#FictMAYhem #StoryADay May 05, 2017

Welcome! This month I’m writing a small story each day to try to brainstorm a future full-length novel, a sequel to my current WIP Memories and Magic.

Today’s prompt is: Mirror.

Clara looked at herself in the mirror. She looked the same on the outside. Same face, same figure. How could she still look so normal outwardly when her insides were roiling with turmoil? Her magic was still so new, and yet without it, she felt empty. She felt violated. No one had the right to do this to her.

She clenched her fists and felt the rage stirring inside her. It was the same rage that had coursed through her after she had watched her parents murdered. The same rage she had felt when she had seen Josef Bauer sitting on her throne like it was his, while his men terrorised her people.

If these people thought they could just take her power from her, they were wrong. She would have it back, then she would show them how big a mistake they had made.

“Clara?”

She started and turned around. Max was in the doorway.

“What?” she snapped.

“I just came to check if you were all right. If the magic had returned?”

Clara unclenched her fists and took a deep, shaky breath. She shook her head. “It hasn’t returned. I don’t know what to do. What if I never get it back?”

Max stepped into the room and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Whatever they did, there has to be a way to reverse it. They may not like magic here, but they know how much our Kingdom depends on it. We’ll get it back before we leave.”

Clara nodded. The tone of voice Max was using was one she could never argue with. He always sounded so sure. She wished she had half his confidence. It would help her in the role of monarch to no end.

Once her breathing was steady again, Max put his arm around her shoulders and began to guide her out of the room.  They had a meeting scheduled with some of the Racharan officials in half an hour. Clara was grateful for his presence. Enraged was not a good state of mind for negotiations.