Chapter 29.
He didn't know what to say; yes or no? But he wanted it, his heart was telling him to accept her proposal.
"Yes...." She is delighted at his answer but he still looked worried, "but I do ask one thing of you; That we do not rush this, I don't want us to make a mistake at the end of the day." His eyes avert from her gaze and though his words hurt her, she has to agree that he was only trying to be careful,
"Very well, but you wouldn't limit me too much now would you?" Her hands travel to his lower region and he is highly nervous, "I would still have rights over you." She tugs at the hem of his trousers,
"Your majesty!!" He jumps a distance away from her as he did he best to hide his embarrassment, "I said we should slow down!! Wh-wh-what are you doing?!" He coughs to revert back to his deep voice and not the highly pitched one that he used previously.
She laughs him to scorn, "I'm still your Queen and if I wish I will do with you as I please." Her words made him fear her even more, she was teasing him like a child, and he was responding positively, "I would still have you one day." She winks at him and exits his room.
His breath was still a bit rapid and he held his crotch subconsciously, "her majesty must be in heat, maybe that's why she's acting this way." He shakes off all nasty thoughts from his head and rushes downstairs to be with her. It would be another trouble if he was far away, he would never hear the end of it from his master.
Xerxes searched all of the drawers from Queen Octavia's room, he was looking for those torn pages she held before she died,
"Where is it?!" He was making a mess of everywhere, he needed to find it at all cost and he didn't have much time, "it has to be here somewhere." He opens the wardrobe and sees a pile of books, knowing her obsession with them, he opens the pages one by one. Until stacks of loose paper fall out of one of them.
He bends to pick them and he can recognize his father's handwriting at the instant. He quickly folds them and puts them with the scroll,
"Xerxes, I thought you would be downstairs by now."
His eyes level to meet he owner of the voice and he sees the old sage walking into his beloved room,
"I wanted to check up on you, how are you doing now?" He gives him a caustic smile that he could very much mark out,
"My Well-being had never been your responsibility," he sneers back, "I came to get something I left here." He did his best to make the old man believe him but when he saw the scroll in his hands he began to become suspicious.
"And what is that if I may ask?" He points out to the old thing in his hand, trying to reach it but Xerxes yanks it back to his chest,
"It's none of your business, don't interfere in my work." He moves past the sage and leaves Octavia's room. Mazi wondered why was in the scroll,
"I hoped that maid burnt the will, she would be dead if she failed to do so." He leaves in a haste to make sure no one rediscovered the will.
Xerxes locks the door to his room and arranges the papers to the best of his ability, he realized a date at the beginning of a new paragraph,
"Father always wrote a journal, these must be the pages, but why would he tear them out in the first place?" He didn't understand until he remembered,
”i found them lying around in King Fang's room, they must have been ripped out."
He could still hear her voice as clear as day, Octavia told him that they had been ripped out of his journal,
"That means his killer was burying evidence but didn't get rid of it." He reads the words in the papers,
"I've been feeling sick lately, it must be something that I'm eating."
"It's only a matter of time before I die, I don't know what I will tell my son but I will make sure he is comfortable enough."
"Brother has been awfully nice to me these past few days, I don't know what he is trying to say to me."
"I recently found out that he is planning to attack the rose tribe to steal their pride, the power they inherited by the grace of the goddess. That boy is such a foolish wolf, he has no idea what he is signing up for. I would not let that happen. They are my people too."
"Magnus had betrayed me, but I am almost gone. I wish you to see this journal Xerxes, but I don't know if you would ever have the chance. I pray you get married to the love of your life, like I married your mother. Xerxes......."
He suddenly stopped writing, there was only a faint scribble, it was forming words until it stopped. His eyes began to bleed tears as he read the papers over and over again, he checks the date of the last one and realizes it was on the day his father died. The poison must have finished its work and he was left to die.
He reads the last paper, the first paragraph, Magnus betrayed him. Magnust did kill his father,
"I'm telling you Xerxes!! Magnus killed your father! You have to believe me my love."
Her words tortured him to no end, but he didn't listen, he knew his uncle never wanted a relationship with him but he didn't believe he would be the cause of his father's death. He never imagined it. That's why he rebuked Octavia whenever she spoke of him in that aspect, he believed family is family and shouldn't be broken so easily.
But he was wrong.
His father died because of him, and so did his love, then he killed him himself out of anger. He turns to his father's scroll and opens it, he looks at his blinds and closes them, allowing only a little ray of light to penetrate his room. He pulls the scroll under the light and reads the message;
"Xerxes, I hope you see this on time, I have given you my kingdom and everything i have ever worked for. If they read my will to you and didn't give you to keep then I didn't write that, they're planning attack on the rose clan, make sure you stop it. Magnus is thirsty for power and he wouldn't stop until he gets it. He has killed me himself, I don't have any strength left. Protect your Kingdom and your pride, I love you my son."
"Magnus killed your father!! He is the cause of everything!!! You have to believe me!!"
"Xerxes I'm sorry I hurt you, I didn't want to, but you have to know the truth. Magnus killed your father."
"Open up to me my love, don't be angry at me, I care for you that is why I'm saying this. Please believe me."
"NOOO!!!!" He throws everything away, everything was messed up in his eyes. She told him so many times, but he didn't believe her, not even once. He falls to his knees as he bleed tears freely, even though he had killed his uncle he still felt the pain in his heart.
It was still fresh.
He wipes his tears as the hatred spread throughout his heart, he couldn't have his birthright, but he will make sure his daughter got it. He wouldn't let them hurt Arcadia.