THOSE EYES

CHAPTER 18 - Back to square one

I hesitated for a moment before I told him everything that happened. Luca carefully listened to everything I had to say as we sat in the dry grass near the tall oak trees.

"My brother sure is a dick head," he said while lighting up a cigarette. I clenched my fists before replying: "He's just a winged bastard that wants me to tell him everything and expect nothing in return."

Luca chuckled and replied: "My brother surely is winged and surely is a bastard, but he has his reasons for acting like this. His last bride wasn't what we all expected."

I looked at him and asked: "What do mean by that?"

He took another breath of tobacco before speaking: "He was in love with his last bride, like really, really in love. It was sweet seeing them fall in love until Tom found out that everything she was doing was a farce. It's why I somehow understand why he said that he doesn't want you to catch romantic feelings for him, he doesn't want you to be disappointed."

"His story is sad, and I understand that he doesn't want to get hurt again. But I don't know why he has to pull me so close toward his heart only to push me away when I get too close. I don't know why he hasn't told me everything, so I could have understood," I said to him before laying down on the grass.

He lightened another cigarette and spoke: "My brother is a dick head because he doesn't know how to understand his own feelings. He likes to clam up and wait for the problems to pass by like a river through rocks. Sometimes I would like to punch him in the face for that. He wasn't always like that. Before our father, if we can call him that, still breather, he trained us to be ruthless worriers. No feelings involved, a heart made of stone, body, and mind set on killing the weak, that's what Tom used to be until he met his last bride. Her name was Clara, when he met her, his heart bit for the first time. It was all flowers and sweetness until he found out that she was playing a double game with him and Peter. In reality, she trained all her life to kill both kings before she gets marked. Clara kept meeting in secret with Peter and telling him that Tom keeps threatening her. The day my brother found her kissing Peter in a bush near the palace, it emotionally crushed him. He had to kill his first true love. It's why he decided to put up a facade with every next bride. And for the record, I'm not making any excuses for him."

I was about to speak when we heard a familiar voice: "Ella! Where are you!? Please come back! We can talk! Please, Ella! I'm worried!"

I looked at my new found friend and asked him: "Can you get me out of here?"

"If I want to be dead in the next split second he finds out, then yes," he whispered. "Please, just get me out of here to my apartment. Please," I whispered back to him.

"Fine, just stop whining," he whispered before taking me into his arms and flying out of the forest.

✲

After a silent flight over the vast forest and dim city lights, we landed in front of the front door of a tall apartment building. Luca gently put me down on the ground while speaking: "Is this your place?"

"No, I'm only going to grab the key of my place. Please wait here," I said before ringing the bell. After a moment, he answered: "Yes?"

"Hi, Casper. It's me, Ella. I hope I'm not intruding. I must have lost my key, so I was hoping you could give me the spear one that I gave you last month," I said sweetly.

He cleared his throat and spoke: "Oh, hi Ella, you are not intruding. If you give me a quick second, I will bring you down the key."

"Thank you and take your time," I said before he placed the receiver down.