63__Losing his forest rabbit

It hadn’t been one second after Diana lowered her butt onto her throne that she shot up in alarm. Her nerves were tingling, her senses sharp on alert.

Something was wrong.

Tense, she glanced over at her daughter who stood as silently as she always did by her mother’s throne, the white irises of her eyes as dull as they always were ever since Diana enchanted her into an obedient girl.

“Princess,” said Diana.

Her daughter barely moved. “Mother.”

Not knowing what to say next, Diana sighed and waved it away. “Never mind.” She swallowed hard. Nothing was wrong, it was just her nerves.

Everything was going according to plan. Rogan was probably dead by now, the human girl was in her hands and soon, she’d be powerful enough to face the four kingdoms all on her own.

Perfect.

Except… fate had other plans.

The giant doors to her throne room slammed open, and in her doorway, he stood.

Diana squeaked, staring with eyes of disbelief as he marched towards her like an approaching thundercloud of doom.

The look on Rogan’s face was murderous. Diana’s knees lost strength and she clutched the arm of her throne, all the hard work she’d done to reach this point flashing to waste before her eyes.

She pointed a trembling finger at his approaching figure, her eyes like those beholding a ghost. “Rogan… What are you d-doing here?! You! You’re dead!”

Rogan slowed down as he reached her throne, the menace in his eyes intensifying when he saw the look of fear on her face. He didn’t even have to ask any questions, he could see the answers written all over her face.

He’d always tolerated Diana, but now, she’d gone too far and after he took Maia and left this place, he’d make sure she paid for this.

He took one step up to the pedestal of her throne and Diana immediately fled, hopping off her pedestal to stand a safe distance away from the throne.

She watched, with eyes of horror as Rogan easily got onto the pedestal and dropped his bulk onto her royal throne. The sight made her clench her teeth.

That thug. He always sat on her throne whenever he came to the kingdom. She knew it should have been his throne, but his mother went and died and then the throne was passed onto Diana’s father and then to her, so how was that her fault?

It pissed Diana off beyond belief and she could bet Rogan knew it. She didn’t dare open her mouth and protest, however. The best thing she could do right now was appeal to him.

Those idiots that she’d wasted so much of her power on had obviously failed to do the job she’d sent them for and now she had to deal with Rogan. A very much alive Rogan. Darn it.

“Diana,” Rogan murmured, the calmness of his voice the biggest lie she’d ever heard. He wasn’t calm. If the churning magic in his glaring eyes was anything to go by, he was *furious*. “I… will give you *five* seconds—”

“Rogan, I needed to!” she quickly interrupted, trying to buy more than the five seconds he’d given her. “I’m sorry I tried to kill you, but you were in my way! And you know what we do when there’s someone in our way. We get rid of them. I need the girl.”

Rogan’s jaw clicked when he clenched it tightly together, rage nearly turning his vision red. “Why… the *fuck*… would you need her?”

Diana released a frustrated breath. “*Because*! I need the power keeping her soul alive.” His eyes narrowed dangerously and Diana knew she had to explain better or he’d gut her like a fish. Rogan had killed his own father, a cousin was nothing to him. Fearfully approaching the throne, she put on her most innocent expression. “Rogan, you know very well what happened when my husband died. Don’t you?”

“You mean when you killed him for the powerful sorcery in his soul?”

She gasped. How did he know that? Anyway, she had to keep talking, she had to buy time!

“W-what? Of course not! That was the father of my children, his death was very painful for our entire family! Anyway! Upon his death, we were to drain the magic power of his soul and use it to make our kingdom stronger. That power, Rogan… was stolen! And you know who stole it?” A look of fierce distaste entered Diana’s eyes and she approached the throne, sure that he’d understand her reasons. “*Esmerelda*! Don’t you remember her? She was one of the stronger Enchantresses of our Kingdom at the time. She *stole* it and you know what she did with it?”

Rogan didn’t answer.

“She put it in a dying human *baby* that she’d found in the forest!” Diana was screaming with rage now. “That power belonged to *me*! And she stole it to put it in some orphaned *human*! And that human is that girl *you’ve* been protecting so much!”

