Stained By Sin

FOURTEEN

Elara took advantage of her privilege, being treated as a guest even if she was actually a prisoner. She explored the mansion, her home for most of her life.

She kept on receiving either curious or cautious looks, but she ignored it. If anyone dared to fight her, she could keep herself safe with just her bare hands.

Elara found herself wandering near the training grounds. Back in the day, this was her favorite spot. She loved practicing her aim, throwing her knives continuously until she managed to hit all of the target without looking at it. This was also where she and Cairo would practice their hand-to-hand combat with each other while Xian watched them happily from the sidelines.

Elara felt her heart clutched tightly in her chest, her fondest memories of the place bringing out both happiness and hurt. Gritting her teeth, she turned around and walked away from the place.

“Feeling at home?”

Elara raised her fists in a defensive stance as she turned to look at the source of the voice. Behind her stood the vampire that she fought yesterday, a wicked glint flashing in his eyes.

“Easy now, kitten. I’m not looking for a fight,” the vampire said, grinning in amusement.

“Lay off the patronizing tone, and I might consider relaxing around you,” Elara said, glaring at him.

“Oh-ho…” the vampire mused, his eyes twinkling now with excitement. But even if he was obviously amused by Elara, the wicked aura of the vampire still clung on him like a heavy cloak.

“What are you doing, Thyone?” another male’s voice asked.

Elara looked at Nero, who was walking towards them, his brows furrowed. He was obviously annoyed. At her or at Thyone, she had no idea.

“Just entertaining our ‘guest’. I know how boring you are. I can’t bear the thought of letting our dear ex-princess here to just talk to you 24/7.”

Elara couldn’t even be bothered to get irked by Thyone’s comment. She was too preoccupied at observing the exchange happening between the two men. It was obvious that they were not on good terms, but the way Thyone talked back to Nero -- who was supposed to be his king -- was enough to catch Elara’s interest. Maybe their dispute was something she could use to her advantage.

Curious, Elara took a step backwards as Nero stopped walking in front of her. To Elara, it seemed like Nero was trying to hide her behind him. As if she needed the damned king for protection. She could protect herself quite well, thank you very much.

Swallowing the urge to protect her pride and step away from Nero’s back, she stood her ground and focused on the two men in front of her.

“Whatever it is you are planning, Thyone, just stop. You are not allowed to lay even a single finger on Elara, and that’s an order.” Nero commanded, his voice carrying enough authority that even Elara felt the effect of it.

She looked at Thyone and observed his reaction. Even if he was obviously a troublemaker, it seemed like he was still a soldier and was not able to ignore a direct command.

Thyone’s face immediately dimmed, all traces of playfulness and amusement gone in an instant.

“As you wish, my king,” Thyone said, his voice laced with sarcasm. “But just so you know, I don’t wish any ill fate to befall the lady. I am only being friendly to her because I find her attractive.”

Elara sensed Nero stiffened at the same time disgust ran through her entire system. She did not know if Thyone was being serious, or if he was just still provoking Nero, but she couldn’t help but grimace at his words.

It appeared that Thyone noticed her reaction as his already dimmed expression became even darker. He looked at her with intensity, and she was suddenly overcome with the urge to cover herself. Even with just a simple gaze, Elara felt like she was somehow being violated by this man.

Nero turned to look at her and also noticed how uncomfortable she was. “I don’t know what it is you are plotting, Thyone, but just keep it to your head,” Nero said as he faced Thyone again.

Thyone just bowed but it was obvious that he had no plans of heeding Nero’s words at all. He then turned to leave, walking away with a gait of a predator.

Elara and Nero watched silently as he left. As soon as Thyone was out of sight, however, Nero shifted his attention to Elara, his eyes wandering on her body as if searching for any injuries.

“Are you okay? Did he bother you? Did he hurt you?” Nero asked continuously. It appeared to Elara that Nero was restraining himself from reaching out to her and holding her in place as he inspect her for injuries.

“Other than the broken ribs and jaw yesterday? No, he didn’t hurt me. But he did bother me, as much as the way your eyes roam on my body is bothering me right now. Eyes up here, king,” she snapped. Her temper seemed to make Nero realize what he was doing. He immediately looked her in the eyes, and smiled sheepishly.

“I’m sorry. I’m just worried. Thyone can be pretty unpredictable so I just want to make sure that he didn’t hurt you or anything,” he explained.

“’Cause I’m a ‘guest’?” Elara guessed.

“’Cause you’re a guest,” Nero confirmed.

“Huh,” Elara said. They were quiet again for a few moments, just standing awkwardly at the hallway. The silence was only broken when Elara spoke again. “This has also been bothering me,” she said, frowning.

“What is it?”

“This dress,” she said as she motioned at the dress she was currently wearing. “Why do you keep having Arren bring me dresses when I have a closet full of my old clothes? Oh. And I don’t know why you did it, but cherish this, king. I thank you for keeping my aide alive.” Elara met Nero’s gaze and thanked him sincerely.

The sudden gratitude took Nero by surprise. His eyes widened and he was speechless, which Elara took advantage of. She gave him a quick, warm smile, before turning around to leave.

