18. Chapter 18
Chapter eighteen
“How long will she be down there, sire?” Aiden asked the next evening as I continued to drink myself into a thick fog.
Trying to sever the green eyes from my mind.
I attempted to empty my head of memories, but our shared moments on the couch, and our kisses, flooded through me.
How could I have been so wrong? How could she have been so calculating?
I had been tricked; I lost a part of myself, and I didn’t like that feeling.
I mourned the loss of what I had always dreamed of having.
I took another sip of my clear drink and looked at Aiden.
“As long as I need her. Why? Are you changing sides, soulless?” I barked at him.
“No, Sire, I would never.”
“Have Kara deliver her dinner. I don't need Emma seeing you yet. That would send her into even greater hysterics.” He nodded and left me.
I looked out the window and into the darkened sky.
Feeling sorry for myself wasn't something that I had ever let myself do.
Still, I had also never had a soul before.
I didn't know what to do with all of those extra feelings after such a shocking moment.
The betrayal was so deep, and I felt so weak, and I didn't like it—I wanted to punch something.
I got up and walked around the kitchen, looking for the small bottle of sleeping draught I had come by from one of the Terrans whom I had made soulless.
I could make her sleep—then, I could extract the piece of Shad's soul which he had hidden inside of her; then, I would mark her.
There was, literally, nothing anyone could do once I marked her.
She would be mine. Those laws were from the ancients themselves.
As far as anyone knew, a marking could not be removed.
I smiled and clutched the bottle in my hand.
I pulled out a smaller vial, placing just the right amount inside.
She would be with me, and she would make me happy, whether she wanted to or not.
Was it not written in the prophecy? Were two souls not to become one?
It had to be us; our two souls were a song, and as such, we needed each other to save the world from the corrupted.
It was for the greater good; someday, she would see that—just as the soulless did near the end of their lives, and they would, most of them, thank me for keeping their souls safe from the corruptor.
Someday, Emma would thank me, too. I tucked my emotions away, locked them up inside file after file to be sure—to be positive that they would not ruin me again.
I tucked the vial away in the back of the cabinet and stood up.
I was ready to see her.
I walked into the room at the precise moment that she decided to attack a pillow.
“Ah, there is that temper that I so adore.”
She froze, staring at me.
My walls were up; I would not be fooled into thinking she was ready. “I know that you said you were not hungry last night, but I think you should, at least, eat now. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and we have a long journey ahead of us.”
“Where are you taking me?” she asked, not looking at the plate of food.
“Well, to Terra, of course, Emma, and you will be my queen, among other things,” I smirked.
She stood up, with a pained look on her face, and walked over to me.
“I will never go with you; I would kill myself first.”
“I highly doubt that.”
Then I turned, left the room, and locked the door.
Days came and went with the same unreachable Emma.
After trying to administer the sleeping draught to her, and in the process, watching Aiden waste it, as Emma shattered the vile, I eventually left the room.
“Aiden!” I bellowed down the hallway.
“Yes, Sire.” He raced back to me and bowed.
I could hear the annoyance in his tone. I looked at him closer, reflecting on the path the not-so-soulless, Aiden, had chosen.
I knew he had betrayed me. It had always been a possibility.
I knew that, of course. I knew that while he had been in the room with Emma, he had just informed her that help was coming for her.
I pondered on that for a moment. No doubt that would mean the knight and their entire group would be invading soon.
I went over the different options I had.
I could lock Aiden up; I could beat him, turn him into a soulless, or I could let him go forward with his heroic saving Emma plan.
I wondered for a few seconds, as my thoughts and ideas sifted through my brain at lightning speeds, and as I predicted outcomes, I honed in on the ones that would benefit me the most. The feelings that came because of the melody, caused me to want to lash out at Aiden and force Emma to be mine and no one else's; however, I had learned that force hardly ever worked in anyone's favor hadn’t I? I needed to not be the villain, but the victim in Emma’s eyes, as difficult as that was to stomach.
“Sire?” Aiden asked, and I looked at him, realizing my sidetracked mind had taken me off course.
No, I would not do anything to him. I would let him think that he was able to fool me, and I would let Ryker think he had saved Emma, let them all think I could be their prisoner, because they would no doubt take me back to Terra with them, and isn't that what I desired?
Yes, I needed to go back to Terra, kill the two men who destroyed the world and me, and then, after that, make Emma see that we belonged together.
The puzzle pieces fit together, even though I had to cut them to fit.
Sure, I had a destiny, but I also had free will, and I would make my life what I wanted it to be.
I strengthened my confidence in my conclusions and smiled.
“No one goes in there; do you understand me? We are giving her the sleeping draught tomorrow, and I need your assistance again.” I waved at him.
