Hellbound With You (WN)
chapter-868-30041322

"May I ask you something?" Iryz said hesitantly. She had not wanted to ask about this matter initially – at least not this soon – but she was really curious about what had happened to the spell that they had been busting their asses, day and night, looking for. What happened to Alicia? She just could not stop thinking about her no matter how many times she had stopped herself from asking Zeres about her. Because well…

"Of course. What is it?" he lifted his gaze at her, chewing on a chocolate chip cookie very slowly, as though savouring every single bite of it.

"About the spell…" she trailed off, trying to gauge his expression first before continuing on the topic. When she did not seem to see any negative signs that might be pointing to her about to ruin the atmosphere with her question, she gathered her courage and continued. "What happened to it? Did you give it to someone to use it?"

It was so hard to make herself ask directly about Alicia, maybe because she was still afraid that his blissful expression right now might darken again or even become sullen at the mention of her name. Even after the things they had talked about a while ago, and even though he had said Alicia would never be his lover, still, Iryz knew and understood what Alicia meant to him. She had seen his desperation to save her the entire time he was in her book shop rummaging through the books, looking for that elusive spell. She had seen how he had run off just at the thought that Alicia might be in some kind of trouble.

If only she could ignore this but… after thinking hard while she had been making cookies, she realized that she badly needed to talk to Zeres about Alicia after all. They could not be sweeping it under the carpet just because they both did not want to deal with it. Because if not, this will only be that storm cloud hanging over her head that would keep bothering her.

"I have it securely with me." he answered honestly. "I haven't used it yet."

Iryz creased her brows. "You have not used it yet? Why? Weren't you in so much of a hurry to find it?"

"There are… some changes. So I still need to wait for six more days to use it."

"Why… do you need to wait for six more days? I thought it was urgent and that you're running out of time." She suddenly did not understand what was happening. Both of them, specially him, worked day and night to find it. He never even rested.

He slowly placed the coffee onto the table and caressed the mouth of the cup with his thumb. "Alicia didn't want it. The spell, I mean." He uttered, shocking Iryz. She had not expected that the reason was actually due to Alicia. Though she did not expect him to spill that out. "She didn't want to turn into a human once she is brought back to life…" he sighed, staring down at his cup. "I can't blame her. She was the former witch queen and for her to be reduced to an existence like a human without any magic at all –"

"She was a queen?!" Iryz's eyes were wide with surprise. "A witch queen?!"

When Zeres nodded, she could only have her jaws drop. She had not expected that Alicia was the previous witch queen. She must be such an amazing woman! She knew how witch queens were chosen after all!

"Wow, that's… I had not expected that at all! No wonder… no wonder you are..." she could not bring herself to say out the rest of her sentence. Because she suddenly imagined two people, looking like angels in her mind. She knew what a witch queen's appearance looked like and she could not help but think about what an awesome pair they would make. Especially if they were to stand next to each other.

"Alicia sacrificed her life to save me." he said softly, still not looking at her. "I've sworn to save her too. To bring her back. She was running out of time right now. But… but for now, she should be alright while with him."

Another shock. Wait… w-what? With him?! Who is this 'him' that Alicia is with right now??

"With… uhm… who? She's with someone else?" Iryz was so intrigued now. She was even subconsciously clutching onto the table as she waited for him to answer. She could not help but remember Alexander and Abigail in Eris' past. "Don't tell me… Wait… is that someone else her lover?"

Zeres's moving fingers stopped. "I don't know if they're lovers or not right now, but… he's been the man she had adored for a long while since."

The atmosphere went silent. Iryz was speechless. And she honestly did not know what to even say to comfort Zeres. Should she be comforting him right now?? Did he even want it? So was this the same case like what had happened in the past? And... could it be that he was he here with her now because Alicia had not chosen him? Ah… gosh…! Suddenly, she did not feel that great. This was what she got from her damned curiosity!

He sighed and threw his head back and stared at the ceiling. The light but fresh breeze blowing in from the window was tossing his hair about. And the chaos and sharp piercing needles in her chest at that moment suddenly seemed to be soothed somehow. It was because his expression did not actually look like he was hurt at all! That was something which caught her by surprise and confused her all over again.

"I hope you're not thinking that I'm here with you because Alicia rejected me." he shook his head as he said that in a soft voice. "I've known all along that Alicia will never look at me or consider me to be more than just a friend and a comrade."