24 Morana

You may want to skim the little of previous chapters to brush up the understanding of the plot. A lot will be revealed in this massively long chapter which will bring Erixs nature to light as it's his side of narrative that's untold. This chapter is from the night when Avloths attacks and Ezdan becomes a king. It shows the other side of the story that is unheard. Hope you'll have fun reading it. :)

Waring: Not Edited

E R I X

THE NIGHT OF THE BALL

Erix had a personal revulsion against the night that falls for him. He finds himself often nocturnal in bed- waiting for sleep to consume him or sometimes fighting the fatigue so it doesn't. But mostly in the depths of shadows - he battled with his nightmares. It has become an essential part of him. Food, air, and his constant need to wake up before he is devoured by the darkness that seduces him into the abyss, it's his ordinary. Even in its outbreaks he seldom trashes or struggles to get away from it. As maniacal as it is of him, he listened to the screams of thirsty spirits and whispers of fainting hearts. He hears the echoes of lost souls telling him of how he will bow in the pits of hell and the cruel destiny that will impale him.

He accepts their dreams to destroy him for what he did to them. He embraces their hate with his own until the line blurs and he feels nothing. He welcomes it because he knows he deserves it.

He watched the unmade bed, not a clinch of crease in the pale satin sheets from where he stood by the poster. He hadn't fought last night either and a glimpse at the half-moon through his window alerted him that it was another night already. But Erix hasn't returned to his room for the sake of sleep, but to find someone who he knows would be hiding figuratively somewhere in the Morana's Manor.

He had suspended his position in the founds ball as the cunning Lord he paints himself to be, but not to wrong the right - he inherently was vile and twisted as one person can be with a beating heart. Rare was it for him to feel the changes in them, his heart. They remained a uniform set of rhythms in the most atrocious moments for him enough to wonder if he even had one.

They are frozen. He would think. Just like his powers.

Erix had grown up with ideologies sick as a day after blizzard and dark as mutated slush that could get him to control the things in his life after what had happened to him as a child. He would not let it go, for any may be the cost- he would never trade the dominating personality of his now with all the memories of what had been taken away from him lurking in the rears of his mind. From the day he decided to take his destiny into his hands- he saw what it was like to survive.

He wasn't like his father.

He would never be his father. The greed had consumed him into doing something that would have scarred Antar for ages. And his son- Erix Meir had been a pawn to his powerful tyranny. The father wanted the throne, the son-  a friend.

Friends may be some one like him.

Some one conceivably his own age.

Could that be the crown prince Julian?

But Julian Ezdan was born with a complicated destiny. He had enemies even before he opened his eyes to this world. But Erix- he made one out of him. He had to hate him while all he wanted was to know what games he would like to play after the schooling ends. Perhaps hide and seek by the fountain house with him, Slantis and saga . Or a duel of short wooden swords as they pretend to be spies and warriors in war. He wished to show them what he could do with his abilities- the little new things he learned every day.

Make delicate patterns in a bowl of water. Churn a cube to ice dust. Shape scythes and knives sharp enough to cut through fruits.

Fruits?

The present-day Erix would laugh at the excitement of the boy who thought cutting food with ice was the incredible power of his is all it could do. It was more. So much more and worse. May be the most powerful of his kind.

But to the Erix of the past, it was the highlight of his day to gather courage and walk to them. But no more than often their escorts and governess would usher them away to play somewhere else. Erix never had them, the guards and nannies- the danger to him wasn't an outsourcing, but his own family. His Father.

But for Julian- Erix was a threat. They saw him for the color of his hair, the paleness of his skin, and the greed of his father. They saw the son of a Lord yearning to take the place of a rightful Heir and not the boy whose loneliness would make him a monster someday.

They did not foresee the future where he would become the Lord that they'd all fear for reason another.

Erix paced to the side, lining to the post of the bed. He peeked between the wall and the large marble headboard prepared to see a person hiding there. The one he would do anything for in this rotting world if harm ever dared to reach them. A small cold hand touched his lower back and in the dim room, a bright light of a smile greeted Erix as he turned.

