Heart Of Stone - Episode 64&65&66

 

HEART OF STONE

Heart Of Stone - Episode 64&65&66

 (..Sold•To•The•Pit•Of•Hell..)

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No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, or reposted in any form, or by any means without a written permission from the author.

Copyright © 2025.

By: Naomi Cindy B.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

#Unedited 

[Glass House]

It looked like ordinary cramps at first, but soon, it started looking like horror, scaring the knights.

Shayla didn't only vomit all of her breakfast, but her bleeding is much. The menstrual flow is insane, she's changing pads every ten minutes. 

It's like she wants to bleed to death, coupled with the high temperature and the sweat.

Cheyenne had to start wiping her skin with a wet towel, and Sage got additional supply of pads.

The gas cooker in the kitchen suddenly went lit on its own.

The fireplace in the lobby started burning too.

The candles and fireplaces in the practice room burned, and every bulb in the house shattered.

Instead of electric light, fire started burning in their wires.

Shayla looks pale already, she looks colossally tired, like she just had a total burnout.

"Are you sure you're really not doing anything with your mind?" Sage asked when it got to a point.

"I swear I'm not using my mind on the fire, I think the fire is reacting to my period...I dunno." Shayla replied, her voice barely audible.

"Geez, another pad!" Cheyenne gasped when she saw blood is already crawling out of the middle of Shayla's legs.

They got her back into the bathroom and changed into the fifteenth pad.

By the time they came back to the bedroom, the whirring of helicopter fan blades filled the back property.

"I think he's back," Sage said, rushing outside to check.

Cheyenne placed Shayla back in bed carefully.

"What's that?" Shayla asked weakly.

"Helicopter, it's a traveling tool just like a car, only difference is that this one flies. Human technology." Cheyenne explained.

"Wonder why Luminarians hate humans that much when humans are sto brilliant." Shayla mumbled, hands resting on her belly.

"It's The Millions Family, not the whole of Luminaria." Cheyenne replied.

Two minutes later, Sage entered with Ryker, and merely seeing her current condition made Ryker rush forward after dumping his suit for Sage.

"Shayla!"

"You're finally back," she smiled, her pale lips splitting.

He sat beside her, bringing her head to his laps.

"The burning fire has stopped, even the burning bulb wires." Sage said when he noticed.

"Of course they'd stop, ice is here." Cheyenne replied with a shrug.

They left the room, leaving Shayla and Ryker alone.

"I hate that I'm disturbing you with my fire. Cheyenne said you had important business to take care of, so you had to return because of me despite that." Shayla said, eyes staring up drowsily at him.

His hands cupped her face, stroking gently till she smiled a little, feeling much better with just his presence.

"You over everything else" he said, just four curt words that means a lot to her.

"You won't lose anything by coming here for me?" She whispered, taking his thumb to hold.

"A few millions, or maybe billions, but it's just a FEW, won't pull out of one wing from my empire." He replied, fingers rubbing her hair, her ears, chin, and the side of her neck.

His hands are everywhere on that small pale face.

Doing that is already calming her down. Though, the tiredness and bleeding is still there, but they're already slowing.

His presence did everything.

"Why is my body like this? Is it too weak? Why can't I control my fire? I really don't want to be useless. I know I'm lazy, but I want to help you fight off enemies too." She said, still holding that one thumb.

"You're far from weak, but your fire is insane, Shayla. You didn't get to use it at all in your first life, so the energy is still raw and new. Also, you have a kind, soft heart and fragile, small body, and the angry fire contradicts that, so it'd act up anytime you bleed or witness anything emotional." He explained, touching her cheek with the back of his fingertips.

"So...I really can't stop this abnormalities unless I learn control?" She asked, the drowsiness in her eyes decreasing.

"Yeah, I'll help you." He said, bringing his wrist up.

His dagger appeared on his palm, and he gave his wrist a cut.

"Ry!" She gasped.

"Drink my blood, you need it to replenish your lost blood and regain your stamina." He said.

