"I heard the locals here love the Wednesday markets, is it true?" asked the old butler to Hera as she was arranging the breakfast on the table. For now, the two men were the only guests she had, and to make the atmosphere lively she invited her friends from the neighborhood. The morning thus was very busy for Hera.
Her friends arrived for the breakfast just in time. But the old butler was interested to know what kind of person Hera was. He just kept on bringing up random topics while she tried focusing.
"Yes, we do." She said politely since she didn't want to sound rude.
"I heard witches live in these countryside villages, is it true?" he asked as he helped her with the orange juice jar.
Hera, for a moment, thought that the butler might have seen her with Harrison but then quickly declined the doubt. "He knows something?" she thought.
"Yes, there are witches who help the locals with farming and other daily activities." She said as she untied her apron and got ready to settle down on the table.
"Hmm.. then do you know someone? Some witch?" asked the only man slyly. Hera flinched a little but the butler changed the topic smoothly and went to talk about the business that his masters owned and why they loved Gyros. Hera kept a calm composure as she served breakfast to everyone and smiled.
"But one thing is sure he knows something about me. Will he threaten me? Should I just kill him? No I need to know how he got to know about me? Or is he just bluffing? Why would he do that? They are here for just two days after all." She got lost in her thoughts as she cut the pie to serve everyone and found one chair was empty.
"Hmm? Where is Harrison?" she thought. She asked one of her friends to serve the remaining breakfast and went to check on Harrison.
"It is early in the morning, so nothing is wrong with sleeping in more. But at least he should've told me he rises late." She thought as she climbed the stairs and went up. She felt happy as she walked towards his room as if she was expecting him to open the door with a smile.
"Good morning Mr. Tyler. The breakfast is served at the table." She said as she knocked on the door.
No one opened the door and thus she did the same once more. He opened the second time.
The door opened to a dark door with the curtains drawn and not a single ray of light. "My goodness, why is it so dark in here?" she asked casually to Harrison who stood there still.
He didn't respond. The awkward silence grew. She went ahead and asked," Do you mind if I come in?" she asked. And went inside. She opened the curtains to only find that Harrison had black marks covered all over his body and was burning up with fever. "Harrison?" she looked at him.
For a moment she didn't know what was happening as she stared into Harrison's eyes but then suddenly he fainted and collapsed.
"What the! What happened to you?" she ran across the room and touched Harrison.
She suddenly felt a burning sensation as she touched the black marks on his body. "What the hell are these?" she thought and the butler came inside the room.
"Young Master is cursed." He said.
"What?" she was completely clueless as to what was happening as she didn't sense any curse from him the night before.
The butler came forward to explain what was going on in Harrison's life since childhood. "There is a special kind of community of people that live in the north of Aartals. They are called – 'Kinodas'." He walked towards Harrison who seemed like he was dead and poured what seemed to be an elixir in his mouth.
"What's that?" asked Hera who was like a lioness protecting her injured lion.
The old butler was taken aback by her reaction but then just smirked and took his step back.
"On the day he was born, Kinodas appeared in front of the Tyler mansion. That day was nothing less than pure horror for the Tyler's. Harrison's mother was still in the process of giving birth when the Kinodas went ahead to give their blessings to the still unborn child." He explained calmly.
"I still remember that night, it was raining heavily and the flashes of lightning were creating an illusion of day every other minute. They cast a spell while all the guards were trying to stop them. They were just a group of seven people but were powerful against fifty soldiers of the Tyler mansion. We failed to stop them and they gave their blessing.
It is something that we humans call a curse. These black marks eat a bit of Harrison's soul and make him weaker. But this doesn't trigger all the time. They protect him otherwise until he meets a witch and tries getting close to her.
Due to that reason, his father opposed him from becoming the family head and …"
"How did you know I was a witch?" she asked while interrupting him with a sharpness in her gaze and voice.
"Because they made a prophecy that the first witch that Harrison will see in his life will become his lover and poison. They will be the most lovelorn people until their child is born. That's why he attacked so love-struck when he saw you. Because he truly fell in love…. With you." The butler explained.
"Umm.." Harrison's fever got down and woke up as the butler was speaking with Hera.
"Will you marry me?" he asked on the spot.
Both the butler and Hera were caught off guard with his question.
"Huh?" Hera was completely clueless. She felt bombs bursting in her heart but the thing that she heard gave her every right to decline him and save him.
"I love him, I want him but his life will be in danger then." She thought with a completely blank expression.
"Maybe I asked her too soon." Thought Harrison as he grew nervous with every passing second.
"I can accept your proposal but I want you to tell me your entire story for I only partially know the truth." She said in a timid voice.
The butler just became an object in the background.
"I accept you and I will tell you my entire story too." Said Harrison with the brightest smile that Hera has ever seen in her life. The honest happiness that reflected on his red cheeks and squinted eyes, the one that stretched from one ear to another.
"He looks so happy just by the thought of marrying me. But is it just due to that curse? Just maybe because I'm a witch? What if I was a normal girl? Would he have even batted an eye towards me? Maybe he would've fallen in love with someone else." She kept thinking as she saw Harrison's face.
And suddenly some words came to her mind. The words she forever wanted to forget –
"Remember girls, you should get married to a guy before the first full moon of your twenty-first year. You are powerful witches and should only use your powers to save yourselves and the world. Don't miss use them. And remember don't ever fall in love with a man who is blessed by the north." Said their mother who was finding it hard to even breathe.
"What does that mean mother?" asked little Hera interrupting her mother. Her mother gave her a warm smile. "Just go and settle down far in the south of our kingdom." She said with smiling eyes as Gwen stood there crying and Hera confused.
"Gwen, will you please step out sweety? I want to talk something to our little Hera." She said In a calm voice even though she was panting. Gwen outside the room.
"Hera, listen to me, don't associate with any guy who comes from another place. Marry a guy who has been living in the south since his birth. For if you love a guy blessed by north it will harm him since you are a witch and also the child who is born from your love." She tried explaining the little girl.
"So I will never marry anyone." Said Hera with a bright smile.
"Your child will only get affected by the vicious cycle of fate if you love the wrong guy." His mother said before she took her last breath.
Gwen eavesdropped everything and thus explained it to Hera once she was in an understanding age.
"This memory just feels like a caged prison now. I must handle what I started." She gave a bitter smile.
"So get up and get ready, we are already late for breakfast. She patted Harrison's hand and got up, but he pulled her back and as he got up. He touched his forehead to hers and whispered, "You are the best thing that happened to me all my life."
Hera gave him a sarcastic smile and said," Then you better keep loving me forever Harrison."
"Call me Harry." He said with a bright smile. And went ahead to kiss her. A deep and war, kiss that both of them had just experienced for the first time. He reached the parts of her soul that she didn't know even existed. And she was like a calm breeze on his desert-like life.
"Did I make a horrible mistake? Will this love that is born out of illusion and not true feelings last long?" she thought but soon they got melted in the warmth that Harrison gave her.
"I accepted him. So there is no going back now." She felt a sense of calmness. The one after the turmoil of thoughts and before the destructive storms.