A villain's heart

CHAPTER EIGHT

Astoria Evergreen

I angrily waited for Ikaris to come downstairs. He raised an eyebrow as he saw I was angry. “Why do look constipated?” he asked. “Are serious?” I asked. I hurriedly grabbed a sword from on the guards and pointed it to his stomach. “Will you let me leave?” I asked. He shook his head. “If you're this desperate to leave then this party you speak of, must be important to you.” he said. I dropped the sword.
Why was I acting like this? All for a ring. No, no. He signalled the guards to leave. “I don't believe you're going to a party with Delilah. Will you tell me the truth or shall l tell you what I think?” he said his voice reeking with anger. Words slip away from me and my lips run dry. “I..I” I tried to speak. The first thing I instinctively wanted to do was apologize. He probably knows the truth. He'll take it the wrong way if I don't explain my relationship with Ezra. “You were explaining. What? Your tongue's lost in your pit of lies?” he asked. He roughly grabbed my arm. “Go to your chambers. Now.” he ordered me. His hand was still on my arm. It was hot, bruising my skin. He let go of my arm and I went to my chambers. I gently caressed the bruises on my arm. Mila came in hurriedly and closed the door then locked it. “Did you get it?” I asked.
She nodded placing a small blue box in front of me on the dressing table.
“Thank you.”I said blowing on the bruises that were burning. “He seemed very angry. Prince Ikaris, I mean. You planned worked but at what cost your majesty?” Mila asked looking at my arm.

𝐹𝑙𝑎𝑠𝒉𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘

𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑤 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑤 𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼𝑘𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑛. 𝐻𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑗𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑤. 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎𝑡 𝑀𝑖𝑙𝑎 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎 “𝐴𝑙𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑀𝑖𝑙𝑎, 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑗𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ,𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑜 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑗𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑢𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐵𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 ,𝐼𝑘𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝐽𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠. 𝐴𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑤.” 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑤.𝐼 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛.

“It doesn't matter at what cost. This will be fine by tomorrow.” I answered Mila. I opened the small blue box which was a ring box. A plain gold was  seated into the middle of the box glowing, in my eyes at least. Inside the ring were his initials. “𝐸.𝑉”. One the other side was, “Ezra Val...” Mila disturbed my thoughts. “His majesty is coming.” she said. I quickly put away the ring and acted as though I weren't doing anything suspicious. He came in. “What do I owe the pleasure of your presence your majesty?” I asked.
As quick as he could grabbed my arm, I involuntarily winced in pain. He looked me in the eyes for a few seconds as though searching tears. “Does it burn?” he asked. I shaked my head pulling my arm away. “You bring some cod water.” he says to Mila.
Mila being scared of him runs off in a hurry. “Her name is Mila.” I informed him caressed the bruise as it stung me. “Mila?” he repeated as though it were nothing. I nodded in approval. “I'll call her Astoria's helper.” he said as he towered me. Mila came back with the water in a basin setting it on the table. I put my arm in it and it becomes better than before. I let out a soft sigh. “She may be my helper but I address her by her name and treat her with respect. She is a human, is she not?” I asked. “She is.” he answered. “Then treat me as one. She isn't a slave none of your helpers are. They merely serve as they fear you, rarely do they adore you. Stop treating them or anyone below you as slaves otherwise you'll have more snakes than followers.” I said. “You really care about everyone else don't you? Everyone else is in your thoughts except me. You respect everyone except me. Why is that? Am I not human? Can you not treat me as one?” he asked. I looked away from him. He put my arm in water. “I'm sorry for this. I was too aggressive, I keep forgetting that I'm no longer out there fighting and endlessly defending myself. You're not a soldier skilled to take pain and aggression.” he said and wiped the water of my arm with a cloth. “Why are you doing this?” I asked removing my hand from his grip. He gave a gentle sad smile looking like he  was defeated. “I just want a normal relationship with you. I'd rather be friends than enemies. Even if we do not love each other, I'm perfectly okay with that. Also I'm sorry for burning your letters. Mila informed me about the importance of those letters.” he answered. I sighed turning my back towards him. I don't want to forgive him but a part of me just wants to forgive him. I forgive too easily and get hurt as well. He was being too nice for my comfort. I didn't understand what he was doing. It felt like he was rushing this whole thing and wanted something or he was ordered. “I-I listen just leave. I want to be alone.” I finally said still trying to process all he said. Why was he acting like this? Was he actually this nice? No, no Astoria calm down. You've got nothing to worry about. Just get some rest, tomorrow I need to leave for the coronation. Honestly I can't stress myself about Ikaris.