62. Cursed lovers

Althea

Guests bustled in and out of the palace, most of them talking about the Lola Rose incident as they continued to spew their disgust for the circumstance. I held my old father by one of his arms, trudging our way up to one of the guest rooms.

Aarmen sat next to me in the grand guest room of the palace, sobbing in his hands as we waited for the king.

"You know, daughter, it's because of your cursed destiny that my Lola is dead," he sniffled. I sat unmoving next to him.

Within a matter of minutes in the carriage, he had spun a tale about me that was enough to prove to Julian I would not live in his palace anymore.

Warrior Ashtor came by the doorway, looking nervous. He glanced once at my father, then motioned for me to come out.

"Dear court writer, please don't go missing like this. I haven't seen His Honour so tense before," he said in anxiousness as he gestured to enter another room. I pressed my lips together helplessly to avoid a treacherous tear.

His Honour wouldn't have to be tensed about me. Ever again.

Once inside, I didn't know how fast it happened. One second I heard the door shut and the other, I was engulfed in a fierce hug. Pressed against him, arms surrounding me as he cradled my head to his chest.

No matter how hard I tried to hold myself, my tears soaked up the fabric of his dress.

"No one would belittle you or your father for what your sister did, Mila. I'll make sure of that." he rubbed my back in slow, soothing circles. "You do not need to hide away from anyone.

"Or from me... ever again." He just kept holding me, moving his fingers through my hair as I continued to cry pathetically.

That was the level of my cruelty. Not letting him know what I was crying for. That it wasn't my sister's demise. It was the demise of us.

He looked down at my eyes, his gaze holding such pity, longing, but he said nothing, knowing no amount of words can heal a person of someone's death.

"It's- it's alright," I nodded furiously, backing away. "It is natural to cry when... when someone dies, can't c- control it," I hiccuped, nodding in acceptance.

He raised a hand to wipe my tears, but I twisted my head aside. "M- My father," I wiped my tears on my own, "He w- wants to tell you... something."

Let go, let him go, Coretta. Free him from your cruelty, the voices chanted within me, forbidding me to even look at him.

"Althea..." his voice broke. "Are you angry with me? Do you think I told Alexander of your sister's doing?"

"No!" I whimpered, furious that he was taking the blame on himself. "You said you would never do that. I'm... I'm angry at myself! I-"

"Ssh," he held me again, this time making me sit on a low laid couch. My whimpers were muffled against him as he gently rocked me back and forth. Like calming a baby.

"You are in a fragile state of mind, Mila. Sometimes we cannot understand what is happening around us, and feel lost when someone passes away." he held me firmer, rubbing my back reassuringly.

"You have your father with you, you have me, then what's there to worry about, hmm?" he asked softly over my head.

I felt a sudden stabbing pain rattle through my heart at his words, so painful, I had to clutch my chest. What followed were tingles of electricity buzzing from within me, spreading from my heart to the rest of my body. Excruciatingly slowly.

It felt like the first phase of the electric compulsion.

Just as the deadly sparks were about to reach the tip of my fingers and toes, it backed away, right back into my heart.

What... just happened...

"Althea, look at me!" Julian was shaking me vigorously, "Dear God, are you able to breathe? Love, look at me." His fingers were shaking as his palms framed my face.

There was such fear in a man, a king so great as him. For me. Gingerly, he brought a glass of water up to my lips. I didn't know what he was saying, his lips just moving as I took in the water.

"... your face had gone so pale for a moment, should I call for the physician?" His voice appeared as the water washed my burning throat.

"My father," I choked. "He wants to tell you something," was all I could get out.

There was extreme pain in this departure. As if I was abandoning him. To all the monsters who wished him dead. To all the women who wanted him for his stature, but could never truly love him. I wanted to laugh at myself. Who was I to blame any women? Wasn't I also, just like one of them; wanting him just for the greed of writing.

"I will," he uttered, his voice thick with guilt. As if he had done something wrong. My fingers dug into my lap, painfully, hoping to ease the internal pain away.

I should've caressed his face, told him not to worry. Kissed him. Maybe, should've told him it's my time to go, that the intelligent gods are here to take me away. Maybe spend a few days with him, loved him and then go. But no.