She shook her head immediately. "No. Cheyenne said there's blood transfusion, and I can take the blood of the same blood group—"

"You. Are. A. Goddess, Shayla. You're not human, and you won't find your blood type anywhere just like I have no blood type too, but we can supply each other. We're partners anyways, so drink." He brought the wrist to her mouth, but she continued shaking her head, refusing.

She held the wrist, stopping it from coming closer to her mouth. His blood dropped on her face.

"I'll get mad at you, and this time, I'll abandon you for days, I swear on this blood." He threatened, and she blinked back, staring at his poker face. He's not bluffing.

"Your ruthlessness still scares me,you didn't have to threaten me with that, jerk." She muttered.

He didn't say anything, so she drew the cut wrist close to her mouth, shutting her eyes before closing her mouth around it, sucking.

Ryker's eyes went shut too, and it didn't open till he felt her mouth loosening from his wrist.

She fell asleep immediately she drank it, and Ryker's wrist healed up.

Seeing her bloody bum shorts and figuring out it's her bloodied pad, he didn't even bother to call Cheyenne.

He did it himself.

He got her into the bathroom, bathed her and changed her pad, too.

Now, the menstrual flow is very low. Like a drop per twenty minutes or so.

He lay her back in bed to rest, and he sat beside her again, waiting for her sleep to go deeper before he left the room.

Cheyenne and Sage are waiting at the outdoor balcony, and they both look relieved when they saw him approaching.

"Are you still returning to Moscow today?" Sage asked.

"No. And get the spoilt bulbs repaired." Ryker replied.

"Will do that," Sage nodded.

"Will she be ok?" Cheyenne asked.

"Very well," Ryker replied, choosing his words as he stared ahead.

"There are reports that fifteen branches didn't get their share of the treasures today, so we lost about 5.5billion?" Cheyenne read out from her iPad.

"It's expected, and it's nothing. Operation continues tommorow, and tell the shine team to fly here for the rest of the showcase." Ryker replied.

"Huh?" The two chorused.

He faced them, didn't talk but his eyes asked the question.

"I mean...the showcases always happened at the headquarters, I'm just shocked." Cheyenne said.

"If I'm going to go back to Moscow, then they better be ready to have her inside the showroom with me, beside me. I'm not leaving her side. At least not now." Ryker responded.

"Understood, I'll announce the new development on the bulletin." Sage said, typing on his own tablet already.

"You said we were visiting Liza before we left Luminaria, but we suddenly didn't visit her anymore, in curious." Cheyenne said.

In a short while, Ryker's mind went to the memories he saw in Shayla's childhood, and his fists went balled,jaws gritting.

"Letting her live for now cos it's not in my place. I'll make Shayla kill her with her own hands." He said.

The knights went silent, and Ryker went back inside, leaving them on that balcony.

"What's this mad rage I'm feeling from him? Every word sounded angry and furious." Sage muttered.

"After what Xena spewed at him in Luminaria, it'd be strange if he's not bothered. We're used to seeing him heartless, but he was good to Xena, so he's probably rethinking." Cheyenne replied, staring ahead.

Sage said nothing after that. He stared ahead with her, but at a point, he looked at her and smiled secretly.

--

[Luminaria, Cornfield]

It had rained overnight, and despite the heavy rain thrums, Sadie didn't wake. It's an obviously deep slumber.

She's still laying there in the middle of corn leaves, looking dead.

It's early morning, and the sun is only just peeking out from beneath the clouds.

A bright ray licked her skin, and that was when her eyes opened slowly, the ray of the sunlight hitting her eyes.

She regained full consciousness immediately, and she sat up, looking around to see that she's really still at the cornfield.

She looked at her wristwatch, calculating she has been here since three days ago, and no one came to find her from the palace?

No one at all?

Not her mother Azura, not her father Zeke. Not her twin brother Soren?

She slammed her palm on the oak tree, leaning on it as her eyes rolled back poisonously.

"Arghhhh!!!!!" She screamed out dementedly, slamming her palm again.

And then it happened. Like a flash of light, it hit her so fast.

Memory of the night they went breaking into the mansion.

How she ordered Soren to rape Xena, and how Xena summoned bees on them and escaped.

How Soren wiped the memories of her and Mercury.

She remembered everything.

