HEART OF STONE
Heart Of Stone - Episode 58&59&60
(..Sold•To•The•Pit•Of•Hell..)
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★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
#Unedited
"Ry?" Came his name from her mouth for the third time, and that was when his eyes went up.
She has never seen Ryker Morozov shocked before, but he's currently looking like that.
"Continue your meal," he said, voice sharper than blade edges.
Her heart skipped beats.
"But you don't look fine, and you promised to eat with me and—"
"I'll be right back." He took her hands away from his face, and before she could hold him again, he teleported out of the balcony.
She teleported too, going after him.
He entered his Phoria, and the door went shut loudly on her face.
She folded her fists, resting her forehead on the door.
"If I'm not really JUST a partner, then you don't have to leave me hanging everytime something happens. Tears come out of my eyes so easily whenever it's about you, and you're taking advantage of that too much" she sniffled, hitting the door once.
"Ryshenka! Ry!"
She could burn down this door with her mind if she wants to, but she just doesn't want to cross that boundary yet. Maybe he needs space?
"Goddess?" Sage's voice made her turn around, and the tears fell from her eyes easily.
"He's just in there, he's not dead." Sage came closer.
"But something is wrong, I know it." Shayla replied, wiping the tears.
Sage took her away from that building, going back to the middle balcony with her.
She sat and drank some water to dilute her worries, and Sage settled down with her.
"We're traveling to the human world later today." Sage broke the news.
"Ah... really?" Shayla drawled.
"But you're going with us" Sage said, making Shayla look up quickly.
"Are you serious?"
"His lordship said it himself that we'd take you" Sage replied, and that brightened Shayla's mood a little bit.
Sage took Shayla's phone from the table, doing a few clicks on the screen before handing it to Shayla.
"Have a look at the screen." He gestured, and Shayla's eyes hit the screen.
He actually clicked lumi web for her with the search entry–Lantern Night Yearly Feast.
"The Feast that's coming next week?" Shayla said, eyes brightening up more as she watched it.
"Yeah, it's colourful... isn't it?" Sage smiled, and Shayla returned her stare to the lit screen.
Everyone wears robes during the feast...its an historical stuff which starts with alcohol parade from morning till evening, followed by the lantern hanging ceremony by the city bridge at early night, followed by the real feast in the palace at late night.
It's a whole lot of mood, and Shayla was smiling as she watched the recap from last year's.
"It's indeed colourful, now I get why everyone is so excited about it" she muttered, replaying the video.
She's aware that Sage is trying to cheer her up with this, so she kept smiling even if it's fake.
Her mind hasn't left Ryker for once.
"Back with the flowers, I had to visit every florist shop in the marketplace." Cheyenne groaned, entering the balcony.
She dropped her weight on an armchair and waved her hand on the table. The flowers appeared with the white pots, but they're not all flowers. There are many blue roses too.
"The roses are beautiful!" Shayla instantly picked one, bringing it to her nose to sniff.
"Smells too nice too, Ry said he prefers roses to flowers." She said.
"Blue roses to be precise." Sage offered.
"Wait...so this is exactly his preference?" Shayla asked, and the knights nodded at the same time.
Five minutes later, they're already at the orchard with her to plant them.
--
[Phoria]
Ryker still hasn't stopped getting the memories. They kept flooding in with force, and the more he remembered, the angrier he got.
The more he wants to kill.
Shayla and Jude were really his gardeners in his first life several centuries ago, and Pearl was his wife.
Winona from the West Palace was Pearl's personal maid?
That made him smirk again, but the smirk didn't last... another memory stuck, and in that one, he clearly saw himself getting married to Pearl, both wearing red robes and tying the knot, kowtowing to each other.
Seriously?
Whenever Shayla made the slightest mistake with his garden of roses, he didn't only slap her, he chained her up, and Pearl made her slice cucumbers under the dim moonlight till she nearly cut off all her fingers.
Jude tried to beg for Shayla, but he got chained up with her.
"What a joke" Ryker muttered, his mark glittering angrily on his back, beyond his clothes.
He sent a strike to the walls, creating cracks and dents and slits.