"You lose" The pearl whites of Yohan Morana stretched into a boyish grin, Erix made his shoulder lax and marred his features to defeat. The outcome of it is a croaky snort from Yohan who walks over and bunches himself up to the wide bed. Sitting with his legs just slightly short of tipping by the floor.

They used to dangle a few months ago.

Noticed Erix.

He saw how much Yohan has grown and how well. Everything that Erix had wished for he made sure Yohan lived. He was raising his brother to be the man he could never be. To stop him from going insane. To hold him when he shatters. To kill him when it ends.

Erix will die contended if yohan does it for him.

Yohan looked like him only in the palette of colors. Like every other lineage from the nobility of Moranas. His brother inherited their mother's pale blue-green eyes that are filled with the promise of mischief and curiosity, life even. While Erix had his father's striking blue ones thats dark as the bed of the sea. Yohan's soft attributes are placid, too innocent if Erix does admit himself. His body is on the thinner lanky side that doesn't fill the clothes he wears. The suits aren't white or grey or any pale lifeless residue of color. But anything yohan likes.

As of now, he wears a blue shirt with black bottoms. A color he often frequents. A colour he likes.

"Why am I not allowed at the ball Erix" he folds his arms and dips his brows, Erix could only stare -prepared with the lie.

The truth was- Yohan was allowed. It's Erix who would do anything to keep the preying eyes of corruption away from his brother. So he had lied to the nine-year-old with a smart mouth. But he also seems to have unallowingly developed a protective stance when a certain Helian girl skidded across his barriers.

He doesn't know her name, yet he addresses her with something he loathes- snowflake. It's what he had unexpectedly called her when she was still disguised. Shrinking and stashing behind Julian as if one stare of his would maim her purity. Her big green eyes had reminded him of the forests that had been neglected, left to grow wild. Curious. Untouched.

Pure.

Like the first fall of snow.

Not the dead of ice he has learned to hate. But the kiss of winter that the world adores.

Erix when first came to know of the Dragon instigator had sunk more of his body into the pool of warm water in the bath. He had just returned from a summer town in Besia where acres of land had barren overnight. The earth was turned and the carcass of animals had been ashen to their bones. Nothing had survived the venom that had been condemned on it.

Not even the vultures dared to circle the blight honoring the deaths.

The smell of decaying land had clung to Erix and all he wanted was to return to Keld. But instead of attending the Founds' last day of  trail, he had ushered his horsemen to en route for his residence. Where he could bathe. Clease the creepy bother that had settled in his shoulders and the crooks of his neck and dents of his fingers. But to relax was an anomaly for him. So when his advisor, Rune- who was just a couple of months older than him entered lazily in his personal space with a flare in his eyes- Erix knew the information would trick an emotion out of him. Because if it had affected his quiet, wise, and stone of a cousin enough to have him look alive, even if were just for a moment. It sure would be worth his time.

"A young boy instigated Julians dragon today" Erix had felt his brow rising faintly, the tension in his neck a forgotten tingle. Rune had nailed his gaze at the art of an angel with broken wings in the glass wall as his lips spoke for him, distracted "He won the trial"

The bath water goes cold, Rune stares at the thin layer of fog blurring the painting he had his short interest tuned to, the chillness spreads across the black glass floor. Rune watched as Erix sank his body further into the cold water he was monitoring until he disappeared entirely under.

Rune hadn't seen Erix lose control of his core. Not in the lifetime he shared with him. But today something has shifted with the arrival of the boy in their world. And he wished only that he could live long enough to see what becomes of it.

Erix hadn't made an effort to meet the aspirant. He couldn't after he found out who had taken him under their care.

Julian.

Of course, it would be him to snag the one thing that had peaked the attraction of Erix. A strength that awakened a Dragon- what a magnificent pawn he would be in Erix's collection. A pawn that he would spare in war. A pawn that he can use to for his own selfish benefits. A pawn that he knows that Julian will destroy more than him.

