Her Heart, His obsession

152. Commemorations (Part 2)

Loneliness gripped Demetrious as Dante left his room. It was slowly sinking in for Demetrious that Aretha had left him. He hardly had time to come to grips with his beloved's departure before Dante had dragged him to his trial and had thrown hundreds of snake eye spheres at him making him know nothing but poisonous and bone crushing pain in his body for hours and hours. The last contact he had with Aretha was during that trial when he had communicated with Aretha through the bond where Dante couldn't intercept or pry on even if he extracted his memories. She had shown him the beautiful visions of their wedding day next to Missisipi river. It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in his life.

Thinking of the wedding scenes, made him want to hear his beloved's voice but he wasnt sure if he could take the pain of hearing her voice but not being able to be with her. In the end he gave into his desires and whispered "I miss you Aretha. I want you to come to me."

Aretha whispered back from a distance "Why dont you come to me. I told you we want you to join us."

Demetrious smiled weakly "I love you sweetheart but ...." He then spoke in a painful tone "I cant come to you. Not yet. I believe, i have a duty to fulfil here. I feel that I need to be here."

Aretha spoke with irritation "You cant stop your brother. He will hurt you even more if you try to oppose him single handedly. You can't take him on my love. Do you know how hard it is sensing that you are being tormented and I cant do anything about it. Please Demetrious. You have to come to your senses. You must leave Arkansas. You must come join me with the ancient society before ...... its too late and he hurts you even more. Just come to sacred river in central territory and we will find you."

Demetrious became thoughtful "My love as much as the thought of being with you makes my chest burst with excitement, I cant leave Arkansas. I must try to do some damage control for all the horrors my brother is bringing on the rest of the world."

Aretha sighed "Do what you must but you are only one man but your brother has an army. You cant undo all of his cruel and invasive acts all by yourself."

Demetrious spoke "I have to try my love."

And it went all silent. Aretha's voice was gone. Demetrious felt lonely again. He couldnt help the tears clouding his eyes. His beloved was miles away. He couldnt see her. He couldnt touch her. His life was back to being hell just like how it was before he had met Aretha. He felt totally crushed. He was sobbing and shaking hard. Aretha's words kept replaying in his mind "You cant undo his acts by yourself. He has an army. you are only one man."

Suddenly he heard someone knocking. Demetrious wiped his tears and tried to pretend all was well. He was used to putting on a brave front all his life.

It was Octavian who entered "I know you are recovering but may I speak to you?"

Demetrious remained motionless on his bed. He turned to the door looking at Octavian "I dont think I have much of a choice. I am healing and cant leave this room so might as well speak to some company. So what are you here for"

Octavian walked to Demetrious's bed and took a deep breath "I need your help."

Demetrious raised an eyebrow "Why do you need my help. You see I am not much use to anyone at the moment in my state. You saw how many snake eye spheres was thrown at me. What could I possibly do for you?"

Octavian sighed "Look. I need you to ..... convince Dante to allow me to take Donavan to war with me tomorrow."

Demetrious looked at Octavian with a baffled expression "Why do you need to take him with you when you have the choice of every other commander? Never mind that. You are the leader of this mission. Why dont you ask him yourself?"