All I did was keep staring at the ground as he walked past me and out, silently, to the guest room.

My body shook with the onslaught of violent tears that followed by. Why was I so weak? People faced so much; breakups, cheating partners, death of the love of their lives. And me?

I didn't face any of it. I wasn't even in a relationship in the first place. Still, it hurt so much. A worthless excuse of a weak heart, I was.

"Greetings, my Lord..." Aarmen's weak voice filled my head as I sat holding my knees, taking in deep breaths so I wouldn't break again.

"Have a seat, nobleman. And please don't offend me by using my title. It's Julian for your excellency."

I rocked myself back and forth as his faint voice came into my head. My teeth sunk into my bottom lip, so hard. I wanted to draw blood.

"Julian," Aarmen started. "You had called me for this wedding celebration and I was... I was so glad to meet my daughters but-" An abrupt sob broke the voice of my old father. "But... but just to witness my... my daughter's..." He began weeping bitterly. It sounded so real, I had to bury my face in my arms.

Julian didn't deserve any of us liars of the twenty-first century.

"Alexander loved your daughter, kind man," Julian stressed on, "He didn't want her dead. My deepest apologies, I don't wish to blame your daughter Lola, but she wanted herself dead. Alexander couldn't do anything about her determination to die."

That's damn risky that they know we want to die. Aarmen shot me a message.

"So the curse has started its evil spread again..." he murmured that could easily be heard by Julian.

"What curse?"

"Althea is cursed, Julian." He mumbled.

"Althea is... cursed?" Julian repeated. "She never told me."

"She never knew." Aarmen's sobs resurfaced. "I never wanted her to know. My sweet little child. But it all comes back, anyhow," he hiccuped.

When Julian couldn't say anything, he continued.

"My wife used to be a renowned healer in our small village in Greece. Even the wife of our ruler would ask for her help. But one fateful evening, she died giving birth to my Althea. Everyone regarded my child as vicious. Evil enough to kill a healer who had saved so many lives. They all wanted my little Althea dead for killing her mother-"

"She was a mere newborn then!" Julian interjected Aarmen's feeble, old-man voice sharply, "If her mother was the ablest healer there, then it's the fault of the women who couldn't efficiently assist her in the childbirth. As efficiently as she would do."

Are you listening, Coretta? How quick is he to evaluate a situation? It won't take him two days to figure out we are from the future. Aarmen's message read.

I nodded, even though he couldn't see it. It was the strictest instruction from the Department. Never tell anyone of the ancient world that you are from the future. Because if they knew so, their greed would just increase to know more about their future, how their kingdom would end.

For instance, if Alexander knew how he would die, he would try to change that fact. He wouldn't die at the age of thirty-two. New empires wouldn't be formed after him. Europe and Asia would combine to become Eurasia, as was his plan that he couldn't fulfil. And so on. What would lead is a mass altercation, according to the department.

But I found this theory absurd. I believed more in the Novikov self-consistency principle, which in simple words meant; an event that happened in history cannot be altered. If you travel back to alter things, you just cannot. You will simply become a part of the historical happenings. Like, how a drop of fresh water doesn't make any difference to an ocean of saltwater.

"That is the thing they didn't understand," Aarmen continued, weeping, "Our ruler's wife called seers who practised black magic and had my little child cursed, that she shall have the same fate as her mother - a brutal death. But not before wherever she would go, the death of her loved ones and people in her vicinity would follow.

"And it didn't take time for the curse to take effect. For it was so strong that the same year, general Telesphorus attacked and enslaved the city, killing off the rulers of our village. I fled with my daughters, but wherever I would go, the kingdoms were attacked by invaders. I- I couldn't do anything..."

"Invasions happen all the time, one King defeating the other. Unfortunately, you are putting these coincidences as blame on your child." Julian sounded ticked off.

"If you are her father, who raised her as an exceptional young woman, you should see how far she has come with her writings. She appears perfectly happy and fine to me."

"Only those who are cursed know its graveness..." My father laughed humorlessly, "How would a blessed King as yourself know what it's like to be cursed..."

