THREE
"Stay here for a bit, my lady," Lord Mavi said apologetically as the carriage halted in front of a tavern. "Nuallan and I urgently need to make this one stop before we met His Excellence."
Verēna forced a sweet smile, easing Mavi's wrinkles in the forehead. "Of course. That's what ladies do best—waiting."
With a sigh of relief, the lords stepped out of the carriage; sleeping Del still on Lord Mavi's hand. Lord Nuallan shot her squinted eyes to which she taunted with an even more sickly sweet smile, making her stomach felt nauseated. The lord tutted as he closed the carriage. She snickered.
One . . .
Two . . .
Three . . .
Verēna carefully slipped out of the carriage, briskly walking to the nearest alley her fuzzy memory could remember. She drew her hood up, avoiding the weird stares of bustling crowds as she kept her eyes straight.
She was causing Lord Nuallan and Lord Mavi trouble by wandering alone in the streets of Nemiah, but what kind of Minister's closest subject were they if handling her threw them off easily? Besides, to be at the receiving end of Jeix temper wasn't an appealing idea. She'd rather be at a safe distance when Del finally came to. They could track her then. Well, unless the imp didn't faint again at their mere sight. Until then, she'd let herself loose.
A little treat before the storm starts.
Sidestepping from the sidewalk of Nemiah's boulevard bustling with its vibrant, multi-ethnic citizens, she took a sharp turn into an empty alley between two caverns. Her hands laxily intertwined in front while her eyes calmly assessed the familiar vine covered walls ahead.
"Still hasn't change," she mused, sauntering.
Brushing aside the thick vines, a huge crack greeted her behind and she stepped to the other side. Tall grasses awaited her at the other side of the wall, but it didn't hinder her from trudging forward, leaving a fresh trail behind.
The lively buzzed of boulevard began to soften as her feet eagerly retraced the familiar path. A steady rush of water perked her ears. It was closed. Her heart did a summersault. She was closed.
Her hands shot up, keenly brushing aside the lush blades out of the way. Walking shifted to running until she burst out of the tall grasses.
She almost stopped breathing.
Laying a few yards away across the stream was a blacken rubbles of dilapidated two-story manor. Ivies dotted with white and peach blossoms covered the ruined walls. Slender trees and outgrown-shrubberies claimed the spaces of once well-tended lawn. A brief memory of three women, one of which much older among them, enjoying a rare moment together there grazed her distant memory.
Her heart pounded wildly in her chest as a maelstrom of emotions threatened to blur her better vision. Blinking all the unnecessary thoughts away, she refocused her attention ahead.
I came to visit, Father.
Wasting no time at dillydallying, she gathered the hem of her dark cloak and skipped through the stream's protruding rocks all the way to the other side. Last hopped. Her feet softly padded against the ground, landing without a hitch.
A gust of wind rushed past her and her hood slid off her head. She closed the remaining gap.
Amber eyes rimmed with dark lashes intently stared upon the ruins with crippling nostalgia.
Verēna grimaced at her first closed look of the manor after years since that fateful day. The place she once called home now nothing but a part of the past. Another piece of her that needed to be thrown to oblivion.
What a tragic reality.
Leaves rustled behind her. Her hand swiftly found the dagger strapped on the side of her thigh, and waited. Rustling stopped and a presence loomed over behind. In an instant, Verēna already had the blade pressed at the intruder's throat, barely catching the sharp sucking of breath. White gloved hands shot up in surrender. Her gaze leveled the ivory cladded chest . . . of a man.
"Whoa! Easy there. I mean no harm."
Verēna's eyes disinterestedly crept up from his bobbing Adam's apple, angular jaw, full rosy lips, and aristocrat nose until they clashed with startling golden ones.
"I will very much appreciate it if you'd take your dagger out of my throat, milady." A hint of mirth laced his lighthearted tone.
Her eyebrows furrowed at the same time the man's eyes peered into her face, probing.