The Phoria shook violently on the inside s, and most of the white rocks by the shallow pool broke into two.
That was enough to stop the sour memories from flooding in.
He stormed out of the Phoria.
--
[Orchard]
Shayla has barely planted two rose stems when Xena joined them.
Shayla didn't allow her to touch the roses though. She handled the planting of roses all by herself, so Xena planted the flowers.
Cheyenne and Sage stayed behind, they're both on the branch of a apple tree, watching the girls from there.
Sage's stomach groaned with hunger, and he faced Cheyenne.
"What? You don't know the way to the kitchen?" She scoffed.
"You're too strict, even with me. I dunno who I should fear more between you and his lordship." He joked, and she chuckled.
"You should have cooked out breakfast with Goddess's own." Sage said, wanting to remove a leaf from her hair, but she was faster.
She removed it herself, so Sage's hand went back down.
"I can't cook our food with hers, you dummy. She's our second boss, literally. That's disrespectful. Her menu is special and exclusive." Cheyenne explained.
"Then you could have cooked our food separately." Sage said.
"I planned that initially, but then he announced that we're going to the human world—Russia. Don't you miss Russian dishes? We'll eat when we get there, so manage your hunger you glutton." She replied.
"Glutton? You need to watch your mouth, Cheyenne" he pointed a finger at her, and she laughed.
"Why did he enter his Phoria though? Thought we were going to Liza's place." Sage wondered.
"I dunno, but I have this lingering feeling that something ain't good" Cheyenne sighed.
They returned their eyes to the girls planting again.
Shayla is done with the last rose stem for now, but Xena still has two flower roots to plant.
Shayla continued squatting in front of the rose field, smiling as she stared at them. They're too beautiful.
"You look obsessed with the roses" Xena whispered beside her.
"He likes them, so I like them too." Shayla replied, and Xena chuckled.
"Are you trying to build your world around him?"
"Why not?" Shayla drew closer to her. "If he's here, I'll be here." She said, demonstrating by placing two fingers together tightly.
"Are you in love? No...I don't even have to ask. You look like you're madly in love or something." Xena whispered.
"Shh" Shayla quickly placed a finger on her lips.
"I dunno, that's just how I feel. Also, I got my fire." She whispered.
"You did? OMG!" Xena gasped.
"Yeah, Rumi was hired by my Ma to hide it with a spell. She used the spell to trap the mark in my young body, so I grew up without the mark. I went into my memories to take it back, thanks to the West Palace people who gave us Intel." Shayla explained, still hushing.
"Rumi? My twin?" Xena gasped. "Why would your mother hire Rumi, and why would Rumi...do that?"
"I dunno, but it's obviously not from a good mindset." Shayla replied.
Xena went silent for a beat, remembering the nite Rumi dropped during the maze party, then she returned to her bubbly self.
"I'm happy for you, Shay. Can't wait to see the fire." She aid genuinely.
"Thank you, and don't tell anyone." Shayla quickly said.
"Of course, by the way I met Soren by the attic last night and woke his rabbit for him. He stopped Granny Tara's snake from biting me, and we kind of started talking from there, though he's really hard to get along with." Xena told her.
"I've heard about the granny's antics, and that stony faced prince? Wow, that's almost unbelievable. You like him?" Shayla whispered.
"Noo... likeness don't just happen that suddenly, we've only just started clicking, and I can't rely much on his mood cos his sister is a devil. Also, he's a part of the Millions, I can't risk that, Ryker would snap him in two." Xena replied, and Shayla nodded.
"Right."
And that was it. That little break in their chat made her remember what happened with Ryker again.
"You ok?" Xena asked, but before Shayla could say a word, Ryker entered the orchard.
Cheyenne and Sage jumped down from the tree they're sitting on.
"Are we leaving for Liza's place, your lordship?" Cheyenne asked, falling in step beside Sage.
But Ryker didn't spare them a simple glance. His face stayed as flat as ever till he arrived at the new rose field.
He cast a hard glance to the field, and every rose went frozen, blasting to dust and getting destroyed.
"Ry!" Shayla gasped, facing him with wide, hurt eyes.
