The Lonely God

30.

-HER-

"You were really hungry," Archander comments as I devour another pastry in just a few seconds. I glare at him but he rolls his eyes before eating a pastry himself.

"So..." He trails off.

"So what?" I ask as I chose which pastry to eat next. There are so many varieties of pastry here. I want to taste all of them.

"So, am I forgiven?" He asks warily. His eyes are pleading me. I narrow my eyes at him before speaking.

"Not yet,"

"How many more pastries will it take for you to forgive me?" He asks. I shrug at him as I devour another pastry. This one seems to be filled with pineapple tart. It's so delicious I almost moan.

He sighs before continuing to devour the pastries on his plate.

"I don't want to be here," I blurt out suddenly.

"Oh come on! Look at all of this! Who wouldn't want to be here?" Archander exclaims while gesturing at the whole table loaded with so much food it would take me seven lives to devour everything.

"I am not a kid whom you can tempt by promising some candies!" I growl at him.

"Oka, then where will you go? You don't have anywhere to go except that pack of yours where I think you'll be hardly welcomed" He says heatedly. I press my lips in a thin line and glare at him because he has a point.

I don't really think that my pack will welcome me warm heartedly after the staged attack. Plus, it's not like I had good relations with them. They hated me already. They must be celebrating in my absence. I don't want to rain on their parade. Hope they're happy without me.

The remaining day passes with Archander showing me around the place. The architecture here is so beautiful and ancient. At the same time, this place has a haunting feeling to it. It looks like a dystopian landscape. Everything is so gloomy and dark.

The walls of this place are dark and ruined yet they stand strong despite the weather and time. This place must have been built a long time ago.

Right now Archander is leading me to another part of the castle through a garden covered with snow. It doesn't look like a garden. It looks more like a burial ground.

"Why is everything so dead here?" I ask Archander while nodding at a dead tree. It stands tall. Its branches are naked and black, looking more like hands of rotten corpses. I could make out other attempts to plant trees here but they all look like they went into a vein.

"The soil is poisonous here," He explains nodding towards the dead tree I have been staring at. This strikes my curiosity. The soil is dead here but why? Did any chemical war take place here that turned the soil poisonous or is it something else?

"Why?" I find myself asking out of curiosity.

"It's..." Archander trails off while looking at a distance, "there's a curse on Zaeris, Nefret. Nothing can be born here,"

"But why? Who put this curse?" I ask further. My interest on this matter is slowly growing. I want to know why this place looks worse than ruins. What happened here? There's always this haughty feeling to this place that I cannot be oblivious to.

Archander keeps silent and looks down at me pensively before speaking,

"Ishtar, the goddess of fertility put this curse on Zaeris,"

"But why?"

"Because Arles killed her mate," He blurts out. My mouth drops open. I open and close it. I don't know what to think about it. I knew Arles was bad but this makes him seem worse than what I had ever imagined.

"One more reason to hate him," I say but Archander shakes his head at me.

"One more reason why he makes a great king,"

"huh? It doesn't make sense!"

"It will when you'll know the whole story..." He trails off, still looking at a distance. He seems to be in deep thoughts. It has started to snow again and the wind is blowing from the north.

"His ministers hate him for this?" I ask. Arles must have done something really bad which earned him hatred form his own council. To be honest, I hate him too but I have my personal reasons. He treated me like s**t and made my life hell. I can't help but imagine what he did to his ministers.

"Everybody hates him," Archander says.

"Do you hate him too?"

"I used to but the more I figured him out, the more my respect grew for him." Archander speaks looking up in the sky, leaving me confused. I don't understand half the things he is saying.

"You'll figure out everything soon, Nefret. Please give this place a try. Please give us a try. I promise we won't treat you like your family did," He pleads while I keep silent. Half of the things he says don't make any sense to me.

"I don't know..."

~

I am back in my room, looking out of the window. The birds have gone and the sun is disappearing behind the horizon. I hear the door of my room silently opening and closing. Heavy footsteps echo as they enter the bedroom.

The way the air around me changes is enough to tell me that it's him. Standing behind me. I feel his heated gaze on me, scorching my skin and burning holes in my body.

"Nefret," He calls out silently behind me. I chose to keep silent and see the tip of the sun disappear behind the horizon leaving the sky deserted. There's no movement outside. Everything is drenching in darkness.

I hear him step nearer, standing just behind me. His breath is tickling my exposed neck but I stay still. The air around me is crackling with electricity and Vesta is pacing inside me but I chose to ignore it.

"Nefret, please..." He trails off. There's this certain softness to his voice that has me turning back to look at him. He is looking down at me fervently while I give him a blank look. There are so many emotions simmering in his silver eyes. It makes my heart stutter.

"I'd like you to have dinner with me and my whole council. There are many people I want to introduce you to," He speaks smoothly and formally. His eyes are set on me the whole time, observing my reaction to him. I keep my face mostly blank.

