Behind the Mask

7. Losing everything

Maximus

Once again, we saw my memories play before our eyes. I was showing the truth and it was even harder than telling the truth. But I couldn’t deny her that.

I clenched my eyes shut in agony, knowing that in a few minutes my mate probably would slip away completely, the little that I still had of her.

I was a man about to lose everything.

The image of Elric and I looking at her and my maid Tina was formed. My eyes were fixed on her, they were pure longing, I was already falling in love with her even without exchanging as much as a single word.

Her very movement, her very breath was grace and poetry. Delicacy and a sad sweetness, I could notice by observing her, how lonely she was.

I wanted to fill this void, make her feel cheered.

***

Elric and I were watching their exchange from afar. Due to our enhanced senses, we could still hear them perfectly well. Besides, to be on the safe side, our scents were concealed and our frames were under the blanket of an invisibility spell.

We had been watching Melinda and waiting for the right moment to approach her. She didn’t leave her house often, and when she did she normally portaled herself to the palace, thus we had to wait for weeks. Those painful weeks in which I could see her, but I couldn’t go to her. She was so close, yet so far.

Now she was finally outdoors, reading by the lake. Tina went closer to her, putting our plan in motion. It was simple, she had to talk to Melinda, manage to get closer to her, and invite her for coffee at ‘her house’. It could take time, but we thought that it would eventually work.

At ‘Tina’s house’, Melinda would coincidentally meet me, her mate. But we would tell her that due to some issues of my past, I couldn’t reveal my face to her, not yet.

This way she would think I was a wizard and wouldn’t reject me.

It wasn’t a great plan, but we couldn’t come up with something better. I dreaded this plan, having to lie to her.

However, fear was my guide, so I did it or at least tried to.

“What are you reading?” Tina asked, attracting my mate’s gaze at her.

“The Pirate Princess. It is a human book. I am Melinda, nice to meet you,” she said politely. Her voice was sweet, mellifluous.

“I am Tina,” the fairy said awkwardly. I exchanged a nervous look with Elric. We should have asked Sienna for help instead.

“Do you like to read?”

“I… Not quite,” Tina replied, taking a seat on the bench beside Melinda.

“I guess it just takes a great book to make someone an avid reader, to grip one's imagination and show them a universe of brand new feelings and adventures.” Melinda smiled.

“Do you want to go for a coffee?” Tina asked, and Melinda flashed her a confused look.

“Thank you for your invitation, but I am fine.”

“It won’t work! We have to do something, to intervene,” Elric whispered nervously, running his fingers through his hair. I’ve rarely seen him like this before.

“What? We can’t take her forcefully!”

“We better do something. Tina is acting oddly, not how we instructed her. If we don’t intervene now, Tina might attract Melinda’s suspicion. She might tell King Avalon about her odd encounter with a stranger, someone who wasn’t supposed to be in his realm. We have to act fast, otherwise, everything will be lost for good. Maximus, we can’t take risks. Else, we might lose everything and the war will continue eternally until the land of the realms is only covered with ashes and corpses.”

Elric’s silver eyes reflected the deep emptiness of sheer desperation.

“What do you suggest?” I asked him after inhaling sharply.

“Take this. It’s Nix Nullum, a Fae herb that can induce slumber for some minutes. Not more than one hour,” he said, placing a vial with a dark blue liquid in my hand.

“Elric, I can’t do it to her. She won’t ever forgive me.”

“After the war is over, the mindset in the realms is bound to change. She will end up accepting you one day and she will forgive you eventually, my friend. Fear not. We just have to do something, one way or another, to fulfill the prophecy immediately and bring peace upon our world.”

I breathed deeply.

All I did was to fear, love, want someone to such an extent that was dangerous, frightful for I could lose her at each false step, any small mistake, or my failure to act on time.

I’ve never feared more in my life than when it was about Melinda.

Elric looked between my eyes and the vial in my hand and I nodded. I clenched my eyes shut and prayed to the Goddess that my mate would forgive me, that it would work and I would be able to have her in my arms, I would be able to make her love me.

I poured a few drops of the thick dark liquid on a handkerchief and closed the distance between Melinda and me as fast as I could.

She was once again totally absorbed by the lines of her book, to such an extent that I could approach her without being noticed. I was invisible, but not noiseless.

Getting behind her I pressed the wet handkerchief on her nose, she released a gasp and I wrapped my arms around her before her body fell against the wooden bench. Tingles of ecstasy and guilt exploded on my skin.

It was the first time I touched my mate, and it was in this deceitful way.

***

I looked at Melinda, her fingers were still intertwined with mine, but her skin got a tad colder. She seemed numb, her eyes were wide open and she looked at the space almost blindly.

I knew that it wasn’t how she remembered it.

~ * ~

Liv

I wanted to hear the whole thing, but I just couldn’t! I felt as if I was about to explode! I freed myself from Avalon’s arms and was about to stand up when I heard mom’s broken voice.

“I thought I had fainted in the park and Tina took me to your house.”

“That is what Tina told you,” Elric replied.

Mom continued, talking to herself as if she was lost in a haze, “I thought Tina took me into her wizard boss's house to help me… and he happened to be my mate… I thought it was the Goddess’ doing. But there was nothing divine about it, those were only schemes and lies. No destiny, no Goddess, just raw manipulation.”

Mom, who was normally always put together, looked broken, numb, shattered. Seeing her like this broke my heart but it also added fuel to my rage.

“You kidnapped her!” I pointed my finger at father, a threat of smoke leaving it. Heck, I was about to go all Laius on him.

“No, I didn’t. Not exactly,” he replied.

My blood felt like molten lava, and I was about to snap when my mom took my hand in hers and flashed me her almost numb look.

“Let’s listen to the rest of the story. I have to know,” she told me before she gave her hand back to father and the salvia smoke formed new images.

Things were about to get even worse.