"Tris. Where are you?" Canton walked inside the room and searched for Tristian.
There was no sight of him.
"Come on. Don't you want us to celebrate your birthday?" Canton smirked to himself.
Still, no reply.
Canton frowned and went to look to the bathroom and the conjoined room he shared with him but found both empty.
"What the hell" he mumbled and sat down on the couch, taking his phone out to call him when he heard something fall to the floor.
He looked down and saw a picture of them on their small house in the woods.
He picked it up and stared at it -mostly at Tristian- with adoring eyes until he turned it around and read the words written on the back.
Canton quickly realised that Tristian was gone and he had a feeling that he was never coming back.
♛♛♛
Nerissa and Cress walked inside this dark underground room that the Lyttletons were currently staying at, in Teal Blood.
Cecilia looked at them and her face lit up while her husband was just staring at nothing, his body still and his face unreadable.
"Cress, my love" her hopeful and happy face immediately turned into a very angry one. "Where were you, you slut?"
Arthur was unflinching.
Cress' eyes widened just a bit but she recovered very quickly. "Mother." She started approaching her, Nerissa on her trail.
"How long do you intend to keep us in here?! Look at your poor father! Look at him. " She pointed at him. "He's been like that for so long!"
Cress glanced at her father. "I can see that." She looked back at Cecilia. "He isn't reacting to anything that happens. Right? He's like a frozen statue."
"And you know who's fault is that??" She blinked and her face softened.
She smiled widely. "But how could I ever hate you, sweetheart? You are my daughter..my blood. Come here give me a hug"
Cress got closer and wrapped her arms around her mother, who started suffocating her all of a sudden.
Nerissa immediately became alert, pulled a knife out and went to help but Cress was faster.
She placed her hands around her neck and applied great pressure on it.
Cecilia started gasping for air, while Arthur was looking at them, unblinking.
"I know w-what ..you're d-doing" she removed her hands from her waist. "You a-aren't my...daughter" she struggled to say.
She grabbed at Cress' hair and yanked her hair back with so much force, she would have died if she didn't possess the power of a fae.
Nerissa sprinted towards Cecilia and was ready to stab her when Cecilia grabbed at her wrist, twisted it forcefully and turned her around, so her own knife was now against her throat.
"Playing games with a two thousand, crazily powerful, year old fae?" She whispered on her ear. "I happen to own some of Alastair's power as well, you can't kill me, child"
"They say if you can't beat them..fool them" Nerissa uttered.
Before Cecilia had time to process this, a needle was buried into her arm, turning her unconscious in mere seconds.
Canton turned to look at Elvina.
Elvina was just getting up, rubbing at the back of her neck. "Nobody says that, you know."
Canton rolled his eyes. "I wanted to add a dramatic effect."
A cough was suddenly heard.
They both snapped their eyes at king Arthur, who was staring at them intensely, his face giving nothing away.
Canton and Elvina braced themselves for the worst.
"Is she dead." He simply said, his tone monotonous and emotionless.
When neither Canton nor Elvina replied, he got up from his chair and started taking a few steps towards them.
He sighed. "Of course she's not dead. I would have felt the additional power into my bones." He mumbled.
Canton aimed his gun at him. "Don't come any closer, Lyttleton."
Lyttleton directed his attention to Canton and the gun he was holding. "You need something stronger than a few bullets to actually kill me, Alastair"
"It's okay, they are enough to slow you down" Elvina pulled the trigger on him a few times, using her own gun.
Lyttleton flinched a tiny bit and then smirked. "Is that all? You know I was...waiting for something more impressive from Alastair's children..." He took a breath and stumbled down to the ground. "I'm.. disappointed."
"Oh but you haven't seen anything yet." Canton said and buried another bullet on his head to leave him completely unconscious.
ERROT
"What if he's like..dead."
"What if they're both dead?" Oda's eyes were widened.
"So melodramatic." Santos scoffed.
We both turned to look at Santos who was cleaning his arrows up.
I frowned at him and the way he was incredibly calm about it.
"Do not look at me like that, White." Santos mumbled, his gaze stuck on the arrow he was taking care of.
"How can you be so incredibly cool about this? They've been gone for almost two days." Oda asked, her arms crossed against her chest.
Santos rolled his eyes. "News that sound anything like 'the king of Ink Blood is murdered' usually travel fast."
