Chapter 93: Two Kings Or Two Fathers
Ivan walked and settled himself with natural grace before his father and started to recount everything that had happened in the past couple of days.
The king’s expression was grim on the report his son gave him, and he spat angrily, "To imagine he can stoop so low in the greed of power."
"I believe you will pass a befitting punishment on the traitorous rat," Ivan said sharply.
"Oh, I will. As gracious as I am to my people...I think it is time to show them the price one has to pay for betrayal," Iskara declared coldly.
Ivan gave him a slight nod in agreement and spoke after a pause, "Father, there is one more thing you need to be aware of."
Iskara grew curious and asked, "What is it, my son?"
"It is about Princess Evelyn..." he trailed off, while carefully watching his father’s reaction.
"Turns out that she possesses tremendous powers that have been sealed within her for a long time. During the abduction, under the circumstances, she revealed them to the one they refer to as ’the master.’ I believe she needs royal protection from all the vultures out there who would now target her for their own gains."
Iskara silently studied his son and noticed though his son kept a neutral, unreadable expression, he could see the restlessness in his eyes. Like he was deeply worried about this princess, and it surprised Iskara more than anything. For he had never seen Ivan show any interest in anyone before, nor concern for another’s problems, unless it was a matter related to his family or the kingdom’s security.
Without any further delay, Iskara replied, "Yes, she will. I will see to it what can be done. But son, I think you know better than anyone that the best protection she could have is you. No royal guards could ever match that."
"You’re right, Father, but there may be times when I would not be around, and during those moments I will need your help."
Iskara was stunned once again at the fact that his son was asking for his help for the very first time and not for himself, but for someone else...a woman, of all. Iskara figured Ivan must have already assigned his own elite soldiers to guard her secretly, but to also take the help of the king’s guard made him all the more curious about her.
Now he really looked forward to meeting her, to see for himself what kind of a person she was, that she was able to melt his son’s icy heart, a heat no one had ever managed to touch...not even himself, his father.
Iskara finally responded, "I will assign a special force to protect her, Ivan. Don’t worry about it."
Ivan gave a nod to his father, "Thank you, father."
"You are my only child, Ivan. I would give you anything you want. The only thing is...you never asked me for anything before." Iskara said gently.
"I didn’t want to trouble you, Father. Besides, you have raised me to be capable of handling things on my own," he replied with a ghost of a smile on his face.
King Iskara chuckled, his eyes shone with pride, "Yes, that is correct."
He then grew serious and warned, "Be very careful, Ivan; many eyes and ears lurk in and around this palace and the city. You are strong, but once those enemies get even the faintest whiff of your weakness, they will go to any length to exploit it. Whether it is something you cherish or....someone."
Ivan understood exactly what his father was implying. The more one cherished or loved someone, the easier it became for the enemies to exploit that bond and bend even the strongest one into submission. But Ivan thought differently; although he liked being in Evelyn’s company, he did not see her as his weakness that someone could exploit.
On the contrary, he saw her as his strength because he felt like every time she was involved in any kind of danger, something within him stirred awake. His powers somehow always reacted, fiercely wanting to protect her. That urge only became stronger after the first time he tasted her blood.
With his growing powers, there was also a growing concern that he might lose control of them, as he had years ago. Just thinking about it sent a cold shiver down his spine. Yet he could not deny the pull he felt towards her, and with looming danger over her, he didn’t want to take any more risks. He etched in his heart, and he would protect her with everything in his power because she was simply his, and he would never allow anywhere close to her to be exploited. He was willing to take charge to train her himself so that no one would dare to try to exploit her ever again.
With that conviction, he rose from his seat and said, "I understand your concerns, Father, but rest assured, I will never let anyone ever exploit me or the ones close to me in the name of weakness. I need to head to the dungeons to see how our prisoners are doing. I will see you in the evening."
Iskara saw his son’s eyes burning with conviction and gave him a nod of acknowledgement, "Go ahead, son, I’ll see you and Princess Evelyn at dinner."
With that, he left, leaving King Iskara to watch his retreating back. He then opened his drawer and found himself staring at a beautiful woman’s painting with long raven black hair and dark red eyes, smiling warmly as she cradled her newborn son in her arms lovingly. He ran his hand over her portrait with immense longing in his eyes and whispered, "Look at that, Irene...it seems like our son has finally found someone he cherishes."
He sighed, "I hope this will finally allow him to move on and stop punishing himself for what happened on that fateful day."
In that moment, Iskara didn’t look like a king but a husband who ached dearly for his lost wife. Alone in his study, he continued to reminisce about his old times with his dear wife.
....
Where one father worried about his son, wanting to protect him and thrive in his life. At the same time far away in the Kingdom of Luminear, King Solan stood gazing out of the window with his hollow blue eyes on the garden in front of the Temple of the Goddess of Light. He often used to watch Evelyn sitting by the pond, playing with the water, lost in her thoughts. Her face always carried an unspoken sorrow in her eyes that she had learnt to mask with time. But to him, he was always able to see through those beautiful blue eyes that she inherited from him. Her angelic beauty was something she had taken after her late mother.
Her mother....his beloved wife Queen Selene Lumeath Starforged was the light of his life that left far too soon. And though he knew he did something terrible that no father should do to their child, he had shut himself off to his only child he had with the love of his life, so completely. Worse still, he blamed her for the death of his wife. As years went by, he had become tone deaf to his only daughter’s presence, pretending that she didn’t exist. Yet every time she would appear in front of him, he would be reminded of his wife, who had passed away five years after giving birth. Selene was a pureblooded Lumen who should have lived alongside him for a very long time....if only she didn’t give birth to Evelyn.
Selene died because Evelyn was so powerful that her body was unable to contain such a being in her womb, leading to severe damage internally that even with healing magic was not enough to sustain her anymore. Within five years, her body slowly withered away.
How could he not blame that child for taking his precious wife away, the love of his life? But even with all the hate and hollowness he had filled himself with, every morning he would stay in his study, watching that child walk with a solemn expression on her face and sit by the pond. Never once did he see her smile again after Selene’s death.
Now that Evelyn had left the palace, the thorn of his heart, he couldn’t help but still search for her figure sitting by the pond, which he knew wouldn’t be able to anymore.
Soon, he heard a knock on the door, bringing him back to his surroundings. When he turned his head to let the person in, his right-hand man, Gideon, stepped in and started giving him his daily reports. The King stood still by the window, silently listening to him. He found everything else in the report absolutely irrelevant until the man uttered, "There was a recent report sent regarding Princess Evelyn."
Solan stayed as still as the calm water in the lake, as he waited eagerly for the man to continue. "Our men who keep an eye on her have reported that she has not been sighted since Friday night."