That silenced Julian all of a sudden. As though he was... too shaken to speak anything else. I couldn't hear his smart reply anymore.

Aarmen took the opportunity to speak further. "You were right when you said my Lola was adamant about killing herself. Because it resulted from Althea's curse. Wherever she would be, her loved ones would have this urge to kill themselves, and that's what my Lola did!" And then Aarmen said finally.

"Through God's grace, I found a healer here in Egypt. He told me that the curse could only be made partially ineffective if Althea is married to a man, pure in his virtue. Neither a killer nor a sinner. A priest."

The rest of the conversation was a blur to me. I couldn't bear Julian's silence, his helplessness as Aarmen continued how he kept me from knowing the curse, taught me various things, made me independent, made me believe since childhood that I was a nymph from some other world so I couldn't marry just anyone without his permission.

"What if a King becomes a priest?" I felt the air knock out of my lungs as I heard Julian's response after the prolonged silence on his part.

He's ready to become a priest for you... That was all Aarmen messaged me. I could feel his dread, how it was so difficult and perhaps terrifying for him to do what he was doing.

"A king cannot be a priest. Just like a lion doesn't become a sheep if it stops hunting."

"Are you implying that I cannot marry your daughter?" Chills ran up my arms at Julian's threateningly low voice. I gulped, shooting Aarmen a quick message if he was okay.

Hell, I'm not okay! God, why did I even agree with this father plan, he's going to murder me!

"W- Why would you want to marry a cursed unfortunate woman like my... daughter? Who- Who isn't even a royal?" Aarmen had lost all confidence, as his voice now sounded like actual tears.

"Because I admire her, cherish her for who she is. And if it bothers you she's a cursed unfortunate woman, then I can very well assure she'll be the happiest woman with me and not some priest."

The way he said it in a heartbeat, so straightforward, without a doubt holding his voice, was when I realised how grave a danger I'd put myself in.

Uh, Coretta... was there something... going on between you two? I feel like I'm intruding on... personal stuff uh wait, don't answer my question. Aarmen messaged awkwardly.

Just focus on moving me out of this palace. I messaged him, my eyes watering again, despite the attempt to swallow all the emotions in a hard gulp. I will have to end this for the sake of Julian's future.

"You love her?" asked my fake old father. "You love her..." he said again, as if absorbing it. "But does she love you? Did she ever say that she is in love with you?"

Another silence and I knew this was the last straw for this conversation.

"She doesn't need to speak it out to mean it, nobleman. I know well," Julian gritted out. He was clearly losing patience.

Look, Coretta, the situation's going out of hand. I'll call you here and you'll give your opinion because I don't think he'll take my opinion, anyway. Be clear in what you say and do not mess this up.

W- What opinion, Aarmen? I messaged back in dread.

If you love him or not.

Why would I love him? It's against our rules! My vision clouded with tears. With a contemptuous hate for myself.

Then speak that out to him, because he thinks otherwise.

To accept that I didn't love him was one thing. I could bear it. I had to. But to say it out loud to him was like crushing a newly bloomed flower under my feet, which he had so carefully planted.

My hands were shaking, turning colder by the second. I did... did not love him. I lusted for him. Get it through your thick skull, Coretta Hayes. The way you hid everything, even your identity from him all this time, isn't love. Nothing about what you did to that loving man is love.

There must be some woman out there, in this world, waiting for him. I couldn't be a distraction in his path of finding her who's destined to be with him.

Coretta, I'm not blaming you if you do love him. At one point, I did too, for Ismene. But we need to move on. This is not our world...

"I do not love him, Aarmen!" Sobs racked my body as I screamed out, barely able to breathe. I got up and wiped my face, sniffling up the tears. "Call me there, Aarmen. I'll tell him."

As a servant took me to their room, I could feel the tension in the room break somewhat. When Julian's body visibly relaxed on my arrival, I had to press a hand to my mouth to avoid tearing up my already sensitive eyes.

"My dear daughter, do you want to be with him?" Aarmen asked slowly.

The way Julian's eyes were hooked on me, hopefully, that I wanted to melt away on the floor, disappear from his sight forever.

