Chapter 131 The guardian

Chapter 131 The guardian


“That was beautiful.” Isabella panted, as Lucien rocked her. 

“I agree.” Lucien chuckled. “Would really be nice to try it again.” 

“Yeah, sure.” Isabella snorted, moving her waist to follow his rhythm. “The thrills,” her voice was filled with excitement as Lucien bent her over by the window, the city below them, with humans and animals passing, leaving only glass as a barrier between them. 

“Knew you were going to love it,” Lucien said, pride blowing through his chest. “Should have experimented sooner.” 

Isabella rolled her eyes. “Typical of you to take the praise. I'm not complaining though. It felt good.” She smiled. 

“Oh no, not now.” Lucien frowned, pulling Isabella’s dress down as he buckled his belt, arranging his fit. 

“What's wrong?” Isabella asked, frowning. “Is there an appointment? Specifically told Amelia to clear our schedules.” 

“No, it's not that.” Lucien shook his head. “It's a disturbing old man whom you're going to see soon.” He grunted, pulling her to the chair. 

They'd barely gotten seated when the door opened. “Ahh,” the voice cheerily said. “Thought I would have to see naked and sweaty bodies on my way here.” 

Isabella blushed, shame creeping on her face. 

Lucien curled his lips, momentarily taken aback by the man's bluntness. “Nice to see you too, Lyor.” His voice held no cheeriness in it. 

“Such a nice time to pay a couple of visits, interrupting their breaks.” He complained, not hiding his displeasure. 

Isabella studied the man, Lucien had called Lyor in front of her. For some reason, she felt she'd seen him somewhere. 

“I can see, you didn't tell her about me, did you. That's very distasteful of you, Your Majesty.” Lyor frowned. 

Lucien rolled his eyes, turning to Isabella, his voice soft, holding none of the fierceness it contained when talking to Lyor. “Meet, Lyor. Saved my life during the war.” 

He turned to Lyor, regaining his voice. “You already know her. She's out of bounds for you.” He warned, ready to attack. 

“Don't worry, Lucien. I wouldn't want to mate my own niece.” 

The words were out of his mouth almost at the same time Isabella exclaimed. “I knew you looked and sounded familiar.” 

Lyor raised a brow. “I can see you found my gift.” His eye travelled to the archive that had not been moved. 

“She spoke briefly about you.” Isabella’s voice was bittersweet. “Said something about you being a saviour and a monster.”

Lucien couldn't help the smile that formed on his face. “I think I would agree with Sameen on that part.”

Isabella was confused. “How?” 

Lucien cleared his throat after getting a "yo" ahead from Lyor. “Lyor had a brother named Mars.”

“Had?” Isabella didn't miss his use of the verb. 

“Heard you were smart. Didn't realise they were underreporting. You should have chosen better.” 
They knew his last statement was a jab at Lucien. 

Lucien smiled, ignoring Lyor, and turning to Isabella. “Mars tried to kill me, impersonating Lyor. He was sent by the ancient Faction.”

Isabella was confused. “How? She turned to Mars. She didn't say anything about that in the records.” 

“That's because she didn't write it,” Lyor whispered, but his voice was loud enough for them to hear. 

“Excuse you?” Isabella frowned, her hands shaking unconsciously. She pointed at the book. “It was said here that it was written by Sameen.”

Lyor shrugged. “It was said by her.” His voice turned serious, devoid of the playfulness he had held earlier. 

“What are you on about? We got the fake one? Was that why you came?” 

“Slow down.” Lyor’s voice was patient, a stark contrast with Isabella’s frantic voice. “I’m going to answer your questions. It's one of the reasons I came.” 

“You have another reason?” Her hand reached for her sword, lifting it in an instant, tilting it to his neck. “Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you here?”

Lucien’s brows furrowed. Isabella was not one to act out of character. “Izzy,” he whispered. 

“Stay out of it.” Isabella fired, her voice fierce. She turned to the man. “Just one reason, Lyor or whatever it is your name is.” 

“Stay out of it, Mr Blackthorn.” Lyor joked, wary of the sword on his neck. A slight move on either of their parts and his neck would roll on the floor. “It's a family affair.” He continued. 