Men-

Men like him are seen as predators because they are. They are seen, feared, and respected for the flickering humanity in them. And once they take the title or throne- it dies. He and Julian are no better than others- so he had a contender scrape some information within the guarded circle of new warriors. And for the job he had chosen someone he could kill later.

An anarchist with a mutinous principal who had killed the family of a patron, including their children. She was now inside the guardianship of the crown pretending to be a patriot all while scouting for her members outside. He had killed her when she had failed to bring him information, but little did she know her death was marked the day Rune found out about her. Rune Vizar knows when a person is evil. It shows sometimes in their skin or their smell. Immorality in making with cold murderous intentions is often characterized by the foul smell of their blood and sweat. But done deed of homicide shows up as the smears of blood on their hands. Dried, dark blood.

It makes murder investigations easier for him.

And going through daily life a disaster.

Rune had given the traitor's name to Erix because he knew he would take care of the rest. And he did. He did a favor by freezing her to death. Bringing justice to her victims and painting more fresh blood on his arms for Rune to see. Despite the many kills of Erix, Rune hadn't felt the scent of his because there wasn't any.

Perhaps Erix unknowingly had managed to keep his soul from submitting to evil all while doing things that even a perilous man would think twice before.

Rune knew that Yohan Morana was and will be one of the reasons why Erix fights with himself every day.

What Rune did not know was there is another one soon to join the meager list.

"What would you do there if you were permitted to attend, there's nothing much for you to do in an boring adult festivity ?" Erix gave Yohan a questioning stare, gathering from him that the boy does have tricks up his sleeve that might be useful to entertain a band of celebration. But he could not, the less people see his weakness the more Yohan remains safe. There are guests here tonight masking their true intentions. Politics and intruding nature enter the belly of the realm to seek and sniff. To see what Antar hides. To know what it beholds.

"I will help you create connections with the important emissaries" Yohan's eyes are two glowing lights that Erix knows he has to defend when the war begins. Not if.

But when?

It's near.

With all the unexplainable activities in the harbor and war front- with the daily loss of lives and the reports of origen beasts' sightings through their spies in Rixile, they tell the same tale- that the world he has known is about to change. But what he did not know was his role in it.

The crucial role he will play to the cause in the wake of something so powerful that not mere the earth of Antar but the whole world wouldn't be prepared for.

"I am finely capable of doing that myself" Erix sits beside Yohan feeling that the argument is far from over.

"Women love children, might be helpful to impress one by using me as a conversation opener"

Erix frowned looking down at Yohan wondering how he managed to turn out like this despite living with him. Then he realized it was the charming front he always has on while meeting and manipulating people who don't know him. Yohan is mirroring the reflections of his false persona.

He couldn't help the smile on his lips, running a hand over Yohan's short, trimmed hair.

"Thanks, but I have enough maidens persuading me as it is" Erix earns a swift snort. It was getting scarce to understand Yohan with the days he spent evolving and developing his individuality. Morana was proud of it.

Yohan had the freedom to build himself.

Unlike Erix who was made.

"But yet no lady has won over your thoughts" he curls his index by his chin. Thoughtful. "Your heart needs a purpose Erix"

"And you need to spend less time reading poems to sharpen your vocabulary" Erixs suggests, shifting uncomfortably now.

"No. It's a problem that requires my urgent care"

"What does?"

"You need Someone to keep your attention so I can wander off and discover adventure. You are too protective of me brother"

Erix lets his head low, a subtle grin graces his lips accompanied by hunched guilt. It was the transparency of the relationship he had with Yohan that had caused this. He did know one would come where he would be confronted, but it had come sooner than it should have. Yohan was smart.

He reminded him slightly of Rune.

Rune with whom Yohan spends the majority of time within his cramped study.

Rune on whom Erix had his trust.

"Next time we'll have one here in Manor. A nice, vibrant celebration for your birthday in a few months perhaps?" it was the most efficient diversion Erix could spare after the mead he had chugged at the ball to force his mind to conjure memories that were anything other than of the green-eyed girl he seems to be thinking of lately. Thinking not in the strategic exploration of what to do with her when once she harnesses that immaculate energy of hers- but the useless and simple portraits of her frowns, glares, and the little twitches of her frail body when any fleeting crisis arises around her.

