-39
TYSON’S POV
I sat there dumbfounded for a long time. What was wrong with this girl? It took every ounce of my willpower to confess my feelings for her but in the end, she just ran away without listening to me.
Exhaling deeply, I went in search of Caleb and Aurora. The sun had reached close to the horizon and would set soon. I had to find both of them before sunset. It wasn’t a good idea to stay alone in the forest especially at night.
After about an hour of toiling, I found Caleb standing at the edge of a steep valley.
“What are you doing here?” I asked sneaking upon him. Startled, he turned around so quickly that he almost fell into the valley.
“Damn it! Tyson… Can’t you be more thoughtful? Look at the valley… if I fall down... I will be turned into pulp,” Caleb said regaining his balance and taking a few steps away from the edge.
Catching his breath he asked, “Where is Aurora?”
I was about to reply when I heard some footsteps. My lips stretched into a smile as I caught sight of Aurora.
“Take the name of the angel and the angel is here,” I muttered under my breath. Thank God she was alright.
“Were you guys looking for me?” She said and without realizing walked too close to the edge. My heart came to my mouth as I saw her fall off the cliff.
“Aurora!!” Caleb and I screamed in unison and lunged for her but couldn’t reach her hand on time. My heart stopped beating. No! This couldn’t be happening, she couldn’t fall…
I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw her grab a branch sticking out. Though she was still hanging precariously, I could at least attempt to save her.
“Caleb help me pull down the roots of this banyan tree. We will tie them together till we have enough to use it as a rope.”
Cupping my mouth, I called out to Aurora, “Hang in there. We are coming!”
AURORA’S POV
I gazed at Tyson and Caleb as they struggled to save me. They seemed genuinely concerned about my welfare… or was it my welfare? I still had the stone with me… Did they want to save me or the stone? There was only one way to find out.
When they both had reached the same level as me, I took out the stone from my pockets. When I was sure that they both had seen it, I let the stone slide through my hands.
“Gosh! No!” Caleb shouted and plunged into the valley behind the stone. Tyson didn’t seem bothered by the stone and was focused on saving me. After a great deal of conscious effort, he managed to get me to the top of the cliff.
I had expected Tyson to try and save the stone but Caleb… I always felt that he cared the most for me.
“Are you okay?” Tyson said, eyeing me worriedly.
I nodded my head and said, “The Heart of Magic, it is gone. You should go and look for it.”
“Are you crazy? Look at you… you look so pale… you won’t be able to defend yourself if some animal attacks…”
“But, Tyson… what if we lose the stone forever?”
He cupped my face and said looking into my eyes, “I have already saved the thing I care about the most.”
My heart fluttered at this statement. I didn’t want to be delusional once again. “You are kidding right?”
His eyes flashed with hurt and he said, “You think this is a joke to me… From the time, I met you; I have been having nightmares.”
His hands slumped to his sides and he lowered his eyes. “It is always the same… you fall off the cliff and die! You can’t even imagine how I felt when I saw you fall …”
I couldn’t restrain myself anymore. I threw my arms around him and said, “I am so sorry, Tyson. If I had known about your nightmares, I would have thought of a different plan…”
He pushed me away and glared at me angrily. “This was your PLAN!”
My heart sank… I didn’t want him to get alienated again. I looked at him with pleading eyes, begging him to give me a chance to explain.
“When you told me that Caleb had feelings for me and you didn’t… I found it difficult to believe…”
“I never said that I don’t love you…”
My heart skipped a beat, “Back then…”
“You ran away without hearing everything…”
My heart fluttered with hope. It started weaving dreams of a happy family. “Does that mean you don’t hate me anymore?”
“I never hated you Aurora. The first time we made love I knew there was something special between us. I wanted to tell you all about myself and propose you but…”
“But what, Tyson… please don’t hold back…” I said grasping his shoulder.
“I started having those nightmares. I figured that I could save you if I kept you away from myself… I was so furious when Aslan kidnapped you… I was a fool Aurora. I thought that I could control my destiny…”
My head spun… I didn’t know how to react to this sudden confession. Silence hung, deep and heavy in the air as we sat there quietly. My mind was a turmoil of emotions. It was difficult for me to process everything.
“What should we do about that stone?” I asked to break the awkwardness that had crept between us.
“What do you want to do, Aurora?”
“I just want to go home and hug my daughter…”
“Then that is what we will do… Let’s leave this wretched place forever…” He said jumping to his feet.
“Caleb?”
“Let him find The Heart of Magic and keep it for himself!”
I was stunned to hear his statement. I always thought that Power was the most important thing in Tyson’s life… Today he proved me wrong with his decision…
The return journey was becoming awkward by the minute. Every time I caught his eye my face turned tomato red and my heart started fluttering… If this continued I would go crazy… I had to talk about something… anything to keep myself distracted.
“Why is everyone so scared of this Dark Queen, Tyson?”
“She was the epitome of pure evil, Aurora. She could go to any extent to become powerful. She wanted to rule the world.”
He cleared his voice and said in a thick voice, “She didn’t even spare her family. When her elder son was eight years old, she gave him to an evil seer in return for The Heart of Magic.
Verona, the evil seer drank from him for years causing him endless misery and pain... she didn’t even come to check on him once…”
Tyson halted in his tracks and kept staring into the space in front of him. I grasped his hand and asked, “Are you okay?”
“Hmm… yeah… I just got carried away…” He said with a weak smile and continued the story. “She did come to meet him when he was fifty years old…”
“Gosh! Fifty years… that is a long time… Her son must have hated her…”
“No, he didn’t…he was delighted to see her. He was happy that his mother had finally come to save him.”
When Tyson didn’t speak for a long time, I prompted, “So… did he get a happy ending?”
Tyson snorted and said, “The Dragons had become rebellious after her husband that is the Dragon King died. They wanted to see her eldest son on the throne. She had come to trade her younger son in return for her elder one…”
I felt sick hearing her story. She deserved the name Dark Queen.
“She is disgusting! Does she consider her children to be commodities that can be traded!?”
Tyson exhaled deeply and continued, “Her elder son found out about this and begged her to spare his brother but her heart was made of stone…
She didn’t even flinch killing her husband for some crazed ritual. When he learned about this… He killed her…”
I cast a sideward glance at Tyson. He seemed very disturbed by this story… even more than me… I didn’t know that he had an empathic side too…
It was difficult to imagine a mother hurting her child. I was a mother too and I felt so protective towards Tiara. What kind of a mother was she?
My heart ached for that little boy who had to suffer just because he was born to a b****.
.