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The steepest hillside Liam had ever walked led to a flight of even steeper stone stairs. He wiped the sweat from his brow, pulled his sheath belt higher on his hip, and, without a second thought, began to climb.
Liam was a knight. He wasn’t just any knight, though -- he was the Captain of the Royal Fleet, Head Knight, the best around. If Princess Harry needed something done, she always knew she could count on Liam. Being the son of a humble blacksmith, it was remarkable that Liam was able to serve the crown at all. On top of this, becoming Captain made Liam pretty special. But Liam thought he wasn’t quite special enough. Although his life was clearly blessed by the gods, there was one thing Liam wanted more than anything that he could never have -- one Goddess who had turned her back on him. And so, now, at the risk of showing hubris, he made his way up the stairs to the temple of Venus, the Goddess of Love.
By the time he reached the top of the narrow stone steps, Liam was practically crawling. He had to stop to sit for a moment so he could catch his breath. He wiped the sweat off of his face a couple of times, blinking off the wet beads off his eyelashes. He sighed, surveying the view of the kingdom and the surrounding forest. Goldwilde: a peaceful, beautiful, perfect place to be, led by the most beautiful and perfect of rulers. Liam got a second wind of energy thinking about how when he got back to Goldwilde, if all went well, her heart would finally be his. He hoisted himself to his feet and took a brave step inside the temple.
Surprisingly, the climate of the temple was uniquely humid, unfitting for the weather outside. Liam wondered if it was always like this, if Venus liked feeling like she was in a sauna. He supposed you were always supposed to be naked in those things, which is, you know, sexy. The temple was also fairly dim, besides a faint glow across the outermost brick of the oddly low ceiling. There were two open windows across the left and right walls, as well as the wall with the door, but the back wall had none.
“Goddess Venus?” Liam croaked, voice still hoarse from panting. “Goddess, I was told you’d be here…”
Admittedly, the beautiful, dark-haired witch with golden-brown eyes had no reason to lie to Liam, but she didn’t exactly have a reason to tell the truth, either. Liam had dealt with criminals, and he’d like to think he was good at spotting a lie, so he believed her when she gave him directions to the Temple of Venus. After all, it isn’t as if he had a choice; she was the only person able to tell him anything about its whereabouts at all. Everyone else insisted it was only mythical.
“Uh,” Liam coughed, taking a few cautious steps forward. “I’m sorry to bother you, Goddess, but I’ve come to ask for forgiveness, or… appeal.” He walked to what appeared to be the middle of the temple, his dagger clinking in its sheath with every step. Looking at the floor, Liam noticed that there were all sorts of curly and jagged markings on the brick. They looked somewhat like vines, or teeth? He could make out some of the same symbols on the back wall.
“It’s just I’ve noticed that you… well, it sounds quite stupid saying it out loud, but you’ve sort of passed over me, a little bit,” Liam said, trying to project, but he couldn’t stop his voice from shaking. He took another step forward, looking around for any sort of divine sign. “See, I’m sure you know, but I’m in love with --”
Just as he took another step forward, the brick under his right foot sunk, and the temple began to shake wildly. “Whoa!” Liam shouted, struggling to stand his ground. He looked around desperately. Was it an earthquake, or was Venus responding to him? Was she angry, or was this the beginning of a miracle?
Liam’s eyes widened as he watched the floor markings light up green and pink in a cascade, like watching the fuse of a stick of dynamite. The pattern flowed onto the back wall, which lit up like a bloom from the middle, temple still shaking all the while.
Finally, once everything was lit, the shaking stopped. The entire temple hummed as if buzzing with electricity, echoing upon itself. Liam bent over to catch his breath. His heart was beating like it never had before; he was sure he was actually, truly in the presence of a Goddess. He just hoped she would be merciful, knowing he disturbed her, questioned her. But before he could call out to her again, the shaking started again. This time, though, it was concentrated in one spot -- which just happened to be the spot right in front of Liam.
Liam yelped and rushed to detach his sheath, then dropped to his knees, in a last-ditch effort to show respect. “Goddess,” he said almost soundlessly, which was, of course, heard by no one over the wild shaking of the brick beneath him.
Suddenly, like a bullet, a gigantic flash of thickness, green and pink, vines, teeth, and sticky substance shot out of the ground, spraying destroyed brick all over the temple. Liam crouched in on himself, shielding his head from the debris, and when he straightened back up to kneeling, his eyes widened as they settled upon the image of a Goddess.