"Yeah." I said and looked at Oda. "He's right."
Oda tried to nod, worry still evident on her face.
"Well, except if they haven't found their bodies yet." Santos mumbled.
My eyes got extremely wide at that.
Oda copied my exact reaction.
Santos glanced at us and then went back to his task at hand, a small satisfied smirk on his face.
"You're a whole ass jerk." Oda spat.
"What's your problem?" I continued.
Santos clicked his tongue, annoyed now, and stayed silent.
I decided to stop pacing around and sit down on the grass next to Oda.
Silence took all of us over for a couple of minutes.
Well, until Oda broke it. "So, like. I was left on the Adan news and then you appear out of nowhere and tell me that your new boyfriend is the king? When did we get to that?"
"He's....I don't know if he's my boyfriend.." I mumbled.
"Then what is he?"
"It's complicated."
"Well, we have all the time in the world. And I need to gossip in order not to go crazy about them missing."
I started biting at my bottom lip.
"Go on. Spill the deets, Errot -I'm not gay but I've dated two guys- White"
I rolled my eyes at her. "There's nothing there to say."
"There must be something to say." She smirked. "Did you guys...?"
Santos threw a glance at us.
I looked at both of them in the eye and opened my mouth to reply when a very upset Elian suddenly appeared out of nowhere and ran to our side.
"Where are they?" He asked Santos, who was holding his phone on his hand.
When did he take his phone out?
"Basement. Chamber." He said and Elian rushed inside the palace.
Oda and I immediately shot up on our feet and looked at Santos wide-eyed.
Santos turned into his shadow without uttering a word to us and followed Elian inside.
I literally can't remember the last time I ran so incredibly fast.
It reminded me of the time I escaped Merlot Blood.
And those times I was being chased down to get killed.
I was running for my life then and it feels like I'm running for my life now.
I have no idea what is happening and how Canton and Elvina ended up on our basement, all wound up, laying on the floor, blood scattered around everywhere.
Or when.
Or why.
I'm frozen.
I can't move.
There's so much blood.
It's on them.
It's on the floor.
The walls.
My eyes are stuck on Canton who is staring at me with what looks like difficulty.
Elian is on the ground treating both Canton's and Elvina's wounds at the same time.
Oda suddenly nudges me on the shoulder her voice slightly trembling. "Uhm...Errot?"
"What?" I said, never taking my eyes off Canton.
"Errot." She repeated.
I looked at her but she wasn't looking at me.
Her horrified eyes were glued on something else.
I followed her gaze and almost felt the need to gasp at the sight of two lifeless bodies right on my side.
Two lifeless bodies I think I've seen before.
No, I've definitely seen them before.
Their pictures are in a handful of books.
My hands started trembling a bit on my sides, realisation hitting me hard in the face.
The Lyttletons.
I snapped my head back at Canton whose
dimples were gradually making an appearance.
He was trying to smile.
And even though he was in a lot of pain, it was the first time since I met him, that he looked like he was in genuine peace with himself.
♛♛♛
"Errot." His hoarse voice startled me back to reality.
"You're awake." My eyes crinkled a bit on the corners. "How are you feeling?" I sat down on his bed, next to him. "Water?"
He shook his head at me, returning the smile.
He grabbed at the back of my head and pulled me close for a simple kiss.
When he pulled away, I went in for a warm hug, ignoring the fact that he had dried blood on him.
I closed my eyes. "I hate you." I mumbled.
"Wish I could say that back."
I smirked, still buried on his arms. "You need to take a shower."
"I just know you didn't call me dirty right now, Merlot."
"I wouldn't be surprised if you thought that a mixture of blue and black blood looked cool on you."
"Anything looks cool on me." He deadpanned.
I chuckled at that and pulled away to look at him in the eye.
Soon enough, my laugh died down and my face turned serious.
"They're dead. They died. Didn't they?"
Canton nodded at me once.
And then again.
A fainted smile accompanied the second nod. "They're..dead."
"Canton. They're dead." I paused. "they're gone. The curses died with them."
Canton rubbed a hand against his forehead and let out a small sigh.
"What? What's wrong? Aren't you happy?" I placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
He looked away from me. "I can't bring myself to get too happy yet.."
"But why?"
