by Dr. D
But when he was pushed down again and the soil beneath him crawled up toward his face, Dezi’s heart sunk. Ronan had gotten close enough to the earth stone to use its power.
Ronan sneered and grabbed Dezi’s hair. “Fucking bastard. I will bury you first and then that monster.”
The earth moved up his knees with crushing pressure. Dezi groaned and lost his strength. “He is not a monster …”
Ronan laughed. “He is as long as my family wants to be in court.” He ground Dezi’s face to the dirt. “You liked getting fucked in the ass so much that you are in love with him, huh?”
Blood rushed to Dezi’s face. “Get off me!”
But the earth was covering his nose and would soon suffocate him.
Ronan laughed at Dezi’s effort. “What is your last wish? Want me to fuck you, too?”
Dezi could no longer reply.
Darkness took over again, and this time he was convinced that he was going to die.
As the pain was taking away Dezi’s consciousness, he thought he heard Acheron’s voice. The next second, pressure on his face disappeared.
Dezi pulled his head out and gasped for air so hard that it hurt his lungs. He heard Ronan start to say something, but he only let out a short scream. He tried to look, but was immobilized by painful coughing.
The walls next to him crawled away as if they were trying to give him more air. The tunnel that Dezi spent so much effort digging smoothed out and expanded within seconds.
Dezi lay on the ground, focused on breathing the air in and out of his body. The pain was gone, but his face still burned. He couldn’t brush aside what Ronan said. Did he take the long routine in digging because subconsciously, he didn’t want to leave?
“Dezi.” A gentle hand lay on him; Dezi’s breath hitched and he pushed it away.
Dezi knew it was Acheron who woke up, but he was afraid of seeing the prince’s face. Even the fact that Acheron was looking at him made him feel like his flesh had been turned inside out and scrutinized.
Dezi kept his eyes on the ground and headed toward the exit.
Once Dezi was outside, he could hear that faint voices of people heading over here, wondering if Ronan had discovered something.
Acheron followed him out and reached for Dezi’s again.
“You were going to let me go, right?” Dezi snapped and shouted. “So let go!”
Acheron shuttered, and his hands let loose. Dezi whipped his hand away and grabbed onto the horse Ronan brought.
Acheron sucked in a breath, ran up to Dezi again, and seemed to want to say something. But Dezi jumped on the horse, kicked it in the belly, and set it off running like something horrifying was chasing him.
Chapter 40
“Prince Acheron defeated a Noxis dragon,” Mathew said.
Evdokia kneeled down among the roses and didn’t respond. The veil that had always covered her face was not there. One could see the scars on her skin that marred her beauty. Dark shadows under her eyes even made her seem almost ghostly. But there was tenderness radiant in her eyes. She reached to pick out the most beautiful roses in the garden and brought them to a gravestone.
“Your Majesty …” Mathew sighed.
“I didn’t call you here to read letters for me, Mathew. Tell me something that you remember about Diamant,” she said, braiding the roses into a wreath. The sharp thorns pricked her fingers, but her smile never faded.
Mathew closed his eyes. He had been responsible for taking care of queen Diamant when she was a young princess. But after years of sharing anecdotes, there hadn’t been any stories that the queen hadn’t heard before. Yet once in a while, the queen still called him to her and made the same request. Mathew suspected that this was the only reason that the queen let him live, despite the fact that he had known too many of her secrets.
“Queen Diamant loved flowers.” Mathew looked down at the roses. “At her thirteenth birthday, she got those new seeds of roses from outside of the kingdom for the first time, and she planted them herself in a pod. She watered them every day and waited for them to boom. When they finally did, she was overjoyed. She said she loved how beautiful the color was.”
“But I burned her roses to ashes,” Evdokia suddenly said. The smile on her face vanished. Stains of blood on her fingers were disappearing into the dark red petals.
“Yes. But Queen Diamant forgave you.”
“She did, because she was so kind …” Evdokia placed the roses wreath in front of the stone gravestone. “Not because I deserved it.”
“Your majesty …”
“I confessed to her when father first tried to arrange the marriage for us.” Evdokia continued like she just needed to get something out of her chest. “She rejected me. She said we had to think about the kingdom and father. And I blamed her for that … I did. Behaving like a spoiled child.
“I killed her. Mathew.” Evdokia’s voice broke. “I was me who killed her.”
Mathew frowned. “It was an accident.”
“No, it was all my fault!” Pain crumbled her features together, and tears diluted the blood on her fingers. “I overdosed a toddler with the pills without thinking. But Acheron wasn’t late in awakening; he was too talented for the testing gem. How could I not think of that?
“I killed her.” The queen’s face turned ashen and her eyes filled with regret. “But I couldn’t accept the truth, so I lived in denial and demonized her only child. For years, I fantasized about the day that Acheron would kill me. Because that way, I will be fully convinced of the lie that I told myself.
“But that day never came, and it never will.” She turned to face Mathew. “Have you wondered why Acheron placed such importance on a doll?”
Mathew gazed down at Evdokia and couldn’t respond.
