“No one else has the intelligence to match mine, so why bother with them? Besides, if I am mad, what of it? Everyone is somehow.”

Titania remembered her training in philosophy, and chuckled a bit to herself.

“Though I wouldn’t expect a simpleton to understand.”

Sable went on. The princess nearly yawned at the information spurting from her mouth, all things she already knew. What a bore this girl was! Perhaps she should have been exterminated immediately. If she kept up this boring talk, Titania would have no choice. Well, of course she would have a choice, but she really was a servant of her whims.

“Of course I know all that. It is you who is in need of some enlightenment. What an arrogant girl you are to think I want you. That anyone wants you. You’re a useless, depraved individual. All I want is your knowledge. You have some options. You can tell me all I want to know and be afforded a painless death, or you can be difficult and live out the rest of your days in a miserable and maimed condition here until you die a slow and agonizing death while we take your magic-neutralizing sword and replicate it. See, gumdrop, I was not have entirely ethical methods, but I really do have your best interest in mind.” She almost made herself hysterical with that last sentence.

Titania was telling the truth about not being ethical. When she was five, her older brother suffered a tragic accident. Well, that’s what people thought anyway. He fell off of the top of the staircase at the country house and died on impact. The nursemaids in the other room washing said they’d heard small voices and laughter before the accident. However, the princess herself was thought to have died as well because she was not seen at all for a week after the accident. She returned from the forest after the disappearance and seemed entirely unaffected by her brother’s death. Of course, the story was covered up from the public eye, and the young prince was said to have died of a horrible, sudden illness. No one contested it because the only person who knew the whole story was Titania, and she obviously wouldn’t do anything simply for justice.

“So, pick your poison, girl. Or have you already forgotten what they are? I wouldn’t be surprised, considering your primitive line of work.”