Heinrich

As I knelt before the Enchantress in reverence, I knew that she could see into me, into my woes, already.

“How long has your prince been a frog?” she asked.

“Ten years,” I replied, “since his eighteenth birthday.”

She glanced at me from under hooded eyelids.

“So why do want to do something about it now?”

I closed my eyes tightly.

“It pains me to see him this way,” I said, my voice strained. “I know that he suffers, and my heart aches for him every day. I am his servant. I am supposed to make his life easier, but how can I ease this struggle for him?”

When I opened my eyes, the Enchantress was stroking her chin.

“There might be a way, but it requires sacrifice.” She leaned towards me, her golden hair cascading in front of her face. “Are you willing to make that sacrifice?”

I was a servant. My whole life was based on sacrifice for my prince. Yet there was something in the Enchantress’s tone that caused me to hesitate.

“Well?”

I swallowed my fear and nodded.

“Yes. I will do anything for my prince.”

Her ruby lips curled into a cruel smile.

The Enchantress plunged her hand deep into my chest. I gasped and sputtered blood as she ripped out my heart, but I did not die. Instead, I watched as she held my still-beating heart in the palm of her hand and bent down to kiss it. My heart glowed gold, then returned to normal but with the imprint of her lips on the side. The Enchantress produced three iron rings and used them to put my heart back in place inside my body.

“When you return home, you will find your prince is no longer a frog,” she said.

“And the price?” I asked, feeling at the spot on my chest where she had ripped out my heart.

She smiled.

“You’re mine now.”

When I returned to the palace, my prince was human again, but he claimed that it was a princess who had freed him. They were to be married, and I was to serve them. When I saw the princess, I recognized her immediately: the Enchantress.

Word Count: 366

Author’s Note: This is for L.C. Schafer’s Fucked Up Fairytales challenge. You can learn more about it in the link below.