Nectar snapped her fingers and Dodwen sat up instantly. There was no malice in his stare, just fear and a little bit of pain. Nectar covered her mouth " I think you guys broke him ".
The kids nodded and ran to the table. Mario looked at Eros " I never thought I'd see the emperor ". Nichole rolled her eyes " Sister Qidu is very lucky, she even gets the most handsome man ".
Nathaniel patted his chest " Nonsense, I shall take her hand for I'm more handsome ". June giggled, looking at Eros with a cold smile " He will take care of Sister Qidu, he wouldn't dare bully her ".
August waved his hands lazily " Sister Qidu isn't easily bullied June ". Jewlica clapped her hands, staring at Eros with intelligent eyes " It wouldn't end well for whoever does. Sister Qidu , is he causing you troubles "?
Nectar laughed nervously but Eros felt uncomfortable at their comments and sighed " I guess they can stay, just please keep them away from Dodwen,he really does seem broken ". [ And away from me ]
The seven nodded, happy they could stay together. Jewlica who was sitting on the large stone table suddenly smacked Eros' cheeks, making everyone gasp and Eros frowned " I don't like the way you think, you should stop it. It won't work ". Eros blinked several times but Jewlica smiled knowingly.
Nectar came to his side first, placing her cold hands on his cheeks, massaging it. Eros looked at her, enjoying the feel of her hands on his face but she wasn't looking at him, she was yelling at Jewlica " Ica, don't do that again. What if you hurt someone? You need his permission to stay here, remember".
Jewlica giggled, clapping her hands and Nectar sighed. She made Eros face her and smiled " I'm so sorry about that. I hope you won't change your mind though ". Eros looked up at her and sighed " Of course not empress ".
Nectar smiled and let go of his cheeks " Great and you'll be fine. Maybe a little red but don't worry ". Nectar moved three steps back and Eros got up. He smiled at the kids, Jewlica in particular "I hope to see more of you ".
Nectar greeted them to the gates as the children waved from a few feet away. Dodwen was shivering as he walked, side glancing at Nectar once in a while. As they left, Nectar smiled politely at the two " Please let me know when you are coming so I can prepare and I hope Lord Holmes will remember my instructions "?
Dodwen nodded fervently and bowed " Of course my empress. I'm honoured you haven't taken this matter to heart ". The large white wood and metal gates closed with Nectar waving them off.
Immediately the door closed, Nectar jumped up and turned around. Liam was at the bottom of the seven step staircase and raised an eyebrow. He sighed as Nectar landed in his arms " Why can't you be normal Qidu? What if I didn't catch you "?
Nectar laughed, wrapping her hands round his neck " We both know I'm far from normal and you'll always be there to catch me Millie ". The children ran up to them and dragged them both to continue their game, like they were never even interrupted.
~~~
On the other side of the gate, Dodwen was still shaking holding his hair and Eros clasped his shoulders worried " What's wrong with you? You didn't have to let them embarrass you like that Wen ".
Dodwen smiled knowingly, looking at his friend " Who said anything about pretending "? Dodwen removed Eros' hands and continued walking to his carriage and out of this death trap.
Eros ran his hands through his hair as he watched his best friend walk away, shivering and broken. [ What did he mean by that ?] Eros couldn't get the little girl out of his mind though.
[ How did she know ?] He'd never seen Nectar talk back to him and so he knew the children were important to her, so he would begin his plan by destroying the kids and Nectar's will with it.
By simply allowing them become close, then use some for experiments, possibly kill one or two while the other one spied on Nectar for him but the little girl had cut him off. He couldn't shake her words out of his mind and knew he would fail miserably if he went ahead with it.
Eros sighed, rubbing his chin " Back to the drawing board I guess ". Eros kicked a pebble on the marble white path and looked back at Nectar's palace shaking his head [ So maybe you've won this round....but only cause I let you ].
~~~
Dodwen was pulling his hair so tight it was beginning to fall out but that didn't matter. [ Never again, never going back ] He looked around the interior of the carriage as it suddenly moved and breathed a sigh of relief.
It was like he just remembered he was no longer in Nectar's courtyard. He wasn't even sure if he went there or how he got to the carriage but then he remembered Nectar's smiling face as she waved him off .
From the moment she'd kicked him on the ground, it was like he was in a different world. He could bear the children's poking but they seemed to be tormenting him. He was sure he heard voices but the children didn't speak.
Then he remembered those ruby eyes and he shivered. The girl's eyes were like a portal to the underworld and he couldn't look away no matter how hard he tried. Then he'd made the mistake of trying to attack the children and a massive wave of killing intent washed over him.
It wasn't the sheer amount of killing intent that scared him, it was the hatred and suffering he felt behind it and he cracked. He'd never been so scared in his life and he'd faced demon creatures in battle.
Dodwen shook his body, trying to control his body again and he remembered Nectar waving him off but now she had blood red eyes and Dodwen laughed " Never again, never go back ".