A/N: Sorry this chapter is pretty short. >.<
Last Line(s): “Okay, okay,” Zoya said. “We’ll keep
her with us. If she really is evil, and if she really is Herschel’s girlfriend,
she’d be very precious to him. We could put her at flail-point if he tries to
harm any of us.”
“Y-yeah, okay.”
There was a pause. Will groaned again.
Then he grinned.
“Why are you here?” Audrey looked at
Zoya, wringing her hands.
“I can’t sleep alone and it’s very
dark.” Zoya smiled sheepishly.
Chapter 14
King Akolxohez was sitting in his room,
in the middle of his king-sized bed. He stared blankly at the wall in front of
him. His whitish-blonde hair was all over the place, his eyes bloodshot and he
had forgotten to shave - which made him look wild.
Askel was sitting on the recliner in
one corner of his room.
“I’ve gone crazy, Askel,” Akol said
quietly.
“You haven’t.”
“I have.”
“You fool, you have a kingdom to take
care of. Forget about yourself for a bit. Devils are coming in. They want to
hear the new laws,” Askel reminded him.
Each of the three lands - the Wizards’,
the Angels’, and the Devils’ - renewed their laws every other year to refresh
everyone’s memories in case anyone decided to one day rebel.
Akol gave his brother a piercing look, making
him flinch. If looks could kill, Askel would have been dead. “If you think it’s
that easy, why don’t you try for yourself, huh?” He got up and walked towards
Askel. “You cowardly devil, why don’t you go up to the balcony and yell down to
more than a thousand devils who came from all over Earth and Pluto just
to hear you talk? You go.”
Askel ground his teeth. “I’m your older
brother, Akol, don’t forget your limits.” His voice was louder.
“And I’m the King!” Akol yelled over
Askel’s voice. “Don’t forget your limits! Get out, Askel, get the hell
out!” He pointed towards the door, his eyes blazing, his face red with anger.
Askel stormed out.
In the room, Akol flopped down on the
ground, leaned back on his bed, and groaned. He punched the floor and cursed.
Rubbing his fist, he whispered a chant, washing away the pain.
Why was it that Audrey was still in his
mind even though she was probably a land away? Why was it that he didn’t have
the courage anymore to give speeches to his civilians? Why was it that he kept
on losing his temper, his anger? What if he lost himself one day?
Day.
“Day!” He perked up and raced out of
his room. “Day, where are you?” he called out, leaning over the railing. That chubby
human slave was full of information, Akol was a hundred percent sure he could
get information out of them.
Pop.
Akol froze, clutching his heart.
“Please don’t do that,” he said quickly.
Day - who looked to be in their late
teens - smiled. “What’s up?”
“I have questions.”
“I have answers.” Day winked.
***
Day and Akol were in the palace’s
library - it wasn’t grand but it was decent enough. Akol had asked his question
- he wanted a short history about his ancestors’ love life. Day was thinking,
rubbing their chin, and looking out the window.
“It’s a weird history,” Day warned.
“You’ve said that five times so far.
Spit the fire already.” Akol was leaning over the table they were both sitting
across of. He was leaning so far over, he might as well have been laying down
on the table.
Day put their open palm on the table.
“Gimme some Warcken first,” they said. They gave Akol one of their
award-winning - literally - smiles and tilted their head to the side. Their
sandy brown hair fell in front of their amber eyes.
At times like this, when a customer was
eager for information, Day had to use all their cunningness and wit for
bribery. Also, at times like this, the customers usually wanted to punch Day
across the face and hang them even though Day was the sweetest.
Akol reached into his back pocket and
pulled out all the leaves he had.
“Your question is tough, but I’ll give
you a friends and family discount.” Day sighed. “Five thousand Warcken?”
“Four thousand?”
“Forty-five hundred. No less.”
“It’s all I have anyway.” Akol shrugged
and slapped the leaves into Day’s hands.
“Tell me something will ya? There’s
literally endless books here, why don’t you just research the history
yourself?” Day smirked.
“You know I failed both
researching and history.” Akol snarled. “Tell me now!”
“Alright, so here’s the deal.” The two
leaned over the table, arms crossed. “Long ago, there was a royal Devil and
ordinary Angel. The Angel fell in love with the Devil. Devil pushed the Angel
away because he knew that Angels were wretched and evil - it wasn’t okay to
marry Angel. Angel was so upset by this that they cursed the rest of the royal
family to only fall in love with Humans - who, at that time, were thought of as
lowly.”
Akol slowly moved back, dazed.
“I’m living through a curse?”
“I don’t know, have you fallen in
love?”
Akol glared at them. “Get lost,” he
said. “You can’t fool me! If I tell you whether I have or haven’t, it won’t matter,
you’ll just strut out and announce it to the rest of Pluto!”
Day pursed their lips, and shrugged
casually, “You never know.” They raised their hand in front of them and
pretended to be very interested in a hangnail.
Akol slumped. “Please don’t tell
anyone.”
“Your secret’s safe with me, cousin,”
Day said, smiling gleefully at Akol.
“Thanks.” He gratefully smiled back.
“But that’ll be just an extra thousand
Warcken.” Day’s smile widened.
Akol scowled. “I swear whenever you
start seeming sweet and devilish to me, you always have to shove in leaves. I
don’t have any on me right now.”
“I’m sure you’ve got a garden full of
leaves.” Day got up and stretched. “You can pick me some, eh?”
Akol honestly didn’t mind giving his
cousin leaves today. Now he had answers. He would have asked Day about that too
but he could have sworn Day would ask for more leaves. He couldn’t waste too
many Warcken on them.
Maybe there was a cure to the curse.
There had to be. There’s always a cure to a curse. That was his motto and he had
to live up to it. Maybe the Painter and Writer could help him find a cure and
get over his psychotic state. They would be life savers if they did. He
wouldn’t ever know how to repay them.
Once he found the cure, he’d make sure
never to fall in love again. It was too much to bear.
Points: 250888
Reviews: 4074
Donate