

My face had lost most of its fat and I looked twenty years older than I was. My hair looked so dry that the baby's tug could have made me bald. There would be a horrendous amount of dirt on my scalp, I was sure. It was itchy. I knew I had been dying inside but I did not realize how dead I looked on the outside too.

"Mum, I..." Lisa said as she walked in on me. The moment she saw me her expression turned into that of contempt and disgust.

"Murderer," she murmured under her breath before walking out in a huff, almost colliding with her mum who was also coming in.

Cecilia stepped in and ignoring Lisa, smiled ruefully at me. At what she had created. "You look, lovely dear."

I wanted so badly to scream at her for ruining me the way she did. For turning my sister, Lisa against me. I could not blame Lisa completely because she was still just sixteen. When you lose your dad and your mother accuses your adopted sister. Who would you choose to believe? Like they say; blood runs thicker than water.

I had to admit that it felt nice for her to compliment me like she used to do before. My heart was telling me to run to her, hug her and let her braid my hair like she used to. I still loved the two of them so much. I was pathetic.

She walked up to me and stroked my hair, giving me a little relief from the itch. It was torture but I could not bring myself to push her away. There were so many emotions overwhelming me that I wanted someone to reassure me that I would be alright. I needed her to be the old Cecilia, my mum.

"Let us go." She said quietly. I could tell that she was shaking as well. We both walked to the living room. All eyes were on me as I entered with Cecilia. She sat me down on the brown main couch so everyone else was on the side ones. I was the main topic of discussion.

The queen was seated closest to me on the right and the woman named Martha on the left. Strangely enough, she was still in chains, it made me wonder about what exactly she did. Cecilia was seated beside Lisa on the two sitters opposite me.

"This is Eva," Cecilia started. "The one you wanted to see."

Lisa still had the hateful look in her eyes. I noticed her mother's holding her hand on her lap. I knew Lisa well enough to know that she would have refused to be absent so Cecilia was trying to make sure she would keep her mouth shut.

The queen adjusted in her seat and she looked like she was holding herself back. "Hello, Eva." She nervously said.

"Good morning, your majesty." I struggled to greet, remembering Rosé's words and skin. I was about to stand and courtesy but she stopped me.

"No, don't worry about that,"

"Thank you, your majesty."

She looked nervously at the other woman and cleared her throat. "Do you know why I am here?"

"No," I answered curtly. "my apologies." I had sounded harsher than intended.

"It's fine," She dismissed with her usual soft smile. "I am looking for my daughter." This time seriousness coloured her voice.

"Your daughter?" I asked while trying to act as clueless as possible.

"Yes, there was a revelation two days ago," She turned to the shackled woman. "a confession."

The woman looked down at her chains.

"Martha please explain to Eva," It was a command.

"I am the royal midwife and twenty years ago," she began, still looking down at her chains and playing quietly with the hoops of thick metal. "I did something atrocious." she paused.

"Go on," the queen .

"After the queen had delivered," she took in a breath. "I switch the child with another," she said quickly. She looked up at the queen and looked down again. "I abandoned her in the woods that you see outside."

I did not know how to react so I looked at Cecilia to see if she was as stunned as I was but she said nothing.

"We have reason to believe that you are the child," the queen took over. "my daughter."

I looked at her and felt my blood run cold. Rosé had every reason to be scared. It could have not just been a dream.

"Impossible!" but it was not me that yelled in denial. It was Lisa. "She is no princess." She got up on her feet and pointed an accusing finger at me.

I knew all too well what she wanted to call me.

"She is nothing but a fucking mur..."

Eva's POV

I closed my eyes waiting for the words from her mouth. The words that I had never been able to get used to. But they did not come and hang in the air. I opened my eyes and there was Cecilia with her hand firmly on Lisa's mouth. She struggled against her mother until she bit her mother's hand with such force that I heard something crack.

Cecilia let go and let out a loud groan of pain. "Lisa!" she yelled.

"Let them know," she screamed at her. "What she is." She was pointing again. "She is a..."

Slap!

Cecilia dealt Lisa a slap which resonated throughout the room. "Shut up!" Cecilia screamed, in her eyes there was fire. I had never seen such fire when she was doing the same to me. She had never even hit Lisa before.

Lisa cradled her face in her hand, her mouth agape. "Did you just hit me?"

"Go to your room," She ordered. "Now or else." She warned.

Lisa bit her bottom lip so hard it bled but Cecilia remained unfazed. She stormed off, leaving an awkward silence as she did so.

The midwife looked surprised but the queen's face held no expression.

"Sorry, your majesty," Cecilia said bowing. "She can be very hard to control."

The queen shrugged. "I have some questions for you, Cecilia."

"Yes?"

"Are Eva and Lisa biological sisters?"

Cecilia gulped. "No,"

"Which one of them is not yours?"

There was a drawn silence. "Eva,"

"Where did you find her?"

"My husband found her in the woods at night."

"So you decided to keep her and raise her as your own."

"Yes, because I had not been able to get pregnant."

I was just a temporary child to her.

"So you are saying it is a fact that she is not your real daughter?"

"Yes,"

"Eva, do you mind Martha examining you?"

I felt so numb that I could only weakly nod.

"Martha," She called on the other woman.

She got up and so did the queen. Martha walked up to me and the queen tucked my hair behind my ear as Martha watched.

"There it is," Martha said in pleasant surprise before she let out a low gasp and went quiet. The queen was trying her best to keep herself calm but she was already stroking my hair. They were talking about the birthmark on my left cheek and something else that I was not really paying attention to.

Cecilia was standing and biting her nails.

"We need to check your back." The queen pulled her hand away once she realized I was not comfortable. "Do you mind?"

Did I have a choice? What if Cecilia asked me about Rosé as a threat? I had to protect myself even if that meant dancing to the tunes of a royal.

I turned stiffly and let them unbutton my dress. After a moment, "It is her!" Came a triumphant cry from Martha before she gasped again. "poor girl." my ear caught her whisper.

The queen was quiet and because I had my back turned to her I couldn't tell what her reaction was. "We found her." The queen finally sighed and buttoned up my dress. It had been a sad sigh.

"Don't let that witch trick you," It was Lisa again. "She is a witch and she killed my father." She walked to the center of the room and in her hand was a purple cloth. "This is her cloak." Lisa raised it for everyone to see. She turned to look at me, a sardonic expression on her face. How had she gotten it? It was in the bag that Rosé and I had taken for the journey.

Martha came forward and grabbed the cloth. She spread

it out and I realized it was smaller than the cloak and it had an emblem on its edge. The emblem of the royal family. She turned to the queen and let out a joyous cackle. "Your majesty, It is your daughter." The cloak was a baby shaw.

Lisa was astonished and utterly speechless. I was no different. What in the hell was going on?

The queen spoke to Cecilia now. "Is it true that you beat her?"