“I, more than anybody, know that Vetta went to extremes to keep me alive. I can tell you so much more, but we would stay here all night if I do that. I was so selfish because I know she loved me in her own way. And I cared for her in my own way. But I have been so selfish, Danika.” His voice broke.
He was on the verge of tears. The thought of a strong and powerful man like him reduced to tears hurt her so much. More tears slipped from her eyes. She wished she could go hold him, but she was almost sure that he wouldn't appreciate that at the moment. But even as she felt so much for him—for Anarieveta—she needed to know something.
“Because you...care for me? Is that why you feel you have been so selfish?” The answer would hurt like a knife to her heart, but Danika needed to know.
He shook his head. It made her relieved.
“I have been so selfish because I was so engrossed in my own pain, I forgot that she went through so much like me—if not worse. She was broken to pieces, and yet she was so strong even after slavery because she made me the center of her world. She buried all the memories of her life and channeled all her energy and her whole life to being with me. That was the reality she used to escape her past, and that was also why she held onto that reality for so long because she knows that if it goes, she has nothing else to hold on to. Nothing else to escape to. I didn't realize this on time.”
“Oh, Lucien...”
“I was so engrossed in myself, I did not see what was happening beneath my nose. If I hadn’t neglected her so much, I would have realized what she was doing on time and try to stop her—to help her. If I hadn’t neglected her so much, I would have known that she is extremely broken and hiding from it all. I would have known that she has gone toxic in time. I would have realized that Anarieveta has become so bitter that she will go to extremes just to hold on to her reality.”
“It is not your fault, Lucien. Please, do not blame yourself for that.”
“You have no idea the extent she has gone, Danika. You have no idea how much bitterness she has inside her now. The look in her eyes as she vented out her anger.” When he looked at her, Danika saw knowledge.
There was so much he wasn't telling her. He knew so much.
“Do you know what hurts most?” he said.
Danika shook her head.
“That everything Cone told her the day she staggered in to save me turned out to be true.”
She lowered her head and wiped her tears. Where did she start trying to make this better? It was too much.
He finished. “And now, I ask myself: What am I going to do about her? Is it too late to help her?” A tear slipped from his eyes.
IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.
Coza lived in a cave. He had been here for so long, waiting for the perfect opportunity.
That night, he sat and waited for her to arrive. She had not reported to him and it was well past time. He was getting angry and anxious.
It was unlike her to be late.
The prince thought he killed him five years ago. But he was not so easy to kill.
He was almost giving up hope when he heard movements outside his cave. Then she entered.
“You are late,” Coza spat accusingly. He was angry.
“I am so sorry, Master. It's hard getting out of the palace this days,” she said.
“Update me on what is happening now. I heard the Vetta is in the dungeon?”
“Yes. The king has not decided her fate.”
“The bitch made her mistake years ago. I offered her Heaven and she declined because of the prince. Now look where she is,” he snickered. “Update me on everything,” he ordered.
The girl did, going over all the details she knew.
“Alright. Keep me updated,” he stated after several minutes.
“I will, Master. I must go back now before someone n-notices my absence.”
He nodded. “That would be a bad thing. The prince will kill you for being a traitor. Especially if he digs into your case and realize that you have a hand in his cousin's death.”
The girl shuddered just at the thought of that. She knew she could easily lay the accusations on the mistress, but she hoped she could be able to avoid such encounter.
“I have to go,” she repeated.
“Keep me updated,” he stated firmly.
.
.
.
And now I ask myself: What can I do to help her? Is it too late to help her?” A tear slipped from his eyes.
“Yes. Yes, you can still help Vetta, my king. We can still help her. We cannot give up on her,” Danika stated firmly, sniffling to keep the tears at bay. She closed her eyes miserably. She could not even imagine being in the mistress's shoes. It was frightening. It was a horrible place to be.
Danika couldn't imagine going through all that and still having to live every day while knowing that the king's heart was not with her—knowing that the king cares for the daughter of the man that put you through so much pain. Poor mistress. No wonder the woman hated her so much. In her shoes, Danika feared that she would have done so much worse than the mistress did. Right?
“Yes, we can still help her!” she repeated vehemently.
“I have been so selfish, Danika. I have no idea how to begin making amends. How to help Vetta. She has drifted so far. I saw it in her eyes,” he intoned, voice hoarse like gravel.
Danika forgot all about leaving him all alone because he might not appreciate her touch at such a vulnerable moment of a trip down memory lane. She got up from the chair and walked towards him. His back was to her, so she placed her hand on the broadness of his back. He flinched.
“No one is beyond redemption, my king. No one is beyond a second chance.”
“Second chances.” Guilt assailed him. Of course, no one is above second chances. Most of all, him. And yet, the heavens gave it to him in the form of a child. Something so unattainable. Something so impossible. Something he thought he could never have again.
“Can I make a suggestion?” Danika whispered uncertainly.
“Yes, you can.”
“She shouldn't be in that dungeon, my king. That is the first thing you can do for her. That place is a very horrible place for her,” she whispered.
Silence. The sound that remained in the night is the chirps of cricket and the howling of the wind some distance away.
When he spoke, he took his words in a steady calm tone that belied his pain. “I know more than anybody how horrible the dungeon is for a woman like Vetta. I left her there because I want her to remember the past. It's bad. It's cruel. But I want her to remember the woman she was—not as a slave or the horrors we went through, but as the kinder woman. The fearless Vetta who stood up to Cone more times than I can imagine. The woman that gave herself up in my stead several times then. The woman that went to extremes to protect something. Most especially, I want her to remember the girl she was before Cone.” He swallowed.
Danika listened attentively, knowing that there was more.