𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐃│✔

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟐𝟎

Pandora 

♡

"Her presence is engraved in his soul, and I'm lost at to what to do to make him see me, without having her shadow following me around everywhere." We moved to one of the marble benches inside one of the smaller greenhouses when it started to get cloudy, listening now as the droplets of rain break against the glass. The floral fragrance of magic circulating through the closed space where the Royal Mages grow their plants. The damp surface of glass radiating subtle warmth through my dress to my skin as I lean my back against it.

"Did you ever try to talk with him about it?" I respond, eyes closed as I listen to the tumbling sound of grey peace, and all the reasons not to fall into the poisonous web of humane emotions. She chuckles lightly, her sadness answering the unshed tears she's been holding in for far too long.

"I did, many, many times. Each time, I notice he's patience wearing more thin on the subject. It's only a matter of time before he'll shut me up about it for good. It's always the same. Every time, he repeats that one speech over and over again. I'm the one he's with now, she's dead, I'm his fiancée - that sort of things."

"Yet you still feel insecure about his genuine feelings?"

"Because after all these years, he's never once said it. That she's his past, and I his present. It's always, she's dead or she's no more, you're here now standing next to me. I push, and push as hard as I can, yet I never succeed in making him say it. That she's his history, and I'm his present and future."

"What about you?" I think back at the words of Dahlia on the evening I ended things, "He's you present, but are you sure he's your future?"

Her gaze loses purpose, and she stares of into space before answering. The dainty Lady she was raised to become flying out of the window when she lets her shoulders hang. Her back bend forward, posture tired.

"I want him to be. More than anything." She whispers as if the flowers and medical plants could hear us.

"But, what you want and what's meant to be are two different things, aren't they?" We look up when rays of sunlight penetrate through the tall leaves, the grey clouds of rain pushed away by the sun and midday's clear sky.

"Indeed, it's seems to be the case."

We stay seated until the sun starts to set. Standing up, I pat my dress clean and hold my hand out to take it. If I remember correctly, the Royal Mages reside in a detached Wing at the other side of the Southern gate. I need to see one of them to ask them about something urgent before dinner.

"Whatever it is your future holds, it's in your hands. Don't let others hold your pen and write it down for you, because once the ink is dried, there's no turning back." I repeat the words no one ever had the grace of telling me. If only someone had told me this years ago, so much would've been different. So little would've remained the same.

"I will." she says, the clearing weather clearly lifted up her mood as her cheeks are warm in the sunlight, and her smile even brighter. Shame taking over all my senses when I recall the way I mindlessly judged her to be untainted and unaware.

"Thank you, Pandora."

"Always."

I accompany her back to her chamber and call for her personal maid, a young girl that mustn't be much younger than me, before leaving her to rest. The whirlwind of emotions she just went through having exhausted her more than it should have, more than it would have if only she didn't have such pure heart. Hurrying down the staircase to reach the Mages' Wing before they go back home for the day, I don't think twice about the anger that's making me skip two stairs at a time. What was Sir Arie thinking, getting a new lover so soon after his fiancés death. Seventy years of love forgotten and healed in ten short years, during which he already new Candice? Please, it's obvious that he isn't over her, and I understand the need for him to heal from his past, but Candice isn't a bloody bandage. Using her as a distraction from grief is low, especially for a renown knight such as himself.