The way he is looking at me makes Vesta excited but at the same time, I feel disgusted by it. I want to cringe but I don't show anything on the surface.

I don't want to go anywhere. I don't want to meet anyone but from my previous experience, I know that either way, he'll make me do what he wants me to do. There's no good in fighting him because somehow he'll end up having the upper hand. I hate him for this. I hate everything. I have everyone, ughhhhhh.

I silently nod at him before turning back to look outside the window. He keeps standing behind me before I hear him sigh.

"You have half an hour to get dressed," He says and leaves silently. I keep standing there and looking outside the window. It's dark outside.

Finally, I decide to get dressed. I don't want Arles dragging me there. That'll be such a scene. He already made a show out of me when he showed me to his council. I feel so mad at him.

I go inside the closet and look for a simple dress. All of them are heavily decorated with embroidery and jewels, making them so heavy and uncomfortable to wear. After going through racks and racks of them, I finally find one comparatively simple dress. It is dark blue and made of silk. It flows freely to my ankles and has minimum embroidery and jewels on it.

It has a U neck and has a slightly big cut at the back that displays my back. The sleeves roll up to my arms. Next, I decide to wear some jewelry to cover my neck. I want to cover his hickeys from yesterday. I don't want the whole council looking at it.

I open the drawers full of jewelries. There's so many here, it's hard for me to choose from them. Lord, this is so much. I don't want them all.

My eyes fall on the sticks that hold the bangles. There are five identical bangles hanging from one of the many sticks. I slowly take them out and examine them. They are made of gold and look so beautiful. The ends of the bangles are shaped like peacock heads whose beak meet and complete the bangle.

The small details are inscribed on them with blue and green jewels. I can't help but look at them in awe. I decide to put on one for myself. I'll give the other four to the people who deserve them.

Next, I pick out a simple yet elegant necklace that covers the hickeys well. I step out of the closet and do my hair. The blue dress makes the blue in my eyes more prominent and vibrant. I comb my hair which has grown waist long and decide to put it up in a bun.

By the time, I am done putting my hair in a bun, a knock rings out before the door opens and Arles steps inside. As soon as his eyes land on me, he freezes.

I feel the air leaving my lungs when my eyes zero on him. He is looking attractive in the black robes. It emphasizes his muscles and makes him look manlier. His curly hair seems to be done lazily yet it looks so perfect, tempting me to run my hands through it. His silver eyes have been eaten up by darkness as he takes in my appearance.

~

-HIM-

I take a last look at my reflection in the mirror before I leave my room. I knock on the door beside my room. Nefret is staying in this room. Rey wanted her to be in our room but I decided to keep her in the room adjacent to mine. She can hardly stand me. Sharing my bedroom would be the last thing she'd ever do but I will make her accept me. I will make her mine.

She can stay in that adjacent room for now. That room is supposed to be our pup's nursery. Soon I'll move her to my room. I cannot wait to have her. I have longed for her. I have waited for her. I want every bit of her. I want to explore every part of her. I want to know all her secrets. I want to have the part of her that no one ever had and won't have. I don't want to leave any part of her unexplored.

I get inside the room and look for her. My eyes fall on her, standing in front of the dresser in the bedroom. She turns to look at me as soon as she senses me. I freeze when I see her.

She looks breathtakingly beautiful. The blue dress she is wearing fits her perfectly. It brings out the color in her eyes and complements her skin color. Her long black hair is put into a bun, exposing her neck. I can see my hickey sneaking from underneath that necklace she is wearing.

Rey wants me to take her and cancel the dinner but I still have my logical part working. I could feel my eyes turning black as I drink in her appearance. My eyes rest on her breasts before they trail down on her slim waist momentarily.

She has blossomed into a beautiful woman. Oh, so badly I want her. My Nefret.

My chest floods with need and desire. Rey is fighting for control. My stomach clenches and I feel a throbbing between my thighs. I want to take her in my arms and do so many bad things to her. It's just me and her here. We're alone. I can do whatever I want with her and no one will interfere us. Rey is begging me to act upon my temptations but I supress him.

I take a deep breath and try to push out the heated thoughts from my head. It's not the time to lose control. I need to take her to dinner. I compose myself before stepping inside the bedroom.

She is watching me warily.

"You look beautiful, Nefret," I tell her. Something flickers in her blue eyes before her face drains of all the emotions.

"Thanks," she says blandly. I nod at her before I put my hand out for her to take. She looks at it but ignores and starts walking towards the door. I sigh and follow her.

I lead her out of my wing and lead her to the grand dinner of this castle. She follows me quietly. I stop in front of the big doors that open to the big dinner. She steps beside me. I look down at her to see her concentrating on the door before opening the door.

Everybody stops to do what they were doing and look at us. I feel Nefret step closer to me as numerous eyes stare at us.