Diamant

Chapter 24 - As Planned

Diamant woke up in a warm room, she looked around and she saw Sunain. 

"Before you go running off, tell someone." Sunain scolded gently with a smile of relief.

It was still at night and it was still raining. Sunain must have changed Diamant's dress because it wasn't wet. The whole of Black Mask sat around her in their usual hideout. She looked up and saw DL, his face stoic. She looked away, her mind playing back what had happened.

"They knew we were coming, I was in their carriage." Diamant said answering the unasked question that lingered over them.

"You saw them?" DL asked as his voice cut sharply through the silence.

"No, the darkness and the woman's hat, I couldn't see their faces. But the man seems like a minister, considering his robe." Diamant continued trying hard to remember as she relayed everything that happened to everyone.

"You are important to the Master?" Malik asked in surprise.

"Well, that was what I heard. I don't even know him, I don't know this Master." Diamant said as she drew her brows together in confusion.

The candlelight danced and everyone was deep in thought.

"Well looks like you have sparked an interest in someone." DL said to Diamant. He turned away and Goben followed him. 

They got to a secluded place from the rest. 

"You do not think that she is a bait?" Goben asked.

"Maybe but she doesn't know anything. If she did then wouldn't have told us everything, at least not when it is so closely linked to her."

Goben looked back at Diamant as Sunain spoke to her softly and smiled. He couldn't hear what they were saying because of the distance. His gaze lingered for a while on Sunain then he looked away quickly. When he turned DL was already looking at him.

"I thought you said you didn't trust big eyes, don't tell me you are now interested in one." DL said with a small smile playing on his lips.

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"It is just a small cut. I already gave you some bottles containing herbs to prevent scaring." Sunain said as she treated Goben wounds. She was still trying not to make the same mistake again. Not the same mistake of trying to be close to him.

"Getting tired of seeing me already?" Goben asked her, trying hard to create an avenue for a conversation.

"Who wouldn't?" Sunain fired back.

She started to walk away when Goben held her hand. Her heart beat loudly in her ears and she looked back at him quickly.

"I'm sorry for pushing you away." He said.

Her mind swam in surprise.

"No, I shouldn't have interfered with something so private. I crossed a line and I let my feelings get over me. I don't want the same mistake to repeat itself." Sunain explained but Goben had stopped listening at the mention of feelings.

"You have feelings for me?" Goben asked, surprised.

"Uhm..." Sunain started nervously "about that, they can be buried."

"That won't be necessary, I don't want them dead anyway." Goben said hopefully. He smiled with hope and it took Sunain some minutes to understand.

She snapped her hand away from him. She chuckled lowly.

"No! They will be buried. You are still trapped with the memories of Lily." Sunain said, her face hardened.

"Alright, I understand. Can we, at least, start over?" Goben asked, looking at Sunain who had her back faced to him.

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"Create the fear, maintain the fear and be the fear." DL could still hear his Grandpa's authoritative voice in his head.

He kept thinking about how Diamant was connected to the Master. He had set up some spys to investigate that but they came up with nothing.

Landrus scales pinched DL's back roughly.

He had failed, he was no longer the fear.

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Diamant came out of the room quietly as Sunain stirred happily in her sleep. She seemed so happy these days. She looked to the sky, staring at the stars as her hand rubbed where her tattoo should be if it wasn't invisible. Her mind was racing with different thoughts, she had not been able to have any improvement with all her plans. 

She closed her eyes in thought when she felt someone held her in a strong embrace from behind, she struggled.

"It's I, Aaron." He said breathing heavily as she freed herself from his grip.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice came out cold and harsh.

"I just wanted to see you before I leave." He said sadly.

"I don't want to see you." She said back.

"I am sorry, Diamant. Please forgive me. I will never let that happen again. How about we start again?" He went to her quickly holding her hands. " I swear that I regret it. After what happened, there has never been a day I don't regret it." He said, his eyes glassy with tears.

Diamant said nothing.

"Alright, then. If the time comes, promise you will choose me." He said.

Diamant laughed humourlessly. "Is this a joke?"

Aaron ran his hands through his hair in frustration and sadness. He looked back at her.

"I promise that if you give me this one chance, I won't screw it up. I love you." He said as he whispered close to her.

