Each crash from the furniture and violent shout terrifies those close enough to hear and those who bear witness. No one says a word or stands too close, afraid they'll blow a gasket. Flavia stands a good distance from her husband, shaking in the knees, ready to serve as a warm towel to calm him down. Silas' chest is heaving and his hands are shaking as he paces back and forth in the Throne Room running out of things to express his anger with.

"I don't understand. Explain it to me." He orders the knight sent by the Ruler of Esadom, running his fingers along the spine and tip of the blade.

The knight lowers his head to his feet, avoiding eye contact because everyone knows a confused Silas is an angry Silas. "My King, a dark cloud swept over the nation in the night and killed many families. We thought—My apologies, Sir, but we thought you were behind it, so I was sent to ask questions."

Silas doesn't care if the measly soldier was insulting him, he takes it as a compliment. It was his reputation after all. What he did care about was the fact that the mission wasn't complete. He can't comprehend how something so simple managed to not get done properly. It was a surprise attack, how could it have not been easy?

He swings his knife and directs it at Jothan, more specifically near his left eye. "You had one job and you couldn't get it done? How is he still alive?"

Jothan steps back in fear of losing his eye, "I don't know what happened. We went to every house and Kalodor burned anything that was left."

Silas lowers the hand in which the knife is in and positions it at Jothan's chest, shoving it beyond his garment to get to his bare skin. "Clearly, you missed the most important person." Silas comes off a bit unhinged the way he chuckles in a dark tone. "Oh, I should have your head for your incompetence. But you are my friend, so you will endure 30 lashes. Hiram, see that it is done."

Flavia stands in front of her hot-headed husband and places a shaking hand on his jaw. "What is the relevance, Si? He tried his best. It is not his fault that he was outsmarted."

The naive wife almost moves away from him when his dead, cold blue eyes lands on her. "This is mediocre to what should happen to him. He will take it as a lesson so that it never happens again. In addition—" A gasp left Flavia's mouth and she looked at him in disbelief. Her eyes flicker down not believing that the man she loves would drive a sword through her without so much as blinking an eye. What shocked her the most is not that he doesn't seem to have an ounce of regret in his eyes but the fact that she led herself to believe he changed only because he kept her for so long without so much as a complaint towards her. At least none that he made in front of her. She should've known that in the long run, everything is a game for Silas Casteron.

He leans down to whisper in her ear. "Did you think I wouldn't notice how swollen your breasts have become? I told you once that the Casteron line ends with me." He drags his sword across her stomach for her guts to gush out. Without a shred of remorse on his face, as her body falls to the ground gracefully and her lips remain open.

He lets out a breath and wipes the bloody knife on his garment. His eyes come in contact with Jothan's empathizing ones. "Send her back to her family, have Kalodor burn her or have Homer eat her for lunch. Whatever the decision, it doesn't matter; just make sure that she's not here in the next five minutes and that my floor is clean." His lips pressed in a thin line, he scowls at the blood soaking in between the creases of his ceramic tiles. It's going to take a lot of work to get that stain out if they don't work fast.

Silas brings his attention back to Esadom's Page. "You. Report back to Hias and tell him to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious. If Obitus is found, kill him and bring him here. I want his head."

While a threat on Odessa's head, she spends the last twelve days learning her way around the forest. She managed to climb a tree faster than she originally could. She still needed improvement, but it was better than not learning anything. Ravi, as she's nicknamed the bobcat, has been a good friend and source of protection and blanket during her time with him.

"Are you ready, Ravi?" The cat makes a sound of acknowledgement, tilting his head up in a quick motion to which she laughs at their strange communication methods. He moves closer to her and bends low to give her a boost in the tree. "No. I'm going to do this on my own this time. Don't give me that look, I'll be fine."

He steps back a few feet, keeping an eye on her in case she hurts herself. She is his little human who he promises to protect. Odessa plants her feet in the ground, her dominant foot in front of the other and shakes the nerves out of her shoulder before she jumps up to the closest branch and tries to pull herself. On the third branch, she falls but Ravi was just in time to catch her.

She smiles and pats his back, letting out a sigh. "Thanks, Rav. Okay, again."

He lowers her to her feet and growls, giving her a deathly look. Not fazed by his glare, she shrugs a shoulder. "I'm sorry. It's a process and I'm learning. Bear with me here." She tries to reach out for him but he moves away from her and turns his head in a 'hmph'. As upset and concerned as he is for her, he is still going to watch her back to ensure she doesn't hurt herself.

It was like that for the next twenty something tries. She climbs, she falls, she scrapes her knees and elbows. As much as Exspiravit begged her with his eyes and purrs for her to stop, it wasn't like Odessa to give up. Her parents taught her better. No obstacle is too big to stop you from your task. You have to be smart and find a way around it.