Venus wasn’t how Liam expected she would look at all. She certainly didn’t look like any vases, paintings, or drawings he had seen of her before. She had no eyes, and not really any arms or legs, and did not look humanlike at all. She looked much more like a plant with teeth. A thick, green stalk, vines running along the temple floor, and a wide bean-shaped mouth at the top. The large pointy-looking teeth along the inside of her mouth were dripping with a sticky, sweet, lovely smelling substance. As she was breathing heavily with her mouth slightly open, Liam could see that the inside was bright watermelon-pink, which he thought was the most pleasant color he had ever seen.
“Goddess,” he said shakily. “Thank you so much for…”
His voice faltered. Venus continued to bob slightly, and although she didn’t have any eyes, Liam felt as if she was sizing him up. He decided it was probably best to stay quiet, let her speak first. She did highly outrank him, after all.
Venus bent over slowly, her thick stalk creasing slightly in the middle. Liam’s breathing grew shallow and he struggled to stay kneeling; he shook as what he took to be her face came ever-closer to him. It was terrifying, but he mustn’t question the Goddess. Not only that, but she smelled amazing, and that color… it was so attractive. It must have been part of being the Goddess of Love.
Liam could only let out a squeak as Venus opened her mouth wider, letting out more of the sweet smell. Inside her mouth, he saw curious filaments dancing within her, almost like ballerinas. Liam had always loved ballet, specifically because Princess Harry loved ballet. This must be the Goddess’s way of saying his miracle was going to happen; he and Princess Harry were going to be able to be together, against all odds. Even though she was a princess, true love would prevail. Liam knew Venus would come through for him. If he could just get a hold of these magic objects...
“Oh, Goddess… could I… have a closer look at these?” Liam asked breathlessly. “I just need to see…” He knee-walked closer to her mouth, reaching out for them ever so slowly, letting himself become bathed in the sweet scent, feeling relaxed, feeling blissful --
The venus fly-trap snapped closed. Liam began to be slowly digested, covered in the sticky acid of the fly-trap. The more he tried to wriggle free, the harder it was to move, as he was glued down by the thick, viscous digestive liquid inside the giant plant. It was a full 12 hours before Sir Liam Payne was completely digested, reduced to nothing but nutrients for his goddess.
--
Princess Harry paced around her room. She didn’t often concern herself too much with military endeavors or the realm of the knights at all. She had advisors for that, strategists. But Sir Liam was more than just a knight. As ashamed as she was to admit it, Sir Liam was even more than just Captain, to Harry. And now he’d been missing for what felt like years, and Harry felt like she was falling apart.
Harry had been crying on and off the whole day. She had skipped meals, preferring to have them delivered to her so no one would see her crying over Sir Liam; even then, she hardly ate. Her violin and poetry books went untouched. She was not behaving like a princess at all, but she didn’t care. Nothing mattered if she wasn’t sure Sir Liam was safe.
She was sitting in her bed with the covers up to her waist, clutching a tear-stained photograph of him when Niall came in and sat on her bed, looking more tired than they ever had.
“Your highness… about Sir Liam,” Niall sighed. They always did like to get straight to the point.
Harry just stared at them.
“He’s been missing for nearly 16 hours. It’s late, the forest is… the forest is dangerous. And he’d been spotted -- ”
Harry’s face lit up hopefully. Niall raised a hand as if to ask her to wait.
“He had been spotted on the west outskirts of the forest. Meaning he probably went up the mountain. Meaning… which means, Harry, he’s probably dead. He’s not coming back. The search party has given up. We can’t spare any more resources. I’m sorry, Harry… I’m sorry.” Niall squeezed Harry’s hand, but Harry didn’t squeeze back.
After a few seconds of shock, she nodded slowly. “Dismissed, Niall. Thank you,” she said quietly, avoiding eye contact.
Niall sighed again, truly feeling Harry’s pain. Although they certainly didn’t approve, they were the only one who knew how Harry felt about Sir Liam. But they understood needing to be alone, so they gave Harry’s hand one final squeeze and left the room.
As soon as the door clicked shut, Harry stood up. If she wanted to sneak out, she had to get going now, while everyone was still distracted. If there was even a sliver of a chance Sir Liam wasn’t dead, Harry needed to hold on to it. She wasn’t letting him go, not now. She was going to go up that mountain herself and find her love, no matter what it took.
In a small satchel, she packed: a few rolls from her mostly untouched dinner tray, her poetry notebook, the ballerina token from her music box (for morale), a pen, a silk handkerchief, and her most prized possession -- a photograph of Sir Liam. The rest, she’d take from downstairs…somehow.
She took one last deep breath, looking around her room. There was no going back now. Carefully, she lowered herself out the window.