Destinare: A Destined Tale Of Time

XI He Is My Son Too

 “I warned you, Blandia. Tiberius is my son.”

Petrus spat out the words like poison, his eyes glaring at his queen. He felt the blood rush through him in fury the moment he saw Tiberius tremble before her. ‘I’ve been too lenient on her,’ he thought in agony.

“Your Majesty, we aren’t in our chamber,” Blandia rattled calmly, a mischievous grin on her lips as she yanked her hand away.

‘How dare he…and because of that bastard son!’ Blandia lashed behind the faked smile.

Petrus stared oddly at her as he regained his composure. The sound of the music and the banquet rolling around them brought him back to his senses. He cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair decorated in gold and red cushions. Petrus stared blankly before him. He had a rough idea of what the Queen had in her mind.

He was tired of keeping her by his side, but it was too late to say that. ‘She is Makidia’s empress and my son’s mother,’ he thought. In addition, over half of his court stood with the Queen. Nothing good was going to come from tossing the queen aside. However, Tiberius was also his son. There was only so much he could take from the Queen’s attitude towards the boy.

“Consider this my final warning, Empress,” Petrus whispered loud enough for her to hear. “Tiberius is my firstborn, and my son.”

Queen Blandia was silent, ignoring his words. It wasn’t something foreign to her ears, in fact, she had heard it many times already that she had grown sick of it. Moreover, this was the very reason that she wished for Tiberius’s demise.

‘I’ll become the Queen Mother,’ she thought with confidence. ‘It’ll all go according to plan…Patience.’

~~~~

“You look like you have seen a ghost? Are you alright?”

Azmeralda asked, after hesitating ever since the three princes approached her. Tiberius was pale white, the color stripped from his skin. He tried to calm his breath but it still sounded awkward. It was only normal for Azmeralda to figure it out.

Tiberius was silent, thinking of the words he would never say. ‘She doesn’t have to get involved,’ he said to himself. There was no need to appear vulnerable before her…not her. He hated the thought of showing her this side of him. He clenched his fists and felt disgusted with the way his body reacted in fear.

‘Just after I thought I was no longer affected…’

“Prince Tiberius?” Azmeralda called out, tilting her head to take a better look at his face.

Tiberius snapped out of his dwelling. The first thing that his eyes met was the crystallized pupils of the princess as they gazed at him in worry.

“Is everything alright?” Azmeralda asked again. She couldn’t help but wonder if it was her fault. ‘Maybe he really hates being here.’

“Perhaps…is it my fault?” she said weakly, her head dropping disappointed.

“NO!” Tiberius exclaimed loudly. He was soon embarrassed at the attention he attracted. “It’s not your fault! It’s just…I haven’t been to such a crowded place in a long time…I…I’m anxious.”

Azmeralda was taken off guard at the sudden confession. But she soon started registering his words and scanned the place. ‘Of course, he was left out from social events like this,’ she said to herself. ‘He must be feeling uncomfortable at this sudden crowd.’

Azmeralda hummed in thought and turned to look at the two princes who were watching them in utter bewilderment.

“Do you know a place which would be less crowded and away from the party?” Azmeralda said, addressing the two brothers.

They shared a look as they processed the possible answers, their emerald eyes brightened up in the union.

“There is a place!” they exclaimed together. “The back garden. It’s part of the banquet but it’s never crowded!”

“Alright then!” Azmeralda rattled off, turning swiftly to look at Tiberius. “Let’s go there!”

It required a moment for Tiberius to snap out of his daze. He blinked twice before nodding in agreement. The words felt lost to him. The sudden shift of treatment he got with Azmeralda made him speechless – in a good way.

Azmeralda jolted to a stop, feeling a glare from behind her. ‘Oh, I forgot about Papa,’ she sighed in frustration. She took a deep breath and turned around. Now that she was facing Julianus, she remembered they had been there the entire time. It was hard not to notice the grin of amusement on Julianus’s face.

The look on his face told her that he was wondering when she was going to remember his presence. “Is there something you acquire, my dear daughter?” he asked, a sly smirk danced on his lips, clearly aware of his daughter’s frustration.

Azmeralda sighed in defeat already. “Can I go with them, Papa?” she said in a weak voice.

Julianus tilted his head to the side, taking a good look at his daughter. The sly smirk was soon replaced with a warm, gentle grin. The silence was ravishing Azmeralda’s nerves, she was completely oblivious of the look on her father’s face as her head hung low on her neck.

Julianus chuckled lowly as he swung the wine cup in his hand. “Alright then,” he said.

Azmeralda required a moment for her head to snap up swiftly. “Really!?” she gasped. “Thank you, Papa!”

Out of habit, Azmeralda launched at her father to wrap her tiny arms around his broad shoulders. Julianus felt her excited panting on the nape of his neck. He couldn’t help the urge to pat her and he did. The warmth that spread through his cold body was welcome. After the unpleasant encounter earlier, he was thankful that Azmeralda was there.

‘How long has it been since I lost my composure?’ he asked himself, gently pulling Azmeralda back to take a better look at her face. ‘I couldn’t bear the thought of him even glancing over at you.’ Julianus brushed the back of his hands gently across her cheeks.

Azmeralda gave him an odd look as she tried to read his complexion. ‘Here it is again…that sad smile…’ she thought again. However, by the time she came by, Julianus was back to normal with the familiar smile on his lips.

“Don’t be late, my daughter,” Julianus said and turned his attention to Tiberius. “I entrust my daughter to you, Prince Tiberius.”

Tiberius flinched, taken aback by the sudden talk addressed to him. “Y-Yes, Your Majesty,” he exclaimed, both in awkwardness and excitement.

 It was his first time to be recognized by someone, let alone someone with Emperor Julianus’s caliber. It simply made his heart flutter.

Azmeralda turned on her heels and went on with her newly acquired friends. Julianus kept staring at her back-figure as she disappeared into the crowd. The joyful smile on her face was one that never ceased to melt his heart. At the sight of the four of them together, Julianus felt a strange sense of nostalgia wash over him.

It reminded him of his own memories at that age. The happiness that he felt, the sensation he believed was going to last forever. Sadly, nothing lasted forever. In fact, it all crumbled to the ground, and it left him the only one standing.

‘The three of us were inseparable,’ he thought, the memories left him both in agony and happiness.

‘It was such a beautiful beginning, but what a sad ending it had,’ he sighed. ‘I miss you again, my beloved.’

The image of Cleopatra, his gone Queen…was still vivid in his mind, as if she was in his bed just the other night.

