Chapter 31: Chapter 31

Escorted by one of the prince’s trusted knights, Lady Edelfina walked hand in hand with Danry until they reached the door of his bed chamber. The knight opened it for them, and they went inside while the boy continued to whimper.

“I-I did not hurt Nana… You believe me, right, Fina?”

Edelfina looked above to see the prince’s ocean-blue, innocent-looking eyes and smiled, “Of course, Danry. You know I will always believe you. I know you are not capable of hurting anyone, unlike what that woman was saying.” Shortly however, Edelfina began to sigh, “but she is not really the duchess, Danry, so you must stop calling her that. She is just someone who looks like Nana, but the truth is she is a really rotten person, so don’t get too close to her, alright?”

“She is?” Danry said, wide-eyed.

“Of course she is. You know that I would not lie to you.” Edelfina replied as she flashed her pearly white teeth once again.

‘Oh, but you already did... more than once,’ Danterion began to say bitterly inside Danry’s head, but Danry simply ignored him. “I suppose so… But if she is not Nana, who is she, Fina? Why do they look so much alike? Are they twins like me and Langrey?”

“No, of course not, silly. She is Nana’s granddaughter,” Edelfina said as she twirled a bit of her locks with her fingers. In Danry’s eyes, Fina always looked very pretty when she does this.

She continued, “but unlike Nana, she’s a bad person. She’s actually here to take Langrey away from us. But don’t worry. I won’t let that happen…”

Edelfina urged him to take a bath before he sleeps. She led him into the bath chamber herself and tried to help him undress; but Danry’s cheeks began turning into a deep red color, and he refused.

“I-I can take a bath by myself, Fina. Just come back when I’m finished.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take a bath with you?… We can do...other things than bathing,” she whispered sweetly in his ears, and the thought made Danry cringe.

“N-no, I don’t want to... Just please wait outside until I finish…”

She began to unfasten the top part of his upper garments. “How about you ask Danterion for me, hmm?... I know he would love taking a bath together,” Edelfina said seductively while trailing her long, painted fingernails along the lines of his chiselled chest.

Danry rushed to call Danterion from within him. He absolutely hated this playful side of Fina – the side that makes the lower part of his body stir in excitement, but Danterion absolutely adored it. The two of them had already spent many times together in this animated state, and little Danry absolutely hated hearing Danterion moan and say all kinds of things while they ‘played around,’ as Fina called it.

As soon as Danterion began to take over the body that hosts all of them, he took Edelfina’s mischievous hands and kissed each slender finger slowly one by one. Then, he started to passionately kiss her on the lips.

He took the breathless Edelfina away from his lips for a moment and whispered. “Now, let me bathe in peace. I will see you in the bedroom soon…”

Edelfina smiled and gave him a playful wink. “Don’t tarry, your highness...”

As soon as Edelfina walked out of the door, Danterion’s face started to contort menacingly against the mirror. He called The Tainted One from within him.

“What have you done!” he said exasperatedly. He had heard the accusations of the silver-haired girl at the dining hall, but he kept his silence so that he would not stir little Danry’s nerves. He knew at the very beginning that it was The Tainted One who attacked the girl earlier in the woods.

“Why are you making such a face? Didn’t you also enjoy what we have done earlier with her? You have to admit - she is far more delightful than that golden-haired girl you come to bed with these days.” The Tainted One said, smirking back at his displeased expression.

True enough, Danterion had been half-present when The Tainted One forced that woman on the ground and kissed her. Having her in his arms like that gave him a different kind of excitement, something he had never had before despite the numerous women he had been in bed with. It felt like he was in another kind of heaven when his lips touched hers, and the fragrance of her body was far too overwhelming to resist even for him. It made him want to do something more...

Danterion shook those thoughts away from his head. Like always, The Tainted One was trying to mess with his logic. He knew his weaknesses. He began to marvel at The Tainted One’s gift of winning over people.

