At the top of a palace turret.
Heidi crested the peak of the stairs, confronting the trapped Vishal yet again.
The panicked advisor scurried from window to window, as he quickly realized he was now trapped up here. He fiddled with the latches before managing to get one loose. The window swung wide, as Vishal moved to climb outside.
"Just STOP," Heidi commanded. Her booming voice caused Vishal to temporarily cease his escape attempts.
Heidi just stared at him for a moment. He was scared of her. Seeing her old friend, white as a ghost, drenched in sweat and trembling at the precipice turned a corner in Heidi's perception of him. As much as it pained her to acknowledge, she hated to see him so terrified. Despite the rage that boiled in her veins, Heidi was still appalled at herself for how badly she hated him. The brief moment of introspective clarity hung on Heidi's heart.
"I'm not going to hurt you," She sighed. As she backed down from her threatening stance, stepping away from the window. Vishal had been her most trusted advisor for her entire life. "You were like a father to me, you were the one who took care of me when my parents died. How could you even do this?"
Vishal reached his hands out in front, surrendering them to Heidi. "Okay, you win I surrender," he resigned. When Heidi didn't immediately take his hands, he instead slumped into a pile on the floor and he wept.
The Queen watched him wail for a moment unsure what to do now that she'd finally trapped him. He at least seemed to regret his actions, but he had been able to fool her before.
"Was it actual remorse? Or just another trick?"
she considered.
This whole ordeal was exhausting. She wanted nothing more than for her life to return to normal. Back to lounging around all day, shirking responsibilities and avoiding her Royal duties. Heidi had hoped they could reach some kind of amicable resolution, but she knew things could never return back to normal. There was no way she could reasonably let him off without some punishment, no matter how pathetic he looked now.
"Just tell me why. Why did you do this to me Vishal?" Heidi pleaded.
"I'm so sorry Heidi, my Queen." Vishal whimpered. "I never intended my meddling to go like this. Everything just got out of hand so quickly, I didn't know how I could salvage it." There was a fearful quiver in his voice that sounded genuine.
"I only intended to set you up with my nephew," he continued. "I swear I never meant to harm you! That-that damn witch tricked me! I thought I knew what I was dealing with but she was craftier than I assumed, " He sat on the ledge of the window as he kept his head low submissively, still presenting his hands towards Heidi.
"After Darren brought you to me, and you were knocked out, we didn't have any other recourse. We had to take the next step, there was no way we could've backed out after that," Vishal elaborated.
He wasn't wrong. At best it was treason and banishment, at worst it was treason and an execution. Heidi's stomach lurched, while she was still fuming mad the thought of actually killing him was revolting.
Vishal suddenly went white as a ghost, his breathing suddenly slowing as his eyes glazed over. He turned from panic stricken to calm instantly. His sudden reversal frightened Heidi.
"Vishal? Are you okay?" Heidi asked. "
Did I do that, did I cause this?"
she considered, unsure what had happened to the advisor. He looked similar to the guests participating in her mind controlled orgy, just worse. He looked completely gone, beyond the simply glazed look.
Vishal suddenly stood up, facing back towards the window.
"Um, Vishal, you're scaring me," Heidi was worried about him, he definitely seemed off. She wasn't commanding him to do any of this, he clearly wasn't in control of himself but Heidi wasn't controlling him either.
Vishal ignored her.
"Vishal... What are you doing," Heidi asked, still unsure what he was doing. He had moved himself back to the edge of the window, taking a step back outside.
As he leaned over the edge Heidi cried out to him, "Vishal! No stop!"
He jumped out of the turret window. Heidi covered her eyes as she turned away in shock.
"He jumped!"
Heidi was panicking, her breathing was heavy and she was gasping for air. She was barely able to process what she just observed. "I must be confused," so she thought,
"Why would he do that?!"
She was rerunning the situation multiple times in her head, maybe she mistook what she saw,
"there's no way he actually did it. This must be a trick!"
Heidi turned herself back to face the window, she needed to confirm it, she needed to see if it was really happening. Against her better judgement, Heidi peered over the ledge. She could see Vishal's body, but from this height he wouldn't be able to survive that fall, Vishal had indeed killed himself.
"What the fuck?" Heidi swore.
A voice spoke to her from the doorway, trying to calm Heidi down. It was the witch, Newt had returned.
She turned to face the witch, and her mood soured instantly.
"Newt! That witch! She must've made him kill himself!"