It's them, the unwanted pictures that springs up at the most ominous of times.

Even when she was presented as an adolescent boy addressed by a ridiculous name, his first belief was to change it. To assert a name that suited her well. Hence snowflake. Then next was his short concern towards the frail build of an adolescent boy who Erix was sure would be a hassle on the war front to stand ground in.

Then he resorted to enraging Julian Ezdan, by doing what he does best.

Threaten. Manipulate. Smile.

Julian always was quick to read the disasters knitting behind the hollow smiles of Erix. But never once had he reacted to it with earnestness and ferocity until the day the Ezdan had realized Erix had his eyes on the Dragon instigator.

For once it wasn't Julian taking something of his.

But Erix seems to have finally, after years have found the prince's weakness.

Initially, Erix appreciated the respect and honor with which Julian progressed with the exotic power his snowflake sustained. But soon he wanted to have it for himself. The authority upon what Julian seemed to think he owned. The boy, Timo kasper, his snowflake, the mystery- soon he will have him under his wing. He applied the entirety of his power to convince the council and offered the Marlon saga a peace pact in return for his role.

A mentor for the Aspirant ace.

Something he would have laughed at in the past.

Something that should have been as inconvenient as it was. But with how far Julian was willing to go to keep the snowflake to himself had made him strike his approach twice as hard. But surprisingly for Erix, there had been none of the resistance when it happened.

Julian had willingly brought Timo Kasper to the valutare with an offer, Julian volunteered to be the partner in sculpting the weapon their kingdom had found. They both had witnessed the burst of pure energy in that chamber when those trembling hands had touched the plaque. Raw, sizzling, intense core that had the source consumed.

There was no resistance ever from Julian. Erix felt it. Julian wasn't hiding or burying the powers of Timo Kasper from him.

It was her.

When she had fell into the bank of water on the night of the local attack, she had walked out as a different person. A different gender. Erix's short, scrawny, and touseled-looking novice was a full-grown girl suppressed by disguise and stimulants.

With the secret unhinged, Erix saw the rings of clock turn, it fits right in when Julian had shown his first sign of fright.

His anger.

His aggressiveness.

His obsession.

With her beautiful body gathered in his arms, Julian had threatened him with his life if Erix was ever to harm her. This had brought delight to the ears of Erix as his finger itched to run a knife over the girl's arm to let the blood run, to simply to see the fear in Julian's eyes.

Its what he had ever wanted- to see him shake, tremble, cry. Just once. At least once then he will know that he wasn't the only one to have gone through all the pain while competing with an Ezdan. To know that the Ezdan could be capable of refuging an imperfection had put him at ease.

Julian had a possession that had equal leverage over him.

The Helian girl he had mapped through his emotions and bonds throughout the years, the girl he often recited of when they were children- he had found her.

And julian had found her not to kill, but to keep.

A pursuit as twisted as Julian to prey on his curse with a different approach. Erix does not care for Julian's antics, not when he knows she means more to julian than he will ever show. And till the day Julian would strive to protect her- he will find ways to shatter his peace with her as his tool.

At least the plan was that.

He had invited her to run away, it was the easiest to make her trust him with her escape where he could willingly let her get away from Julian- but she would remain bonded by his invisible binds. He was desperate to see the look on Ezdans face when he would know she was gone.

What may be his plans and motives with her- will be gone with her.

With his connections and establishments, he wouldn't have let Julian find her.

But-

She had denied it.

There was an unexplainable aura of secrecy around her which she did hide well along with her identity. But it was far from perfect to convince Erix. Everyone around him had something to hide- but it was her secrets that had his interests in a vice. And as for her Helian elegance, he did often find his eyes regard her with delicate details unwillingly. The flush of her cheeks, the length of her lashes, and the silent heave of her chest when she inhales her anxiety in.

He can't blame it.

Their race was known for their grace.

