Illusion and Reality

What is he hiding?

Two days passed by with no news of Valeria. I had never been so alone with my thoughts. 

Astrid did not throw any more snarky comments on my way and Lily was in her own world whereas Lucius was ignoring my whole existence and I was fine with it.

Sleep became a rare diamond guided by those purple eyes. 

Getting out of my bed and after stretching my arms, I went to the kitchen to eat some snacks, it was almost 12 am. Everything was quiet, instead of going back to my room, I went to the garden.

I had been avoiding the garden for the last two days or more precisely I had been avoiding Lucius.

A cold breeze touched my face gently as I stepped outside. Instead of the quiet darkness, I heard some soft whispers. Out of curiosity, I followed the voices.

The garden was completely isolated from the view of neighbors by four walls of grey stone, wrapped by colorful vines. The voices were coming from the other side of the wall, which meant someone was outside the main door. It was not normal, those were the voices of two men and only people who were invited could enter inside the gate.

Taking the support of the wall, I stood on a stone to take a peek at the faces.

I did not have to look at the first man, his deep voice was enough for me to know it was Lucius. But the man he was talking to had his back towards me, making it impossible to see his face. I tried to listen closely, “Do not let anyone see this,” Lucius said giving him the same wooden box I saw him carrying two days ago.

The man did not answer in words, with a nod he walked away as Lucius went inside.

Taking it as a sign, I ran inside as well but I was too late. I saw a silhouette at the end of the stairs, taking the help of the darkness I started moving towards the table to hide underneath it.

“Were you in the garden?”

I froze in my place, I shrugged but soon realized he could not see in the dark.

I heard him sigh, “Look, we need to talk about that day.”

My heartbeat sped up slightly, “You are right.”

"It was a mistake, I was not thinking clearly that day. I hope you understand.”

Biting my lip, I replied, “I understand everything.”

I came back to my room, “Of course it was a mistake, what was I thinking? It was just a kiss for him and I'm just a girl who he will forget as soon as I leave this place.” 

I should not be bothered by his words but somehow I found myself hearing his words again and again.

After getting a few hours of sleep with no nightmares I was ready for some breakfast. Lucius’s chair was empty and for the first time, Astrid was not sure about his whereabouts. My mind went straight towards the man from last night and the wooden box.

After breakfast I was sitting alone in the living room, staring out of the window and trying to read a book. I gave up reading after a while and threw the book which met the table with a loud noise.

“You okay Sam?” Lily asked picking the book from the table and looking at me with concern.

I looked at her in surprise, I was almost sure no one was in the house, “Yeah I am okay. I thought you went out with Astrid.”

"I wanted to spend some time with my besty today, it feels like we haven't talked in years,“ she chuckled and passed me a mug of freshly brewed coffee.

"Maybe because you are always finding an excuse to see a handsome guy who lives in the palace,” I teased her.

"You should not be the one to talk, I've seen the way you and Lucius look at each other,” she said and took a sip of her coffee, “I don’t know why you like this.”

I scoffed that earned a confusing look from Lily.

“Nothing, I just miss home,” which was not a complete lie. 

"Me too,” she said in a soft voice, "I try to do everything to take my mind off from home. How worried everyone must be, what will we say after going back? More importantly, will we ever go back?"

I was a little surprised, it was the first time Lily was saying it out loud and it made me worried, "We will find a way to go back and once we reach home we will figure out the rest."

She gave a small smile that failed to reach her eyes.

“So tell me about him?” I tried to change the depressing topic.

“He is a dream. He is charming, funny, smart, I can not think about my problems whenever I am with him. Time literally flies when I am talking to him.”

"That's really great Lily,” I was happy for her but I also knew that it will be hard for her to say goodbye, I decided not to say anything right now.

“But king Ezra gives me weird vibes.”

I furrowed my eyebrows after hearing that, it was the first time I was hearing his name and wondered if Lily knew anything about the queen, “Do you know there was a queen as well?”

“Really? Who told you?”

“Yeah but the queen died mysteriously, someone killed her. Valeria told me about this but she was in a hurry so that’s all I know.”

Her eyes became wide open, “That’s some crazy s**t,” Astrid walked from the front door, “Hey Tree?”

Astrid looked at Lily with a smile.

“You never told me about the dead queen?” Lily looked almost offended, Meanwhile, I was surprised by the nicknames and the smiles, Astrid was smiling at Lily.

“Who told you about it?” she yelled almost in a whispering voice.

“We just heard about it,” looking at her reaction I did not want to say Valeria’s name in front of her.

She took a seat in front of us and put the basket on the table, "Do not say any word about the queen or whatever you know in front of anyone. We are not supposed to talk about it."

"Why not? Is it because she was murdered" Lily asked curiously.

Astrid gave her a disapproving look. 

"We won't tell anyone, I promise. Don’t you know it is a crime to keep gossips from your friend?” Lily grinned.

Astrid took a deep breath, “Fine. But do not mention it in front of anyone, especially Lucius, understand?”

We both quickly nodded.

"Queen Amara was our queen, she was kind, brave, beautiful and a great queen, everyone loved her. My ancestors used to work with the royals. Ezra was her childhood friend, he used to help her out with everything. It was amazing they both were good together. But then one day the queen was murdered, no one saw the murderer. We still don't know who was it. The next thing we knew Ezra became the king, no one questioned him because everyone knew him and he was basically the queen's right hand."

Valeria told me we were not even born at the time the queen was murdered but the king didn't look that old.

"But the king doesn't look that old,” I asked.

"The royals and the people connected to them directly age very slowly, even slower than a witch,” Astrid replied.

I already knew witches could live up to 300 years. Before we could ask anything else Lucius appeared from the front door with clothes covered in mud.

He went straight to his room without looking at us.

Silence filled the living room.

"I have to keep these in my room," Astrid picked the basket of herbs from the table and went to her room.

"What was that about?" Lily asked.

I did not say anything just looked towards the way Lucius went. What is he hiding?