“Because he had to do that. When life was pure suffering, he needed a reason to keep on living.” The queen continued herself. “He lived to take care of the doll instead of taking revenge on me!” She raised his voice. “He had no hatred in his heart! Even after all the pain, I have put him through …” The queen buried her face in her hands and lost her strength. “... He is kind, just like his mother.”
“After Queen Diamant forgive you for burning her roses,” Mathew said slowly, “she said to me, ‘I knew Evdokia burned my roses on purpose. But I don’t want you to think that she is a bad sister; she just wanted me to play with her more. I don’t blame her. After all …’” Mathew paused. “‘Evdokia is the one that I treasured the most.’”
“That day, Diamant died because she wanted to save you,” Mathew added. “I am sure she wouldn’t want to see you like this.”
The queen closed her eyes and shook her head; tears slid down her cheeks. “I have done too much wrong to be forgiven.”
“Your majesty!?” Mathew stepped forward to support the queen as she fell.
Chapter 41
“Twenty coppers.”
Dezi looked down at the copper coins in his hand. “It should be thirty.”
The clerk glanced up at Dezi impatiently and pointed at the old beat-up bone craft equipment in the storage room. “Ten coppers rental cost.”
“It wasn’t part of the deal,” Dezi’s brows knitted up. Charging equipment rentals to the workers was a ridiculous excuse for lower wages.
The clerk sneered, “Everyone knows the rules. Listen, if you can summon ice without using our bone crafts, I will pay you thirty Coppers. If you can’t, just get out of the line.”
Dezi clenched his hand into a fist, looked back at the indifferent workers waiting behind him, and had to walk out of the room.
“Hey, I get it; I had the same argument with him.”
Dezi turned around and saw the stocky young man named Frank that he was working alongside with during the day. Frank walked up to Dezi, pointed back to the fish shop, and scoffed. “Summon ice. Right. Like C ratings would ever work there. Still wanted to punch the guy.”
Dezi gave him a dry chuckle.
“Where you are
from?” Frank asked.
Dezi glanced at him again. The man’s height was at Dezi’s eye level; his skin had a tan that was darker than the color of his hair, which was a rather common look around here. It was clear that he was a local.
“Just the villages around here,” Dezi said.
Dezi had ridden the horse out of the mountain and got rid of the marked saddle that identified the horse. Starving and exhausted, he had knocked on the door of the first family he saw and sold the horse to them for only thirty silvers. The family also gave him food, a set of old clothes, and a place to stay for the night.
Next morning, Dezi hitchhiked with a fish transport wagon that was on its way back to town, and arrived here.
“Me too. You got a place to stay?” Frank wasn’t discouraged by Dezi’s vague answer. “Maybe we can split the cost on an inn for tonight?”
Dezi’s mouth parted. He couldn’t believe that he hadn’t thought about the matter at all. “Perhaps.”
This was the biggest town around here, and it was built around the shore. They walked toward the harbor, and the chilling wind blew past Dezi started to carry a briny smell. Dezi pulled up his collars, sniffed it, and frowned. He smelled like fish as well.
As they got closer, Dezi could see fishing boats coming in with the setting sun. There were a couple bigger trading ships that stopped at the port as well. Laborers with E ratings shuffled with the cargo hunching their backs, carrying them out of the ships for even more pitiful wages.
The contrast between the palace and here was so staggeringly strong, Dezi couldn’t help but wonder if everything he experienced in there was just a pompous and short-lived dream.
“Over there.” Frank tapped Dezi’s arm and headed toward the inns along the other side of the harbor.
“Yeah.” Dezi lowered his head and followed him. The street got more crowded as they walked. The smell of seafood and the sounds of chatter started to mix in with the scent and sounds of the ocean.
“I don’t want to spend all my life on the farm, you know? That is why I came here.” Frank was very talkative; his garrulous voice was coming in and out of Dezi’s ears. But the conversation from a group of travelers behind him broke through the background noise like shattered glass.
“Our lord was summoned by the Duke?”
“I heard it was the Royals.”
Dezi gulped and turned to look at them. It was a group of wealthier locals.
“What a great honor,” one man commented.
“But every lord around here was summoned,” the other said. “The Royals were looking for someone. It was bizarre.”
Dezi drew in a long breath. “It doesn’t make sense …”
“What is that?” Frank noticed Dezi’s gaze and heard the conversation as well. “I wish I could know the lords. That is when you know you made it.”
The wealthier travelers had changed the topic and gained more distance from him.
Dezi looked around and saw a small group of well-dressed knights came out an inn with a rolled-up paper and walked into the next one.
“As soon as I have enough money, I am getting out of here. Just jump one of those ships, you know?” Frank pointed at the few trade ships parked on the harbor.
Frank eyed Dezi’s face when he didn’t hear a response. “You all right?”
“Where would you go?” Dezi stared at the ships and asked.
“Huh?” Frank scratched his head and shrugged. “Somewhere better.”
Dezi walked toward the bank. The wind was good, and the tide was going out. People were restocking the food supply on one ship. New ropes were handed to a crewman that was fixing the sails on the railing.
Dezi drew in a breath and walked toward the crewman. “Do you still take passengers?”
