Chapter 98: Chapter 98

“I've lived in pain, pain you can not imagine just because...” he paused and looked away from her. His chest buttons were still undone, his eyes a blazing shade of rage and fear, his hair was still very unruly.

Avril stood still, listening to him with an expressionless face. He reached forth his arm, as if to place it on her shoulder but he stopped halfway then withdrew his hand.

“I'm sorry,” he said again and shut his eyes.

“I'm so sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry,” he repeated and Avril exhaled. She took several steps back in order to breathe wholesomely but Dakar took it as a gesture of her not accepting his apology and determining to leave him, and it broke his heart.

“To be honest, I'm not comprehending anything right now. I can't think. So if you would just...let me be for some time. Maybe my brain would be working by then to listen to you,” she finally spoke up. Dakar looked like he had just lost a million dollar contract he wanted so badly.

“Avril... I—”

“It's obvious you also need that time to think and coordinate yourself. Have you noticed? You look like a mess.”

He took a deep breath and stared into her eyes. Truly, she needed time to be able to listen to him. He shouldn't rush things because they were all overwhelming. And yes, he needed time to get his head straight.

“Promise me, you'll listen when I want to talk,” he pleaded. She nodded and moved backwards, every step tearing his heart apart.

“I'm guessing you'd know where to find me,” she said and he nodded. She turned around then and walked away without looking back. He stood watching as she went back to her friends who were waiting for her. He then turned around and walked back to his car.

~Flashback~

Dakar had woken up completely healed after the day the Alpha made her leave. He was shocked to find out he was healed from another silver wound, like on the island. But he realized one fear that came bashing into him like a terrible tidal wave. The first time he got miraculously healed like that, he lost Avril. This time, he didn't want to take a chance. He had been alone in his room then, so he yanked out all those tubes connected to him and went into the bathroom. That was when he caught sight of his hair...his strawberry brownish blonde hair had red highlights from the root to the tips. He frowned deeply because he hated dye on his hair.

But who would style a dying prince's hair? Was that a new tradition he missed out on?

He had decided he would take care of the hair after he had seen Avril, explained things to her and begged her forgiveness.

When he dressed up and walked out of his palace casually, the guards stationed there had been shocked. Apparently, no one knew he had woken up. He didn't care about their looks, he just headed to his father's place on foot. The stares he got from the guards were disturbing. But what disturbed him most was that faint feeling that she had disappeared again.

Prince Dakar strolled into the throne room, interrupting the meeting his father was having with a few noblemen. He heard gasps and felt stares boring into him as he approached and bowed slightly. King Kastor was staring him down, but not harshly. As if he could decipher what his son was feeling inside.

“Father, did you do it?” he questioned and his answer was silence. He inched closer.

“Father,” he called desperately. His father looked to the men by the table in front of him.

“You may leave. We would continue this meeting another time,” he instructed and the men rose. Dakar spared them a glance and noticed they all were in awe he had woken up. Great, let the story now spread throughout the kingdom.

“And not a word outside that my son is awake,” the king added as they got halfway through the throne room. Dakar could almost sense their frowns as they paused.

“You have our word, your Majesty,” a nobleman responded before they all left.

“Father... The girl,” Dakar demanded. He felt his fingers curling into a fist, a deep rage building inside of him.

“Your hair...” his father trailed while peering questioningly at it. Dakar scoffed.

“Is this a new tradition? Dying ones hair while they battle for life?” he asked irritably.

“What do you mean tradition? We don't have such,” the Alpha retorted, this time staring at Dakar's curled fist.

“I woke up with my hair having red highlights thirty minutes ago.”

His father's eyes jerked up to meet his.

“I was in your room to see you forty minutes ago...and Prince Dakar, you had no red highlights. Don't play jokes now. You look fully all right and that is another miracle. Welcome back, my son.”

The Alpha stepped down from his throne and made towards Dakar for a hug. But Dakar was standing shocked.

“What is it?” his father asked.

“No one... No one was in my room while you left?”

“No one has been permitted into your room since the healers injected you with tranquilizers.”

“My hair...how did...”

Father and son stared at each other without further words.

“I'm afraid everything is pointing towards one direction, my son. Everything.” The king's voice was laden with hopelessness and fear. It hurt Dakar to see his father that way. Having the same expression as his mother's before he...killed her.

“I'm not... I'm not here for that father. I want to know what has become of her. Where is my woman?”

King Kastor smirked sideways and began moving towards his throne.

“Gone,” he simply replied.

“What do you mean gone?” Dakar questioned in a voice that did not fully resemble his. King Kastor looked back immediately to see his son's curled fists emitting dark mist...again.

“Just gone. If she's whatever you claim her to be, then you'll find her. If you don't fine her, it's nobody's fault.”

Dakar took two steps menacingly towards his father before pausing, as if he remembered he couldn't choke the man to death. Dakar ran a hand through his hair.

“You didn't kill her?” he asked.

“The sentence was nullified. She's free.”

“Thank you.”

Silence reigned between them for a minute.

“But tell me where she is, please. I need to see her. Please, father.”

“Find her, Dakar. If you do, congratulations. If you don't, you prove she was never worth it in the first place.”

Again, he wanted to choke his father. He knew the old man had done something with Avril. If only he knew what.

“If she gets hurt. Even a scratch on her skin and I will never forgive you, father,” he warned but his father laughed.

“I believe you, my son. But I can only pray she doesn't hurt herself. There's nothing much I can do where she is.”

Dakar gulped down, glared slightly at the king then walked out of the throne room without another word.

It had taken him days before he could trace Avril to Verona. When he finally got the message from one of his numerous informants that a certain lady who lived in one of the Remusian properties, was sending a message to another Remusian property in Milan—he knew he was about to find her. He had gone crazy looking for her in Remus, the neighbouring kingdoms and Milan. He wished he had searched other human cities earlier.

Despite the fact she didn't want to hear him out immediately, he was more than glad to have seen her. At least she didn't disappear without a trace this time.