Fan Fiction ❯ The Four Lords ❯ Wandering Love ( Chapter 20 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Brittany stared in disbelief as she stared at the Lord. "So that means I'm in the western realm I take it." Brittany said as she stared at Celine, Lord of the western realm. Celine was wearing a dark blue dress with silver lining and long silver sleeves. She grinned at Brittany maliciously before sitting down on one of the many couches.

"Your are correct. You are in fact in the western realm, a fact you should be glad about. I am not nearly as blood thirst as Giga or Zanatos. You are lucky you happened to land in my realm." Celine said with a smile. "Also, seeing as how you are in my realm you are now one of my subjects, which means that you had better watch how you act around here."

"Listen, I may not know what's going on, but I'm not stupid." Brittany replied with a smirk. "The only reason your being so nice is because I'm of some importance to you."

"Well, you are a bright girl." Celine said abruptly. "I'll be honest with you. You don't mean anything to me. Zanatos however, believes that he could have many uses for you. One of which, is keeping that miserable weakling demon lord of yours on a tight leash."

"Ha, if you think he gives a damn about me you were as fooled by his act as I was!" Brittany shouted bitterly. She instantly closed her eyes as she realized that she had probably just lost the only thing keeping her alive.

"Oh really? Why would you say that?" Celine asked. Her eyes seemed to pierce right through Brittany. It was as if they could see what Brittany was feeling, even when Brittany herself didn't know. Brittany knew at this point it would be impossible to lie to her. If she did Celine would sense it in an instant.

"Simple, Alex's feelings for me were nothing more than lust. He doesn't care about me, nor do I care about him." Brittany revealed Her voice was as cold as ice, but even as she said these words it brought pain to her heart.

"Well now that's interesting. I don't know exactly what that bastard has done, or wether what you say about his lack of feelings for you are true, but I can tell you one thing. You love him." Celine said as a devilish smile spread itself across her lips.

"You have no idea what your talking about. I hate him! It would be illogical if I were to still love him after all he's done." Brittany replied quickly.

"Love is never logical. Nor do emotional girls make good liars. Listen sit down and I'll tell you some things about love." Celine said as she motioned to the chair across from her. Brittany hesitated, but she didn't sense any danger from Celine so she decided to go along with everything for now. As soon as Brittany sat down Celine began. "First off you’re a terrible liar. I could tell you have feelings for him without my powers."

"Powers?" Brittany asked unsure of what she meant.

"To put it simply I can 'see' a person's heartbeat. I can tell when they're lying, or what their true emotions are just by listening to their heart. Yours for instance increased it's pulse as soon as you mentioned Kane's name, or rather Alex to you. It increased not out of hate or anger, but out of pain and longing. You can try and pretend that you don't about him, that you hate his guts, but the only person your fooling is yourself." Celine said with a knowing look at Brittany. "Still, I find it odd that Kane's feelings could've changed so quickly since the council meeting."

"What do you mean by that?" Brittany asked as she leaned forward. Celine had her full attention now, especially after describing so accurately how Brittany still felt about Alex.

"Hmmm, well now, seems as if your not as apprehensive as before." Celine mused as she leaned back a little to get a good look at Brittany. "I take that judging by your clothes Kane has taken to training you."

"Sort of, we haven't really done much yet." Brittany admitted as she rubbed her hands across the battle uniform Alex had given her. She rested back in the chair as a feeling of despair washed over her. She wanted to know more, more about Alex, more about the other demon lords. She knew Celine would tell her, but she felt by being here she was betraying Alex. It would serve him right, but still.... I've got to get out of here. I'll bide my time and wait for the moment to make my escape. "But you were saying something about Alex's feelings at the council meeting. What did you mean by that?"

"Well, if you must know so badly. Every time he was around you, or even looked at you his heart fluttered faintly. While normally that wouldn't mean anything Kane is a different story. I'll give the bastard this, he's a hard one to read. The fact that I could sense anything from him when he looked at you is nothing short of a miracle. Now, I'm not sure why I'm telling you this. I don't give a damn either way about Kane, I don't owe him anything, but I will tell you because I think you need to hear this. I don't know what happened, or what events led up to your leaving but know this. Kane, regardless of what he does or says, loves you." Celine's words hit Brittany like a fist. She couldn't believe what Celine was saying, yet at the same time she wanted to believe it. She's got to be wrong. She wasn't there, she didn't hear him. She doesn't know what he said. It makes no sense! How could he love me after saying all those things? Still...why do I feel this way?

Celine could see all these thoughts play across Brittany's face as she studied Brittany's expressions. After a moment of silence Celine decided to make her move. "I see that deep down you know what I'm saying is true; I'm glad. Now I have some questions for you."

"Umm, okay. What kind of questions?" Brittany asked as she became increasingly aware of Celine's penetrating gaze on her.

"Kane marked you for a reason. While I don't doubt he loves you I believe there was another reason for that. Would you know anything that would give him reason to mark you, and bring you here?" Celine questioned as she smiled sweetly at Brittany.

"No. To be completely honest with you I've wondered the same thing. I still haven't been able to come up with an answer." Brittany replied politely as she shrugged lightly.

"I don't think you understand how badly I want to know this." Celine said as her voice became colder. "If you know something it would be to your benefit to tell me. When Zanatos comes he won't ask. He'll rip and shred you apart until he finds what he's looking for." Brittany paled at what Celine had said. She knew it was true. She knew Zanatos was more than willing and capable of doing just what Celine had said. Still she couldn't tell Celine what she herself didn't know.

