Iris gave a small smile " Now, tell me what is going on in that big head of yours?" she jokingly asked, trying to ease the dense atmosphere surrounding them and to make it easier for Ian to open up about his dark thoughts.
Ian let out a shaky sigh " Death, everyone must die, and the bloodlust grows stronger each time I take a life, I crave more, and when I take one life, I feel the need to take another one! Every moment it's a battle, with myself trying not to lose control and push a sword through someone's heart, no matter if they did or not something wrong!" he bared himself while looking into space, unable to look her in the eyes while he revealed his darkest thoughts. Afraid he would repulse her now that he was a broken shell of the man she had fallen in love with.
Iris swallowed hard and felt her throat dry with every word that left Ian's lips. She couldn't believe that he had kept all that in without a word of complaint, and she hadn't even noticed his struggles. Now, she was doubting herself to be worthy to stand by his side and be the person he had given his heart to. She could only do one thing now and be more observant of his needs as he was with hers.
Iris pulled Ian into a tight hug, gently caressing his back, trying to soothe him, but she knew that wouldn't be enough to fix his broken soul and mind.
" I'm sorry!" she mumbled, unable to find the right words to say in a moment such as that. She knew that it would take time and effort to make a mence of her lacking.
Ian frowned " No, you don't have to apologise ! You did nothing wrong!" he stated in a serious tone while pulling away from the embrace to look at her.
Iris clicked her tongue " I did. Even if I didn't put that sword in your hand. I failed to warn you about it, and I failed you!" she took responsibility for her actions. She knew her lack of attention to detail got him into this mess.
She should have been the one to guide him through his journey to finding who he truly was, but she discovered that she was the sheep and not the shepherd.
" Why would you blame yourself when I'm not doing that? That's one of the reasons why I haven't told you because I knew you would blame yourself for it. You're wrong, it happened, and we will have to deal with it. There is no point dwelling on it!" he reasoned while looking at her with pleading eyes, hoping she wouldn't burden herself with this too. He had an inkling that she would do that, so he stayed mum, hoping it would go away, but now he knew he couldn't be more wrong.
On Iris's lips, a sad smile was etched the entire time he spoke; she couldn't bring herself to muster more than that and tried her best to keep her composure. She felt like she would crumble at any moment at the weight of the guilt in her heart.
" So please, don't think like that, we will work through it, and we will come out the other end stronger than before!" he gave his final verdict, not willing to have moap about something he was ready to put behind him.
The sound of footsteps approaching broke the conversation between the couple " Azra informed me that you want to see me!" Athan made his presence known before he could even reach the couple. Azra had already given him the short version of the events, but he hadn't said what they wanted from him.
Iris nodded and turned her attention to Athan " Where is the sword?" she asked, skipping the pleasantries, surprising even herself; Looks like Ian rubbed off on her, she thought to herself.
Athan frowned " In the armoury, tightly locked in a very nice box where it belongs! We don't have the means to destroy it in this realm!" he stated, a little worried why Iris was asking about the sword all of a sudden.
" We were heading to the armoury any way. Would you like to show us where it is!" she calmly replied, looking intently at Athan, who looked worried and a little jittery.
Athan nodded and turned around to leave the garden, and the couple closely followed, making their way to the armoury.
Athan pushed the heavy double doors open; without saying anything more, he quickly returned with the box where he had placed the sword, confident that it was still in the same place where he had left it.
" Open the box!" Iris curtly asked, frowning at the box. She was determined to get to the bottom of it if the sword was in the box, then her theory was correct, and the bond between the blade and Ian was much more potent than she had thought.
Athan pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the box with a click while holding his breath. Now he was a bit doubtful of himself. He could clearly remember taking the sword out of their chamber and placing it in the armoury.
Athen slowly opened the box and peeked through the small gap to see if the sword was still there, and to his surprise, the box was empty.
Seeing the look on his face Iris turned the box to face her " Damn it!" she slammed the trunk shut while turning around and left the armoury, closing the door behind her with a loud thud making Athan and Ian flinch at the loud bang.
Ian was a little taken aback at the sudden burst of anger and quickly ran after her, not wanting to lose sight of her. It didn't take him long to catch up with Iris, who stormed out of the armoury and made a beeline to their chamber.
As soon as she walked into their chamber, she began pulling everything out of the chest of drawers,; then she moved on to the bathroom grabbing all the towels, unfolding them, and throwing them on the floor. She meticulously searched every corner of the room. The only thing she hadn't looked at was the bed.
Ian watched Iris zoom through the room, looking very much like a storm. The cracking sound of glass echoed through the chamber, and she looked like nothing could stand in her way.
Iris pulled the bed sheets and looked under the bed and pulled the bed topper as well. The only thing she hadn't searched for were the pillows.She carefully patted and squeezed the pillows one by one, until she picked the last one that was resting on a box at the end of the bed. She did the same with that one, only to freeze her movements the moment she squeezed it, and she felt something hard under her hand and looked at Ian with a satisfied smile.
In a few quick strides, Ian was next to her; pulling out his dagger, he gashed the pillow; dropping the blade on the box. He reached for whatever it was in the pillow out of instinct.
" No!" her crusty voice cut through the silence, and before he even had a chance even to process her reaction she reached inside the pillow pulling out the sword they had been looking for.
Iris frowned at the sword, that glowed as soon as it got close to Ian, while Iris stormed out of the room just like she did in the armoury and disappeared, making Ian let out an exasperated cry for having him chase her around like a lost puppy.