The Demon Crown's Obsession

Chapter Three: A Lost Memory

The yellow sun felt warm, it gave her brown skin a beautiful glow. Laughter filling her ears, it sounded lovely. She turned to find the loveliest blue eyes looking back at her, she knew this girl, her smile felt familiar, it was pure and made her feel content.

"Azure!" Jade heard her self say. Azure? Was that her name? The girl smiled.

"See sis, I told you it wouldn't rain today" The girl pointed to the clear blue sky. Jade heard herself laugh. "Listen to your twin when she speaks" Twin? She remembered now, the girl was her identical twin.

Blackness!

Jade's eyes fluttered open meeting Xoraxys' worried red ones. He immediately hugged her. For a moment she was trying to process what she saw. Was it a dream? Or a memory?

"I think I remembered something Xorax" her voice feeble, Xoraxys pulled away, his eyes intensely staring at her. "I have a sister" his body tensed.

"You don't have a family Jade, you told me that yourself" his voice hard and low-key opposing, as though he wanted her to believe him and not ask questions.

"I have a twin sister who looks exactly like me except she has blue eyes" she said waiting for his reaction, she couldn't read him but the temperature in the room had dropped, he wasn't happy about this, "Xoraxys?"

"Get some rest love" his words were cold, something was off. He left the room after that, he left her wondering.

A few hours later Xoraxys came back to the room but she was asleep. He sat on the bed silently watching her sleeping figure. Their conversation earlier reeled back into his mind.

'I have a sister' she was remembering, and soon she would hate him, she would hate him for all his crimes against her. She would soon learn the truth about him! And then she would leave him...

He clenched his fist into a ball. NO! He wouldn't let her remember, Never! He placed his hands ready to recite the forbidden incantations when-

"No!" His head snapped to the source of his interruption. His eyes narrowed when they landed on his wife's shadow guard. Another nuisance he wanted to get rid off.

"And who do you think you are to stop me?" his voice low and menacing, he knew the guard had feelings for his wife but then he was the only one who could protect Had the same way he would. Maybe because he knew with his love he would lay his life down to protect her.

"If you use the incarnation again the queen will lose her mind" he reminded, Xoraxys's eyes moved to his sleeping beauty, he was in a real dilemma and honestly he would rather she lost her mind than she left him. "Jade's—"

"Jade?" His eyes darkened, "I don't want to explain to my wife why I killed you Lyrien" emphasis on the 'my wife' part a little reminder of who Jade belonged to, He looked back at his wife and sighed, he couldn't afford letting her regain her memories.. but it would be selfish of him to let her lose her mind. Xoraxys turned to the shadow guard, he hated the way he looked at her.

“Like I said before Lyrien... I don't want to explain to Jade how you died” the defiance in the guard's eyes made him want to gauge them out. “Leave”

He looked at Jade's sleeping face, would it be so bad if he made his obsession win... If he made her lose her mind? At least then she would still be his...

His... Forever...

★★

Jade sat behind her mahogany desk, her eyes fixed an the documents in front of her, to busy being queen to care about anything else, but she couldn't help but notice the way her shadow guard kept watching her.

“Is there something on your mind Lyrien?” She asked, her green eyes searching for emotions on his face.

“Why will anything be wrong Your Majesty?” He was lying, and even though he tried to keep it away from her his mannerisms showed, when he lied he was extra polite, and even calls her my her title. But either way she choose to not push him further.. he must have his own reasons after all..

She went back to her duties, “If nothing is wrong then stop staring at me”, with that the room fell silent again, the sound of pen against parchment filling the room. After a while she broke the silence

"Lyrien, I need you to escort me to the eastern wing," Jade said, her voice firm but polite.

Lyrien's eyes snapped up from the floor, his expression unreadable. "As you wish, Your Majesty."

Jade gathered her documents and stood up, her movements graceful. "I have a meeting with the ambassador of Eldrida."

Lyrien fell into step beside her, his eyes scanning the corridors. "Shall I summon the guards, Your Majesty?"

Jade shook her head. "No, Lyrien, I'd like you to accompany me alone."

Their footsteps echoed through the empty corridors, the tension between them palpable. Jade couldn't shake the feeling that Lyrien was hiding something from her.

As they approached the eastern wing, Jade noticed a faint hum of magic emanating from within. Her heart skipped a beat. She recognized the aura, it was Xoraxys!

She pushed the large doors apart to reveal Xoraxys standing in the middle of the room humming an incantation, a red-black mist enveloped him, before she could speak Lyrien closed the doors.

“Lyrien?” Her face and voice questioning him! What was that for?!

Lyrien's expression neutral yet she could still tell he was hiding something, “You will be late for your meeting with the Ambassador” she glared, then looked back at the closed door, with a heavy sigh she walked away from it, pretending she had seen nothing.