Golden eyes boarded a look of recognition a few skipped of breath afterwards. His jaw slacked, mouth parting as if he'd seen a ghost.
"Ho . . . Hollis," he breathlessly mumbled.
Verēna mirrored the man's expression, unknowingly letting herself slipped a slight widening of eyes while backing up. The man followed her movement with bewildered astonishment, even assessing her from head to toe back to her face, searching.
Searching for what?
"You're alive."
Keep your emotion always in check.
Verēna caught herself.
"Pardon. I think you've mistaken me for someone you knew from the past . . ." she trailed, taking a quick glance at the man's appearance.
He had long sleeve shirt with intricate designed around the low v-neckline over a sleeveless robe cinched 'round the waist by a golden belt, and trousers. It was a similar fine clothing as Nuallan and Mavi, except his was pure ivory shade saved for the black leather knee-high boots. Her squinted eyes zoomed in on the round, golden emblem pinned at his right chest area; sinuous swirls sprouted from an aquamarine quartz held in place at the middle by dragon-like claws.
Despite refusing to be seen in public, everyone knew what or better yet, whose noble insignia it represented.
". . . my lord." She lowered her head at the recognition, managing a graceful curtsy.
The Minister's lineage.
Of all the places in Nemiah, Verēna never expected she'd come across one right in front of her blasted home. Her lips curled in a straight, grim line. But weren't suspects couldn't resist coming back at the crime scene? Truly, this one was among those plausible instances. The thought made her stomach churned in repulsion.
Tucking away her blade, Verēna raised her head and folded her hands in front, eyes landing at the nameless man's tousled dark chocolate locks brushing just right above his long lashes. It looked like he'd been running a hand on it rather than—
Her brow twitched. The man just ran a hand through his hair all the while not breaking his gaze off hers.
Must be a habit.
"What a lord could be doing in a place like this, if I may ask?" she deadpan inquired.
Gold eyes regarded her steadily. "I could ask the same thing, but that would be dumb considering it's once your home. How are you, Hollis?"
Her brow twitched again. "Like I said," she stressed, "you must be mistaken me for someone you knew from the past, my lord. Even so, that doesn't answer my question."
"Why are you being weird?" the man declared with evident confusion. "You do changed a bit, but I couldn't be--"
An ear-piercing squeal cut through the atmosphere as an object hurled in an alarming speed towards Verēna's direction behind the man, all the while enunciating each syllable of her name in a slow, crying manner.
"Veeereeenaaa!"
Only that it wasn't an object, but a wailing Jeix whose tiny arms wide-spread as she closed in on her.
Verēna sidestepped when Del was merely a second away from face-planting herself to hers. The imp wheezed past her without control. She wasn't surprised anymore when an 'omf' along with a soft thud sounded as Del face-planted instead on the tree trunk behind. She barely contained a laughter when the Jeix dizzily tumbled and disappeared down the knee-high grasses below.
A strangled snort slipped past her throat. She quickly covered it with a cough.
"I see you've managed to face your fear, Del," she started as the Jeix slowly got up, one hand on her wide forehead. "I'm so proud of you."
Fuming cat-like eyes, one which irises were spiral, bore into her with unshed tears. "You abandoned me, gyun!"
Verēna merely waved a hand. "Oh, don't be so dramatic. You'll find me instantly if ever I do, anyway. Besides," she crouched in one knee and lifted the imp up by her clothes' collar to level her face. Free hand propping on her knee and chin lazily resting atop, "take me as a practice in overcoming your fears. You don't have to thank me. You're very much welcome."
Del's plump cheeks flushed and started kicking out in vain attempt of landing one to her face.
Verēna was quick enough to heave her further away though.
"I will tell Hestia, gyun!" Del threatened.
"She won't mind," she nonchalantly countered.
"Kise!"
Verēna rolled her eyes. "He's not a great fan of yours, so I doubt he'd actually care."
"Andromeda!"
She feigned innocence. "Brilliant idea. Not after enduring being her mannequin for hours, though."