"No roses, especially blue." He muttered authoritatively, turning back and leaving them confused.
Cheyenne and Sage had to exchange glances, not understanding a thing.
Even Xena looks too stunned.
"Ry!" Shayla blocked his way, breathing heavily, the hurt still so obvious in her expression. It even got bigger now.
"But you love roses,you love blue roses." She said breathlessly.
"Not anymore." He replied without any softness, making her arms fall with her face.
Ryker left the orchard, his steps as cold as his face, and when his knights followed, he sent them back.
"Shay" Xena held Shayla quickly, getting in front of her.
"Don't take it to heart, he's probably in a foul mood." She consoled.
"Come here" she proceeded to pulling her into a hug, but Shayla couldn't even hug her back.
"Can you...go to the park with me?" She suddenly asked.
Xena broke the hug. "Of course...let's go right now."
--
[A Graveyard]
Lilith choose here for her own wedding.
According to her, she's able to connect with the spirit of the dead with her banshee status, and the dead will give their blessings to the conjugation.
The only guests are Azura and Granny Jojo.
They're both seated on a tombstone, watching her from a short distance as she did her thing.
Lilith put her thumb print on the red documents, then she let out a scream, short but sharp to invoke the spirit of the dead in that graveyard.
The breeze turned so hot and fast, carrying dried leaves around tombstones and grave surfaces.
A sign that the spirits answered.
Lilith inserted the ring into her own finger, and she kissed the red document, imagining it as Ryker.
"This has to be the craziest thing I've witnessed all my life, a secret wedding without the groom?" Jojo said from where she sat.
"I still don't understand why you agreed to this." She continued.
"I'm still wondering why you agreed to come with us too. Last time I checked, you adore Ryker, so you coming to a secret wedding involving him, isn't that betrayal?" Azura replied.
"Now don't he silly, I came to watch how it's really going to go, not because I like this. And this banshee is actually risking her life with this, you think Ryker is gonna let her go if he finds out? He won't mind the consequences of killing a banshee, he'd end her and you know it." Jojo replied.
"And that's why you won't tell him. Lilith is the only one I have except you, you can't ruin this alliance." Azura said.
"I don't have to tell him, Ryker sees even if you don't talk." Jojo scoffed.
"I hate how overconfident you are about him" Azura muttered, standing up when she saw Lilith already approaching them.
"Now that I achieved my goal..." Lilith smiled, taking a look at her finger ring before looking at Azura. "Let's proceed with your own plan for the Feast. Everyone else has sure plans, but you're still stuck with me."
"I have no big plans, I only want to ruin Zeke's plans, that's all." Azura shrugged.
"First step to that is confirming if he's really in a relationship with Esme. If it's true, then we can enter with Esme." Jojo said from her seat.
"I'll find out if the relationship is real, give me five hours." Lilith assured.
--
[Mount Zhitomir]
Pearl hasn't stopped kissing her ring since the end of the secret wedding.
She hasn't stopped giggling or admiring the beauty.
Old Chef has been sent back to the palace, but Zeke and Jude are still present. They both have their hands in their pockets as they waited for what Pearl has to say.
"Your identity? Now that the wedding is done...why not speak up and stop wasting time, daughter." Zeke said.
Pearl gave her ring one last kiss before standing from the stone she's sitting on. Her white dress have several blood blotches from her thumb drippings.
"In my first life, I was the fire goddess, and that's why I was his wife." She said.
"Then? What happened? Y'all died in your first life, and that's why y'all reincarnated in this lifetime, right? Shayla reincarnated as the new fire goddess, and you reincarnated as what?" Zeke asked.
"Queen of the underground. I reincarnated as the underground goddess." Pearl replied, and their eyes widened.
"If you're the underground goddess, then your partner should be the air god." Jude said.
"There's no air god. The heavens didn't give me a partner in this lifetime, and that's why I have to take back what's mine from my past life... Ryker." Pearl declared.
"Since we were all in the past, why is it that only you and Ryker would remember that past? Why can't I and Shayla or Winona...why can't we remember the past too?" Jude asked.