He said it again, Diamant's heart dropped.

He leaned in towards her, holding her waist firmly, he kissed her.

Maybe it was true, maybe he loved her, maybe he regretted it. He was one of her pillars and was it okay to give it all up because of a mistake he regretted. He loved her and maybe if she gavethis a chance, she would love him too.

Whatever she felt for him wasn't love but still it was something.

She kissed him back.

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DL squashed the next glass in his hand. He breathed heavily as he stared back in the mirror. Something about what he saw had affected him, something about what he saw them doing. He had gone to see her. He had no explanation to be an excuse of what he had done but he had done it.

And then there was the bird, the information that they had all been so stressed about. The confirming of the attack, a bird that Goben had caught again.

"Dragon Lord, you sent for me." Goben said as he rubbed his eyes from his lack of sleep. 

"Call for a meeting, we've stayed idle for too long." DL ordered as he look out of the window, watching Alusa glow under the light of torches.

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The Black Mask were meeting again in their hideout. The DL was really harsh with them and had already punished two people already within the little span of time the meeting had started. His eyes seemed to glow with dangerous anger. They all sat up in tension, it felt like the old times when they could easily be killed for saying the wrong word. They were afraid.

They had caught another bird and he clenched the piece of paper in his hand with tightened anger.

The distinct thing about this information was that it had a name on it, a different name that wasn't The Master.

The information was signed by a Liliana Giffred.

"Still no leads on who this Liliana is, Lewis?"

"No...No... Dragon Lord." Lewis said stammering with fear.

"Speak like a warrior!" DL ordered, his voice sounding like thunder.

"Forgive me, Dragon Lord. There are no leads on who Liliana Giffred is. I find it strange, it was no where. Not in the generational files, not in the files from the visitors list." Lewis said trying to be confident.

"And you did all these alone?" DL asked knowing it can't be true.

"No, Dragon Lord. I had to get help from Aliyah, Malik and Joseph." Lewis replied.

"The Information Minister didn't suspect you?" He asked.

"No, Dragon Lord. She didn't even know that we were there. It was really strange and we kept track of the dates, no file seemed to be missing." Lewis added thoughtfully.

"What of if it was just a name that no one bears, a name that is like a code." Diamant chipped in.

"No one asked you of what you thought, slave." DL said to her maliciously and Diamant recoiled back to herself, reality slapping her in the face. 

Her lips twisted in rage and she couldn't say anything.

"Forgive me, Dragon Lord." She apologized through clenched teeth.

He ignored her completely as he addressed everyone.

"The Annual festival that Canilus holds is coming again. We have to use this opportunity to get the army's information. It won't be easy, they will be expecting us but we won't be making it easy for them either, we will be going undercover. This Liliana Giffred might be the lady in the carriage and she might not be the one at the same time. We are stuck here and if we don't make a move, we will be defeated." He paused then continued. " Diamant will be sent to Canilus to do that work." 

Diamant's heart dropped, she wasn't even done with her training as a warrior.

"Dragon Lord!.." Goben started to object. It was absurd to give such a huge task to someone who wasn't even trained well enough to win in a combat. Why not choose him or Roc or Malik or Aliyah? Even Lewis was a better option than Diamant!

"Questioning me now, Goben? You seemed to always forget your place!" DL said as he slammed his fist against the table in rage. They all recoiled in fear.

"Never, Dragon Lord. Please forgive me." Goben pleaded and it was ignored.

Something was wrong with him. He felt like the old Dragon Lord, the one who was always out for blood.

"And because I am merciful, you have the luxury to choose who to go with you." He said to Diamant.

"Roc." She replied almost immediately.

"I will go too." Rina quickly added. They all knew why she wanted to go.

"No," Roc said to Rina harshly then turned to DL. "I am ready to obey your command." He bowed to DL.

Rina's face tightened with rejection.

The meeting ended and it was time for them to depart. Rina left immediately and Roc was speaking to Diamant.

"He is different today, it felt like those days. Days when it was all about fear." Roc said thoughtfully and his eyes glowed with an idea. "I think he wants to punish you. Why would he give you such a task you are not ready for?!" 

"He never really seized punishing me." Diamant said closing her eyes.

