We last left off with the two Princesses, Kat and Ella, taking on new roles. Kat was just made the new Queen, and Ella was now a wife. You may have thought that was the end of this fairy tale, and they would all live happily ever after. Yet, this story is just beginning. Every good Princess fairy tale always has to have an evil stepmother, and there is indeed one in this story. The only question is, how did the evil stepmother come into the picture?
A long time ago, in the land far, far away there was a woman more beautiful than Cindiarella. Her name was Rose, and she was the queen of all the land. She lived by one motto: Have courage and be kind. Every day she would say the five words to her daughter, Kat, and then Kat would recite them back to her. It was a sweet memory Kat would always cherish.
One day tragedy struck the kingdom. Their beautiful queen Rose became terribly sick and passed away. The whole kingdom was shaken, but no one felt the pain like Kat did. She had lost her mother who was also her best friend and mentor. Kat went against the motto her mother had always told her and became mean-spirited and bratty, which was why she tormented Cindiarella. The King was concerned with her behavior and decided Kat needed a motherly figure in her life. He knew no woman could actually fill the void in their hearts, but he had to try. He sought out for his replacement bride and then he met Jezzabelle.
One day when young Kat was playing by the creek bed, she lost her balance and fell in. Jezzabelle had just happened to be by the creek herself when she saw the princess fall in. She waited a minute to see if Kat could swim, but when she realized the princess was drowning she sprinted to the creek to save her. Jezzabelle returned Kat home, and the King was forever grateful. He asked Jezzabelle to stay for dinner, and during the dinner the King began to fall for her.
At first, Kat and Jezzabelle got along great. But as time went on, Jezzabelle began to notice that the King would always put Kat’s needs and wants before her own. Naturally Jezzabelle began to grow jealous, and stored hate in her heart towards Kat. She started to convince herself that the King had no room in his heart to love anyone equally or more than he loved his daughter. Although the King did love Jezzabelle, she could not accept that he had another woman in his life, even if it was his daughter.
Even though she had doubts about the King’s devotion to her, she loved him and wanted to be with him, so she created a plan to win the King’s heart. When the day came for the King to ask for her hand in marriage she said she would only marry him if he agreed to grant her one wish at any point in their marriage. Caught off guard by Jezzabelle’s response the King stared into her eyes confused.
“My sweet Jezzy, if you are to be my bride I will of course give you anything you ask for. I will take care of you all the days of your life. May my kingdom be indebted to you forever if I do not keep my word. ”
Jezzy smiled with an evil grin and said, “Love, there is no other man I would wish to make this vow with. I will be your bride, and I will love and care for you all the days of your life.”
Ten years later
“I hereby declare that the Suitor Games are over. Princess Kat wishes to rule this kingdom by herself.” The kingdom began to celebrate. After the King announced to the kingdom his daughter would be taking over as queen, Jezzabelle’s heart filled with anger. She had convinced herself once Kat married and moved away the King would have room in his heart to love her. Kat would not ruin her happy ending.
Jezzabelle calmly walked to the King, tapped his shoulder, and whispered into his ear, “My love, would you mind meeting me in our bedroom?”
The King looked at Jezzabelle and furrowed his eyebrows suggesting now was not the time, but she insisted. The King and Queen made their way to their bedroom and shut the door behind them.
Turning towards him she said, “ Love, do you remember that promise you made to me many, many years ago?”
The King chuckled, “My beautiful bride, of course I remember promising to give you everything you ever asked for. I have made a vow to care for you all the days of your life.”
Jezzabelle laid her hands on the King's chest and looked into his eyes with a sad, puppy dog look.
“Well, I have just one simple request…” The King looked at her confused. "You must banish Kat from the Kingdom.”
The King ’s face grew pale, and a pit the size of earth formed in his stomach. “Wh-wh-what do you mean b-b-banish Kat?”
The King struggled to get the words out. Tears formed in Jezzabelle’s eyes as she screamed, “Can’t you see your daughter is ruining our marriage? You have no room in your heart to love me! You swore on your kingdom you would give me whatever I wished, and this is my wish!”
The King was overcome with sadness. He had always been a man of his word, but this was a request he could not fulfill. Kat was the only remnant of Rose the King had left. The King took a deep breath and laid his hands on the side of Jezzabelle's face. Looking into her eyes he whispered, “If only you could have looked past your own envy to see that I loved you. The kingdom is yours.”
He kissed her forehead, packed his bags, and went to find Kat.
Jezzabelle sat on the bed and cried her eyes out. An entire kingdom was now hers to rule over, but her heart was too broken to enjoy the power. As she cried she convinced herself the King never loved her because if he did then he would have chosen her. Her envy of Kat grew more and the burning flames of revenge returned to her eyes. She was determined to have her happily ever after. She wanted to be with the king, but she knew Kat had to be gone for good in order for that happily ever after to happen.
Author's Note: I based my story off of the Ramayana characters Kaikeyi and Dasharatha. In this epic Kaikeyi is the youngest of three wives, but also the bravest. There was a time when Kaikeyi saved Dasharatha's life and to thank her for saving him, Dasharatha granted Kaikeyi two requests. Later down the road Rama was ahead of Kaikeyi's son to take the throne. As a way to jump the line, Kaikeyi requested that Rama be banished and her son take his place on the throne. Dasharatha could not go against his promise to fulfill the wish, so he had to banish Rama. I didn't really like the ending to this story.
When reading the epic, I though Kaikeyi perfectly resembled an evil stepmother, so I decided to base Jezzabelle off of her. Instead of her saving the King's life, I had her save Kat's life to give the King a reason to love her and want to marry her. I had Jezzabelle's jealousy be the root of why she wanted Kat banished, rather her wanting her own child to be the King's successor. I said previously that I didn't like the ending of the original epic, and this is because I don't think anything should exceed the love a parent has for their child. Instead, I made the king give up his kingdom in order for him and his daughter to stay together. This of course only makes Jezzabelle hate Kat more causing her to get to the evil plan of having Kat killed, which is continued in the next story.
If you read my original story, there have been a lot of modifications made to it. This really was because my readers said they loved that my characters didn't need a fairy godmother to save them, and I wanted to stay true to that.