"Cos I and Ryker were the main characters in that past life?" Pearl smiled, rubbing her ring.
"Why did you both die back then?" Zeke asked, and that question made Pearl's face twist.
She turned her back on them.
"I killed everyone." Pearl replied, looking at her palms.
"But we reincarnated this time so I could correct those mistakes."
The mountain clouds suddenly went black, air colder than whiplashes and sand getting carried around in whirlwinds.
Pearl turned around, smiling. "He's here. I knew he'd come."
Zeke and Jude vanished down the mountain immediately, and Ryker appeared as predicted.
"Took you long enough, husband." Her smile widened, not minding the dark mad anger roaming about him.
She went closer, and his palm snagged her throat, gripping it tight and nearly breaking it into two within that short second.
His head tilted, lips flattening and red streaks lining his eyes, his breaths so cold, hitting her face and freezing some pores.
The whirlwind caged the two of them in the middle, and some of the blowing sand entered her eyes, but despite the thorny sensations, she didn't shake.
"I guess you finally remembered? That your partner of this lifetime was your gardener from your last life, and I was your wife!" She spat, letting him choke her hard till blood crawled out from under her tongue.
"Shut up!" He squeezed harder. She vomited blood on his face. He pushed her out of the whirlwind, her shoes dragging on the ground, carrying debris and pebbles till he arrived at a stone where he slammed her back at, and she spat more blood.
"You still look mad hot when you're angry, husband." She laughed, her teeth bloody.
"You want death, and that's why you made a marriage pact with...I guess you used the Old Chef's blood." Ryker said, voice hitting deep.
"I just wanted you to remember what you did to me back then! I wanted you to remember how you refused to bond and how you cheated!" She shouted, raising her right hand.
On the smallest finger of that hand, there's a red thread hanging on it, but instead of connecting to Ryker, it's dragging on the ground.
Her love thread.
"You left my love thread hanging, you refused to grow a love thread for me to connect with it as your partner. Instead, you were lusting after your female gardener you heartless bastard! I hate you!!!!" Pearl yelled, tears pumping out of her eyes.
{Centuries Ago, Ice-god Mansion}
The mansion is located on the pointed top of Mount Zhitomir, the largest mansion in the whole of Luminaria which has every sign of life scrapped away from it.
It's always snowing on that mountain, always freezing cold with the lowest temperature in the whole city.
The mansion looks lifeless and heartless like it's owner, painted black with equally black rims.
House of the millennial ice god where he lives with his wife Pearl who's the millennial fire goddess.
And their two gardeners Jude and Shayla, plus Winona who's Pearl's personal maid.
A god is expected to grow a love thread for his partner. After they bond through intimacy, they complete the bonding with the thread, but none of it is happening.
No intimacy between the two gods, and the love thread? Only Pearl grew it. Ryker grew nothing.
He actually rejected Pearl as his partner at first sight, but he only respected the heavens law by getting married to her and letting her stay with him in his mansion.
It's a loveless marriage.
And that's why right now... Pearl is trying to hold him in bed, but he kept his distance.
It's a king-sized bed with too much space between them, and he kept trying to hold him which she made impossible everytime.
Pearl couldn't keep her hands to herself, so she tried touching him again, and that was when he snapped.
He got down from the bed and threw on his robe jacket, then he started exiting the bedroom.
"Are you really going to continue like this?" Pearl got down from the bed.
"Look," she raised her hand, showing her love thread.
"It has been hanging there for years now, and as a result, I'm even more powerful than you, but you have refused to grow yours despite the consequences! You'd rather die with cold than receive warmth from me! Why do you hate me that much! Why!!!" She yelled.
Ryker still didn't turn.
"You prefer spending your time in your rose garden, punishing your gardeners than actually spending time with me! You won't even touch me! What have I even done wrong!" Pearl continued ranting.
"You can leave this mountain if you're tired of it," Ryker faced her finally, and she swallowed.
"No rule says we're going to die if we don't bond. Drop the wedding ring and leave." He finished.
"Why? Just give me a reason why you dislike me this much!" Pearl shouted at him angrily.
"Cos you're fake!" Ryker snapped, getting more angry as he came closer.