Isabella pressed the sword, pointing at the artillery. “You make me go further and you're gonna bleed out in under five minutes. Who are you and what do you want?”

Lyor raised his hand slowly in defence, but Isabella’s sword stopped him. “Keep your hands where I can see them, Mr Lyor. I wouldn't want to task the maids to clean your blood. Would be such a shame.”

“Relax, Isabella. Just wanna bring out something familiar for both of us.” 

Isabella narrowed her eyes. “Slowly and gently.” She watched keenly as he removed a letter. It was from a torn page, torn obviously from the archive on the table. 

“This is proof, Isabella,” Lyor said gently as he handed the paper out to her. 

Isabella picked it cautiously, dropping the sword. “You make a funny move and your brains will be scattered on the floor.”

Lyor nodded, smiling as he watched her read the letter, her expression changing with every word written. 

“Convinced?” He asked, seeing that she wouldn't speak. 

“How did you know a day would come? I could have died and you wouldn't know?” 

Lyor shook his head. “Perhaps, you should let me take my seat before asking the questions.” 

“Sit,” Isabella commanded, showing the queenly side of her for a second before reverting. 

“Why are you coming only just now?” She fired. 

“Well,” Lyor drawled. “For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure Sameen would be so proud seeing you fierce. She was kinda worried how you were going to turn out.” 

“I'm fine, as you can see.” Isabella tried to be brave, making her voice firm, but she choked, holding back tears. “Did she suffer till the end?” She asked, as the tears fought their way to her cheeks, rolling. 

Lyor shook his head, his smile sad. “Sameen was a fighter. She fought till the end.”

“She did suffer,” Isabella said quietly, not missing the implication of his words. “Really wish I got to see her.” She shook her head sadly. 

“You couldn't have.” He adjusted himself in his seat, folding his arms, turning into the big uncle, comforting his niece. 

“It was all fated. It was the price she had to pay. The one price we had to pay.” His voice held longing. “Sometimes, I wish we had been brave enough like you.”

Isabella narrowed her eyes. “You said only a few minutes ago that she was one of the bravest women you had ever seen.” 

Lyor nodded sadly. “I still stand by it.” He swallowed. “The one thing we didn't do was fight. They said it was fate.”

“They?” Isabella frowned. 

“The witchers. The ones who wrote the history. Said it was a way of freeing us from the shackles of the ancient faction.”

“And you believed it?” Isabella asked incredulously. 

“We did.” His admission was filled with shame. “Two years before her death, we realised it was too late. We'd been played. The ancient Faction had infiltrated the witchers. Had given us the wrong prophecy.” 

Isabella knew what would follow, but she wanted to hear it from his mouth. He'd witnessed everything even though the man before her did not look more than 30. 

“We sought to correct it and there was only one way. Giving birth to the one who would be stronger than Sameen.  It was hard.” He chuckled as he reminisced on how they'd looked for the perfect sperm for Sameen. 

“She wanted you to be perfect.” He whispered, wringing his hands. “Had made us travel wide and far for the perfect match for her. Mars and I.” He added, seeing her confused face. 

“And then, you'd finally come, a perfect replica of her. She tried.” His voice shook for the first time as he looked away. 

It was terrible, reliving the moment. “Tried to wait for you, so she could see your face before she would be taken away.”

Isabella sniffed the tears away. 

“Instead, she'd been dragged away with her bloodstained body and had been put to death, but not before she slipped a piece of paper to me, containing your name.” His look was distant. 

“Then, the search for you began. Everybody wanted a piece of the baby Sameen had given birth to. You were like the treasure.”

“You had me.” It was more of a knowing statement from Isabella. 

“It was my final promise to Sameen. Had to keep you safe. I…”

The door opened abruptly, revealing Elias. “Hampton is missing, Mommy.” The little boy said with a frown.

“Well, well.” Lyor chuckled as he glanced at the boy in front of him. “If it isn't the little Elias.”

Elias’s eyes moved to the strangely familiar voice that had just called his name. 

“You?”