But he wasn't the one known to offer dance classes in place of a bargain. He wasn't the one to discreetly add gowns to someone's wardrobe wondering if they would crave to wear it, He wasn't the one to help a seamster measure an armored body suit and he horrifically wasn't the one to think of the same girl countless times in a night.

Or in a day.

Control.

It's what he is known for. Over things and beneath him. He has authority over his possessions and not the other way around.

Even now as Yohan listed the guests from neighboring houses that could visit his birth night festivities, Erix scowled at the absence of the Helian girl in the ball- he knew she was there, hiding behind food tables and trees after the instance of Julian's arrival, which oddly put him at ease to know she wasn't as keen of Julian as he was with her.

Neither was she an admirer of Erix. She was far from it. He had seen the calculated slips of fear and tension in her eyes when he was near her. He did not like the idea of her unjustified regard towards him. He hasn't done anything to hurt her so far-

So it left him with one name that could have tainted his image on her records.

Julian. He won't let her trust Erix.

Though tonight here, the little play of hide and seek of hers with Ezdan brought joy to Erix. Glad that she doesn't have a morsel of trust in both of the Royal bastards. He kept her in vision for most of the night. Discreetly like a polished spy.

But then she had vanished.

A glimpse and gone.

"You shouldn't be here when I am not present" Erix instructs Yohan with a warning. This part of the Manor house was empty of security and residence saving for a couple of sentries guarding the entrance and gates. The rest were at the ball, drinking, mating, feigning doing what it took to shrug their burders and shame to the floor for the one night of liberty. The palace isn't the only place the Found's success is glorified and practiced- it's the twenty-first night and the whole city honors the devotion of the crown.

Yohan, sadly and probably was the only soul who wasn't celebrating with children of his age. Or celebrating at all in general. Every year he is made to sit in a room with his governess and made to take his classes or is helped into early sleep.

But not this year.

Yohan was old enough to fool his red-headed tutoress and sneaked out.

"Are my demands for my birth festivities even being considered?" Yohan whines with a mousey cry slapping his arms into the bed by his sides, throwing a justified tantrum.

Yohan watches his brother rub his temples with narrowed eyes, his face bunched as if in pain.

"This is no time to argue-

A loud explosion outside snatches the words from Erix as he nestled Yohan into his arms dropping beneath the bed. Yohan to his surprise did not scream, though he withered like a dry leaf in autumn, his eyes were shaded with surprise and fright.

The crackle of joints and beastly croaks from the base of a hollow throat fill the room along with the uneven, barbaric footsteps.

Erix saw the claws, scales, and oily layer of its skin from the bed, and he didn't have to crane and look up for what it was.

Avloths.

Similar to what they had caught by the perimeters flying. They listen from their eyes and speak a language not understood by them. So keeping them hostage with torture in their psyche had rendered no fruit so far. They may be the most disposable troopers of Origens to have wasted so many on Antar. Avloths are now a home name among the crews and soldiers who sight them and know of the real origen threat.

If only they could decipher their language.

They can also- smell.

So when the fanged monster's face peeked at them from the other side of the bed, Yohan uncorked his bottled scream.

Erix sighed, tired, wary, and angry at the beast for having traumatized his sibling. He Let's shards of ice sprang- sharp enough to cut through a thick neck. He impales them in its eyes as dark thick blood oozes from its wounds. It shrieks but still advances towards Yohan and him.

Both the Moranas skid on their step in the quest of running out as other Avloth saunters in.

This one had wings.

The one with wings always smelled dirtier than the one without.

Noticed Erix.

With Avloths it not a priority of safety. In fact he could take multiple of these alone. It was their slimey skin and stench that worried him because he had chosen one of his favorite suits for tonight.

As for Yohan.

Avloths weren't a threat even for him. The boy had practice. In fact he trains under Erixs guidance. In the unfolding scenario- his only distress was the safety of a girl who doesn't possess elemental powers like his to defend herself physically. Erix's core snakes through his arms, he is the lure of what he hadn't felt in the past days- the thrill of killing a soul enticed him. To freeze the thundering of the Avloths heart, to change the temperature of its blood, to take control of an existence.