"I warned you, Ren. I told you to never betray me. How dare you wipe my memories for a mere filthy thing! How dare you! Am I that small in your eyes now, Soren?"

She looked up, getting her hand away from the oak tree.

"She won't be able to weasel out of my grip this time." She told herself, rushing out of the cornfield.

--

[West Palace]

It was Winona who helped Old Chef with his burnt head.

She has been exhausting her powers since three days ago, laying hands on his head to perform healing at any chance she got.

Old Chef's head is back to normal. Hair grew, but there are still scanty burn marks on his face which Winona is planning to heal today before discharging him.

The old man sat on a comfortable couch in their lobby, staring into space with a cup of herb sitting in the middle of his palm.

"Hey man, you should drink the herb, it's getting cold." Blaise said, emerging and looking all ready for school with Faye beside him.

"Hey man? He could be your grandfather, you fuckwit." Faye nudged him, and Blaise rolled eyes to the side.

Old Chef drank from his herb.

"But the demigod is really something. So his ruthlessness even stretches to family members?" Blaise said.

"Family member who slapped the backside of a evil woman, and because of that, his mother was killed, so if you ask me, this Old Chef here deserves more than a burnt head." Faye said.

"Look who was lecturing me about being kind" Blaise laughed.

"Let's go, or we're gonna be late." Faye led the way out.

They met Xena by the lobby door, just entering the palace.

She obviously heard what they said.

"Our family misfortune wasn't my father's fault, so mind your words, Faye." She warned.

"You're my friend, Xena, and honestly I love your animal ability cos it's cool, but you know what's not cool? You defending him." Faye said.

"That day at the bar, he was drunk and wanted to fall, but Azura was right beside him, so he didn't touch her intentionally. It was a mistake, don't just say anything if you dunno the whole story." Xena said.

"Ohhh... headache! Fine, he's innocent. He needs to go to the human world and become what they call a reverend father. Holier than thou." Faye snickered and left.

"You f+king snake! Your mouth always have no filter? Huh?" Blaise went after her.

Xena went to Old Chef and squatted in front of him, smiling.

"Don't listen to them, you're fine now." She said.

"You've been the one cooking the castle meals and slaves meals alone for three days, must be cumbersome." Old Chef said guiltily.

"It's nothing, you taught me kitchen language well so I can even cook for a nation. How're you feeling today?" Xena asked.

"I'm sure he feels better," Winona replied, joining them in the lobby.

Astor and Kasia joined them, too.

"Thank y'all for everything," Xena faced them. "When I brought him here three days ago, I only tried my luck, but didn't actually expect you guys to agree to the healing."

"He's the demigod's father, and though he hates him, but he's still family. We're on the demigod's side anytime any day." Kasia said.

Xena's face went down.

"But I think you shouldn't have said everything I heard you said to him." Astor said.

"Why is everyone saying that? You don't know him more than me. He has no pity in his eyes or mercy. This is someone who kills innocents without blinking, and I've been wanting to say all of that for years, so I had to just burst right there cos if I didn't, he'd have killed father. Father doesn't deserve to die in his hands just like mother did." Xena said.

"He didn't chose his fate to become a bloodthirsty demigod, what are you talking about. It's his nature to crave for blood, of cos innocent lives will be lost. You know the history." Kasia said in defense.

"I know, but—"

"It's all my fault." Old Chef sprained up, cutting Xena off.

"I shouldn't have gone drunk that night, shouldn't have harbored the suicidal thoughts. It's all on my head." He said.

"Can we all forget about that this morning? Feast is in four days, and the city is in a festive mood, don't ruin it." Winona said.

Xena left them for school eventually, and Old Chef settled down with the rest of the family.

"I heard y'all are suffering from a midnight curse, and there's someone putting a jinx on the investigation, maybe I can help as a way of repaying this favor?" Old Chef said suddenly.

"In that way?" Kasia asked.

"My tears, it's poison for family, but for outsiders, it's truth water. In cases like these, it's best to check for traitors in your household first. Maybe everyone of you should drink my tears and find out if there's a traitor?" Old Chef said.

Astor gave him a quick glance, then he tapped his fingers on his thighs.