"Okay," she breathes out, redoing her uncontrollably head of hair. She glimpses across at her concerned furry friend and winks at him. As much as he wants her far from the tree, he's learned by now that nothing and no one can stop her.

She leaps up and uses what little upper body strength she has to pull her body up. Learning from the mistakes she's previously made, she applied them to her next attempt. She makes it to the fifth branch, the furthest she's gotten and climbs to the next branch. She looks down at Ravi and a surge of confidence courses through her veins as she smiles and moves on ahead in the tree.

Odessa didn't want to get ahead of herself so she stopped half-way feeling the cold breeze hit her cheek.

"Ravi, I did it." She cheers, grinning from ear to ear. She looks forward to the Windless Summit. Ironic name for the largest mountain in the Udriles Kingdom that was covered in snow and made Esadom the coldest nation. It was beautiful though with the icy tip and the misty clouds surrounding the top. Even more majestic in the night when the moon shone right above it and the snow glistened.

Her eyes glance over at Hias' enchanting castle. It is without a doubt the most beautiful thing she's ever seen. The snow that scatters on the roofs and lays on the ground around it gives it a spectacular shimmer as it sits on the low plain. The walls are painted in white and the cone shaped roofs in blue to match the sky. There is no grandeur design on the exterior; everything is simple. The outline on every corner of every wall on it was so intricately done that nothing seemed out of place. It is a treasure of itself.

When she is done admiring the beauty of Esadom and the altitude of her success finally soaks in, she purses her lips in thought. "Now, how am I going to get down?" Sensing her distress, Exspiravit growls.

Odessa shakes her head, refusing his help. She's going to have to learn to come down from a tree without him. Carefully, she descends, gripping onto each branch. As she arrives at the last branch, she spots Ravi below and swings her feet to sit on his back.

"You hungry? Because I am starving. Let's fish."

Back in Varusa, Silas barges into the bathroom while Jothan soaks his body in cool temperature water to ease the pain from the lashes on his back. He wishes he could say he was unbothered by his reaction but he wasn't. It was Silas. No matter who you are, close friend or family, no one is immune to his wrath.

"To what do I owe this visit, My Lord," Jothan greets, sarcasm lacing in his voice without turning around to look at him. He isn't in the mood to converse with him but Silas gets what Silas wants.

"How do you feel?"

"Oh, I don't know. Like I was beaten in the back thirty times with whips soaked in water." He pushes his hair out of his face and sniffs a little.

"I owe you an apology, friend. In my defense, you failed a mission, I had no choice. Hurting you hurts me."

Jothan scoffs, rolls his eyes and picks up the towel from the hanger beside the tub. He stands unashamed that he's as naked as the day he was born and wraps the towel around his waist. He wasn't surprised by the half assed apology Silas gave him. What was he to expect from someone who lacked emotional attachment?

"You had a choice, Silas. You could've overlooked it in the logic that it was not our fault. Say what you want but hurting me gave you just as much pleasure as it did when you killed your wife. And you call me your friend?" The word friend is such a loose yet strong term to describe their relationship.

"Firstly, the day I became king, I made it clear that any woman—even the one who reigned by my side—was to ever conceive they would die by my hand. As for you, if you were not punished, I would be seen as weak." His hands flare around in dramatic gestures.

"And we can't have that, can we?" Jothan mocks, staring his friend down with his hands on his hip.

He clears his throat. "I hope you feel better."

Before Silas can leave the room completely, Jothan calls him back. "Do well to remember that it takes two to make a child. You were just as involved in the conception as she was. If you don't want that to happen again, try not to bury yourself in between every woman's legs or you go to a nurse who will provide you with an herb to get rid of the child before it becomes...a child."

Silas hates the fact that his friend has to remind him how a baby comes to be. He hates that his friend had to open his eyes and show him that killing Flavia was way over exaggerated on his part. Hence, he convinces himself that the child wasn't the problem. Her being alive was long overdue anyway.

So, he exits the room, leaving Jothan's words hanging in the air, not knowing how to respond to it. It is clear that Jothan was affected by the actions he carried out. Though, it was better for him not to say anything because he knows nothing he says would help the situation and he didn't want to lose the one person he believes is his friend.

Jothan watches as he retreats, not understanding the toxic friendship they have. Silas will do some questionable things but Jothan will still stand by him and forgive him because he knows that Silas will protect him to an extent. He believes that deep down in his own twisted way, Silas did care for him but he also believes that a day will come when he cares too much and sacrificing him will be his act of mercy and love. He is just counting down the days when the sand is emptied to the end of the hourglass, telling him his time has come.

13/02/22

Au revoir...

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