It tempted him. But before he could strike and crystalize his room as a whole, a sword tears through the Avloths chest.

A warm splatter of thick blood sprays down onto Erix's side.

The Avoth screeches, spasming till his body couldn't hover above a very passively disgusted Erix who could taste the bitter blood on his lips. He wipes it with the back of his hand watching the beast drop to the floor to see Rune who stood there beside the red-headed woman gripping a sword that had pierced through Avloth chest from behind.

Yohan runs to his governess and hugs her legs, burying his terrified face into the pleats of her skirt. Rune however had no emotions behind his eyes. No one knows what he thinks or what he sees, but it was evident that he was holding his breath calmly with all the stench from murderous Avloths that must overstimulate his senses. He also looked very unimpressed and bored while Fiora soothed Yohan gently.

"Attack in the capital. This is first" grunts Morana striding for the door with the only people he trusts under the command following him. He picks up noises from afar, shots, explosives, and sirens. There were more.

They were here to hunt.

But for what?

Erix's footsteps were swift even in the hour of attack looming in the corners of his residence.

"This is sooner than anything we are abled for," Fiora Artemis says clutching the wrist of Yohan in her tight grip. The ventim girl's hair is braided in a sophisticated tail, not a hair out of its place, the sword hung loosely in a baldric belted by her side. Not a drop of blood stained her cotton and leather clothes while Erix was showered in the aftermath of her actions. As for Rune- he hadn't even attempted to lift a finger with the idea of helping them.

Erix pondered where he went wrong while selecting his private squadron to have ended up with idiots like them.

"If they are here on palace grounds, this is a suicidal mission. They are here to do something that will wreak havoc if not bring a political catastrophe if they succeed in whatever this is" she chatters while both men listen to her. She sure was the wisest among them to speculate theories while their and others' life was in danger.

Fiora is ventim, and her scholarly inquisitiveness on unfurling war couldn't be helped.

Even if death looms above her head, she would request for validity and reading from her soon to be murderer.

Knowledge was everything to her.

"Or they could be here to take something"

Rune adds lowly. His distant voice is subtly present in the moment as they spill into the manor hall.

"Like Arrans ring?" Suggests Fiora before clicking her tongue "No one can infiltrate the Court of Azure. Not the crown. Not the Origens themselves"

There is a pause.

Erix waits for Rune when a flicker of something passes his eyes. Something vice.

"What about the boy?"

His smooth utterance is nonchalant as he looks at the vase of white roses, the breeze carries his light voice across and even Fiora looks surprised of not having guessed that.

"Timo Kasper. Is it?" This wise Rune meets the eyes of Erix. The young Lord tenses at that name- but he whips his neck towards a faded scream of help that cuts through. They all do. Erix looked at the stair through which the voice had flowed. He could recognize that sound anywhere.

In his sleep.

In his haste.

Or maybe even in his death.

"Take Yohan and vacate for ground safe house" he is already moving past the stairs, running- rushing. Breathing. "Do not wait for me"

It was a command for them from their Lord. The one they will obey. And also the one that made sense.

Erix pushes through the large doors of the floor hallway finding it empty. Unearthing the potential places she could be in, He decided there wasn't much to choose from. So he sprinted for her room to see not one but two silhouette escape out of the room in the dim grey and white of night. He released a breath of relief when he saw her run with her own legs. Moved and struggled with her gown that she wore. Her hair was open, flying across her face in silky tress as the moon night caught her angelic face. One of her hands bunched the tulle of her gown while the other held on to that bane of Erix's existence with what she had for her life.

Something seems to rip within him. The control of his emotions was as they spread at its seams watching her depend on Julian. The twisted desire to snatch her away from him amid chaos was selfish. There wasn't the rationality he had built his home with to hide inside in as of now. This girl was shattering his shelter as he willingly met Julian's eyes through the shadows as they passed.

She doesn't notice him.

But Ezdan looks back to tip his head in acknowledgment. There is no malice, hatred, or arrogance, but true Arminhood between them as he flicks his strong gaze towards a shadow looming by the window.

Julian motioned at the sign of threat.