"You aren't the fire goddess of this lifetime at all, your corrupt parents stole the goddess mantle for you and put it in your body! You are not mine! I don't even see you, you are a fake!" He yelled at her face, and more tears streamed out of her eyes.
He stormed out of the room.
"Ryker!!!" Pearl fell on the ground, holding her head as she cried out loudly, profusely.
"Your Grace!" Winona gasped, rushing into the room.
She knelt in front of her.
"Your Grace, please you can't keep letting the ice god get to you like this. You can't keep being crazily in love with him when he has another woman!" Winona said.
"What are you talking about?" Pearl looked up, eyes so red.
"The female gardener, Shayla." Winona said.
Pearl stood, skeptically.
"What do you mean Shayla? He hates her more than me. One single mistake with his roses, he slaps and chains her up with the male gardener! In fact, she's chained up right now at the torture room."
"That was all show, the open tortures were all to fool you! You should visit the torture room one of these days." Winona said.
Pearl bursted out of the room immediately, and she started a fast run to the torture room.
She met Jude by the way, and he looks all sore and bloody.
"Where's your co-gardener?" Pearl questioned.
"Shayla? She's still in the torture room. I'm always released faster than her." Jude weakly replied.
Pearl gasped.
She increased her speed to the torture room faster than thunder.
She got there and slowed down her steps, leaning on the door since it's slightly broken in the middle.
Clearly, she saw Ryker inside the room with Shayla.
She's totally naked! And Ryker is healing her wounds.
Pearl went cold by the door, her chest constricted tightly.
With sweet care, with insane gentility and intense softness, he healed Shayla's wounds.
Afterwards, he brought her to his laps and made her sit there.
He covered her with a shawl, and her arms went around him. He kissed her nose, then her lips.
It wasn't deep, but it was soft, and as the sounds entered Pearl's ears, she nearly went crazy.
"See? I was right." Winona appeared behind Pearl by the door.
"Sorry I had to hurt you openly and heal you in secret everyday." Ryker whispered in a soft voice.
"It's fine, at least you spend time with me, but can you heal Jude too?" Shayla's tiny voice replied.
"No. He likes you, and it's too obvious." Ryker replied.
"But I don't like him." She replied, kissing his throat, then his lips, longer than the first.
"It doesn't matter, liking you is a sin he'd pay for...for the rest of his life." Ryker replied possessively.
"Why would your wife's family steal the goddess mantle from me and give it to her though?" She asked.
"Cos they're c0rrupt? And you're not rich." Ryker replied, cupping her bre+st under the shawl.
"And I can't get the mantle back?" Shayla asked, looking up at his face.
"No. Once it's in her body, it's in there. You can only get it back if we die and reincarnate." He said.
"Reincarnation?" She asked.
"Yeah, in the next life... you'll get the fire goddess mantle back, and we can end the thief once and for all." He replied, smiling down.
Shayla smiled back, tilting her neck up. His face met hers, and their lips smashed, the kiss so deep.
And that was Pearl's ruination. She lost it by the door.
"Cheater!!!!!!" She shrieked, bursting the door.
{Present Time}
Remembering all of that memory took nearly all day. It's already dark on the mountain.
Ryker let go of Pearl.
She got up from the stone and chuckled, spitting blood.
"You now remember everything, right? You cheated on me first with her, I entered the torture room and killed you both. I was more powerful cos of my love thread, remember? I killed the two of you, and I went ahead to kill Jude and Winona too, then I killed myself! Yes! Now that we all have reincarnated and she got her fire goddess mantle back, I won't let her take you away again! That mistake will not repeat!"
"You're dumber than I thought." Ryker said, dryly as if he's suddenly bored of this mountain which is true
The smile on Pearl's face dropped.
"You shouldn't have made me remember this, cos now it gets more interesting, and I'll gladly dig your grave at the foot of the bed I'll be sharing with her!" He declared.
"You wouldn't dare!" Pearl fired back.
"You got the underground goddess mantle in this lifetime? Who knows if you didn't steal that too." Ryker smirked, and her neck veined.
