Chapter Two #2
He saw her bite her lip and knew she was hesitating in fear of offending him. "I am not easily wounded by words," he said gently. "So speak."
"It's nothing mind-blowing, really..." She started gnawing at her lip.
"I just thought that over-reliance played a huge factor, adversely, during the battle.
Like your ability to turned invisible. Many overly relied on it, even knowing how much it drains you of power.
It should've been used strategically or more like a last resort or a final blow.
And there were all other things the Faes could've done, too, than just wait.
They could've made the fortress more impregnable—-"
"Those things are easier than done," Lysander cut in flatly.
"I know that," Star acknowledged quietly, "but I'm also saying that if you truly look at it, you know they could've done so much more."
The words were difficult for Lysander to hear because a part of him remembered how he had used to say the same things to his own father. But because he had been the youngest son, no one had bothered to listen to him.
It's always folly to rely on an enemy not to attack...
He only realized he had murmured the words out loud when he saw Star turn towards him, startled.
"Sun Tzu," she exclaimed. "You read him, too?"
They talked endlessly after that, and it was only when he saw Star trying to hide her yawn that he realized he had kept her with him for hours.
He insisted on walking her back to her room in the main house and as soon as she closed the door, Lysander turned towards the end of the hallway, saying dryly, "You can come out now."
His friends emerged, identical-looking twins whose only difference was their eye color.
"Is that your newest conquest?" Aluin asked with a grin.
"She's just a kid," Lysander said firmly, "and I'd appreciate if both of you were to think along the same lines." He turned to Alain, asking quietly, "You've found it then?"
In answer, the other man unrolled the papyrus scroll he held in his hands, and Lysander sucked his breath.
"We had a Viver confirm its authenticity," Alain murmured, "and with your permission we'd like to proceed with the mission."
Lysander didn't answer right away. The mission the twins were about to embark was fraught with peril, and it would take them several months at the very least before they could return, with the beast's name in their possession.
But if they were to succeed—-
They had so much to defend themselves with, if they had only believed in themselves more.
****
PLAGUED WITH WORRIES for the twins' safety, Lysander found himself seeking Star's company of his own accord.
She was the only one who could make him forget, and he wanted her with him at all times, to the point that he had used his authority as a High Circle member to have the matchmakers overlook Star's lack of participation in any of the scheduled activities.
He knew this could one day bite him in the ass, but he didn't give a damn.
He needed her - Star - to keep him sane.
In the days they spent together, they spoke of nothing but tactics and strategies, and not once did Lysander find himself feeling bored. It almost made him wish Star was just a little older and more experienced because if she were...
Things would be much different, Lysander thought, and he would never have gone to bed alone in the past few nights.
On Star's last night at Willow Lane, Lysander surprised her with a gift: a hand-penned strategy book, owned by a Fae general who had fought in one of the first battles against vampires. It had Star crying out in delight and impulsively throwing her arms around him—-
Soft, Lysander thought instantly. Soft all over, and full and curvy where she had to be. A flower that was so damn close to blooming, but until then...she was forbidden.
A moment later, Star was quickly pulling away, her face once again on fire. "S-Sorry."
"It was just a hug," he said lightly, and he didn't take the words back even though he saw the way it had made her flinch.
It was better this way, he told himself, and he sought to distract both of them right after by challenging Star to recreate one of the battle scenes from the general's strategy book.
After setting up a war board on the table, he asked Star to put herself in the general's shoes, saying, "If you were in his position, how would you have responded?"
He watched Star's brows furrow as she studied the board, and the sight almost had him smiling.
"I think I'm going to wait for the water to subside before making an attack."
He waited until she finished moving her markers before asking, "And what if neither waiting nor retreating is possible?"
Star pointed to the new location of her markers. "That's why I placed my camp here. If we were ever forced to engage, it would be easier for us and harder for the enemies since they'd have to fight upstream and go against the current at the same time."
Lysander flashed a grin. "Congratulations, general. You've just won your first battle."
Star beamed. "Thank you, Your Highness."
"I'm almost envious of your brother. He's extremely lucky to have you in his corner."
"He told me there'd always be room for me to join his council if it's what I wanted, but I'm not sure if I'll ever have the courage..." Her voice trailed off, but this time Lysander knew her well enough to understand what she wasn't saying.
"You're worried about the lives you might lose because of the decisions you make?"
A small nod.
"It's a risk that you'll always have to take, and if you do end up making the wrong decision, I'm afraid the guilt will never leave you."
"So I'll always have their blood on my hands then?"
"Yes. But you can also make it hurt less by ensuring that they did not and do not die in vain. Remind yourself of how many more lives would be lost, if you hadn't taken up arms at all and simply let the enemy win."
****
LYSANDER HAD PROMISED to meet with Star one last time before she returned home, but a summons from the High Circle forced him to break his promise and leave without saying goodbye.
Time passed, months turning into years, and thoughts of her faded.