"I- I gave you my word, father," I hiccuped. "I can not... be with anyone you don't approve of." I closed my eyes, thinking of all the signs I gave to Julian in the past, but he had taken none.

The silence in the room was deafening.

"This was the one thing you asked me to promise you, in... in exchange for the freedom you... gave me, father."

Just like Cheryl didn't interfere between Alexander and his future wife, I won't too. But unlike Alexander, Julian cared too much as I felt him stand behind me. He held my hand in a firm grip.

The hold that said he didn't want to let me go.

Aarmen looked at our hands, his expressions changing to that of sorrow.

Coretta... he messaged me again. I'm not able to put up with this... this I feel so cruel doing it damnit. If you want to stay with him for a couple of days and persuade him in some other way-

Get me out of here, please, Aarmen. I'm begging you. It was too late to rethink my decision of leaving. I squeezed my eyes shut as my body started shaking again. It only worsened when Julian rubbed my arms in assurance. He didn't know that nothing would work between us. Ever. There was this enormous distance of time between us. I cannot live, even after returning, knowing I manipulated Julian's life.

"Althea," Aarmen spoke, his voice shaking. "If you want to marry him, marry! But Julian, I'm telling you, the curse she's been bestowed with will rise again and kill you! And if that doesn't happen, she will die a brutal death, sooner than you'll realize."

The wrinkled hand he was pointing at him began to shake as he fell to his knees, his wooden stick clanking on the ground. "If- If you want to marry her, kill me before... doing that. This... this old father cannot live to see the death of another one of his children. Kill me, Julian, kill me!" And then Aarmen collapsed on the ground.

I tore my hand from Julian's grip to kneel near Aarmen's fainted self.

"Father! Please don't say like that... father. Please... please Julian," I looked up at his numbed expression, my insides burning with humiliation by the act I was creating. Betrayed and tricked the man in front of me.

But it was for the greater good. For him and me both. I didn't know what the department would do to me if they knew I was on the verge of breaking their rules.

They never told us what would happen if we did that. And we never dared ask about it. Our mentors were the only ones who were kind to us because the way the other professionals and scientists had trained and treated us, almost like some lab rat, hooked on our every behavioural pattern...

It looked like they would torture me to death if my actions created what they called; criminal altercation of the historical world - Changes made in the past realm due to a teleported individual's actions.

I did not believe in their theory because I had already tested mine. Still, I couldn't help but become cold, like a frigid corpse at what they could do to me.

Few people hurriedly came in with a stretcher and a pot of burning incense as they wafted it over Aarmen's fainted body, then took him out of the room.

As a dutiful daughter, I should've followed him, but my feet appeared to stay rooted to the ground by an invisible vine, face lowered in shame. Julian stood a few feet from me, deadly silence wrapped around us as he started walking my way.

My heart pounded this time out of fear. That he was mad at me for lying about the nymph thing. But I just stood at my spot, bracing myself.

It would be good, would ease my heart a bit if his anger would be the last thing I'll have to face before exiting his life forever.

But instead, I felt the warmth of his palms cup my face, tilting it up to look into my eyes.

"Was he your father, or one of the intelligent gods who has come to take you away?" he whispered.

I stood speechless. Even after Aarmen had iterated all my made-up past and curse, he wanted to believe me, in my stupid nymph and intelligent God's theory.

Trust and honesty, he had given me both.

"I do not believe a word he said, Althea. Why does it feel like what you told me about yourself is far more true than what he wants me to believe?" he held my arms, desperation clear in his light brown eyes.

Yes, you are right. That's what I wanted to tell him, that all of it was a lie. But I didn't know what he would do to Aarmen then, given he'd told me he wanted to fight the Intelligent Gods for me. I would be crossing the heights of selfishness if I jeopardised my friend's life for my happiness. A friend who wanted to help me and stay for a longer period in this world.

"He- He told you what he is..." I stuttered, barely able to take it anymore. I was beginning to hyperventilate at the number of lies I was feeding him.

"And I... I'm just a human," I laughed despite the tears in my eyes. "I probably... believed in my father's childhood story too much," I pressed my lips to nod, feeling like the worst woman alive.