“Actually, we will be leaving shortly.” The crewman looked at Dezi and raised the sails in his hands.
Dezi pursed his lips. “How much?”
“Wait. You are going now?” Franks pulled on Dezi’s arm.
“Yes …” Dezi said, but he could hear the hesitation in his own voice.
“What? Why?” Frank said.
The crewman didn’t expect a passenger at the last minute, either. He turned to talk to one of other crewman and shook his head at Dezi.
“We are full. Where do you want to go?”
“Someplace far ...”
The man made a face. “There is a ship heading to Esmurg first thing tomorrow morning.”
It was the name of a kingdom that Dezi knew nothing about. Dezi clenched his jaw and nodded. “Please show me which one.”
Chapter 42
“Acheron, you still need medical attention.” Tatiana chased after the prince, who walked out of room in the middle of treatments. “Where are you going?”
She clenched her fist and had to bring out the magic word to get Acheron’s attention. “You know I will bring Dezi back in no time.”
The prince came to a halt in the hallway. “Leave Dezi alone.”
Tatiana furrowed her brows and walked closer. “You don’t want him back?”
Acheron turned around and snarled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. “You leave Dezi alone.”
Tatiana took in a breath and spoke with certainty. “You let him go. But why?”
Acheron went rigid at the question, walked away, and didn’t answer.
“Your highness.” A servant presented a letter on a tray to the princess.
Every noble family had been sending letters and hoping to meet Acheron since he defeated the Noxis. The princess had to turn them all down. She knew it wouldn’t take long for rumors and speculations to spread, but she had no choice. Acheron had been as unresponsive as a corpse since she found him.
The princess let out a sigh and was going to tell the servant to take the letter away, but she glanced down and saw the royal seal on the letter.
It was from the palace.
“Follow him.” She sent someone else after the prince and tore open the envelope.
She read through it in silence, with her brows slowly knitted up together.
It said that mother was very ill.
The princess knew her mother well. The queen never had any deadly disease. She couldn’t think of anything that would explain the sudden downturn of her health other than a conscious decision to let go.
Tatiana walked back to the study with the letter in her hand, sat down, and closed her eyes. The letter was written two days ago. It was possible that her mother had already passed away as she read it.
Tatiana allowed herself a moment of sincere sadness, but she wasn’t the kind who would let emotion get in the way of her goals.
Ronan’s family had been biding on Andrew’s enthronement as a vital step to take over more power on the court. There was nothing they wouldn’t do to make sure their years of effort wouldn’t go to waste.
With her being so far away, the delay in communication also meant that there was a lot that they could do.
Tatiana knew right away that she had to go back to the capital as soon as possible with Acheron. But it was the execution that had her troubled.
She put aside the letter and punched her nose bridge.
Acheron had to be the next king.
He was her compromise to the inheritance law, the balance stone between her family and her desire for power. He would sit on the throne so she could rule the kingdom.
Tatiana thought she had a perfect plan. However, she realized that she must have missed something crucial from the beginning. That was why the puppet strings snapped in her hands when she needed them the most.
Being born into a royal household, Tatiana had seen her fair share of desires. Desire was inherently greedy, compulsive, selfish and it was easy to manipulate. But what Acheron had for that commoner, perhaps, it was something else entirely. Something she didn’t believe in, and she still didn’t understand.
“Your highness.” Someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
&nbs
p; The servant bowed deeply to the princess. “Prince Acheron went down to the dungeon, and I lost him there.”
Tatiana’s eyes widened. It wasn’t somewhere the princess thought Acheron would want to go.
She was suddenly reminded the time when she took Acheron out of the dragon dungeon, and she realized why the young boy preferred to stay still on the ground with his eyes closed. As a kid who spent most of his life in a place without sunlight, he must have been as terrified of outside world as the dog in his arms.
Tatiana remembered wondering how he kept that dog alive for all those years in a dragon’s dungeon. The answer was soon clear to her. The young prince rarely moved his eyes away from it or letting him get out of his reach.
When the dog died, he guarded the corpse for days and nights. Then one day, he suddenly stood up and started looking for the dead dog as if he had forgotten what happened.
He followed her as long as she told him that she knew where Baba was.
Until he saw Dezi.
Could Acheron really not tell the difference between a doll, a dog, and a person?
No, Tatiana didn’t think so.
It was because, at those times, Acheron valued the idea of “Baba,” the belief that sustained his life, more than the embodiment of it.
But this time, it was different, the princess was afraid.
This time, Acheron wanted to die.
And there was nothing Tatiana could say to change that.
But she knew someone who could. That person could do it so easily, it was almost insulting.
Tatiana felt like she had traveled the world hoping to find the key to unlock the valuable treasure chest that held the dream of her life, only to find out the only key was the rusted metal shank that had been on the bottom of the chest all along.
Tatiana didn’t appreciate the simplicity. It spoiled the joy of her victory and challenged her worldviews. She didn’t trust it.
It was why Tatiana had been almost avoiding engaging directly with Dezi, but now she was running out of time.
Tatiana let out a sign and started writing on a piece of paper. She sealed it with her stamp and handed it to the servant.
