"do you want to take a little walk?,the night is bright and we will not go far",prince Ivive said.
"Sure",Teri said as he stood up.
Prince Ivive got up,walked to Teri and held his wrist.
"Have you forgotten that Selina is with me?",Teri said.
"Your highness,it has been long,has it not",selina said as she appeared behind prince Ivive with a smile and her hands behind her back.she was still in her adult form.
She walked to Teri's side,"Big sister is here",she said as she held his wrist.
************************************
They walked together, the grass whispering beneath their feet. Selina, her presence both ethereal and comforting, matched their pace. The night held secrets, and they were about to unravel them.
Prince Ivive's words hung in the air, like dewdrops on blades of grass. "My father,the king,shielding us from the queen? It seems improbable, doesn't it? Love was scarce in our lives, my brother's and mine. We were not pampered, nor were we abandoned. We existed in a twilight of half-truths and whispered rumors.
People say the major source of happiness is money.it is true for some and it is not true for some.you can have money and be unhappy and you can also be happy but don't have money".
Selina's eyes sparkled, catching the moon's reflection. "And what of love?" she asked. "Did you ever feel its warmth, even in the chill of uncertainty?"
Prince Ivive's gaze turned distant. "Love," he said, "was a distant star. We navigated by its light, but it never warmed our skin.
The rumor of my birth,the whispers that followed me,etched scars on my soul. They said my brother's hands were stained with our mother's blood, because she died during his birth. A tragic tale, woven into our existence."
Teri's grip tightened on his cloak. "Your father," he said, "kept silent. Perhaps he believed that silence would quell the storm. But storms rage within, don't they?.
Prince Ivive's voice trembled. "And then," he continued, "the queen,the architect of our trials. She wove webs of intrigue, threatening to unravel our very titles. I almost lost mine, Teri.
"But you survived," Teri said. "You stand here, a prince still."
Prince Ivive's smile held both sorrow and defiance. "Yes," he whispered.
As they walked, the night whispered its secrets.And under the bright moon, three souls moved forward, bound by more than mere titles: a prince, a friend, and a sister of shadows.
"The rumors about my brothers birth, the whispers that painted my brother as a murderer, they clung to him like shadows. And my father's silence only amplified the weight of those accusations.
He killed his mother while he was brought to the world?
People who said that are not supposed to live!",Prince Ivive's voice trembled with emotion.
"I just hope my brother is happy wherever he is now, may his soul rest in peace.
It pains me as I remember every single thing my brother and I went through in the palace.
And when my brother departed, a piece of me shattered, leaving an emptiness . I was always down.No matter how much I drink,gamble or spend my time in the brothel, drowning in sexual pleasure,I still felt the emptiness"he said with pain in his voice.
"The first day I saw you,"he confessed to Teri".
"I felt like you looked like my brother. And when I saw you without your blindfold, you really looked like him.
So, Teri Ereen,"Prince Ivive's gaze pleaded.
"can I treat you not just as a friend, but as a brother too?", His longing for that familial connection, a bridge across the chasm of grief, was palpable.
Selina, standing by Teri's side, affirmed what was already known. "You have always been a brother to us, Prince Ivive. You and Mizak are good brothers to us. In fact, we are siblings from different parents. What is the need to ask when you already know the answer?".
As they conversed, footsteps approached,"the bad-tempered lady in red," Selina quipped.
Melovine, ever curious, inserted herself into their circle. "What are we talking about?" she inquired.
Teri, ever practical, cut to the chase. ,"Weren't you asleep?",he asked Melovine, his blindfold concealing the depths of his own emotions.
Melovine, her eyes alight with curiosity, observed the prince and Teri from a distance. Her gaze, like a falcon's, pierced through veils of uncertainty. "I was," she began, her voice a silken thread, "but I woke up and saw both of you from afar. Are you planning something without Mizak again?"
Teri bristled at the accusation. "No!,And you have to stop asking if we are plotting without Mizak. It is a chapter long closed."
Yet, memory tugged at Teri's consciousness. A forgotten query resurfaced, like a ghost seeking solace. "Your highness," he addressed Prince Ivive, "I recall a moment in your chambers,at lord Hoself manor.
You recounted meeting Mizak,a mere twelve years old then. Was there anything remarkable about him?"
Prince Ivive's brow furrowed, his mind sifting through the sands of time. "Remarkable? I cannot say. He hailed from distant lands, not a commoner by any measure. And he asked of a person..." The name eluded him, a whisper on the wind. "Varouge, perhaps? It lingers in my thoughts."
Melovine's lips curved in recognition. "The name sounds familiar."
Selina, her gaze distant, added, "Familiar indeed."
Teri etched the name into memory.
Melovine untied his blindfold and laughed.
Teri blinked, his vision blurred yet awakening.
He raised his head up," The moon hung above, a pale orb in the indigo canvas. "Is... that the moon?" he stammered,his voice wavered, hope and wonder mingling in his words.
Prince Ivive, Melovine, and Selina turned toward him, their expressions a blend of anticipation and concern. "Can you see now?" they asked in unison.
Teri's laughter bubbled up from deep within. "Not perfectly," he confessed, "but it's there! A bright spot in the blur,I know it's the moon!" He reached out, as if to touch the distant luminary.
In that moment, joy eclipsed the uncertainty. He hugged Melovine and Prince Ivive, their shared elation binding them together. "It is the moon!" Teri declared, his gaze fixed on the celestial canvas above.