"Yunno what?" Kasia stood. "Perfect! Too perfect!"

"After i heal your facial burns, we'll give you a cup to cry." Winona said.

--

[Kings Mansion]

"Woohoo!! I love how the city is already pounding with the feel of the feast even when it's still four days away. I literally can't wait to experience it." Kade grinned as he bounced out of his room, his face buried inside his phone.

"You're still in the feast ballet dance?" Liza asked, coming out of her home office to give him a cold-fighter jacket.

"Yeah. Don't worry, even Esme your rival wouldn't stop me. I skipped a lot of practices, but it's nothing." Kade winked at her as he took the jacket.

"I'll see you later!"

He left the house, and Liza sighed, going back into her office to stand by the windowsill.

"My rape product of a daughter carries a power that'd make the ice god stronger if they merge?" She rested her fingers on her chin, smiling.

"We'll see about that on the feast day. So far she shares my blood, puppeteering her should be a piece of  cake."

--

[Black Swan Ballet School]

The practices shot up in frequency since the start of this week, and it only got worse today.

There has been no rest for the ballerinas, it's like the feast is already happening.

They got their first break for today at 12pm, and as they trooped out of the elite hall, their chats filled the hall.

"I can't believe Shayla isn't participating in the final practices, and she's still gonna stay at the center with Xena?

"Favoritism at it's best!"

"But she's perfect, she got the dance moves since our first day of practice, so it doesn't matter."

"It does, no one is below her here. Apart from being the demigod's partner, what other title does she hold?" 

"She's my best friend, my baby sis, Liza King's daughter, and Kade's senior sister!" A sharp voice answered the girls.

Their heads turned and, and they were stunned to see Xena, standing there with a scowl and folded arms.

"Liza King's daughter? Oh please... you probably inhaled some coke!" They told her off.

"Go to Kade and ask him, and stop shoving your ugly faces around." She pushed them out of her way and waltzed out of the corridor.

She slipped into a washroom, stepping back slowly till she was sure no one followed, then she opened her palms.

There are over ten tiny hairpins and decorators, all either gold or silver.

She looked at herself in the mirror, grinning lowly.

It's Rumi, not Xena.

She actually plucked the jewels when she pushed the girls out of her way earlier.

"Peeps as rich as hell in this place, who walks around with jewels worth millions on their bodies?" She laughed, counting them.

"But their boss isn't here, Shayla. I guess a hairpin from her costs a billion, where did she probably go with that bastard brother of mine?" She muttered, packing the hairpin back into her pocket.

"These should make me some money for my drugs. Damn I miss coke!" She sniffed the air, going for the door.

When she remembered how she told them about Kade being Shayla's brother, she laughed.

"Both Kade and Liza are about to crash out, and I'm here for it. Now let's go find my sweet Soren." She said, getting out of the room.

--

[Back Of Elite Hall]

Kade is seated, Faye and Blaise are standing in front of him like judges, staring down at him.

He's staring up at them too with questioning eyes.

"Fine...wrap it up! What?" He talked first, breaking the eye contact.

"You've been distant these past few days, you didn't even come to school or attend practices, but four days to the feast, you appeared and want us to believe nothing happened?" Blaise said, arms crossed.

"Mother was sick, so I stayed home with her." Kade lied.

"Oh Kade, don't do that. We all know you have this strong hate for her without a reason, so ain't no way you'd stay home cos she was sick. What have you been up to? I heard Shayla is your senior stepsister, is that true?" Faye asked.

"What!" Kade spranged up from his chair, eyes wide.

"Look at those eyes, a glaring confirmation. So you really are her stepbrother, is that why you hate your mother?" Blaise said.

And that instant, the passing dancers started dropping comments like...

"Heard he's Shayla's stepbrother"

"He hates his mother Liza cos she birthed a slave girl before him."

"His own father is a Luminarian like I heard, Shayla's father is the human who was killed."

"Where did you hear that from?"

"Xena announced it earlier at the hall, you weren't there?"

The more the comments, the wider Kade's eyes became.

He ran out of that place, and Blaise went after him.

Faye would have done same, but her phone rang with Astor's call.

"Yes, father?" She picked.

