Chapter 14: History behind lies

“What do you want? Why don’t you just step down from your place and let her take over? You’re not pushing me away just because of your concern for your sister but of something else.”

“I want to stop the war, Magnus. I need you and this place beside you to fulfill that mission. Let me be your queen and that is all I’m asking from you.”

“What about loving you?”

“What about loving you?”

“What about loving you?”

“Putang— arrgghhh!” I irritatedly pulled my hair in frustration hearing those words repeat and echo inside of my head. For three hours. For freaking three hours! And what’s more terrible was not having a decent sleep!

“For the nth time, Denise! Get out if you don’t want to sleep!” shouts Sydney who seemed to be in a mood trying to get the magnificent spirit of sleep.

          Slapped with the thing that this Afana’s memories won’t stop disturbing my head whenever I try to sleep, I better go out. Stepping out of the room we discovered to have still nice and comfy kind of king bed, the stairs leading down the hall room suddenly was the place that greeted me.

          My fore creased automatically. The stairs were clearly not the last thing I’d seen before I entered the room. It was another door to a room and I know I am not mistaken. I turned my head to the other side and sighted multiple corridors leading to different paths.

Yet, they were not supposed to be there. Could it be that this is the curse of the palace?

“None of whom entered managed to get out,” I mouthed. Is it because once you entered the palace, rooms and structural phases would change until you would lose your way and possibly… never find the exit?

“It is lust that you feel.”

“I sure am it is not.”

Exchanging voices that sprang from somewhere not far. As soon as I opened the door I found on the stair’s left-wing, my feet seem to have been out of control that every step leads deeper into the room. And I assume this is the bedroom.

I’m again tossed back in the past, judging from the lighted fireplace on the corner and the way every piece of furniture was polished and cleaned with no specks of dust. I roamed my sight around the room, hanged on the wall by the right side of the bed was a painting.

And aside from the dim lights and fancy amenities, there was nothing more but a painted caramel wall. “Anak ng—” I nearly shouted when my eyes darted to the royal bed. A scenario of something I did not expect.

“It is.”

          Two beings of familiar voices were driven by an itchy desire on the bed. Gosh, I better be leaving here. I know whenever I travel to time and space, I’m only a spirit wandering and cannot be seen. But still, this thing should be left private!

          I quickly commanded my legs to move and walk but suddenly stopped when another built of a glowing blue person caught my attention. Another wandering spirit, it’s a man. And on her ear was a black wooden earring that sparkled with the torch fire reflected on it.

          My hand moved on its own, and I just saw myself walking toward him as I touched the same earring that was on my ear. His eyes were closed and his head was casually leaning on the large cabinet. On his face was a smirk.

          Wait… was he—he’s peeking on them! This guy’s really a lustful person!

“You’re a walking aphrodisiac,” I uttered when I finally reached his side. Expecting a mocking and insulting word from him but he did not even open his mouth to talk.

          Instead, he just stood up lazily while he laughed wimpily and extended his hand to his pocket. I looked at him with my forehead creased, still, he got no words to say. My eyes followed his every move until he handed me a cream-colored envelope in front of me.

          My brows lose their gap even more and my eyes keep on shifting from the letter he’s handing me and back to his chocolate eyes. “What is this?” I asked.

          But he just shrugged, still, with the smirk plastered on his face. He didn’t talk and in a flash of light, he disappeared afore me. What the heck?!

“She was—”

“Was?” a woman’s voice chuckled sarcastically. “Why are you saying this to me? Is it because you’re the only man who laid—"

“Afana,” muttered a man’s voice. “It sounds ridiculous but I ask you to forgive me for I just can’t fulfill your request.”

          Oh right, I almost forgot where I am. And what the people behind this cabinet are doing. Are they not finished yet?

          This is another problem with this so-called gift, I still hadn’t figured out how to go back to the present. It is only my soul that was traveling while my body was left to where it stopped, standing like a statue. And what I know, there has to be someone who will cause a disturbance with the connection.

          Until now, I still haven’t mastered how to get back on my own.

“I can’t love her and what makes this hysterical was the fact that I did never love her.”

          I may not see the expression on their faces but the tone itself reflects how and what they feel. The people behind me were not just a mere couple. They complexed the history of Claveria Haltera.

          The scenario I was seeing right now was the fact and was the complete opposite of the story that was passed on to generations.

“Then you should.”

“Why? Why are you forcing me to be with her? Our plan can still work even if I cut ties with her, why are you doing this to me, Afana?” the vampire prince questioned frustratedly that he even raised his voice.

“That matter is not your concern,” Afana replied emotionlessly.

“Yes, it is. As far as I know, I am the bait you’re using to complete your plan. The matter between you and your sister is a thing I must know. You are the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, yet you are pushing me away to be with someone I do not love.”

“Because I stole you from her. I stole everything from her and you are the only one I can give back to Avanti!” the woman volume up her voice and then a series of shattering was what I have heard. “My request is as simple as that. Love her more than you see me. Be with her until the end and that is the only way I could see Magnus Monteverde in the same light you see me.”

          Liar…

“What if I don’t?”

          This time, Afana was shut silenced. But in a few more minutes that had passed, she again talked.

“Tomorrow was the coronation. You will be the king and perhaps we can now start—”

“You are leaving me,” cuts a deep voice flashing with pain. He sounds displeased.

“It’s for the best. Rebellions have been rising since a werewolf sat beside a vampire prince, what more if I became your empress? From the start, werewolves and vampires feud and clash for power and control. As expected, more and more from your side disagrees with this alliance. For the plan to roll out, I shall leave and abdicate this position.”

          So, this perhaps is the start of the white wolf’s move?

“Abdicate or not, leave or stay. Afana, the plan could still roll. I am not naïve to sense that you just want to run away from me.”

“Being my people’s alpha weighs more than being your empress.”

          I tried to peek a little from the corner of the cabinet and caught the two finally finishing their lusty duty. Afana is on the chair in front of the mirror, brushing her long silver hair while the guy was still on the bed topless reading a book of a normal thickness. Down the floor were bits of broken pieces of glass.

“We will still separate in the end. What’s wrong if I precede a situation before it happens?”

          Magnus chuckled bitterly and lowered the book in his hands. He shook his head and looked directly at his Queen brushing her hair casually. “I fear asking you anymore why you want to be away from me. I’m afraid of getting an answer too straightforward and worse, an answer that could tear my soul apart.”

“Vampires don’t have souls, Magnus.”

“Tss, ever heard of sweet-talking, my Queen? Perhaps not.”

          Amidst the dim light and the position I’m hiding in, I still can see how the silver-haired woman restrains the smile on her face and the reddening of her cheeks. Especially the part where Magnus uttered the word highlighting who she is to him.

          Tch, so the great white wolf was also a great liar. Huh.