To Verēna's twisted amusement, Del burst into tears, hands over her eyes. "Humans are horrible creatures, gyun!"
Setting down the Jeix onto her palm, she patted the top of her head with a forefinger, feigning sympathy. "Now, now. Don't take it to your heart, Del. The last time I've checked, the entire human race isn't what you claimed to be. You just happen to be stuck with me."
Her words did nothing to console the bawling Jeix though. If anything, it only worsened the situation. "I h-hate you, V-Verēna, gyun!"
She sighed dramatically. "I know, right? That's why I love myself so damn much. Oh, look! Lord Mavi and Nuallan is here, Del!"
In a speed of light, Del was already squeaking behind and inside her hood. "Hide me, gyun!"
Gullible.
"You know Mavi and Nuallan?"
Del instantaneously let out a strangled squeak. "A-Another human man, gyun!"
"Thanks for the insightful fact, Del. Now, do me a favor and do not go 'round fainting on me again." Verēna whirled around, facing the golden-eyed man impassively whom eyeing her with lethal curiosity. "You're still here."
"I─"
"There you are, Verēna! We'd been looking for you!"
Verēna mentally snickered as Lord Mavi, with a noticeable tiny, faint reddening handprint imprint at his left cheek, came barreling down the steep slope where golden-eyed came. Lord Nuallan was nowhere to be seen. Good. That blonde grated her for some unfathomable reason.
"Lord Mavi," Verēna regarded the silver-haired nobility with amusement who was striding the rest of the way towards them, "how are you faring?"
A glint of recognition crossed over his eyes as if he was noting the playful, dry undertone in her words. Mouth parted for a response, but stopped when his attention was robbed off by golden-eyed man. "Kai? Whatta ya doin' 'ere?" Words rolled off his tongue in haste that the thin accent she detected earlier came in full throttle.
Verēna watched in interest the interaction between the two.
"I could ask you the same, Mavi." Golden eyes flickered to her, then back to his associate. "You know her?"
"Sure." Lord Mavi clapped his hands. "Ah! Since you're 'ere anyway, allow me to introduce Verēna." She shot Golden eyes with a firm nod as Mavi continued. "She'll be running an official business for the Seer. Verēna, this is Kaiz─"
"Lord Kaizo Mortem Romulus, nephew of Minister Romulus III," she stressed dryly, amber eyes glowing in nano second before fading back to its normal hue.
The two lords exchanged concern looks, probably wondering and alarmed at the same time on how she knew. Verēna didn't miss the subtle shifting of the newly introduced lord's gaze behind her, towards the ruins of her once lovely home. She fought to scoff at its hidden meaning. Had she was someone else, would her fate fall the same as her late father? The thought left a bitter taste to her mouth as its answer filled her in.
In a heartbeat, of course. Complete secrecy at all cost.
"Of course, we know, Lord Mavi. Being a Seer's disciple has its perks, you see? Fear not, though. We see no use at randomly flaunting what we knew. As long as our Seer is bound by the Oath of Secrecy, so do we. Now, shall we go?" Pulling her hood over her head, she strode past the gentlemen, noting the ebbing of uneasiness off their shoulders.
Lord Mavi was quick to re-lead the way while the other lord lagged behind. Verēna could literally feel his intense stares burning holes at the back of her head as they sauntered through the forgotten white stone pavement leading to a rusted iron gates ahead where she caught sight of Lord Nuallan's golden locks. The latter's attention perked up at their approach and Verēna couldn't resist a grunt.
There were really some people you'd meet and dislike them eventually for no particular reason at all. Lord Nuallan definitely fell in that category.
A melodious hearty chuckle ripped her off her planning-of-murder escapade, catching her full attention. Even the silent Jeix perched in her right shoulder peeked from her hiding, but instantly cowered back when its source was now walking alongside her, one hand inside the trousers' pocket.