"The Old Chef left just now, but he did something interesting. He cried, saying his tears is truth water or something, and Kasia wants everyone to drink." Astor said.

"That's cute, leave him alone. We'll drink his tears, and nothing is gonna happen. Does he even know vipers are fortified against any spell, any poison, any force?" Faye laughed, leaning on the wall.

"He doesn't, I guess." Astor laughed back.

--

[Graffiti Hall Compartment]

Xena entered, heavy with the hope of catching Soren inside, and she was lucky, cos he sat in the small space with his rabbit.

His head is on the table, and the rabbit is on top of his head,both sleeping, but immediately she entered, the rabbit squealed, alerting him. His eyes opened.

"Hey," Xena waved awkwardly, entering further.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, colder than she has experienced.

The rabbit jumped on her arms, and she caught it, stroking his fur gently before looking at Soren again.

"I haven't been opportune to go to the attic since father got burnt, so I thought I could find you here and say sorry if you have been waiting." She said.

"I haven't been visiting the attic too" he replied, and she smiled awkwardly.

"That's cool"

"I know I'm not in any place to talk about your family cos my family is the main reason y'all are miserable, but was it necessary? The words you said to him?" He said.

"He's thick-skinned, nothing hurts him. I'm sure the words meant nothing to him. You dunno him like I do. He should be a demon, not a demigod. He has killed too many people and I get nightmares just thinking about them" She replied.

"See..." Soren stood. "He's a bloodthirsty god, it's his nature. He has skin on his body, and it's permeable." He said.

"Can we not talk about it?" She replied.

"So...what do we talk about?" He stepped forward again, and she took a step back, hitting the wall just like their first day here.

Their faces an inch apart, breaths mingling, eyes stuck.

The rabbit looks stuffed in their middle, the only thing setting them apart as his palm went to the wall.

"Should we talk about how your twin has been impersonating you?" He whispered, and her eyes widened.

"What!"

"Xena! I heard you're here, you better come out! Xena!!" Kade's loud voice bursted into the hall.

Soren stepped away, and Xena stepped out of the compartment.

"There you are!" Kade locked her clothe on the neck, roughly.

"How dare you announce my secret to everyone! You could have gone to the city tower to announce it instead you wench!" He shouted.

"I dunno what you're talking about!" Xena said.

"Stop playing fool! You announced to everyone that I'm Shayla's stepbrother!" Kade shouted.

"That was her twin sister" Soren said, stepping out too.

"I'm not talking to you, Soren. Get off my business!" Kade slammed, raising his hand to punch Xena, but Soren pulled Xena out of his hold.

Xena found herself beside Soren, and Kade's fist met the wall.

"F+k!!!" He howled, blood erupting from the slam.

"I didn't know public display of affection has joined the chat!" Sadie's voice said as she entered the hall with Mercury behind her.

"You wiped my memory because of her! You wiped Mercury's memory because of her too, and now you're protecting her? Soren?" Sadie questioned strictly.

"I'm still not in the mood to talk to you, twin sister." Soren replied.

"Soren wake up! She's the same person who cast a sleeping spell on Sadie at the cornfield! She's a witch!" Mercury said jealously.

"Who said you could talk to me, c+k sucker?" Soren insulted, and Mercury almost fainted.

"You're very insane, how dare you even say that!" Sadie flung her hand forward without warning.

She slapped him hotly, printing all her five fingers on his jaw.

But things flew, real quick.

Soren returned the slap, twice to the same side of her cheek.

Sadie staggered, but Mercury held her tight.

All eyes popped, including Xena's and bleeding Kade's.

Everyone in the hall looks overly shocked cos Soren has always been Sadie's meat rider, always doing things to please her.

He never fought back, so this is new, and breathtaking.

Without another word, Soren left.

"Sadie..." Mercury held her red face as Sadie's eyes changed colour.

"Our powers might be limited without each other, but we have rare powers individually, and this is only just starting." Sadie gritted.

"What are you gonna do?" Mercury asked, curiously.

"I'm going to write Xena out of existence, using my skin scroll." Sadie replied, lips bleeding.

At the outside corner of the hall, Rumi stood, watching with surprised expression.

