From Enemy to Heir Archives - Kristen Anne Glover

{31} Return to Me

Return to Me: Day 31 of 31 Days (lalalalala!)

For Day 1, Click on the image above

When Jewel woke from her groggy haze, she saw the imposing castle looming before her eyes. The beautiful home she had shared with her prince was terrifying. It stood for perfection and holiness, and she was returning to its sacred halls as a ruined bride, clothed in the wedding dress she had defiled.

“I can’t go back there!” she cried.

“Jewel, you must go back.”

“But I am ruined!”

“Even more reason to return to the place where you can be restored. Why would you resist his love when you need it most?”

She was sick with dread. She had not considered what it would be like to return to her prince, covered in filth from the Enchanter’s kingdom, because she had not considered that she might be wrong.

Now her Advocate was leading her right through the gates, right past the sturdy walls where her betrayal was set in motion.

“Just put me down somewhere,” she pleaded, “anywhere.” She remembered her life in the shadows, when Obscurity ruled in Jewel’s place, and she longed for some of the old, comfortable anonymity. She thought if she could live on the fringes, tucked somewhere in the prince’s kingdom away from his gaze, she could yet survive the knowledge that she had failed him.

“Jewel, the anecdote for the Enchanter’s spell is the prince’s love. Do not shrink from him now. Do not let the Enchanter have that final victory. The shame you want to wear like a covering for your nakedness is no substitute for the covering that awaits you in him. This is where you must trust him the most. Now, let’s go greet him.”

That’s when Jewel noticed the obvious. She was so intoxicated by her own misery, she had not been aware of the flowing banners and abundant flowers. She had not seen the velvet runner and the colorful flags. Her prince had returned.

“He is here?” she gasped.

“He returned while you were away.”

It was worse than she could have imagined. While she was away, her prince had returned to find her absent. Her prince had returned to find her, not waiting, but wandering into the far reaches of enemy territory. She had no time to clean up before he saw her, no time to make amends and prove her penitence. He would see her exactly as she was.

She wished her Advocate had a slower gait, or that the walk through the village was longer, or that she could command the earth to open up and swallow her whole. She had not felt this disgusted with herself when the prince rescued her from the mud because she had not known him before.

She did not have the same excuse this time. This time, she had gone willingly. She had betrayed him when she knew him.

Just then, her thoughts were interrupted. They were not even half-way up the path when she heard his voice. “Jewel! Jewel! You have returned to me! Everyone, she’s here! My bride is here!” She saw him running, royal robes flashing, to embrace her. Great, joyful tears welled up in his eyes. “You have returned to me.”

Return to Me

The people of the kingdom rushed out of houses and shops at the sound of their prince’s voice. They gathered around Jewel in stunned silence. They were shocked by her appearance. It was not hard to tell where she had been. Some looked away, embarrassed for her.

The prince was not one of them. He clapped his adviser on the back. “Well done,” he said, “very well done.” The adviser bowed slightly.

The prince turned to his bride, beaming. “I am so happy to have you back.”

Jewel did not know what to say. Her infidelity blazed on her cheeks. “I am so sorry,” she stammered.

“Your Advocate has already told me, and I am glad. I can do something with ‘sorry,’ remember, Jewel?”

“But I took your riches for granted and I used the beauty you gave me to lead your people right over to the Enchanter’s kingdom. And I went there myself, looking for the ill-gotten riches of my old life. Only they weren’t there because they weren’t real, and now I have nothing to show you but the dirty rags I have made of the wedding dress you gave me.”

“Come here,” he said, but even as he said it, he moved to her as if he knew her feet were rooted to the ground and could not move. Then he spread out the corner of his royal robe over her filthy wedding dress. The rich purple of princely garments reached around her, wrapping her in radiance. Her guilty rags were completely covered.

Wonderstruck whispers rippled through the throng.

“All along, your beauty was found in me. You were rich because I am rich. That goodness you saw in the mirror was my goodness at work in you, Jewel. It was not your own, as you supposed it to be. Apart from me, you are nothing. That’s why your excursion to the Enchanter’s kingdom was in vain.”

Jewel studied her feet.

“Neither can you take anything from me, Jewel. You cannot shame me. Your ugliness can never mar my beauty or my goodness. I have enough beauty and goodness to cover it all, and I have covered it.”

“But you are just, too. Not just beautiful and good. How can you take me back, as if what I did was of no consequence?”

The prince’s face grew serious. “Well, there are consequences, Jewel, and there was a punishment. You could not have borne up under the punishment, so I took that for you.” He turned his back to her, and Jewel saw for the first time the fierce marks of dragon claws and the brutal scars where fire licked his flesh.

Tears flooded her eyes.

“As for consequences, well, you could have been living richly this entire time, Jewel, but you chose poverty instead. I think you can see the consequence in that.”

Jewel nodded, sober and heartbroken.

