Chapter 39: Chapter 39

“Edelfina,” Shia heard Langrion’s twin say as he stirred from her lap, “how come you smell so much more enticing today, hmm?”

He raised his head until it was eye level to Shia’s own brown eyes while his hands continued to rest around her waist. He must have been as surprised and as embarrassed as Shia was since his cheeks and ears turned crimson like hers. They just sat there, seemingly frozen and saying nothing to each other. They simply gazed in each other’s eyes for a long, long time.

After what seemed like an eternity, Danry – or whoever he was that had been presently in possession of the prince’s body – started to close in the remaining gap between them and started to descend upon her. He continued to stare deeply into her eyes, and he started to come even closer and closer towards her, making her feel more and more uncomfortable, although she tried her best to hide it by keeping her ground.

When he was just an inch or two away from her face though, Shia started to push his body back, and spoke “Prince Danry, what on earth -?”

The man caught hold of her hand against his chest. “Who are you? Who sent you here?” he began to say. His other hand held her tighter around her wrist. Shia had a strong compulsion to break away from him, but she maintained her gaze, uncomfortable as it was.

“It’s me, Shia,” she replied, feigning innocence, although it was clear that something has changed about the prince’s demeanor, signalling that she is probably talking to another one of his personalities. Afraid that he had transformed into his attacker the other day, Shia quickly scanned his upper body, and felt a tad better when she did not see any heron’s mark at the left side of his exposed neck. “I was reading a book to you, don’t you remember?”

“Shia?” he said, “Langrion’s girl, right? What are you doing here?”

“I was reading -”

“No. What were you really doing here?!” he said icily.

Panic began to rise from Shia’s chest. Does he know her motive? Langrion’s words from yesterday came rushing back to her. ‘Be careful. Danterion is very skilled at reading minds.’ Moreover, what if she encountered the personality who had attacked her before? Although she wanted to know if he was housing her attacker’s personality within him, her method of finding more about it was a bad one, on hindsight.

However, she’s already here, so she cannot back down anymore. Nervous as she might be, she did not dare break her stare in his cold, blue eyes.

“I told you I was reading Danry a book. Who am I speaking to this time? Don’t you think you are being rude?”

“This is not rude at all, my lady... Rude is if I kiss your lips and you scream because you liked it. Shall we try it?”

Shi blinked. Was this not really her attacker? He does not seem vicious like his attacker in the woods, but he was equally rude. What is this man trying to do?

“I can assure you, I can be very, very rude if I want to. Do you perhaps want me to show you,” Prince Danterion said, his eyes seem to turn more and more enigmatic with every second that Shia stared at it.

Before Shia could push his comely face away once more, a thunderous voice spoke on her behalf.

“That’s enough, brother! Let her be!”

Surprise of all surprises: Danterion came right in the nick of time to see them in such an awkward moment!

Although alarmed and very, very embarrassed, Shia was relieved to see his highness rescue her from his crazy brother. Langrion immediately held Shia’s right hand, and he pulled her upwards, making her stand up from the steps.

“What’s this, Langrey? Am I seeing some slight jealousy in that damned eye of yours?” Danterion said in a mocking tone. “And here I was thinking that you sent her here to spy on me, or even to break my engagement with Edelfina. What a pity! It would have definitely worked if you didn’t show up and ruin the mood.”

Langrion let out an exasperated sigh and tugged more firmly at Shia’s hands. “Let’s go!”

“Why are you leaving so soon, brother? Your lady here wants to talk about something of importance. Didn’t you just ask Danry to tell you who the Tainted One was?”

Shia’s head turned sharply around to the other prince. “Do speak. Who is this ‘Tainted One’?”

Danterion raised his pointing finger towards Langrion. “Who else could it be but him?”

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

Langrion stormed away from the library while a seemingly wide-eyes Shia came in tow, hand in hand with him, trying to keep up with his long, fast strides.

Half way from the bed chambers, Shia stopped walking.

“Ah, listen,” she said, “What you saw back there -”

“I know; it was nothing.”

“Yes, that’s right. But I just want to tell you that -”

“It was nothing, yes, I know.”

“But -”

“I said, it was alright!” Langrion had realized the anger in his voice a little too late as his words had already thundered violently across the hall.

Shia only blinked back in response. “If that was nothing, why are you shouting back at me, then? I was trying to tell you that -”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Shia. Let it rest.” Langrion replied less violently this time, but still as hard as ever.

Shia tugged her hands away from his “No, I don’t want to let it rest. Do you even know what I was about to say?”

“Yes, and it doesn’t matter.”

“But it does matter,” Shia said, all heated up as well. Suddenly, she stepped closer to him and cupped his face into her palms, “Langrey, did I hurt you anywhere in there? Did I wrong you in anyway?”

Slowly, he rested his eyes towards her. “You didn’t hurt me… You can never hurt me, Shia...I won’t ever get hurt by someone I didn’t love.”

Ah, he said his words out loudly! He wanted to smack his own head. What a fool!