"If I let myself get happy then something bad will happen. Happiness isn't.. for me. Something will go wrong."
I frowned at him. "Canton. You just got rid of three extremely powerful curses that were torturing you for literally one thousand years. They were ruining your life. And now they're not anymore. They can never ruin your life again because they will never exist again. You are free. You are finally in control of your own self."
I turned his head towards me. "You have every single right to be happy. Allow yourself to feel the happiness you've been caging for so long. I'm right here, Elvina is just fine and the Lyttleton's are dead. Nothing could possibly go wrong."
Canton closed his eyes shut. "Don't say that." He re-opened them. "Every time someone says that, something ends up going wrong."
I exhaled. "Even if something goes wrong, indeed, it can't be worse than the curses or the Lyttletons."
"You're making it worse, human. Just." He gripped at my lips and held them closed to shush me. "Sh. Just sh. Your mouth is bad luck."
I blinked at him.
He smirked and freed my lips. "You looked like a duck."
"Thanks. You look like you bathed in blood." Brief pause. "Oh.. now that I think about it. You actually did. So, get up and go take a shower with actual water this time."
"Do not tell me what to do." He slowly got up from the bed. "I'm only doing this because I want to." He walked to the bathroom door but didn't go in. He came into a stop and turned to look at me.
"Yeah?" I smirked.
His face was unreadable. "Mock me"
"What?"
"You heard me. Just. Say something you know will get me mad. It comes naturally to you, anyway."
I rolled my eyes at that. "Well. You don't like when I compliment you. So I'm just gonna say that it's kind of ironic that you're called the king of Ink Blood when you're the nicest person I've ever met."
Canton's face stayed neutral for a few seconds until he broke it by taking an excessively deep breath.
He then exhaled slowly and covered his face with his palms.
"Hey. You alright?"
I got no reply.
I approached him.
"It worked. Didn't it?"
Canton nodded and I wrapped my arms around him for another hug.
I felt Canton's hands falling from his face and getting placed around my neck, holding me close to him.
"I know you're overwhelmed. I get it." I said lowly. "It's okay. There is a lot to take in."
Canton stood still on my arms.
I rested my left hand on his head. "Want to take a few deep breaths with me?"
"No" he said dryly.
"Alright. I'm not gonna let you go until you do so yourself. Okay?" I kept my tone calm.
Canton took another breath.
"Nobody can hurt you anymore. You're safe."
I felt his grip getting tighter around me.
I sighed in relief. "You're finally safe".
ODA
"Hey.." I attempted a smile.
Elvina blinked and looked a bit around before she stared back at me.
She slowly sat up a bit on the bed.
"Lay back down."
"I'm fine, Oda." She smirked. "Elian healed me. I just feel a bit weak." She snickered. "If you ask me, his powers are a bit malfunctioning. He should take the exhaustion away too. What kind of a healer is he." She joked.
I frowned. "Who called Elian? How did you end up in Ink Blood? Why did Santos already know where you were?"
"Wow. One question at a time."
"Sorry.."
She smiled and continued. "Here's the synopsis. Elian and Santos were in on the plan. There was no doubt we were gonna need Elian after fighting the Lyttletons. They weren't so easy to kill. Canton did his research. Learned how to cast a few spells. Managed to create a portal, which led us to the chamber of torments. Tied them up while unconscious."
Brief pause. "They woke up, used their conjoined power to break the chains. We had already done some damage. It wasn't enough, apparently. But we were already a few steps ahead of them. We kept fighting for hours. They kept falling unconscious. Long story short, damage after damage we finally took them down. It took almost a whole day. Canton and I were injured everywhere when he pressed the emergency button which notified Santos etc. " She sighed with a grin on her face.
"The bastards finally joined their beloved friend in hell".
I shook my head. "I have so many questions. Like why didn't Canton call Santos to help?"
"No other questions. Stay curious. I'm gonna go wash the blood off."
I grabbed at her arm to stop her before she had the chance to move.
My gaze got fixed on her. "I was worried."
Elvina lost her smirk at my words. "Oda..-"
"No. You don't have to say anything. I'm just..glad you're alive."
Elvina started leaning in.
My heart was ready to explode now while it was beating normally only two seconds ago.
I gulped and started leaning in too.
I don't know what this means but I pushed all those doubts away just so I could enjoy the moment.