“But Jewel, return to me, and I will sweep your offenses away like a cloud. I will clothe you with new garments, and I will love you with an everlasting love. For I am gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love, and relenting of evil. You have tasted my mercy. Now drink of my grace.”

She fell into his arms then, and the people erupted with shouts of praise. Only their prince could take a story so hopeless and make it glorious with grace. Only their prince could take a twisted, sorted tale and turn it into a Happily Ever After.

THE END
*Only, this is not the end, not really. This series will be published in its entirety in e-book format for easy printing or reading on electronic devices. The e-book will included bonus content, including study questions and Scripture references. For updates, please follow me on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribe by e-mail.

{30} You Came for Me

As soon as she said the words, even before—as soon as it occurred to her to cry out for help, Jewel felt a hand reach out and snatch her up. It carried her to a place of warmth and safety. In her unconscious haze, she could not tell where she was, only that she never wanted to leave.

She heard the voice of her Advocate, and the voice of her enemy, although they seemed far-off in her mind.

“What are you doing here?” she heard the Enchanter sneer. “We have a deal.”

“You know perfectly well I don’t make deals with you.”

“Well, then, what are you doing here? Visiting?”

“You have something that belongs to the prince.”

“I do?” The Enchanter’s insolence was palpable. “I didn’t think I could take anything from you. Oh, unless you mean that woman of his? Well, I didn’t take her. She wandered here all on her own.”

“She is his bride, and you will pay for your part in deceiving her.”

“Bride? Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t see a bride here, only a tramp. A vile, worthless tramp who didn’t need much encouragement to forget all about him.”

“That is not true. She is clothed by the prince, and you have no right to speak such words to her.”

The Enchanter looked at Jewel’s torn, stained garments with feigned surprise. “Do all the girls get the pretty dresses, or just the friendly ones?”

“You can talk all you want but you know you have no authority over her anymore.”

“No authority? Funny, for someone with ‘no authority’ I seem to doing a pretty good job of entertaining your people in my kingdom.

Don’t be sad, but I think she likes me better than your prince. Look how quickly she abandoned him for me. Not to mention the fact that you didn’t do a very good job of keeping her home yourself. Weren’t you supposed to be her guardian, her Advocate? Yet all I had to do was whisper a few pretty words in her ear, and she was gone. I don’t think she loves you very much at all.”

“I am not here because of how much she loves me. I am here because of how much I love her.”

“Well, if you ever get tired of her, I could show you a dozen more just like her.”

“Do not tempt me,” the Adviser said through clenched teeth, “or nothing on earth will be able to hold me back from giving you a painful reminder of how this ends.”

The Enchanter sneered. “You wouldn’t dare.”

In a flash of steel, the prince’s adviser struck the Enchanter with the broad side of his sword. The shadowy creature flew into the air and landed with an infantile cry. “Stop! Please, stop!” The Enchanter screamed like the coward he was.

The Adviser placed his sword under his enemy’s throat. “You are fortunate I am a very patient man or I would gladly run you through. But my father and I are not willing for any one of your captive souls to be lost. There are still some in your kingdom who will answer when I call, some who will yet be rescued, and it is for them I stay my sword. Not you.

“And if you think you can touch the bride of the prince without repercussion, think again. I am keeping track of every single vile thought, word, and deed you have done to her, and I will repay you a thousandfold. One day, you will see her, spotless like I see her, and you will know the gravity of the crimes you have committed against her and the justice of my punishment to you. Because you will be punished, and in that day, you will regret ever having laid a finger on her.”

The Enchanter quivered under the Adviser’s power.

“I will be back for you soon enough,” the Adviser said, then he, Jewel’s own faithful advocate, picked her up in his arms and ran across the rocky, rough terrain toward home.

Jewel was just beginning to come to when she felt the swift and startling movement. “You came for me,” she said in sleepy wonder. “You came back for me.”

“No, Jewel. I did not come for you. I never left you.”

“No…no. I didn’t see you there.” It was hard to form the words, but harder to stay silent when her heart was so heavy.

“You were too preoccupied to notice, but I was with you all the way.”

Jewel thought about that a moment. “I didn’t know you would follow me so far. I mean, I didn’t think you would go there.”

“What kind of rescuer would I be if I didn’t go where you most needed rescuing?”

“Then, why did you let me go so far? Why didn’t you stop me from myself?”

“I let you go just as far as you needed to go. I let you go until you had to turn around.”

Jewel knew it was true. She would not have come back so willingly if she had not gone so far. She was that obstinate, that stubborn, that much in need of rescuing…still.

“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry.” The warmth enfolded her and Jewel slipped back into the haze, grateful, at least, that she had been able to say that much.

{29} Beyond Rescuing

Beyond Rescuing: Day 29 of 31 Days

For Day 1, click on the image above

Jewel fell back on her knees and stared at the box before her. Dust and ashes, ashes and dust. She could not understand it—she knew there was treasure here before.

