Chapter 84: Chapter 84

Camper gulped when Avril stepped into the living room from the garden behind, Verona at her trail.

“Hey, you're back,” he hailed, donning his beautiful smile which made her smile back.

“Yeah. I suppose you already know though, considering you're likely seen Dakar,” she responded and crossed the distance between the both of them. Verona casually slumps on the sofa nearest to her and palms her forehead, her red hair falling over before she shoved it behind her ears.

“I didn't know he brought you. He was supposed to...come back alone.”

“Why is that?”

Camper knew Avril was already suspecting the issue at hand had something to do with her. So he wasn't going to give her something to think further on.

“The way he wanted this ‘outing’ with you, I thought he would run right back to the human world just to complete y'all's little vacation,” he teased and Avril huffed with a smile.

“Oh please, you make it sound like a honeymoon.”

“Isn't it, though? I bet there's a little Dakar budding to life inside of you already.”

Avril tensed uncomfortably before gulping down.

“I... Dakar and I aren't... we're not...,” she trailed off as Camper's eyes widened.

“What? He's not...” he too trailed off as he realized it wasn't really his business if Dakar was ‘touching’ this piece of artwork or not. No, it really wasn't his business. But it made him wonder why.

His gaze flickered towards Verona's wary eyes and he sent her a smile.

“Verona darling, you look tired. Now did Fiorella here give you a stressful time?”

“You have no idea,” came Verona's tired voice.

“Hey, I only made you listen to me while I read and explained a book I was reading,” Avril defended herself.

“For two whole hours? And what was this book about? A lady who preferred to feed ducks than marry the man her father wanted for her. Try listening to a duck feeding endeavor accompanied with lamentations about terrible fathers and dominating male pricks,” Verona blurted out, her grey eyes darkening.

“It wasn't that bad,” Avril bit down on her lip and whispered.

Camper cracked a smile.

“Fiorella, take it easy on Verona next time. You know she's not really sane.”

A sharp glare from the girl got him standing with a straight face.

“Dakar's upstairs,” he answered Avril's unasked question since she stepped into the house. She gave him a smile and hurried up the stairs.

Verona sat up immediately and stared at Camper.

‘She's safe, for now. Don't worry, Dakar won't let anything happen to her,’ he gently said with his mind knowing she would read it. She let out a breath and laid back on the sofa with her eyes closed but jerked them back open when she almost saw the image of a long black jacket.

“Take me out, Camper,” she demanded and got on her feet.

“Eh, am I safe?” he asked and took a step back while scratching his head.

“No,” she answered and dragged him out of the living room outside.

**

Avril paused in front of Dakar's door and took a breath in before knocking.

“Come in,” his deep voice resonated from within. She pushed it open and peeped in at him. He was sitting up in his bed, his hair loose on his shoulders, the red and gold blanket up to his torso and a tablet in his hand. Immediately he sighted her, he dropped the tablet and peered at her like she was a foreigner.

“I was waiting for you to call me when you return from the Palace,” she stated as she walked in after closing the door.

“I figured you were having a good time with Verona, so I decided to rest a bit,” he answered, his eyes not leaving her figure as she walked to him.

“Oh. Is everything all right, though?”

“Yes. Everything has been resolved for now.”

She reached the bed without uttering any other word. Dakar watched her as she sat down and looked at the blanket.

“Why are you scared?” he asked as he sensed the fear from her.

“Nothing,” she lied.

“I don't like being lied to, Fiorella.”

She looked up at him and cocked a brow.

“You don't like lying either, I guess,” she said but he did not reply.

“Come here,” he ordered, his voice low and deep yet soothing and full of a craving Avril could not fully sense.

She removed her shoes, climbed the bed and moved to his side before slipping her legs into the blanket.

He draped an arm over her and made her head rest on his shoulder while he played with her untangled hair.

“I'm sorry I brought you back hastily,” he apologized.

“It's fine. Your duty to your kingdom comes first,” she replied.

A minute of silence passed.

“Can I ask you something?” she asked and looked up to look at his face.

“Yes. No guarantee I'll reply though.”

She ignored that cocky reply.

“What did you really do to Luca Aguero?” she inquired. His eyes darkened and he looked away from her.

“Nothing he can't recover from. If he comes after you again, he would not even be able to recover himself.”

“That doesn't answer my question, Dakar.”

“I told you there's no guarantee I'll answer it.”

She almost smacked him on his bare chest but decided not to. She instead relaxed under the weight of his arm and stayed that way for as long as she could.

~~

Two days went by, and Dakar did not let Avril wander into town with Verona as she wanted. Of course she wasn't happy, she hated being caged in. So, he had to improvise by making her do some things within the Palace walls. It included helping with the sharpening of his new batch of weapons which she was quite eager to do. She loved crude weapons compared to guns, and he knew who was responsible for that love. Verona was helpful too, she always stayed by her and didn't question the reason Dakar wanted her confined within. Though it could be obviously be because of that protest against her.

After successfully going to check on her and how she was helping the blacksmith sharpen his swords with enthusiasm, he left for his father's throne room. He tried not to look at the guards stationed around that side. Guards that were to watch Avril. A tiny rage tried to poke its head out at them, but Dakar trampled it and headed straight to the big Palace. It was not the guard's fault they were watching her, they were just following orders.

Arriving in his father's overly bright throne room, Dakar sighed as was his normal routine anytime he stepped his feet in there. The room was too bright. When he would become Alpha, he would shut all these windows.

“Good afternoon, Father,” he greeted with a slight bow. His father did not say a word as he stared at him.

“You called for me...again,” he said and walked closer to the throne.

“I hear things are becoming quite interesting with you,” the Alpha finally spoke up. Dakar raised a brow inquisitively.

“They say your aura is getting darker and darker by the minute. Is there something...not right?”

Dakar frowned. Camper seemed to be also asking him that question these days.

“And by ‘they’ who do you mean?”

“Guards of course. The ones keeping an eye on your woman. You're almost always around her. And anytime you are, they say they can't seem to come close to you.”

Dakar smiled and crossed his arms against his chest.

“Really?”

His father sat up on his throne, his white eyebrows raising and eyes staring down at his son.

“There is something else with you. And I honestly pray it's not what I think it is. I have refused to think about what you did to those people protesting that day, and the two noblemen who rushed to stop them.”

“What I did? What did I do?”

“Oh, you don't know? You hypnotized them, Dakar. They listened to you and haven't stopped listening to you.”

“What does that mean?”

“They won't stop moving. They are waiting for you to tell them to return to normal. The healers have them all in their facility, but it seems they can't do anything about their condition at all even after trying. Did you not notice two noblemen seats were empty during the meeting two days ago?”