And her.
Just so I could enjoy her.
But the enjoyment didn't last as long as I wanted it to last.
"I was worried about you too, where's my kiss?"
Elvina pulled away and I mentally cursed that damn stupid voice that has ruined so many things for me, already.
She smirked and walked towards Santos, embracing him into a hug.
Santos rolled his eyes and patted her back just once and then pushed her away from him.
"No. Get away from me. You reek of blood. Disgusting."
"I'm sure you can handle a bit of blood, grumpy gramps." Elvina's smirk widened.
"Kay. Great. You're alive. I'm off."
Santos said coldly and walked out of the room.
"I love you!" Elvina yelled from behind him.
Santos gave her the middle finger and closed the door right after.
I stared after the closed door and tried to ignore the unwanted pity I suddenly felt for him.
Three days later
Errot started waking up.
He yawned a bit and then rolled over to the bed so he could be closer to Canton.
He realised soon enough that the bed was actually empty.
He opened his eyes at that and frowned at Canton's absence.
Before he had any time to wander about it, the door opened and Canton walked inside.
Errot smiled at him. "Morning. Where were you?"
"Somewhere you were not." He said and came to sit next to him.
"I grabbed this from the place you weren't at and decided that you would need it." He pulled a carefully curved knife out of his cloak pocket and extented it towards Errot.
Errot frowned and reached to take it when Canton pulled it slightly away from him. "Before you take it, you should know that this isn't just a knife." He looked at Errot in the eye. "If you scratch, touch or stab someone with it, you will be able to control their exact next move. Even mine. Even though, if you stab them, I don't know how many things they will be able to do for you."
This time he passed the knife to Errot. "Try it."
Errot was taken aback.
Once the confusion passed, he took the knife on his hands and smirked.
Canton waited patiently. "Go ahead, human."
Errot scooped closer to Canton and left a tiny scratch on the right side of his cheek. He then rested the knife right under Canton's chin.
They were both staring at each others eyes, intensely.
"Kiss me." Errot ordered.
Canton, who looked almost compelled, didn't waste another second. He immediately leaned in and gave Errot a slow kiss.
Once Errot was satisfied, he pulled away.
Canton rolled his eyes at Errot's goofy expression. "Happy birthday, I guess." He mumbled under his breath.
Errot's smirk widened at that. "What did you say?"
Canton snickered.
"For real. I didn't hear you. Speak up, please." Errot looked amused.
Canton exhaled. "Happy birthday." He mumbled again.
"Huh?"
"Listen, I'm not good at this stuff. I tried. You should have heard me the first or second time I said that. It's too late now."
Errot's smirk softened into a smile. "Well, I heard you clearly both times. I was just messing with you."
Canton threw a playful slap at the back of Errot's neck. "Idiot."
Errot chuckled. "Thank you, Canton."
"For the slap? I can do it again. Look" he gave him another one.
Errot rolled his eyes, amused. "Not for the slap. For the gift and the birthday wish. Thank you."
"It was a lame gift, Errot. And a lame birthday wish."
"It wasn't lame to me."
Canton looked at him. "Do you want me to turn you into an Ink?"
Errot blinked. "What? Where did that come from?"
"Let me turn you into an Ink."
"Canton..I don't know.. it's not a 'let's eat at chick fil a rather than kfc' decision"
Canton frowned and then shook his head. "You always wanted to escape Merlot Blood. To be free. You came here and now I'm giving you a chance to be free for an enternity."
"It is this enternity that I'm scared of. I'm not sure if I want to live..forever." Errot glanced at his ears and touched one. "Also. I only like those ears on you, otherwise I hate them." He smirked.
"Fine. Yeah. I get it." Canton attempted to smile a bit.
"But I'll think about it. It takes time. Okay?"
Canton nodded.
Errot leaned in and placed a kiss on Canton's lips.
"So, what are we gonna do today?" Errot asked.
"Listen. I have to go and say something to Elvina and then I'll be back to do whatever you want." Pause. "Yeah, not whatever you want."
Errot rolled his eyes. "Don't be late."
"Don't worry, I'll take my time." Canton said and walked to the door.
Errot threw a pillow at him.
Canton dodged it and left the room.
♛♛♛
Canton walked inside Elvina's room without knocking and found Elvina cuddling Oda.