~~~~

The late evening breeze was gentle on Azmeralda’s skin. It helped her calm the rushing blood in her veins. Her heart was beating like a marathon, threatening to fall out of her chest. It was the first time that Azmeralda got to experience such true emotions of joy.

Tiberius walked by her side as his half-brothers walked a step ahead of them. Just like they said, the back garden was almost empty except for the few nobles who sought peace of mind away from the loudness of the banquet.

The stars were scattered on the navy-blue sky, decorating it like a piece of blue canvas. It took Azmeralda’s breath away.

“Do you know that these stars are different in every place,” Azmeralda said, her lips felt like they moved on their own. “Even when they appear to be the same.”

Tiberius glanced over at her side. The sight of her side profile soothed his chaotic mind. His nerves, which had been wrecked by Queen Blandia, began to calm down. It was all thanks to the sight of Azmeralda’s smile next to him.

“I…” Tiberius stuttered, realizing that he had got to reply with something. He held his head up to the sky, “I don’t know, since I have never been outside of Makidia.”

“Well, before I came here I was the same,” Azmeralda said in a low voice, holding her hands behind her back. “This is my first time realizing the truth of this saying. Perhaps this was one of the reasons I insisted that we come here.”

Tiberius shifted his attention back to her. The realization hit him hard… ‘Her eyes are shining brighter than the stars,’ he thought. His own mind made him flush.

Azmeralda turned her head to Tiberius, who was looking at her. She was surprised, but she soon relaxed.

“It’s all the better than I have got a friend to watch them with,” Azmeralda rattled, her voice swallowed by the night’s breeze. The corners of her lips curled up into a smile, a grateful, joyful smile.

Tiberius blinked oddly as his mind registered the words he heard. Along with the moment of realization, the blood rushed to heat his cheeks. He was flustered at the words. Friend. He had never heard it before, and it sounded sweeter than he would have thought. Tiberius dropped his head low on his neck, his ink-black hair curtained his flushed face.

“Are…are you okay?” Azmeralda stuttered, fearing that she might have pushed him too hard when all of this was something he was experiencing for the first time. “What I meant to say is that…”

“Friend,” he quoted, halting in his walk as he lifted his head. The cold breeze was welcome on his hot cheeks.

“Eh?” Azmeralda puzzled, halting a step before him.

“You said you saw me as a friend,” Tiberius elaborated. “This…this makes you my very…first friend.”

Azmeralda blinked twice, finally grasping the situation. She giggled softly, shifting her attention to the sky above before she turned from Tiberius.

“Well, this makes two of us,” she said gently with a warm smile that seemed to Tiberius like nothing he had ever seen. Un-parallel, this was how he described her beauty in the back of his mind.

It helped him. The way Azmeralda looked at him healed him. Both his body and soul were deeply wounded. The wounds that were inflicted over the short span of his life. At his little age, all he had seen was the displeased look of the Queen and the people around her. Astonishing what this tiny girl did to him in 2 days, it made him feel this way for the first time.

‘With her, I might just hate myself less,’ he thought.

The two youngsters gazed at each other as if they were each other’s redemption. In the background, there was nothing but the sound of Victor and Romanus’s laughter and a figure approaching them through the doors of the banquet hall.

.

. 

“You truly are the spitting image of her.”