Elara never had imagined that a day will come where she would thank an Ivory, let alone the person who killed his brothers. But her friends were just as important as his brothers, and knowing that one of her closest friends were kept alive and taken cared of was something Elara couldn’t help but acknowledge.

She began to walk, leaving the speechless king behind. She had already established quite a distance between her and Nero when she felt his presence behind her, rushing to catch up to her. Once he was close enough, he matched his pace with her and walked side by side with her.

They didn’t speak for a few minutes, just walking the hallway together with their eyes fixed on the path ahead. Then, Nero spoke.

“I did it because I don’t want any more bloodshed. Once I managed to do what I came to do, I vowed never to take any more Crow that night.” Nero’s voice was serious, and she could feel him tensing up beside her.

“You mean once you killed my brothers,” Elara said, also not looking at Nero. She kept her gaze in front of her, her hands now balled into fists as she tried to control her anger.

Now that she was reminded of who Nero actually was, and why she despised him so much, she had to struggle to hold on to her self-control. She couldn’t let her temper get the best of her. She needed to talk to him so she could extract information from him. And to be able to do that, they needed to first talk about the night that linked their lives together.

She could do this.

For her revenge, and for her clan.

Swallowing hard, Elara took a deep breath and waited for Nero to answer.

“Yes,” he said simply.

They were quiet again, continuing to walk but with no real destination. They were just walking aimlessly around the mansion, with Elara taking the lead and Nero just following suit while matching her pace.

“Why?” Elara whispered, turning around a corner and stopping in front of a huge wooden door. They were already deep inside the mansion, and she instinctively took the way towards this place.

Nero hesitated a little as he realized where they were.

Elara reached for the doorknob and slowly opened the door.

The room was already clean, looking like how it used to be before the night Elara fled from the mansion. The floors were clean, the walls stripped of all the marks made from the previous fight. There were no blood, and no decapitated head rolling on the ground.

Cairo’s room immediately brought Elara to the night where her brothers died. Nausea suddenly filled her system, and it took her everything she had so she wouldn’t throw up. Vivid images of Cairo and Xian’s lifeless eyes stared back at her from her memories, as if accusing them of letting them die. Accusing her of not extracting revenge.

There were no more tears left in Elara. After all the crying that she did the past few days because of Jaiden’s resemblance to her brother, Xian, her tear glands had already stopped working. She didn’t cry as she stood in the middle of Cairo’s room. Instead, she shook with anger. She had probably already moved on from the grief stage, but still couldn’t let go of her anger. How could she, when the very person who took everything away from her was standing in the same room as her. She wanted to scream, she wanted to break every stuff in the room, she wanted to kill Nero, but she couldn’t move. She was frozen on her spot, a prisoner of her memories. The never-ending cycle of the moment where her brother’s head rolled in front of her, his eyes no longer seeing the sister who watched, horrified, as he got killed.

As the memories assaulted her, she felt as if her heart was being torn to a thousand pieces again and again. Yes, she was no longer grieving, but that did not mean that she was no longer affected by her brother’s death. All she could think off as she remembered how her brother died was how much she wanted to hug him, one last time. Both Cairo and Xian. The dearest people in her life.

“I’m sorry.” Nero’s voice broke through her thoughts. She had forgotten that he was there with her, didn’t realize that he had already followed her and had even closed the door.

Her sudden awareness of Nero while she was drowning in the painful memories of the past brought forth the intensity of her anger the day Nero killed her bother. Right now, there was only the two of them in this room. She could easily kill him if she wanted to, and there would be no one to help him. And she probably would do it, now that the rational part of her was slowly getting overcome by her anger. All it would take was one swift move and his head would be rolling in this floor, the same way Cairo’s head did.

Elara felt the surge of energy flowed coursed through her body. The blood that Nero gave her a while ago was now finally making its effect. Elara tensed, her fingers curling in preparation for her attack. She didn’t need any weapon. Even without a dagger, she could rip off Nero’s head. She was not the princess of Crow for nothing.

She looked at Nero coldly, calculating the distance between the two of them. Nero was already standing in the middle of the room. They were only a few feet apart, and a single jump would suffice to close the distance between them. Nero, on the other hand, looked at her with sincere eyes. He was no longer the authoritative figure that ordered Thyone to back off. Right now, he was obviously trying to show Elara that he was not going to hurt her, both with his eyes and his actions. His hands were held in front of him, palms up, as if assuring her that he was not armed. He maintained his distance from her, and stood in a relaxed way. Not that Elara cared whether he was armed or not, but it was nice of him to confirm that she could kill him easily.

As Elara’s gaze zeroed in on Nero’s neck, her hands ready to rip away his head. She felt her leg muscles coiled in preparation of her jump.

“I’m sorry, but I had to do it,” Nero said suddenly, just as she was about to jump at him. Elara paused at his sudden speech. She was so focused on attacking that the sudden sound confused her senses. Nero took her hesitation to speak again. “I know that what I did was unforgivable, but it was something I need to do for the entire vampire clan.”