She backed up and nodded, smirking before making her way down.

"He can tell us apart even despite my disguise as Xena? Don't tell me he's starting to grow feelings for my boring twin!" She spat.

  --

[East Palace]

Everyone's here.

The East clansmen, the West clansmen, people from the West Palace too and the East family.

These meetings has been happening in repeat since three days ago, and it's all to discuss the feast.

Even Esme is here as one of the planners.

She's sitting beside the West Palace people, discussing directly with Zeke on his throne and Tara beside him.

Azura, Granny Jojo and Lilith are at the far back of the hall, and they all have this unusually calm look on their faces as they watched the unfolding meeting.

They've been like this since three days ago after Lilith confirmed Esme's relationship with Zeke.

Lilith only bribed Esme's secretary with some bags of money, and he spilled everything.

Down to Zeke's nightly visits and their hotel sexcapades.

"It's all set, then." Azura talked.

"Do whatever you want, I'm only gonna wait to see how things would go in four days. Hands would stay clean throughout" Jojo said.

Lilith said nothing.

"Mercury, her daughter... she'd be the bait." Azura said.

--

[Russia Glass House, Practice Room~Four Days Later]

Since Shayla got over the period imbalance some days ago, it's been one practice session after the other, all with Ryker.

Sometimes, he goes for his team showcasing conferences in the outside lobby, and when he arrives, they resume practice.

Shayla isn't even complaining.

Ry has been extra strict, and they've wasted so many candle packs. He doesn't even smile during the practices which she's grateful for. At least, it helped her get more serious, and her laziness reduced.

He sat behind her in the hall, and she's in the middle again, balancing her breathings with her wild mind.

She looked back at him, finding his full eyes on herself, and that made him turn back to her candles.

She didn't close her eyes—he told her to stop doing that. 

Witnessing your power unfolding has a way of giving extra strength, so she kept them open.

Connecting her mind with her soul and sparking her fire from her inner FireStone, she felt the surge first, then the manifestation.

The first candle caught fire, then the second,third.....

Till the last candle. They burned one by one.

The fireplaces caught fire slowly till they blew up too, matching her heartbeats.

Then, her mind got to work again, and just the way they lit up, the fire went off from them.

She was blank for the first minute, then the smile slowly crawled up her face, then a silly giggle.

She turned around again, facing the god who's by the door.

He's already standing from his chair even before she turned.

He closed their middle space, caging her face in the middle of his palms.

He kissed her, and she smiled widely into it before shutting her eyes, jumping up his body to wrap her legs around his waist.

With one hand, he held her waist, and he held her lap with the second hand, occasionally moving her hair away as the kiss deepened, going past mouth to mouth.

They're literally kissing each other's souls, feasting on their goddamn minds till they couldn't breathe anymore.

Breaking the kiss took a lot of effort, and they both look bright as their faces met again.

He smiled beautifully, and she held his face with hand hand, planting deep kisses on his dimples.

"You not smiling since we started this practice, it's a punishment?" She asked, and he pushed her hair away from her face before replying.

"Real one. I know how obsessed you are with these dimples." 

She laughed, and he joined her, their lips connecting again in a short kiss.

He carried her out of the room, and they went to another room where they met the knights.

Cheyenne is sitting behind a jazz drum set, drumming so good while Sage just sat behind a shelf, watching as her only audience.

"It's done?" Cheyenne stood immediately.

"Obviously," Sage smiled, getting on his feet too.

"Are we returning now? I'm sure it's 10pm in Luminaria right now, meaning it's two hours before the feast day." Cheyenne said.

"Not yet, I'll show this clumsy girl here around the city before we'll return. One hour, we'll be back." Ryker replied.

They didn't even border to change clothes. Ryker took her to the airfield at the back of the property, and they entered the helicopter together.

He made sure there's enough goodies and snacks inside for her before the pilot took off, driving the helicopter to the sky.

Shayla was stunned beyond words, and she just leaned on the glass window, staring with wide eyes at the vast country of Russia beneath them.

"This is like a bird" she blurted, and Ryker chuckled behind her.