Rogan stared at her in slightly dazed shock. Of course. Why hadn’t he realized it sooner? A human girl who had very suspiciously magic abilities, raised in the forest by an enchantress? Esmerelda, the infamous thief Enchantress… was Maia’s Nana. And the power of the Queen’s late husband had really been stolen by her. That was where Maia’s weak healing powers came from.

He released a scoff of disbelief. Maia had the power of a royal sorcerer keeping her alive.

“*Now* do you get it?!” Diana was screeching. “I have the right to do whatever I want with her!”

Rogan wasn’t listening to her. He’d deal with her later. Right now all he could think was, if what Diana needed was what was keeping Maia alive…

His heart dropped.

*Maia.*

Cursing at how much time he’d wasted, Rogan dashed off the throne and ran more like a Vampire than a Sorcerer, out of the throne room.

He knew exactly where she was and he teleported himself there, running through the darkness of the dungeons as he cursed Diana a hundred times in his mind and cursed himself even more for wasting time.

By now, Maia could be—

Rogan came to a stop, the sickening sight before him draining the blood out of his face.

“You bastards!”

The ghosts scrambled about in the dungeon chamber, unable to escape the Sorcerer who stood fuming in the only doorway there was.

They abandoned the crystal ball they’d had collected the girl’s soul in, each one trying to blend in with the darkest corner of the dungeon room.

The moment they cleared out of his way and Rogan saw her, there was an unfamiliar clenching in his chest.

Maia lay there, her face pale and her body unmoving. Rogan clenched his jaw. The smell of death lingered here too.

Rushing to her side, he dropped to his knees and pulled Maia into his arms. He held her tightly, stroking away her hair so he could clearly see her pale, soft-cheeked face.

“Shit. Maia… Maia?”

She was stone cold to the touch and Rogan felt the panic in his chest hike up a few hundred notches.

Desperate, he snatched the crystal ball glowing blue and closed his hand around it. He’d be damned if she died. He’d be *damned*.

He’d already sacrificed what he loved most to come and save her and, with a sinking heart, Rogan was expecting his Sorcerer’s power to disappear. For, surely, it was what he loved most in the world, wasn’t it? If his powers of sorcery disappeared now, he’d be useless to Maia.

Murmuring every spell of life and healing that he knew, Rogan drew the collected energy in the crystal ball into his hand before he pried open Maia’s mouth and covered it with his palm.

He held her tighter as he poured the life back into her, casting spells with all his power, putting desperation and pleading into the mix of it.

Never before had Rogan been that desperate.

All of the energy he’d taken from the crystal ball was back inside her, so he lowered his hand from her mouth and grasped her against him.

Releasing a harsh breath, Rogan held her against his chest and waited. His heart was tight with anxiety, his mind rambling out spell after spell after spell, begging for life to return to her.

“Maia?” he called like he pleaded, rocking her back and forth in his arms.

Rogan waited and waited.

Her body was still cold in his hands and for the first time in a long time, Rogan felt it creep into his heart. *Fear*.

He looked down at Maia’s face, seeing not even a slight pink to her snow-white skin. She wasn’t reviving.

Why wasn’t she returning to life? He’d put the life back into her, hadn’t he? So why? Why wasn’t she waking up?

Clutching his hair in frustration, Rogan felt something strong stir within him and then he realized it.

He really didn’t want Maia to die.

He wanted Maia to wake up, open those large grey eyes of hers and smile that warm smile that melted the ice off his heart.

A sharp pain went through his chest and Rogan clenched his jaw, holding tightly onto her. This wasn't supoosed to be happening. He needed her alive. He needed her to wake up and stay with him and fight him, curse at him and chatter until he kissed her to shut her up.

Rogan realized he just needed *her*.

Nobody, before Maia, had ever made him want to change, even for a moment. Nobody had ever made him *want* to speak to them, to open up to them.

But even more than that, nobody, before Maia, had ever made Rogan want to *live*.

She’d touched a part deep within him that he’d never even knew existed. Nobody, before his Maia, had ever done that.

He touched a hand gently to her cheek, his heart aching in his chest as he stared miserably at her lifeless face.

And nobody after her would ever do so.