"I honestly don't know." Brittany replied softly. Celine's expression and voice softened as she smiled weakly at Brittany.

"It's okay. You can't tell me what you don't know." Celine said sweetly as she gazed at Brittany. "Now another question. Does Kane know you are here in my realm?"

"No. He believes that I am in the human realm." Brittany replied as she looked into Celine's eyes. Brittany saw Celine's eyes brighten as she heard Brittany's words. No! Why the hell did I tell her that! She doesn't need to know that. If she thought that Alex knew where I was she might not do anything for fear that Alex would come.

"Hmm, that's interesting. Who sent you here? I know you were sent here by magic." Celine asked as she continued staring at Brittany. Just as before Brittany answered before she realized what she was doing.

"A mage sent me here. He was supposed to send me to the human realm, but Alex killed him before he could." Brittany replied mechanically.

"So, the mages were there, interesting. Now has Alex ever told you about his past? Anything at all?" Celine continued.
"Nothing important. He told me he killed the original lord of the south, but that is all." Brittany replied once again. What's going on? Why can't I keep my mouth shut? She doesn't need to know these things! How is she doing this ? Wait, is it just me or are her eyes getting brighter? That's it! Her eyes, she must somehow be able to control me with them. I can't look away though, dammit! Brittany tried to close her eyes, and tried to look away but she couldn't do either. Celine smiled knowing that Brittany finally realized what happened.

"Well, looks as if you weren't as smart as I thought." Celine said in a voice Brittany couldn't believe belong to her. It was cold and emotionless. Even her face had lost the warmth and color she had first seen. It was now cold and hard like stone. "My eyes can penetrate even the strongest of wills. You've been my puppet since I first looked at you. Now your not going to leave until I know every little secret Kane's been keeping."

* * * * * * * *

Alex awoke with a start as swear poured down his body. Every part of him hurt as he sat up an looked around his darkened room as the images of the afternoon played in his head. He looked at his body noting that well over half of it was covered in bandages. He knew that his wounds had begun healing but they were no where near being completely healed. He then noticed that Holly, Shadow, and Kiba were all asleep on Alex's couches in his sitting room. Even though his body told him not to Alex gingerly got up and walked over to his window so he could look outside. He opened his two large window panes and let the cold night air greet him as his thoughts flew hundreds of miles away the the western realm. "Brittany...I'm coming for you."

"No way in hell are you doing that. Not even you could bring her back in the condition your in lad." Kiba said as he walked up beside Alex. Alex turned towards Kiba and sighed softly.

"I don't care. At first light tomorrow, regardless of how I feel I'm leaving. I've got to get to her. I've seen too much not simply wait and leave her where she is." Alex said softly.

"So you found her after all did you. Where exactly is she that would make you worry so much?" Kiba asked.

"She's in the west, at Celine's castle." Alex replied solemnly. Kiba looked at him with wonder.

"The way it looks to me she's in the best place out of the choices. Celine's not as vile as the Lord of the east or the Lord of the north. She wouldn't hurt her unless Brittany did something to her." Kiba said.

"Celine's not the most violent out of the three, but she's one of the most vindictive. When it comes to the mind she has no equal. As far as I know I'm the only one to survive her interrogations. Even then it was purely luck. I found a way to block out her penetrating eyes. If Brittany can figure out how to do that, she'll be okay, or at least I hope she will." Alex then turned and looked back out the window as his mind returned to Brittany. Alex could feel Kiba's eyes upon, knowing full well that Kiba was worried about him. Finally Alex gave in and turned back to Kiba as he motioned towards Shadow and Holly. "How are they doing?"

"They are doing well. Better than you and Brittany I will say that." Kiba said with a sad look in his eyes. "Shadow has made Holly his mate, but still with the way things are looking I fear there might be another great war."

"I know, I feel it too. There's an evil presence in the air, one that reminds me of the times when Scion roamed the land. Its impossible for him to be alive, but with the return of the wraiths, there's no telling what’s going to happen. It is for this reason that I must hurry and find Brittany. I don't need to waste time. Even now there's no telling what that bitch is doing to her." Alex vented as he hit the wall with his fist. Holly and Shadow moved slightly at the sound but both remained fast asleep. Kiba looked back at Alex and saw how much inner pain Alex was in, even though he was trying to hide it.

"My Lord, I'm not telling you what you should do, but I can give you advice." Kiba said slowly. "Your hurting, even though you won't admit you are. I know this is because of Brittany and the fact that no matter what you do you can't get your mind off of her. The only way you'll be able to end your suffering is to have her back in your arms and you admit to her what your heart really feels. Look at those two! They look exactly like you and Brittany did when you slept together. It was as if nothing else in the world mattered as long as you had each other. Tomorrow at first light, I will leave with you. There's no way you will be able to do this alone and I owe you this much."

Alex didn't look at Kiba as he let everything Kiba had just said sink in. Every word Kiba had said was true, Alex knew it. He couldn't deny it. His heart longed to be with her, he longed just to have her in his arms. By protecting her I have delivered her to the enemy. If I had been honest, this might have never happened. Tomorrow, regardless of what happens one thing is certain, I'll bring her back. Alex closed his eyes as Brittany's image flashed before his eyes."Brittany..."