His hands slid down to hold my wrists. "Maybe he wanted to tell you, in one way or the other, that you are a nymph," he stressed. "Maybe he's just hiding that fact from me, and you."

I looked up at him, wanting to take his face in my hands. He looked so innocent at this moment. I shook my head, "Julian, I... I thought you just took it for fun when I told you I'm a nymph," I gave a sad smile, "You are a grown man and a King, you should be the last person to believe in things like nymphs." I said, when in fact, he was a true King, coming right down to the conclusion that neither I nor Aarmen were from this world.

Suddenly, the chip in my wrist buzzed and a female robotic voice echoed in my head.

Near expiration condition failed. Trigger cause - minor heart attack. Shutting off electric compulsion. Continuing normal functioning.

"What was... that?" Julian asked, slowly raising the wrist he had been holding and rubbed the area with his thumb. "I... I felt it... I felt something hum under your wrist, Althea, like a bee... What was that?" He rubbed at my wrist more firmly, underneath which was the chip.

I went pale.

"It's n- nothing!" I jerked my hand away from him, hiding behind my back, my heart thudding like crazy. The warning for the near-death situation I had unknowingly experienced moments ago couldn't come at a worse time.

"But I felt it, did you not?" He asked, carefully studying me. I shook my head but stopped midway.

Stop lying to him, you abomination! A voice inside me screamed, curling me in the jaws of infinite guilt.

Julian was progressively closing the distance between us, making me aware of the wall behind me. "You are not a normal human, Althea... I swear for a moment, you were listening to something I couldn't hear. Isn't it?"

His breathing turned shallower as he looked into the depths of my eyes, and somehow it felt as if he could see right through me that I was Coretta Hayes, not Althea Rosemary.

"Your father, or whoever he was, was very clever to dismiss you being... something else..." he rubbed at my wrist again and I was going to pass out in panic if he actually felt the square piece of metal surgically fixed just underneath my veins.

"Something like an... evil creature?" I mumbled, completing his words, "Someone whose presence can kill..." I looked up into his eyes, my heart hurting like anything, "Any rational King would've declared me evil and... would've killed me-"

The way his eyes darkened, with so much anger that I was hauled backwards, my back colliding with the wall, but the hit was cushioned by his hand.

He wasn't being gentle like his usual ways, but aggression was all that was pouring out of his kiss. A soft cry escaped me as his fingers tugged at my hair, giving him access to my mouth. I realised I had angered him because he despised me talking about death. I'd never experienced this side of him as he silenced me, somehow sharing his pain with me.

When he felt my breathlessness, he slowed, kissing slower as if mending me all over again. My legs gave out at the intensity, making both of us drag down on the ground.

"Althea," He held my neck, breathing harshly, "whatever you are, I wouldn't let you go. Anywhere away from me."

Shuddering, I closed my eyes, thinking about the worst that could happen to me if I stayed.

Haha, it's government-funded. If anyone in the team made a mistake, I don't think we'll be able to forgive them.

If they committed the CAHW crime, removing evidence of that violation would be the only good option, no? Which would also involve us disposing them off.

And of course, we wouldn't let the team know. After all, we won't want to send them all spooked to the BCE years.

How about the cold storage of the lab? It can go down to -150°C.

I think an electric chair would be.

Oh no, they are used to electric shocks by now, with their training of bearing the electric compulsion.

How about... a tank of sodium hydroxide?

I wished I had never eavesdropped on this conversation of the department's mad scientists. At that time, I was so confident that I'd shrugged it off, knowing it would be impossible to commit that crime. When today, I stood at its threshold.

I kept a steady hand over Julian's shoulder, schooling my features. I couldn't tell him the truth about me being from the future. But I could dilute the lie I told him with as much truth as possible. It was the only way.

"A curse is something that shouldn't be taken lightly, Julian," I said softly, then raised my wrist at him. "You felt its effect, didn't you?"

He opened his eyes, pure fear glimmering in them.

"It happens every time I am about to die," I told him the truth about why the chip buzzed, finding my reflection in his light brown, hazel-like eyes.