“You could have chosen anyone except for her. She is Langrey’s betrothed, and more importantly, she’s Nana’s granddaughter! How can I face them after this?!”

“Didn’t you know better than to worry, boy? Haven’t I healed the scars in your face completely tonight and many times before that? Indeed, I must admit that Freya was clever enough to choose her identity this time. I was not able to recognize her at all in Soccora... But I know every strand of fiber in Freya’s spirit. She could never escape me...”

Danterion sighed. He was getting nowhere with The Tainted One. He was never really someone whom he can win an argument with…

Curious, he started to ask him, “who is Freya? What does she have to do with that girl?”

“Oh, she has everything to do with the girl! You see, to put it lightly, Freya is my... soul mate. We have intertwined fates that were sealed ever since the beginning of time. Sadly, she had never approved of my ideas for this earth, so I have to part with her again and again.”

“Part with her? What do you mean?”

The Tainted One licked his lips before he spoke, “Freya and I will have to wed each other time and again – that is our shared destiny, but every time we do, I must also accomplish one task – kill her!” The Tainted One’s voice sent a cold chill that frightened the young Danry and even Danterion himself.

“Unless I kill her a thousand and one times, I would never succeed in conquering the world... The good news is we are about to end it all! This is her thousand and one rebirth – and the last chance I have to deprive her body of mortal breath!”

Danterion did not dare stir. The Tainted One is truly an evil entity, more evil than he could have ever imagined!

“What if you were wrong?’ he began to ask him, “What if she isn’t this ‘Freya’ that you are talking about?”

The Tainted One laughed manically as Danterion and Danry shuddered. “Oh, I would know for sure if she is my Freya. I have visited her in the woods earlier to mark her... She must be feeling it now as we speak, and when she does, she has no choice but to seek us...again.”

******************

Shia tossed and turned in bed uncomfortably. Perhaps it was because she was in an unfamiliar place once more, or perhaps it was due to the many aggravating things that had happened that day. Either way, she sweated profusely in bed, seemingly in the brink of a fever. She had begun to drift into an uneasy sleep. Soon, she found herself dreaming.

She was in a dark tunnel. She looked down and could not see her own two hands or her feet. She shivered as the cold pricked her skin all over. There was no light. There was nothing whatsoever. There was only a faint sound.

“Freya!...”

Someone was calling her name. It’s a different name, but she recognized it. She could not explain it, but she knew it was her. She followed the mysterious voice onwards.

“Freya!...”

The low, raspy, almost surreal voice belonged to someone she knew. She does not know exactly who he is, or why she came to know him, but somehow, she knew this person. ‘Is it even a person?’ Shia wondered. She went on and trudged amidst the blackness and stillness of the void that she was in, hoping to reach the origin of the voice.

“Did you miss me, my dear?...”

Now, she knew for certain whom it belonged too. It was the same, sickening voice of her attacker in the woods.

“Show yourself! Where are you?!”

“I’m right here. I have always been here...”

“Tell me who you are! How can I find you?”

“We are always connected... Time and again, we will always be connected, Freya!” Shia heard a sickening laughter. “You have come to me sooner than I thought... Did you really want to die in my arms so badly?”

“I will not be the one dying this time,” Shia began to say. She did not know why she is responding in this manner, but this is what her gut was urging her to say. “I will not fall for your trap for a thousand and one time!” she hissed.

“Dearest one, you already have!... You will always belong to me, time and time again. You were, are, and always will be mine!” the voice growled.

Before the menacing voice had even finished saying his words, a burning sensation came over Shia’s left wrist. The pain was so severe that it felt like her hand will be cut off in an instant. When she raised her hand to take a look, fire came out from all over her lower arm, and she began to see an etched mark on her inner wrist that looked like two spirals going to the opposite directions. Shia screamed in pain.

“Take a look at my gift, dearest! I have marked you as mine! You will never escape me. You are my bride for all eternity!”

Shia bolted upright from the bed as she woke up from the nightmare, and to her horror, she could still see the double spiral imprinted in her inner wrist.