"I won't tell you to stay away, it'd be useless, so come at me. Come with your whole chest. I'll chain you up in your underground palace and have wild dogs take turn to f+ck you." He spat, meaning every word.
He vanished, and Pearl removed her heels from her feet, going down the mountain barefoot.
She was halfway down the mountain when her wedding dress disappeared from her body, getting replaced by a bright red robe.
A red pearl-shaped red mark appeared on her forehead, her lips turned red, too. She looks like a real goddess, her aura bloody.
Jude was still down the mountain when she got there.
"Are you really sure I and Shayla were in love in our past lives?" He asked, and Pearl nearly strangled him with her eyes.
"I'm not gonna you to believe that you both were madly in love, and Ryker maltreated her like crazy! He maltreated you too. Beatings in the rain and sun and stabbings! If you like, lay low like an idiot and watch him have her, or rather follow me and let me help your life." She walked past him.
Jude went after her immediately.
"I'll follow you" he said, and Pearl stopped, facing him.
"Nice choice." She said.
--
[East Palace, Main Castle~Twins Room]
Soren stirred in bed, pulling away the quilt from his face slightly.
The plan was to sleep for a while more before he'd go for practice at starr balcony, but what he saw made him open his eyes.
Xena is sitting beside him in bed, and she's staring down at him with a smile.
"When did you get in!" He spranged up, getting a shirt to wear on his shirtless body, but Xena dragged his hand down.
"No. You shouldn't cover up everytime, loosen up." She said.
Soren released his hand from her, and he threw on the shirt despite that
"Sorry, I wasn't supposed to say that." Xena said, suddenly looking pale with embarrassment.
"It's fine, why are you here? Weren't we supposed to meet at the attic at 10?" He asked.
"I know, so I came with a little hi before the real one at 10. I'll see you by then,bye!" She waved avd stood from the bed.
She got out of the room, and the moment she stepped outside, she flipped her hair back, smiling mischievously.
It's Rumi.
"Darn...was hard acting like my boring twin sister." She sighed, looking back at the door.
"Does he even know what he is? I felt his energy just by sitting beside him." She scoffed, getting her phone out.
"Time to scare the snake a lil bit." She nodded, scrolling out Faye's number.
She typed a shirt text.
Rumi: I know what you are, Faye.
Immediately she hit Send and pocketed the phone, her head was covered with a sack bag from behind, and she gagged.
"Told you, she's lusting after Soren! Lustful Xena!" Mercury's voice said.
She's the one holding the sack to Rumi's head.
"I couldn't believe more, she's a bî+ch!" Sadie snickered, dragging.
Rumi didn't even flinch or struggle as they dragged her.
Mercury made them vanish from the castle. They took her away.
A minute after, Soren came out of the room, glancing suspiciously at the stared at the two exits.
"Again, that wasn't Xena." He muttered.
--
[Lumi Park]
Shayla and Xena have been here since they left the tower in the late hours of the morning.
According to Shayla,she doesn't even want to go back there yet, and she has been doing her best to keep herself together which she has been excelling at.
The park got more packed with kids and youths tonight, and there's a bop party going on in the middle.
The music made the air pulsate, and the screams of kids on the high rides was so loud that Shayla had to cover her ears at some point.
The youths aren't even helping things. They're littered everywhere, kissing in the open with their hands under their clothes.
Shayla and Xena sat on the swing chairs, though they're not swinging.
They just sat.
Shayla held a really big circle lollipop, but she's not eating it either, she's just rubbing the choker necklace on her neck, and sometimes she fiddles with her hair.
"Are you sure you don't wanna go on the rides? It'll be fun, I promise." Xena tried persuading her again.
"No." She shook her head moodily, and Xena stood.
"C'mon, why does his mood affect yours this much? It's been close to nineteen hours, but you're still like this. Come on." She tried to pull her up, but Shayla sat still.
"Geez, ok I need to go pee, will you go with me?" Xena sighed.
Shayla agreed, but the moment she stood, some passing youth boys slapped Xena's butt, and she turned around with wide eyes.
"The hell! How dare—"
They slapped her butt again, then they began laughing.