She was exhausted.

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The room smelt of burning wood, the shadows danced on the walls. 

There was a woman sitting down on a chair, a large black hat on her head as she gently lifted the teacup to her lips.

"They got the letter, they will be going to Canilus at the break of dawn tommorow." Lewis said while he poured her another cup of tea. 

The man that sat by her side held her hand in admiration and she smiled to him.

"Good, just as planned. Well done, Lewis." She nodded to him in approval.

"Thank you, Liliana Giffred." Lewis said as he bowed.

"The Master will be really pleased." The man said and Liliana Giffred chuckled darkly.

"He will be very pleased." She said wickedly.

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"My Lord, I do not mean to question you but this is so illogical! Alusa is a great kingdom and the fate of our beloved Alusa shall not rest on the shoulders of someone as inexperienced as Diamant. This is not a risk worth taking." Goben ranted on. He was worried for their beloved Kingdom.

DL said nothing as he took one of the torches hanging on the wall. They walked further down the pathway leading to the dungeon where Landrus was. 

"Dragon Lord, I beg that you send someone else." He pleaded "I will gladly lay down my life for Alusa."

"Are you scared for her life? Scared that the woman with large eyes will be saddened by her death if harm comes to her? Are you letting your heart sway or this is all for the good of Alusa?" DL asked and the last question seemed to have attacked him. He felt like they were for him. Was this for the good of Alusa or he had left his heart sway his decision?

Goben's heart raced. He hated Diamant but he had been, without his notice, worried for her. He had been worried for her because of how it would all affect Sunain.

"Sunain has nothing to do with this." 

"Of course." Dragon Lord said not believing him. "I am sending them to Dimitri, Canilus' minister of external affairs." He added, giving an answer to the first question.

"That is brilliant, Dragon Lord but..." 

"I have no use for your approval Goben and you know it." Dragon said as he open the gate to Landrus Dungeon. The beast roared and DL waved the specter at him before he bowed his head in submission.

When they walked in, Landrus hissed at Goben and he flinched.

"He doesn't like you. He thinks you will steal me away." DL said running his hand on Landrus' head while he purred.

"What?!" Goben scoffed "He can gladly have you all to himself. You are becoming a handful."

DL turned to Goben and watched his friend's annoyed face in amusement.

"You hate me already? I thought you promised you would always stay with me no matter what."

"Well, I haven't left, have I?" Goben threw his hands in the air in frustration and DL chuckled. Goben truly never left his side. He felt terrible for ever suspecting his friend...a friend that was like a brother.

Goben retreated into complete silence and DL looked up at his face that was filled with curiosity.

"Spill."

He hummed lowly in his throat then spoke, "I was thinking about a Clan head that punished his people for stealing a powerful gem even though he had an hint on the real culprit but was too afraid to confront him till the culprit died. He was also restrained by the past clan heads decisions on a personal issue in his life."

With an irritated face, DL said, "sounds like a stupid clan head."

Goben looked at him with a distant smile then bowed his head slowly, "Never could have agreed more, your Majesty."

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"My Lord." Clara said in surprise. She had come in to see the Dragon Lord in her room.

"I have made a decision." He said looking at her.

She walked quickly to him but he stepped back as soon as she almost reached him.

"My Lord?" Clara questioned.

"Exactly, I am the King. Why must I be tied down by the decisions of my father? I am the King, I should be able to give you freedom." DL said as he folded his hands behind him. 

Clara looked on searching his eyes to understand what he was thinking but they were too dark, too concealed.

"Tomorrow, I shall send an announcement with my stamp to the people. An announcement that will forever set you free. From now on, Clara, you are no longer my fiancé. You may still decide to work with Goben on the mines or decide to go back home. There will always be a place for you here at the center." He declared and started walking to the door. He stopped

"I hope you forgive me for not having given you freedom long time ago. Now, you can be with Lewis." He said, then locked the door.

Clara stared on in shock, happiness and confusion. It was all so much. She was free, something she couldn't really have thought would ever happen. She fell to her knees in happiness and wept tears of joy.

When she stopped she looked on in confusion. 

He knew and he hadn't killed her. He hadn't killed her like Daya. For how long had he known and why had he kept her alive?

He Knew.