Andreas knew he should follow Lana as she ran out of the house, but he couldn’t command the muscles in his body to obey. How could he have been so stupid not to have realized her true feelings earlier? Or had he chosen to ignore them? She had been falling in love with him as he started doing everything in his power to push her away. He had erred worse than he had realized.
Once she was out of sight, Andreas stumbled to the railing to get something to hold on to. His legs had become unstable. He should’ve known. He should’ve seen it. But he was too absorbed in his own feelings to even consider what hers might have been. He now realized that winning her back was going to be a more difficult than he had previously hoped it would be. There was no way she would easily forgive him, he knew that now. He wouldn’t have easily forgiven himself were he in her shoes.
He collected himself slowly and by then it was far too late to run after her. He decided that he would try to talk to her again when she was calmer. The way she had reacted as they kissed gave him hope that his wasn’t entirely a lost cause. If he put his mind to it, he would be able to win her back. He needed to win her back. Pushing her away hadn’t had the effect he had hoped for. Seeing her every day tugged at the hole in his chest that only ever was filled when he was holding her close to him. He had been an idiot.
Andreas walked up the stairs all the way to his study. He needed time to think over eveything. Planning how he was going to go about apologizing to Lana was crucial. He hated knowing she didn’t trust him. He hated feeling like he needed her to.
One girl. One girl was all it took to completely disarm him. She didn’t even know the magnitude of the effect she had on him. Seeing her with Kalen and the way she smiled at him only made Andreas more determined to have her smile like that at him. She looked happy when Kalen was training her. She seemed to be having fun. Lately, she only seemed angry around himself and he didn’t blame her. He had, after all, set out to make her feel animosity toward him in the first place.
He sank down into his chair contemplating ways he could go about fixing the mess he had created. There was a knock on his door. His eyes narrowed as he got up to see who it was. He hoped it was Lana, ready to talk, but he knew she had never been in this part of the house. He had left it out on the tour. Slowly, Andreas opened the door.
“Hello Andreas, it has been a while.”
Andreas quickly backed away from the door as the man stepped into the room. “Raphael. It has been long, but not long enough,” he commented dryly. “Tell me, is there a new prophecy the Followers of Light want to bestow upon me? Your last one worked out so well... Do you even know where the girl is?”
“I am not here because of a prophecy, Andreas, but I do know where the girl is. We have been keeping close tabs on her and will not reveal her identity to you until it is too late.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I cannot wait long enough to see the prophecy play out. I’ve grown sick of seeing you and Kalen run around doing whatever you want and getting away with it. It has to end somewhere.”
Andreas ignored the warning in Raphael’s tone. Raphael was a sorcerer of light, he wouldn’t do anything rash, Andreas argued. His mind was still focused on Lana. He could’ve had her – no, he had had her only to stupidly throw it all away. Why did his past always have to keep haunting him?
“And what do you plan on doing about it?” Andreas asked shifting his attention to his desk, feeling compelled to look for something, but he didn’t know what. His eyes aimlessly searched the messy area, but nothing registered in his mind. A strange sensation was sweeping over him.
“Something must really have you distracted if you haven’t noticed it by now,” Raphael said with a laugh. Andreas snapped out of the daze instantly and turned back to him, but it was too late. Raphael was already poised to strike. The knife went in before Andreas could even register what was happening. “This is for all the people you have hurt in your miserable existence. The world would not cry for your loss. Good riddance, Andreas Grigoli,” Raphael whispered as he withdrew the knife and disappeared.
The blood was pouring out of him too fast. There was nothing he could do. He couldn’t concentrate on a self-healing spell. He felt his focus slip as the life flowed out of him.
YOU ARE READING
A Necessary Evil (Book 1)
Fantasy**One can be evil, and still have a good heart, just as one can be good but still have a heart tainted by evil.** "There was an undeniable comfort and stability in a stable future, at having every detail of your life meticulously planned out. But ev...