"No..." he whispered, his voice breaking and he couldn't do anything but entwine his fingers tighter through mine.

"H- How can we love, if we don't survive Julian?" I skimmed a thumb over his rugged jaw, wanting to etch every feeling of him in my mind.

Because in my world, there won't be him. Perhaps just his tomb. Somewhere buried in the desert. I sucked up a tear-soaked breath at that thought.

"You don't trust me enough to protect you, Althea?" His voice shook. "If you are happy with me, then what can kill you?"

My lips trembled with every breath I took. "The inevitability of my early demise," I uttered, "Everyone dies one day, but mine would be sooner," I told yet another truth somehow, that I couldn't live here forever.

"B- Becoming a priestess would just ensure it wouldn't be a brutal one," I whispered. "No one can win against curses, Julian." Just like I can't win against the purpose I was sent here for and just... be with you.

A nerve in his temple throbbed wildly. He raised his hand to massage it, closing his eyes, taking in deep breaths.

"Curse... yes..." I heard him say.

"You may be a curse to others, Althea, but for me, you are just one thing." He held my arms, nestling me in his embrace.

"A blessing." He pressed his lips over my head, his hands shaking as he enclosed me to him, "Because you made me forget that... that I was cursed too."

My heart nearly stopped at his words. He was... cursed? I lay buried in his chest, unmoving. His whole demeanour had changed, as if he was holding onto me for his dear life.

"You wouldn't remember, but I had accidentally confided it to you the day you'd come to my palace," he murmured over my head, "that one of my concubines cursed me before jumping off to her death...

"That I'll... I'll never have love in my life. And even if I do, it wouldn't last long, just like she didn't last..."

The contradiction tore me apart. I wanted him to believe in curses, not knowing I should've done the exact opposite of it.

Was hopelessness the reason he wasn't remembered? The hopelessness of never having a wife or an heir who could take over his kingdom. To be bestowed with a curse was a grim thing for people of this time. As grim as people of our time finding out that they've been diagnosed with a lifelong illness.

"Julian..." I pushed him to look at his face. "How many women have left you after your concubine's demise?" I asked him carefully. When he just shook his head a little, staring at our entwined fingers, I brought a small smile, knowing well that thankfully it hadn't happened. And perhaps my departure was just triggering back the feelings of that curse on him.

"Then don't let the curse get to you. Did you know you have so many prospective brides to choose from?" I shook him to look at me, "I met them at Helaine's home, they are so sweet and-"

"Stop, Althea," he pinned me with a dark look, as if controlling himself. Then he laughed. That's when I knew what a sad laugh sounded like.

"No one can win against curses, no?" He whispered back, iterating my statement, feeling a lock of my hair between his fingers. "Isn't asking me to find another woman, the same as me asking you to stay with me?"

I took in deep breaths silently, feeling myself internally disintegrate. Feeling like I was becoming the cause of Julian's disappearance from history.

"Julian," I started again, trying desperately to change his mind, "When I'll- I'll be a priestess, I will come to visit you," I broke into a smile. A pathetic one. "You will have to have an heir to ensure your rule's longevity and... and being a priestess, I can even bless your children that they follow the path of their great father..."

I paused, my breath getting caught in my throat when I felt his hand slowly make way over my stomach. He wasn't looking at me, but where his hand was, his face strangely peaceful. I sat frozen, the abnormal beating of my heart making my entire body go haywire in utter dread.

That's when I felt the warning alarms going off in my head. The extent to which I'd messed him up. Messed up with his hope.

"I write, so you could be remembered, Julian," I whispered, carefully taking his hand from my stomach to place it over his heart, "Just... just think, would it be of any benefit if I die in a couple of years while staying with you? It's inevitable. But what's not inevitable is your will to move your kingdom forward, be remembered for the generous king you are. And that... that wouldn't be possible if you are tied down to me..."

"You will visit me as a priestess?" He drawled, as if the possibility of me coming back to him was the only thing lingering in his head. Keeping me hostage with his drugged eyes, he held my neck, leaning in slowly to press his lips by the nape in a crushing kiss, making me close my eyes.

