Blood Rose

#4

Calista was Stavros's wife. And she gave birth to a third baby, Agnes. She was the first born daughter after Estevan and Philip. As Philip said, Calista, his mother was an evil sorceress, a devil worshipper. Vasilios witnessed her pledging her soul to Satan, and to gain more power, she offered him her newborn, just 5 months old. But power could be gained only if the baby was killed on land, not seas.

Philip said that Vasilios told him that because his mother was a very beautiful woman, her looks enchanted Stavros. And true, I've heard of the queen's unimaginable beauty. She was just waiting for a girl child to be born, to sacrifice her. And Agnes came along. Vasilios told Philip that it was Calista who murdered her husband first, and then went to murder her daughter. Vasilios reached just in time, but she wouldn't hand over the baby.

Vasilios had to fight her and she got wounded bad and fell down, but it turned out that she was just pretending. She put sand in Vasilios's eyes, ran out of the palace, to the beach, and fled with a boat and the baby. Vasilios's disease was taking him rapidly, and he didn't live long.

Our quest at Cyprus was to find Agnes and take her back home. Philip read all of this in Vasilios's letter and told Estevan about it. Estevan wanted his sister back too. He was 18 when his father died, mother fled with his sister and uncle died. He'd lost enough family the year he became king. However, I know that Estevan loved his mother, maybe the truth about what she was struck him hard and was hard to believe at first.

Normally, I would never agree to a quest with Philip. But taking a lost princess home, to Estevan who was blinded by love for his only left family, Philip, didn't seem like a bad idea to me. Maybe the princess won't be so bad.

Maybe she'd be beautiful and mature and would make Estevan a more responsible king. Maybe Estevan's love would divide between his two siblings, maybe Agnes would talk sense into him. Maybe he will stop sending men to Egypt just because Philip said he wanted the largest diamond in the world, and pay unreasonable amount of money for it. Just for Philip's stupid wish.

"Where's Agnes now?" I asked.
"Quinn told me that the king adopted her and brought her home. She's called Idylla here." Philip said.
"Idylla? The lost princess? Oh my..." I said, stunned.
"What about her?" Philip asked.
"Just that, I may have met her."
"What?!" The three of them screamed out.

"How is she?" Owen asked?
"Is she beautiful? Does she remember Mausa?" Julian asked.
"She's... Beautiful. I don't think she remembers Mausa."
Agnes couldn't have been better. Idylla was polite, beautiful, well behaved, trained in sport and war, bold and royal but not too proud. Just how I had imagined Agnes.

"We have to kidnap her." Philip said.
"What? Philip, we can just talk to her and take her home." I said.
"She won't agree, Adonis. You know that too. As far as I know, Idylla is their beloved princess."
"If she's happy here, why do we even need to take her home and snatch her happiness?"
"Because she's our sister. She belongs with us."

That didn't make sense. But I was desperate for Agnes too, to make Mausa a better country, to talk sense into Estevan. I didn't want to part Idylla from the family she had here, but Mausa needed their princess back. But kidnapping her, still didn't seem to be right.

"Fine. I'll go tonight." I said.
"Adonis, you know you can't fail. It's our sister. And Cyprus can't come to know." Philip warned.
"Philip, have I ever failed?"
"No."

***

It was around 1 AM at night. Pin drop silence was all around the palace. I snuck out of my chamber. The palace guards weren't facing the guest chambers, call me lucky. I tiptoed all the way to the main building. There were guards all around the entrance. There was just one window with pink curtains on the right side. I assumed it was hers and threw my rope and climbed up.

I guess being fast was an advantage again, I caught no one's eye. I entered the room and sighed. The bed was empty. Someone tried to hold me from behind, I swiftly turned around, snatched the knife from their hand and put it to their throat.
"You're learning." She laughed. I removed the knife and said, "Why are you laughing? Shouldn't I be beheaded or something for sneaking into the princess's room this late at night?"

"I expected you. It's not everyday that my window is kept unguarded." She laughed again, walking a bit away.
"Did you loosen the security on purpose? Seriously? I'm a stranger." I said.
"Who won't do any harm." She looked straight into my eyes. I got quiet. Why, why did she have to trust me so much? How was I to tell her that I just had to take her away from her family?

"So Adonis, we never got a chance to talk. Mind explaining why you're here?"
"Why were you expecting me?" I asked, without answering.
"You were enchanted by my eyes, young man. You're not the first man who's tried climbing windows for me. First to be successful though. The guards are quick to notice, you practically climbed to the third floor in half a minute. Maybe I helped by loosening the security, I doubt if you would have made it otherwise."

"Why did you loosen the security?" I asked, confused.
She looked away and smiled, in a way I'd never seen her smile before.
"Because you're the first man I wanted to succeed in climbing the window." She walked towards the door.

That just made it worse. The princess thought I was in love with her, enchanted by her eyes, and she liked me too. I never believed in love at first sight, but yes, if it existed, it did happen with Idylla. I did feel that electricity. Her blue eyes did pierce right through my heart. I probably would've climbed into her window even if she wasn't Agnes. But she was. And that's what messed it all up.

End of chapter 4, apologies for the long wait! What will happen after this? Will Adonis be able to tell her the truth? If yes, how will Idylla react? Keep reading to find out!

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Love, Kaninika xoxo