"You have flat cakes, nothing to be angry about. It's like slapping a board." They mocked.
Xena attacked the one who slapped her butt, but she was crapped on the legs, and she fell back to the swing chair, getting a scratch on the arms.
She spranged up angrily, wanting to summon bees on them, but before she could even do that, all the four guys blew up with fire.
Her eyes widened, and she covered her mouth with her palms.
They couldn't even scream or move. They just stood there like statues, burning away as if they've been spelled to stay there.
Xena turned back, and just like she suspected, Shayla's eyes are rimmed with gold already.
"F+ck! Shay...stop." she covered her eyes with her body, holding her shoulders.
"Shay! You told me you didn't want anyone to know. You're in a park! People are watching!" She snapped.
Shayla's eyes still didn't calm.
The door guys burned to ashes and blew away with the air.
By now, a thick crowd her gathered, and they watched the blowing ashes, their mouths are wide with their eyes. Never have they witnessed something this raw.
"Shay!" Xena called through her teeth, and that was when Shayla's eyes calmed.
She released a deep breaths, and Xena held her tighter.
Her eyes widened when she saw what she had done—the ashes.
The lollipop fell from her.
"What... happened?"
"Burn the witch!!" The surrounding people suddenly roared, causing Xena and Shayla's eyes to widen more
Xena quickly summoned bees, and the hive shattered in the park.
Everyone ran for their dear lives when the bee stings started, and some with teleporting abilities used it, vanishing off.
"Let's go" Xena pulled Shayla back, wanting to escape with her in the middle of the chaos, but they met Ryker and Sage behind.
Both are just arriving.
"Thank heavens" Xena took in a large breath, but Shayla's face went down.
"Take Xena." Ryker said, and Sage took Xena away.
Immediately Ryker moved forward to Shayla, she turned around and went the other way.
He followed up instantly, pulling her back with her wrist.
By the time she faced him again, she was already crying.
"Your highness," he whispered, bringing his face closer as people ran past them in the middle of the bee chaos.
"Let me tell you, I'm not crying because you destroyed the roses or abandoned me, I'm crying because I want to, so don't get smug again." She hiccupped.
He wiped her teary face gently, spilling the waterworks away, then he brought his lips closer, but she turned away, hiccuping again and sniffling.
"You said I'm not JUST a partner, maybe you should start proving it. If Xena abandoned me or did that to the roses, I wouldn't be pained, but it's you ... You're —"
"I'm sorry," he cut her off, and her eyes went up immediately, catching his soft own.
He rested his forehead on hers, and she sniffled again.
"I had a past life memory remembrance which held a bad relationship with roses, and I was rattled for a while." He whispered.
"Remembrance that you were Pearl's husband?" She said.
"How did you know?" He frowned.
"She once told me in school." She replied.
Ryker went silent, the heavy footsteps of the running people filling their ears, and the loud sounds of her or heartbeats.
"So... you're going to send me out of the tower and take her in?" She looked up.
"Not happening," he replied, almost cutting her off.
Her eyes calmed, and that kind of calmed him too.
"Don't just abandon me or destroy my roses anytime you get these things, you can talk it out with me. To me, you're not JUST a partner too, and I love hearing you talk. Spending time with you makes me happy, and your mood affects me madly, so...don't hurt me like that again." She said.
"Noted, your highness." He replied, and she looked at him properly, catching a smile on his face.
He finally got the chance to kiss her, and he didn't miss it.
He pressed his lips on her own, tasting her lollipop in the kiss when she kissed back, her arms going sling behind his neck.
He subtly held her neck, exploring her mouth deeper.
"I want to kiss your lips," he suddenly whispered into the kiss, and Shayla's eyes opened as the kiss paused.
"But you're already kissi—"
"I'm talking about the one between your legs." He cut her off, and her body went still.
One more second, they already teleported back to his bedroom.
Her clothes — off.
Bra— thrown away.
Panties— off.
Her back hit the bed, and Ryker's face dived into the middle of her spread legs.
He kissed her cl1t then licked it sleazily. Shayla trembled like a leaf in storm.
"Oh...my..."
TBC.
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