Oda immediately pulled away and got up to bow while Elvina rolled her eyes in a playful manner.
"Canton. Where do I owe the pleasure?" She smirked. "Let me guess. Errot?"
He looked at Oda. "Olga. Leave."
"Yeah, Olga. Leave." Elvina grinned amused.
Oda sighed and walked out, leaving them alone.
Canton frowned. "Did I really get her name right?"
"Of course not."
Canton shrugged it off. "He doesn't like me."
Elvina chuckled. "That kid spent two whole days worrying about you and the next two days not leaving your side. He definitely likes you."
"No. No. I offered to turn him into an Ink and he didn't want to do it. He said that he doesn't want to live forever and stuff."
Canton started pacing around the room.
"Cant. Maybe he doesn't want to live forever. And stuff." Elvina kept smirking.
"That means that he doesn't want to be with me."
"No. That means that he doesn't want to live forever."
"Who wants to grow old? White hair, crinkled skin. Health problems." He was counting on his fingers.
"He was born human. This is normal to him."
"But he will die. He will eventually die and leave me alone. He's nineteen today. I have two years to convince him. After 21 the spell won't work anymore. So what will I do? Help."
"I can't help you, bud. If Errot doesn't want to do it then you can't do anything about it. Just enjoy your time with him and let me enjoy my time with Olga."
Canton pointed at the door. "You and her..?"
"Complicated."
"The cuddling that I witnessed didn't seem complicated to me."
"Look. We kissed yesterday. It was fine. She was fine. But she's acting weird ever since."
"Weird? What do you mean weird?"
"Like. She's distracted. Her mind is elsewhere. Definitely not on me."
"Maybe the rejection hit her hard. Give her time."
"I rejected her so long ago. She had time."
"Maybe it's not enough. Humans are odd. Time works weird on them."
Elvina sighed. "Anyways. Go back to your boyfriend."
"What's a boyfriend? The one that doesn't like me back?"
"Drama king." Elvina smirked.
"Enjoy your human interaction with Olga"
Canton said and went back to his room.
♛♛♛
"Hello again. I know you missed me." Canton said and dropped on the couch next to Errot.
Errot was staring at Canton. "Yeah. I did miss you."
"Figured." Canton said. "Will you do anything about it?"
Errot smirked just a bit and pulled Canton close to him by his shirt so he could kiss him.
After a while, Canton pulled away and frowned at Errot, who was looking at him, his face serious.
"What's wrong?" Canton asked.
Errot scoffed and removed his gaze from him.
Canton's frown deepened. "Did something happen while I was gone? Is it because of what I asked you?"
"How did you know that something was wrong?" Errot mumbled a bit annoyed, his arms crossed against his chest.
"I guess I just had a feeling. And I was apparently right. So, tell me, Merlot."
Silence filled the room.
"Errot." Canton pushed.
Suddenly, Errot turned to look at him, his face unreadable. "You fell in love with him, didn't you?"
Canton blinked. "With who?" He furrowed his eyebrows and placed his hands on Errot's shoulders. He stared at him, intensely. "Errot, what's going on?"
A bit of concern was obvious by the tone of his voice.
Errot let a humorless chuckle out at that.
"I remember how you used to care about me like that."
A few seconds passed and realisation suddenly hit Canton.
His eyes widened and he pulled his hands away abruptly as if he was infected.
He then froze.
He froze and kept staring at the person in front of him, as if he was a ghost.
To Canton, he probably was.
Tristian sighed and then his lips curled into an odd smile. "Greetings, your highness." He bowed his head. "Long time no see."
Canton felt numb.
He couldn't move or talk.
He was still unable to process the immense shock.
Tristian was about to say something else when the door suddenly opened and Errot walked inside.
He stood at the door, his wide eyes glued on Tristian and only him.
The aura in this room made him want to crawl somewhere and ignore Tristian's presence but he could only stand still and stare at him, almost as if he was looking in a mirror, instead.
Canton had turned a bit pale, his slightly trembling hands now covering the entirety of his face.
"Ah, you must be the infamous Errot White." Tristian got up and approached Errot in a confident manner, his small smile making him look anything but friendly.
He extented his hand for a handshake. "We haven't officially met." His smile fell instantly. "Tristian Valder."