Half a heart, half a crown

T H I R T Y T H R E E

His eyes remained calm and not even a trace of guilt or fear visible through them.

What do I expect? He is King Devilon Arisen. King of kings.

But I am not calm. I am furious and at the same time, I felt such relief to get this out of my chest.

"You saw that envelope, don't you." It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

It doesn't have to take every ounce of him to know that.

"King Antonio Davinsky wrote that letter right?" I laughed dryly, "how wrong of me to accused him all these times."

"I killed him not because I wanted to." He breathed, "I killed him because I couldn't keep him."

My hands trembled and the tip of my sword inserted into his flesh. He didn't wince. He never did. Instead his eyes remained fixed on mine with emotions I can't read.

"There should only be one hero in this world." He said, "that's why in order to have a new hero, one should be dead."

I stayed silent.

My eyes were filled with salty tears.

He continued, "Your brother is a hero. He is the greatest king in the whole century. He was my very close friend. I trusted him with everything. And he did the same towards me. I guessed he was wrong. He shouldn't have trusted me."

"He shouldn't have trusted you." I repeated.

"I was born in this dark world. I was taught to know that everything will go your ways if you wanted it hard enough. I was taught with blood, sweats and tears. I learnt how to hold a sword at the same time as they learnt how to hold a spoon. I wasn't allowed to break down. I was told that if I were to show them a stone cold face, they would all be afraid of me and would never ever going to know how I feel. They said that if I had everything, I would be appreciated and respected more. I got what I wanted of course, they were all afraid of me. But not even once, was I been respected from them."

His words held me captive. This is the first time I had witnessed such emotions in his voice. Even though his eyes remained emotionless, his voice spoke otherwise.

"Your father taught--" I was cut off quite suddenly.

"My mother." He said.

Queen Alizarin Baer Arisen

"King Devil Arisen is my biological son." Her eyes were focused as laser and I knew she wasn't lying.

Wow. There were clues all along. Those silver-blue eyes. The way the old lady's eyes would turn completely blue when she's sad and the way King Devil's eyes became completely silver when he's angry. So similar and yet so different.

She came closer and squeezed my shoulders tight, "Please, please, help my son."

"He's not a monster." She whispered.

"Your mother..." I whispered.

With a squeaky and quick move, the bright silver blue eyes that was once filled with life became empty and lifeless. The old lady was sliced by a sharp thin blade across her neck. She fell onto the cold hard ground with a thump and her eyes were open mercilessly.

"Your mother..." I repeated, "....is dead."

There was silence.

I slowly turned to see him standing there with furrowed eyebrows and I knew exactly that he doesn't believe me.

"What did you say?" He broke off the silence.

I gulped, "I said....your biological mother is dead...she's dead."