"Don't be silly, it's nowhere near a bird. It's an—"

"Helicopter, Cheyenne told me." He cut her off. 

"But it flies like a bird" she added, making him chuckle again.

"Are you intentionally funny, or you don't even realize how funny you sound each time?" 

"I'm just saying what comes to my mind, don't criticize me" she said with a slow blink, coming back to him. He drew her to his laps, and she sat there, feeling the rubbing of his boner on her bu+t throughout.

But she didn't comment on it. About how she likes it, or about how it's soaking her up.

She just sat, eating her snacks of cookies, lollipops. Fruits and more.

Her love for sweet things needs to be studied at this rate.

As she munched, she had a view of the city each time the pilot lowered to another altitude.

Russia is vast, and beautiful.

Human world is as beautiful as Luminaria, or even more beautiful, but that's not a topic for today.

Normally, Ryker's hands would be all-over her body right now.

He loves physical touch a lot, just like her, but he's not doing anything. Not touching her, so she looked at him.

He's staring at her, but he looks like he's spacing out.

"Is it about Xena? I heard she did something." She muttered.

"Not today, Shayla. Just enjoy this ride, peacefully." He said.

"Ry, you promised to never shut me up whenever these things happen. You can't just think alone." She persisted, and his hand found her face, rubbing tenderly.

She leaned into that hand, holding it to her face.

"I know, and I didn't forget, but not just now. You'll find out when we arrive at Luminaria in an hour. Don't ruin your sky picnic." He said, and that gave her the needed assurance.

She leaned into his chest, and before she knew it, his mouth sealed hers.

She melted into his laps like she's boneless, eyes going shut as she fisted his black shirt.

--

[Luminaria, 11:50PM, A Bar]

Rumi's earpiece is into her ears, blasting loud jazz as she drank from a large, heavy cup of beer.

She's the only one on that bar corner, and there are several portions of coke on the table which she's taking turn to sniff into her nose with a straw.

The white stuff stained her nostrils so much, and she's hitting her own head so much.

The atmosphere around the bar is just as festive as the one in the other parts of the city.

There are laughter of kids from the park, screams of vital youths, whisperings of the adults and elders, explosives fireworks in the sky and the festival fireflies.

Shops are still open, doing bonanza sales of robes for the poor Luminarians. Balloons, even bangers are sounding repeatedly.

It's a whole lot of happenings at the same time, but Rumi gives no f+k about what's going on outside.

She's all focused on her drags.

She was on the the fifth drag when the person she has been expecting settled in front of her.

She didn't look up.

"We were supposed to meet since Saturday, but you didn't fufill your promise." She said, sniffing.

"I got a burnt head, and I had to cater for that, daughter. Don't be mad." The voice replied.

Rumi looked up, eyes highly watery.

She took in a deep breath, smiling before wiping her tears of highness away. She cleaned the white stuff from her nose too.

"Anatoli, aka, Old Chef, my loving, caring father." She hailed.

Old Chef grinned, resting his arms on the table and leaning forward.

"You get more interesting everyday, dear daughter." He laughed.

Rumi ordered another beer for him, and they clinked their heavy beer glasses, but they didn't drink yet.

It's one minute before 12pm right now, one minute before the feast day.

"His birth killed mother, so even if it means going to the pit of hell to buy death for him, he has to die. Ryker had to go at the Feast." Rumi said.

"And luckily, your sister is always defending me. Somehow dumb, but she's on my side. Once Ryker is gone, the three of us can live together happily." Old Chef nodded.

His smile mirrored Rumi's smile, and they raised their beer cups.

Old Chef's smile grew wider.

His head remembered how he had intentionally slapped Azura's butt that fateful night just to get her attention and get his wife killed.

It was all his plan, from the very beginning.

He grinned out wickedly, shinning his disarranged teeth.

At exactly 12am, he clinked his beer glass with Rumi's.

The festival city bell sounded from the city tower, ringing across the whole city in deep echoes, signifying the start of the feast.

"Happy Lantern Feast, father!" Rumi shouted excitedly.

"Happy Lantern Feast, daughter" Old Chef smiled, and they both brought the beer cups to their lips, drinking like the best partners in crime.

TBC.

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