Only then did Verēna noticed how begrudgingly tall the lord was. With her head barely reaching Lord Kaizo's broad shoulders, Verēna's lips drawn downturn. She focused her attention back to the path instead. Only that the golden-eyed lord decided to start a conversation over again.
"So Verēna, huh?"
She sure didn't miss the dry undertone there. It was as though she was mocking her. Puffing out a heavy breath, she decided to just ignore him. After all, silence was the best answer to a fool. But he won't be having any of it.
"Went missing for nearly six years and now you got a new name. Impressive. And ah!" he exclaimed, "You even become a Seer's disciple. Splendid!"
Keep your emotion always in check. Kira's words rung inside her head. Never let anyone get under your skin. It'll give them satisfaction. Silence is the best response to a fool.
"You're somewhere off frolicking, all the while your sister worries to dea─"
Sorry, Kira.
Verēna abruptly stopped on her track and faced the lord who did the same, unable to hear more of his irrational whims. "I would greatly appreciate it if you'd keep whatever vendetta you hold against me, Lord Kaizo. I don't even know you, yet you talk like we'd known each other before," she asserted stoically, head held high.
His chiseled jaw clenched as if she'd just drop a bomb that exploded right into his face.
"So, please," she continued, "spare us both from your dramatic flairs and you won't be seeing the rest of me in return."
She spun to her heels, more than eager to follow after Lord Mavi, but a firm grip of hand around her wrist held her back. Before she could pry her hands off his, the familiar rush of heat rapidly accumulated around her wrist and steamed up her skin at full tilt. Amidst it all, a startling surge of warm sensation crawled and seeped through every inch of her body. It didn't drown the initial rush, but was strong enough to left a lingering tickle in her skin. Verēna's eyes immediately widened in horror as she sucked in a sharp intake of breath.
Are you goddamn kidding me?
Everything happened in a split second, so Verēna could only close her eyes tight as the all too familiar strangled screech tore at Lord Kaizo's lips. Hand forcefully released, Verēna staggered back.
"Ugh! Bloody damn!"
Heavy footsteps closed in. "What hap─bloody gods!" A nervous glance towards her. "Nuallan! Nuallan help me 'ere!"
Verēna unlawfully reveled a few seconds more at the lord's cry before her cold, grim eyes fluttered and assessed the damage. There was a burnt hole at the entire palm area of Lord Kaizo's gloved left hand.
Past the ruined glove was the Lord's seared skin going all the way deeper to the bone area, sizzling.
"Make it stop!" Lord Kaizo writhed in agony as he dropped on his knees, quivering damaged hand held up.
Lord Mavi's entire face paled at the sight. His wary eyes pinned her nervously.
Tiny cold hands rested on her cheeks, absorbing her morbid thoughts. "Allow me, gyun."
A stiffed nod.
Phobia forgotten, Del flew down to the squirming lord. "Hold him still, please, gyun. This will be quick."
Lord Mavi reluctantly held Lord Kaizo's affected hand in place while Del hovered above it, holding out her downturned palm and mumbling into an archaic language. Lord Nuallan just came in time to see the damaged skins of Lord Kaizo's palm stitched itself under Del's tiny glowing hands. The lords, except Lord Kaizo, gasped as their friend's marred palm reverted back to its original state before he'd laid a hand on her.
By the time Del was over and done with the menial task, the sweating Jeix skirted off into hiding beneath her hood again. Three set of eyes stared up at her aghast, but Verēna only pulled her hood further down, refusing to meet their condemning stares.
"I'm sure Lord Mavi and Lord Nuallan could fill you in, Lord Kaizo. Nevertheless, I hope this would serve you a lesson to keep your hands off where it didn't belong."
Del hummed an eager response. Giving them a one last bow, she pivoted and let the event sunk through their minds.
She didn't have to provide an explanation. Kise already told Lord Mavi and Lord Nuallan, and after what Lord Kaizo had just gone through, only a fool would dare lay a finger on her again. She was damn sure as hell they'd be skirting their way around her just as how she needed them to.
Good riddance.
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