Shia’s hands fell to her side. It was only for a brief, brief moment, but Langrion was sure he had seen the lustre in her eyes suddenly leave, and it was replaced by a cold, hard stare.

“I know... This whole affair with you is all an act… The way you come near me and even that kiss yesterday, they were just part of the act, right?... I shouldn’t have forgotten that… I’m sorry,” she said. She stepped away from him and made a deep, impersonal curtsy. “I’ll take my leave now, your highness. I think we should talk on another day.”

Langrion could only watch Shia walk away from him across the hall towards the opposite direction. He knew he should probably come after her, but somehow, he did not have the strength in his body, and most especially, in his heart to do so.

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

It was only yesterday when Shia’s grandmother had asked her a question she was not prepared to answer.

“I understand the reasons why you wanted to help Langrey, sweetheart,” the baroness responded after hearing her confession, “but why are you doing this for him? The House of Andry would be able to protect you from the king’ decree, I assure you; however, if you marry, Langrion you will just put yourself in a much graver situation, my child, especially if the prophecy holds true.... Perhaps are you…” the duchess paused, trying to peer in her eyes.

“Are you in love with him, Shia?”

Shia lifted her long lashes and looked at her grandmother, who was a stunning reflection of what she would look like in a few years if she would be lucky enough to reach her age. She was staring at her, anxious and filled with worry for her future and for the state of her heart.

“I am,” she lied.

‘That’s right… It was definitely a lie… I’m sure I told grandma a lie back there... But why does it feel like I have lost something today?...’ Shia said in her head as she walked away from the prince.

Shia knew she was in no position to get angry at Langrey. They were in this engagement for a particular reason, and she had never lost sight of it. But somehow, the cold and hard way he had said his words stung her heart deeply.

Shia suddenly paused and started looking around her. She was so deep in her thoughts that Shia did not even realize that she had already walked to the front door of the mansion.

Finding a servant around her, she asked him to fetch her carriage. She was planning to stay at least for lunch, but she doesn’t have the heart to eat or to do anything at all.

As soon as she got home to the Littman Manor, Shia went straight to her room and called the mage in her head, just as he had instructed her to do.

‘Mage Silas,’ she said, ‘Mage Silas, it’s time.’

Just as he did yesterday, the mage appeared in the center of Shia’s bed, carrying with him his long, gnarled staff. He was surprised to see her back so early.

“I thought you had a prior engagement?” he asked.

“I did. It was cancelled,” Shia said curtly. “Did you eat lunch already?”

“I did, but thanks for asking.”

“Good. Let’s begin our training then.”

“Alright, but why this sudden rush? I thought you were going to find out if your hunch about Langrion’s brother was correct.”

“Yes, but I was interrupted.”

“By whom?”

“Never mind that. Let’s just start the training. The sooner I can kill the Ancient One, the sooner I can escape from my predicament.”

“Your predicament? And what is that?”

“That,” Shia said, looking back at the mage with eyes that were so sharp, it might as well have been made of razor, “is none of your business.”

“Ah, but didn’t you remember our oath?”

“The personal details of my life have nothing to do with the oath we swore to each other, mage. Don’t worry, I always honor my promises, no matter what I feel.”

“Right…” the mage said, his eyebrows full of worry, “I see there is something bothering you, child. That cloud of thought will affect how you channel your elements. Don’t you want to tell me what happened first?”

Shia laughed exasperatedly. “You just don’t know how to give up, Mage Silas, don’t you?”

“That’s right, child. Like you, I always honor the promises I made and that include the promises I have made to Goddess Freya.” He began to sit down on the chair across her. “Who knows, maybe I could be of help. Tell me, what happened?”

Shia looked at the mage for a long time. Somehow, this scenario with him felt somewhat familiar, like it had happened to the two of them before…

Shaking that crazy thought away, Shia began to speak, “alright. The prince and I are in a contract engagement. We discovered that I have the power to stop his curse, so the sooner we can get rid of the Ancient Evil, the sooner the two of us can go our separate ways.”

The mage fell silent. It looked as if he was intensely studying Shia’s manner and expression. “So, the big question there is: do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Do you want the engagement to end? Do you want to go on your own separate way without him?”

“On my own separate way, without him?”

“Yes. Let’s try to use your emotions for Langrion, and do a simple exercise. Try to hold your thoughts about him, and form it into an energy ball. You practice doing that until you can make a ball of light come out of your palm, right there,” the mage said, pointing to her right palm.

“A-alright…” Shia answered. She raised her right palm and concentrated her thoughts and feelings on it. ‘Do I really want our engagement to end? Do I want to go on my own way without you, Langrion? What are you to me, really?’

As her thoughts and emotions took shape in her head, a small ball of pure, white light suddenly began to swirl in her palm. It was just a pea size ball of light at first, and then it grew gradually until it was as large as an apple.

“It’s beautiful!” Shia said, unable to believe that what the mage said was true.

“It is. So, did you find out and answer for my questions?”

Shia opened her mouth to speak. “Why do you ask? You knew my answer, all along, Galahad…”