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!"
Heidi had determined.
The witch spoke softly, "Nevermind him now." While she intended them to be words of comfort, the witch's hollow consolation did not bring any solace. In fact, her words only further aggravated the Queen.
"Why did you do that!" Heidi demanded an explanation from the witch. she didn't have the intention to actually hurt Vishal, let alone murder him. Even if Heidi had intended to hurt him, she had clearly proven she wasn't actually capable of actually doing it.
The witch slowly nodded, "Well yes, I had to get rid of him. That worm had served his purpose well, but now I have no need for him anymore. VIshal would have only held you back." Grinning, Newt continued, "besides, I don't take kindly to unsatisfied customers."
"But why did you have to kill him?!" Heidi asked again. Peering over the edge of the window sill, hoping this was maybe some kind of trick and Vishal would magically reappear unharmed. However, Heidi immediately averted her eyes when she just about laid eyes on his final resting place, still lifeless, out in the garden.
"Well," Newt responded, "I knew you couldn't stomach it. So I figured I could save you the trouble." The witch gave an animated chuckle as she said it. Almost mocking the late Vishal, while taunting Heidi.
Heidi's stomach lurched, she just couldn't fully ignore that sickening feeling. Instead she scowled at the witch, baring her teeth disapprovingly. She measured up Newt, determining if she'd be able to perhaps push the witch out the window.
"Tsk, tsk. Careful child," Newt warned. Waving a finger at the angry Queen, while she gestured towards the still open window with a subtle head tilt.
It was barely a thinly veiled threat, the subtext was completely on the surface. She knew Heidi couldn't stop her, and Newt was simply reminding the Queen of this fact. Nothing was stopping the witch from killing Heidi the exact same way. She didn't know enough about the witch's magic, it was impossible to tell what she was actually capable of.
"What do you want from me," Heidi resigned.
The witch only laughed again, "Nothing this time, that one was on me." Between her hearty chuckles she continued, "Vishal had been getting on my nerves for a while now, so it was my pleasure." She gave a slight curtsy, feigning respect for Heidi.
Newt's nonchalance around murdering Vishal only made Heidi madder, but she said nothing. Not that her silence mattered, as the witch was still able to read her thoughts. But regardless, there was no sense trying to argue.
"I see we're finally learning," Newt scoffed, "good girl."
Heidi only glared back at her.
"Okay. Fine, since you insist I'll be upfront with you," Newt walked right up to Heidi. In direct sunlight it became immediately obvious that the witch had further regressed in age. More so than their last meeting, entire years of age had seemingly vanished. If she were none the wiser, Heidi would have assumed this was the witch's natural age. But Heidi knew better. She knew that the once frail old lady had turned into a middle aged woman and now looked to be a girl barely out of her twenties. She was remarkably pretty, but not to the same degree that Heidi could've been considered 'pretty.'
Heidi was beyond gorgeous by all accounts. The Queen was the epitome of feminine beauty. Every one of her individual features were at or exceeding what could be considered perfect, and the whole ensemble made her look unbelievable. If you didn't see her with your own eyes it would be easy to dismiss her as mere fantasy. She had it all: cute face, pouty lips, toned body, wide hips, and huge perky tits. Besides her exceptionally large cock, she was the image of feminine perfection.
Newt's appearance was different. She had a much more reasonably proportioned body, one that didn't outwardly scream with explicit hypersexualization. She had an air of a reserved pretty girl look, one who just oozes confidence without being too intimidating. As if she knew she was prettier than most.
Heidi stared at her slack-jawed for a moment.
"What sort of magical glamour was this? Why just change your appearance?"