When I was worried, I made mistakes, so I tried to calm down my breathing.
Everything no longer seemed to be crumbling around me.
I needed to focus on the goal, the mission, the plan—even if it was ever changing as things evolved. Adapting was something I could do.
“Yes, but what are we doing with her?”
“We are taking her home.” I walked down the hall to my office and over to the drawer where I kept Shad’s crude sketch of the cave.
The drawer rattled; there beside the crinkled paper was my blade.
I could not leave Earth without it. The corruptor's blade had purpose, and I would keep the weapon with me.
I was a tad bit irritated with myself for not strapping it to my person sooner than at that late moment.
I took the piece of paper with a map on it; it held the directions to the cave—the cave that we all desired, the cave we all needed, because it would get us to Terra and to the start of a new life and a new world.
I fell asleep uneasily that night. Visions rushed in and out of me.
Shad’s and Emma’s relationship, their kisses versus the ones I shared with Emma repeated in my mind.
I tried to lose myself to my unconscious self, but the relief never came.
I lay on my back upon the bed, feelings and emotions tumbling through me.
Green-blue flashed before me, and I sat up, my eyes still open, and yet I could see something that clearly couldn't possibly be in front of me.
A woman stood in a woodland mist before me in my room.
It was as if half of my room was an actual forest wherein she stood.
Her cloak hid her masked face, but I could see her hair, and it was long and was made, as if, of light; it fell in waves.
She had no melody that I could sense, but there was something familiar about her.
“Cadian,” she called, and her voice was like its own melody, sweet and light as air.
I wanted to touch it, to stay there and soak in the sounds of it.
I had heard that voice before. It was the maiden who I had seen in my dreams. My locks rattled and burst open.
This was the maiden. It had never been Emma.
Is she real?
“Who are you?”
“Cadian, come.” Her voice hypnotised me.
There was nothing more beautiful than that voice, I was sure.
I moved closer to her, wishing—wanting to see her face—I had to know who she was.
Was she lost in a forest somewhere? If so, I would save her.
“Cadian, I am here to save you; you have known such cruelty.” I heard a slight change in her voice as if my pain brought pain to her as well.
“Who are you?” I asked again, moving even closer, I needed to know who she was.
Earthlings believed in devils and angels, and angelic beings blessed humankind.
Is this maiden my personal angel? She did always drown out the darkness.
I needed to see her eyes—green-blue eyes would tell me all I needed to know.
“I cannot answer you, Cadian, but you know who I am. I can only say that I am a friend, and I am here to help you. You must do as I say,” she demanded.
I paused before her, her face still hidden by her cloak.
Suddenly, I could see her eyes as if they glowed in the dimness of the forest, along with the small light that she held in her hand.
Her eyes were that green-blue; they were the eyes I had seen within my dreams almost every time I closed my eyes to rest. But what did that mean? It wasn't as if she were my soul-song.
Then who is she? Her face was covered in a black mask; I blinked, unsure if I was still in my right mind. Am I going mad?
“I know you?” I asked.
The maiden moved away, her light flickering, before almost going out.
“Cadian—it is important that you hear me. You must come–”
I could no longer see her, but I knew that she still stood in front of me, and her voice sounded sad, the sound of her words so melodic, and I wanted to listen to her speak for hours. I wanted to stare into her eyes.
Is this real?
“What must I do? I have extracted the souls from the corrupted as the ancient told me to, and I have found my soul.”
“You Cadian are lost, but you will be found. You will find your soul.” She looked behind her as if someone were coming.
“I have found my soul. Can you not hear it?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Stay with her, stay with her; she is the key to restoring your soul, Cadian. Fight the darkness, fight the corruption. You are stronger than you realize in ways you do not even know yet. Find me, come.”
Confused and still wondering about dozens of things, I asked, “What is your name, at least, maiden?”
“I am Leeza.” Her voice echoed around me as the woodland, and Leeza disappeared before my eyes.
I clutched my shirt above my chest. Leeza, her eyes—her eyes were the color I had been searching for.
I wanted to tell this Leeza that I was ready to go home and claim my throne, and she could be beside me.
Yes, a kingdom for me, the rightful heir to the throne.
I should want that. That is, after all, what I told Emma, but it is not what I really wanted.
What I desired above all else was to go back to Terra and kill the two men who had ruined my life.
Darkness lingered inside of me, and I pondered on the words that Leeza had spoken, not to let the darkness take me.
That was more easily said than done. If it had not been for my father and for Tarick, I would have always had a melody, and my life would not have been full of darkness.
In order to destroy the darkness forever they needed to be killed.
I cleared my throat and thought again, So what are my plans moving forward to achieve my goals? If Emma is not the one, if the soul inside of me truly is not mine–then what had I done? How could I fix it?