A TALE OF FIRE AND ICE

Centuries of Yearning

[ Neither the picture nor the content belongs to me. All the rights belong to the respective author. It is only used for entertainment purposes not offended anyone.]

Lisa SOMEWHAT felt like his life was in danger as he watched the woman with snake eyes walk towards him.

But for some reason, he couldn't move.

"Don't cry, child," the strange woman told him. Then, she gently cupped his face between her hands and wiped his tears with her fingers. "Everything is eventually going to be back to normal, son."

""Son?""

He wanted to remove the woman's hands in his face but still, his body wouldn't listen to him. And those eyes that eerily resembled his...

... they were pulling him in.

"Won't you return to your mother's side now, my little Nystrom?"

Lisa wanted to say 'no' and push the woman that was giving him the creeps. But much to his frustration, he could only stand there and stare back at her golden snake eyes. What the hell is happening to me?!

***

Irene almost dropped the bowl of chocolate ganache when she felt a painful thump against her chest.

Not only that.

She also felt a burning sensation around her wrist. To be precise, the tattoo in her wrist was getting hotter and hotter by the minute. Which was strange because she shouldn't be burnt by her own Mana.

Of course, that made her instantly nervous.

Lisa

She didn't know why but her husband entered her mind at that very moment.

I really have a bad feeling about this.

She immediately tapped her earring that served as a communication device once. If she had to compare it to the phones back in the modern world she lived in before, she would say that tapping the earring once was similar to pressing the "speed dial 1."

Of course, her "speed dial 1" was Lisa.

Usually, her husband would pick up her call at the first ring. But the other line already rang three times and Lisa was yet to pick it up.

Now her heart was beating fast and hard against her chest.

Lisa, please pick up my call, Irene said to herself while clutching her chest tight. And please, please be safe.

***

Lisa was distracted when he felt the earring in his left lobe vibrate.

He wore two earrings. In his right ear lobe was a scale-like earring. On the other hand, in his left ear was a plain black diamond stud that also served as a matching communication device with his wife.

Wait... Irene is calling.

He instantly snapped out of whatever it was that dazed him.

When he came to his senses, he found himself standing behind the carriage while Bert, the coachman, was standing in front of him with a worried look on his face.

He couldn't remember what happened for Bert to give him that kind of look.

Or why did they stop at the side of the road.

"Your Grace, are you alright?" Bert asked worriedly. "You just suddenly went very still and no matter how many times I called you, you didn't respond."

Bert smiled and politely bowed to him, then he returned to his position.

As soon as the coachman disappeared from his sight, he noticed the carriage ahead moving in a moderate speed. He noticed that it had the crest of House Hayward.

" Lisa?"

Hearing his wife's voice instantly made everything around him fade into the background.

"Yes, honey?" he said. "Is everything alright?"

"I should be the one asking you that," Irene said. "For some reason, I feel very anxious. Are you okay? Have you reached the Royal Palace?"

"We're almost there," he said.

He didn't mention that they stopped at the side of the road and he couldn't remember why. Irene just said that she was feeling anxious. He didn't want to give her another reason to worry about him.

"Don't worry too much, honey," he comforted her. "Nothing bad will happen to me."

"Are you sure, hon?"

"Uh-huh," he said confidently so that her anxiousness would lessen a bit. "How about you, honey? Is everything alright there? Are you and Winter okay?"

"We're fine," she said, sounding a bit relieved now. "Our baby is still asleep."

"What a sleepyhead," he "complained" playfully.