He was asking for aid.

For help.

They round and disappear by the corner in simultaneous as Erix turns to welcome the creatures into his manor.

Time.

He will run the deadly negotiation for as much time as she needs to stay safe. To find shelter. To remain alive.

He will remain in the shadows fighting these nuisances while Julian will play the knight of her dreams. That is, if she even has a tendency to dream of such things. Erix spans his arms, gathers his core and unleashes his displeasure at the visage of his uninvited visitors.

When the fight in him ends, he inspects the stoned bodies of Avloths leading up to her chamber. He distractedly kicks away the leg of a stiff carcass that blocked his path by the doorframe. His breath created small clouds and he could feel the shavings of ice in his hair and lashes. The walls, windows, glass, and floors- the very niche of it had a layer of glaze coating it. The cerin was silent in her cage- not dead, but combating the merciless test of this cold suffering that would remind a spirit of death.

Erix gets on one of his knees, crouching beside the bird's cage he lets his fingers reach through the bar to pet its little head. But to pull it back, hesitant to see the cerin shivering from the aftermath of his doing. His touch would only add to her misery.

No one needs some cold, wet, and coarse touch like his to soothe. It must remind them of death instead of hope.

He remained kneeling such for a moment, his thoughts scuttling back and forward to what he could do except put his faith in the prince who she was with. He knows she was safe with him- that even if he hadn't arrived on the scene, Erix knows what Julian is.

He knows what he hides.

And Julian knows what Erix failed at.

For Julian it had been an accidental revelation, but Moranas unassailable secret was ripped and taken out of him in the form of a fair trade. A mutual loyalty. An anonymous disaster in the making.

It felt harmless when they were a young. But as they grew up Erix was blind to what had become of Julian's obscured core. But he knows enough that he will survive.

On the ground, under the shower of moonlights and conflicts, Erix's gaze catches a glimpse of the spilled contents from the Helian girls knapsack. A slip of satin band peeks through. Its pale, faded, and roughly appeared as a bracelet found on infants wrists with their names after the traditional ceremony of blessingway takes place.

The moral compass of Erix never existed, so when he lets his finger curve along her personal belongings he does not feel it. He picked it up and laid it across his palms- its small, soft, and as he betted on- was inscribed with a name in a lazy cursive of black ink.

The little words that made up her name. It's traps the breath in his chest.

Iris lavera.

He read it again. Twice it takes the emphasis to understand the hoax of his fate. His teeth jams and his jaw clenches while the weight of the bracelet with her name scorches his skin like fire. Her name that he foolishly had never bothered to ask because he was immensely busy antagonizing the Ezdanian heir by possessing her. He wanted to hurt him by using his curse as an instrument in the game they played.

Erix fists the ribbon in his hand so tightly that his knuckles paled, he strides down the hallway to find them. Find her. He could not let her be with him even for a second while all his life goals had involved unearthing her presence when she had been right in front of him.

His blood heats and for the first wise he feels what it is to be wild with fiery rage to know the name he thinks of every single day and the girl he had failed to protect in the past was with a man whose sole purpose was to ruin him.

Julian had willingly given her to him with his leash on her neck for Erix to undo.

'I should have known'

Erix enrages within his mind. His words are a growl of anger even in his conscience.

Julian knows Erix couldn't hurt her. He would kill himself before thinking of inflicting a scratch on her skin. Ezdan had known it all and had played him with a set of his weakness. She was Julian's curse- something she was made to be by the hands of Arran.

But she also was a Lavera-

The destiny of Erix meir Morana . The lost girl from his past. The girl whom he had sworn to protect.

The siren of death blares, echoing in his hollow palace. But all that occupied the mind of his was her while his kingdom lost it's ruler.

He did not care for the kings death.

Not after he knows who she is. And with whom she is with.

She was Iris Lavera.

The curse of an Antarian Sarkim.

And the bride of A Northern Defender.

So...

Let's see what happens next. Wonder what you all think of Erix Now. :)

I am working on next chapter already. It will be out soon. Do tell me your thoughts and don't forget to vote.