204: A chain of errors (part 2)

A chain of errors (part 2)

"What did you answer him?" Egon breathed next to her lips, their chests rising and falling rapidly.1

"He already has a queen," she replied, swallowing hard. "They forced her upon him when he was just twelve," she continued, persisting with her nonsensical statements that had proven effective in upsetting him and drawing him so close. "He promises to provide me with the protection of a king... He wants me to bear him an heir."

He pulled her closer, leaning in further, his grip on her arm tightening just below the threshold of pain. Their noses came tantalizingly close, almost touching.

"What did you tell him?" he demanded through clenched teeth this time, the last traces of desire fading away and being replaced by pure wrath.

Caught between wanting to hurt him and not wanting to lose him, she made a decision.

"I told him I would think about it." she lied softly.

As if his hand had lost its power, he released his grip on her and straightened up, moving away from her.

"You don't know what you're doing," he spoke in a low rumble.

"I know exactly what I'm doing!" She cried out.

His gaze fixated on her forehead, as if to emphasize the pain she was currently experiencing.  "Is a man who brings you harm truly the man of your dreams?"

"Yes!" she snapped, disregarding any sense of reason.

He composed his face into a mask of nonchalance. "I understand the game you're playing, but the journey you're about to undertake is irreversible... There is no going back."

"It was you who pushed me onto this path," she said, feeling a strange numbness taking over her.

"What a shame," he said, turning away and leaving her with her numbness.

She closed her eyes, feeling regret engross her as she listened to the fading sound of his departing breaths. Pride alone kept her from chasing after him and confessing that it had all been a bluff.

As if a hidden floodgate had been opened, images of her encounters with Egon filled her mind— the sight of his red cloak in the forest, the sensation of being pinned against a wall in an abandoned cottage, and the passionate kiss they shared by a serene lake.

It felt as if she had reached the final chapter of a story that ended too soon.

The thought was unbearable.

"When you stay silent..." she mumbled urgently, attempting to halt him, "it reinforces my belief that I made the right decision!"

He glanced back at her, his eyes now crimson, and his expression surprisingly calm. She knew all too well that this was his most dangerous state.

"Did you... truly tell him you would consider his proposal?"

"Do I ask you about the promises you make to others?!" she asked desperately, unable to bring herself to lie to him once more.

He took a step toward her but then abruptly stopped as if he had a change of heart. "...Did you reject his proposal or not?" he asked, his voice dropping dangerously low.

Feeling a burning sensation in her eyes, she turned around and took a few steps toward the pine trees. She tried to focus on her breathing, suppressing the urge to let tears flow, and sought to understand why she was deceiving him in such a manner until the sound of his breath behind her reignited the tension within her.

His hand extended toward the metallic bracelet given to her by Aldric, but she instinctively pushed his fingers away, afraid that he might shatter it against her wrist.

He withdrew his hand. "...We will both be unhappy," he stated with a resigned tone.

She glanced sideways at him, "I am purposefully keeping this bracelet to demonstrate that you cannot manipulate my mind again. Our unhappiness does not stem from that. It is the distance you have created between us, in the denial of our shared experiences!"

A strong gust of wind blew from behind her, causing her hair to brush against his arm. 

She placed a hand over her aching chest. "You speak of others hurting me, but what about you? Do you ever consider the pain you inflict upon me?" She waved a hand towards him, taking a step away. "And after all of it, you stand before me demanding answers?"

His frowning face shook in denial. "I'm not demanding anything anymore, because if what you're saying is true, then I no longer have the right to."

With the next blink, his eyes returned to their brown hue. "I lost. He won." 

"What did you do to avoid losing, Egon?" She cried out.

"What did I do?" He hit his chest hard. "I replaced a dead part of myself with you!"

"You never shared anything with me! You kept everything about your uncle to yourself!" She glared at him. "I truly believe you're always looking for reasons to keep us apart!" 

"I won't tell you about my breakdown, nor will I work to make you believe me. It's too late."

She offered him a sarcastic smile. "Of course! Please, don't waste your precious time on me, that little extra time you have? Go ahead and devote it all to Olga."

"You're wrong about Olga. You're wrong about everything else. One day, you'll remember this and understand," he shook his head. "You'll regret all of this."

"I don't believe you!" she shrieked, believing every word he told her, then looked away.

"To believe someone against all logic, that would be  true love." He took a deep breath, "From now on, the less we see of each other, the better."

She looked at him with tear-filled eyes but he had turned his back on her already and took long strides away.

Mounting Xavier, Egon spun around a couple of times, looking like a lost soul of a fallen warrior on a battlefield. He pulled on the reins and spurred his steed into a gallop, disappearing into a path that would eventually lead him into Lanark's forest.

Hugging herself, Adela's feet carried her to her mare, and she leaned against Emily's side with a dreaded thought sinking in.

Lying to him like this was likely the biggest mistake she had ever made in her entire life.

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