New people came into his life, and he found himself almost falling in love, and having to accept that the girl he wanted did not want him back.
..it was a bittersweet pain, but it was nothing compared to the devastation he felt, when vampires once again succeeded in razing their realm to ashes.
Their home was gone. The High Circle was no more.
He was the only one left, and the burden was so damn heavy Lysander had to constantly fight against the urge to break under its weight.
Once a sought-after prince, Lysander was now reduced to a social pariah.
It made him cold and empty inside, and it was in this mood that Star walked back into his life.
“Lysander?”
He turned around at the hesitant-sounding voice, his eyes narrowing when he saw her face.
She was pretty and innocent-looking, with dark hair and emerald eyes.
She was also strangely familiar, which didn't make sense at all.
He remembered every woman he had fucked, and someone this young would have been automatically off limits.
But still, her face nagged at him.
A tentative smile curved over her face, and recognition struck.
“Star." Real pleasure underlined Lysander's voice as the memories of one particularly idyllic summer returned.
Those days were the last time he had known peace, and this young girl was a large reason for it.
She had been a sweet kid, quiet and shy but without artifice, and he remembered with much affection the many interesting talks they had of history and politics, subjects that he had never discussed with any other member of the opposite sex until her.
The first time they met, he had to conceal his identity in fear of having women throw themselves at him.
Now, however...
The girl was being true to her name, with Star gazing up at him with her namesake shining in her eyes. She was the only one in the entire ball to look at him like this, and even though he knew he was being stupid, her open adoration of him was a balm to his pride.
"You remember me."
Her shy voice had him wincing at her na?veté, and he said gently, "It's nothing to be flattered about these days, trust me."
The way her smile faded told Lysander she knew exactly what he was talking about, and the pang of bitterness this induced disturbed him.
He had always been a realist, and so for the most part he had been able to deal with the changes in his life with philosophical objectivity.
Most people preferred to leech off those who were wealthier and more powerful, and having become a prince without a kingdom, it had not come as a surprise to Lysander when his so-called friends had nearly dwindled to nothing.
But to see with his own eyes that Star was also aware of his fall...
It didn't fucking sit well with him at all, and only the knowledge that it was sorrow and not pity on her face that kept Lysander from snarling at her.
"Um..."
His self-contempt subsided when his heightened senses picked up a sudden, violent spike from her mood. Something was disturbing her, he thought, and this made him ask sharply, "What is it?"
"I heard...you were looking for a Lyccan princess to be betrothed to?"
Lysander stiffened. "And?"
"Is it true?"
"And if it is?" If he were indeed looking for a Lyccan princess, what then? Would she turn out to be like everyone else, thinking he was now so damn desperate he would willingly ingratiate himself to the first woman with deep enough pockets to approach him?
Disappointment and rage rose to the fore, but he forced himself to rein his emotions in as he heard her ask about the type of princess she was looking for.
Star was different, he strove to remind himself.
And so he managed to answer in a tight but fairly calm voice, saying, "At this point, I'd be willing to marry anyone who could help protect my race. "
And let it be the end of that, if she knew what was good for her.
But she obviously did not, since she was already asking him her next question, and it was even sillier than the first one. “But what about what you want?”
"This is what I want," he couldn't help snapping. Was she fucking stupid or what? Didn't she realize that what he wanted no longer mattered?
"Ah." She then flashed him a brave smile, and this threw him off. What the fuck did she have to be brave about when she wasn't the one burdened by the need to find a kingdom for her own race?
"Then..." Lysander frowned as he watched her chest rise and fall in rapid fashion, heard her heart hammering against his chest, and his puzzlement grew.
"You'd want me."
Lysander's brows shot up.
"Because I'm a Lyccan princess, and my name isn't really...well, it's Star but not in English." He watched her draw another shaky breath just before the words came rushing out. "My real name is Estrella Moretti, and I'm the younger sister of..."
Domenico Moretti, Lysander thought in disbelief.
"Domenico Moretti."
Domenico Fucking Moretti.
The wolf prince that Misty had left him for.
****
IT WAS A HARD TWO YEARS, and there hadn't been a single day, hour or minute that Lysander was not on the brink of collapsing and surrendering his body to the beast's command.
Countless times, the urge to free himself from the pain tempted him beyond belief, but then.
..it would happen. It would be just as the jinn said, the anchor of his soul tightening around him and keeping him alive for just another moment. And it did so by making him remember.
Star.
The memories of her played again and again in his mind.
They made him breathe a little more easily.
Made him forget the pain. Made him hope.
And when the memories weren't enough, he would imagine.
Flashes of heat, fantasies of her naked body rubbing against his, her lips nibbling on the head of his cock before taking him all the way in, deep into her throat—-
They were not real, but it didn't matter. They would be real. One day. Someday. Soon.
And it was this hope that made him hang on just a little longer.
Until finally, the day came that it was the beast which bowed down to his will, its power fusing with his soul.
Finally.
He closed his eyes. Waited until her scent reached him. And then he started to run.