“Didn’t find what you were looking for?” a voice said in her ear.

She fell down, terrified, and looked up. It was the Enchanter, looking calm and collected next to her dirty, frazzled body.

“I don’t understand,” Jewel stammered. “It was here. I left it here. I buried treasure in this box, but when I opened it, well, look!” She shoved the box at the Enchanter, who clucked his tongue and shook his head.

“He should have told you this would happen.”

“What do you mean? Who should have told me what?”

“Your prince. It’s a trick of his, you know. Once you see his treasure, your treasure is like dust. You can never come back to it and be satisfied.”

“You mean it just disappeared?”

“I mean, you never had it to begin with.“

Jewel looked at the box in disbelief. “But I did! I…I saved it myself.”

“You stole it. Or at the very least, you did all sorts of things to earn it that would make a good princess blush. You know it, and I know it. That is not treasure, Jewel, it’s plunder. Blood money. It’s no good in his kingdom.” He came a little closer to her and whispered, “If your prince knew where you got it, he would turn away from you in disgust.”

“How dare you, you who sold me first! How dare you accuse me!”

“How dare you pretend I’m not justified in doing so,” the Enchanter laughed. “Oh, Obscurity! Do you really think you can erase your past, just because you put on new clothes and a crown?”

“My name is Jewel.”

“Ironic. You do not look very much like a Jewel now.”

Jewel looked down. She was covered in filth. Blood oozed from scrapes and scratches, and she realized that one of her fingernails had been torn off completely. Worse, her dress was ripped beyond repair. She had worn her oldest dress, the very first dress the prince had ever given her.

It was her wedding dress.

“You know,” the Enchanter cooed, “I have more riches than I know what to do with. If it’s treasure you seek, I can make you rich beyond imagination.”

“I don’t want to be rich,” Jewel said. “I came because I wanted to do something for him.”

“Of course you do. He’s done so much for you, after all.”

“Yes.” The thought of it made her wretched.

“Although, I can’t help but feel he got the better of me when he took you from me. I’m not sure I’m ready to forgive him for that.”

“Please, if you have anything you can spare, anything at all. I’ve come all this way, and I have nothing. How can I go back like this?”

“How indeed,” the Enchanter said, looking her over with slitted eyes. “I would not want to go in your place. I can just imagine the look on his face.”

Beyond Rescuing

Jewel buried her head in her dirty hands and sobbed. “What can I do?”

“Well,” the Enchanter’s smooth voice curled around her like smoke. “There is one thing.”

“What? Anything!”

His beautiful face contorted so quickly, Jewel gasped in surprise. He grabbed her by the throat and hissed, “Bow down and beg for it.”

Her eyes were wide and frantic. He was fierce and ugly, like the dragons that swooped over his land. Ugly like she had never seen him before. Jewel clawed at him, expecting any moment for him to release her. He was a friend!

“You see, Jewel, I have not forgotten your betrayal. I have not forgotten how you traded me in at the first chance you had to become the bride of the one I hate.” He spat the words at her like a viper. “Do you really think we could be friends after that? Do you really think I will help you?”

He was her friend! He had said so himself. But now there was no air! Was she to die at his hand?

“No, Jewel, I will not help you, but you have certainly helped me! You have led your people right out the gates and into my kingdom.”

He laughed then and released his grip just enough for Jewel to gasp for breath and feel the weight of his words. It was true.

“Do you know, Jewel, there is one thing I love almost as much as having my own kingdom. Do you know what that is? It’s having the prince’s people serve me when they think they’re serving him. They wander farther and farther away from him every day and they don’t even know it. In fact, they think they are more enlightened than ever before! It’s almost too easy!

“What kind of pathetic prince can’t keep his people from traipsing over to the enemy just as soon as the gates are open? Your prince, Jewel, that’s who. He talks a big talk, but he has no power over the desires of men. I do.”

The Enchanter looked into her eyes and scoffed. “And you—you’re the worst offender. ‘Jewel: bride of the prince.’ You came calling so quickly, I’m almost amazed the prince didn’t recognize you sooner for the harlot you are.”

“Let me go,” she begged, her voice hoarse and raspy.

“Let you go? Tell me, Jewel, where would you go? Do you think I am so kind as to take traitors back into my house? I would sooner destroy you. And if you think he will take you back when you have betrayed him like this then you do not know his holy fierceness like you ought. It would be a kindness for me to kill you outright rather than to leave you to his justice.”

He was choking her again, but she was dying with the thought that she might be beyond rescuing by her prince. Of course the Enchanter was right. Why would her prince take her back? She had been so foolish.

“You have been defeated, Jewel. Admit it, and I might let you live long enough to see the embarrassment on your prince’s face.”

The darkness of that night became even darker. The whole world spun and she felt her arms go numb. Jewel could not breathe. She could only exhale one last breath. “Help me,” she whispered just before everything went black.

*Join us tomorrow for the exciting Day 30!