"Is it because it's sin to touch a priestess like this?" he murmured against my neck, gripping the back of my head to press his lips deeper, all the way up the length as I lay helplessly wrapped in his arms, my head lolling back at his vigour. The vigour he had never shown before. The obscure primal hunger he'd kept restrained was coming to the surface because this time, he wasn't holding back. And it... felt good. It felt so good...

If you feel someone's falling for you or vice versa, be prepared to get back to your century.

Don't hesitate for a damn second. Remember, love is an attraction greater than the gravitational force which drives people mad.

How about the cold storage of the lab? It can go down to -150°C.

How about... a tank of sodium hydroxide?

"You... wish death for me... J- Julian," I rasped, trembling in his arms as he stopped at my words, looming over my face with nothing but terror.

"No, never!" he growled, his voice turning hoarse as he cupped my face, the hope crumbling in his eyes.

"Then let me be a... priestess. That's the only way for me," To exit this world. Painlessly.

He looked as if he was on the verge of breaking. But then he did. Because now, his face was buried in the crook of my neck and instead of his kiss, I felt the hot moisture of unshed water skimming against my neck.

Was this why every one of my dreams of him... ended with him in tears...

"Please Julian, please live... for me..." I tried at last in a weak attempt, brushing my fingers through his hairs. "Live for my writing, my dream of... of letting the world know about you... Please."

He began to withdraw, but the necklace he gave me stuck with the fabric of his collar, leaving our faces inches apart. I steadied myself, removing it when he stopped me.

"It's... it's expensive," I looked down at the jewelled delicacy, the colour of my eyes, "A priestess isn't allowed to... wear jewellery."

"Keep it." He uttered, his voice controlled as he fixed the necklace back around my neck.

"No woman deserves it more than you do. Not even my wife... if I ever have one." His eyes had lost the spark, the charisma of Julian Romanowski as he just laid his forehead against mine, closing his eyes until the tears that had just escaped them weren't there anymore.

"We are lovers, Althea. Even if it's cursed lovers that we are," he whispered.

* * *

Aarmen walked by my side silently, the sound of his wooden walking stick a soft thud in the sand. The bird's chirp was a soft coo in the sky as they fluttered their way home with the setting Egyptian Sun.

He gave me a nervous glance as I walked a step behind. A cloth bundle hung around one of my shoulders containing some clothes and the meagre twenty-first-century products I'd ordered from the AI book.

"Uh, Coretta... So you... left your AI book with Julian?"

"Yes."

"You gave away five years' worth of writing?"

"Yes."

He let out a sigh, not knowing what to say.

It was madness how bizarre the time factor of time-travel worked. So fast that we already crossed five years without even realising it. "I've asked him to have someone copy down whatever I wrote in my book, then... burn it," I informed.

He glanced back again, yet not knowing what to say. Maybe he was still feeling bad about all that act he had to put up with.

"He trusted me with that book, Aarmen." I looked at the orangish sky as we continued to walk, now far away from the palace complex of Romanos. "The last impression I wanted to put in this mind is of me being a spy. He'll destroy the book afterwards," I nodded, "I trust him."

"Okay..." he hummed with a shake of his head, pressing a thumb to his wrist, probably to get in touch with the leftover members of our team.

"Holy crap, can you just lower your voice, Dunkin?" He squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing at his temple. "Your scream's literally echoing off in my head."

It seemed like my mind would forever be weaved with my last conversation with Julian, my feet feeling like I was dragging myself instead of walking. A gaping void within me which I didn't know if ever could be filled again.

It truly broke him when I'd told him he couldn't keep anything associated with me. I had to be so careful in explaining to him not to ever follow me or look out for me.

"I was with Coretta! Do you know how big of a deal it was to take her out of the palace? Damnit, be happy you two can finally go home- wait, why is Lorenzo still crying?" Aarmen asked, perplexed.

Something felt off now. I connected myself to the call to hear them.

"I've been contacting you both for the last two hours! At least keep yourself connected instead of going full-on MIA!"

But then Dunkin's voice broke, like a choking sob escaping abruptly from his throat.

"We... we found... Cheryl's lifeless body floating near the shore."