What could have been

Daemeon had brought both Aremiah and me to his courtyard on the other side of the castle. It was a breathtaking place as I admired the decor. He took us to his garden in the back of his palace. Once we turned the corner, my eyes caught the table that was being served with platters of different delicacies.

At the sight of it, my stomach along with Aremiah's grumbled. The little princess giggled at the sound.

"You had already prepared this in advance." It was a statement directed at Daemeon. His lips had curled up at my statement. He shrugged and gestured us forward.

It's been a while since I've eaten. I can't remember when the last time was that I had eaten. I'm pretty sure the last time was in Terrae. As we ate, I realized that the food was the dish I used to love when I was little. A warm feeling burst within me as I realized that Daemeon wanted me to feel at home.

I smiled at that thought.

"Big Sister, can you feed me?" Aremiah asks has I looked at her food and nodded. She then brought her plate to my side. And plopped herself on my lap as I began to feed her.

"How is it?" I asked her.

She beamed at me with a smile. She was so pure, so full of light even though she was a demon. But to me, she was my little angel. We silently ate the food. Thereafter we went into a secret garden. Daemeon's secret garden was filled with forbidden flowers of the undead.

"How was your journey in the human realm? Was it to your liking?" I stopped walking as I heard him speak.

"The time I spent there was enjoyable to an extent," I replied as I plucked a poisonous rose from the garden. I took this as my chance to look around his little fortress here in Iracundia.

He always loved the color white in a palace full of darkness. I remember when we were little, he told me that whenever there is darkness, even if there is a bit of light, then the deepest darkness can never be too scary.

It's what's inside the darkness that matters, but with a little light, then the dark wouldn't be scary, right?

But I couldn't tell him that he was wrong…

Cause the brightest light casts the darkest shadows…

"For two years you were on Terrae, so where did you go in the remaining five years?" Daemeon sighed.

My fingers grazed the thorns of the rose and then I glanced at him, "I've been here and there, running... hiding... making sure I live to see the next day..." I shrugged.

"I was worried sick about you all these years... not a day went by when I didn't think about you Iracia."

His footsteps thumped the ground as he stood behind me, his cold hands touching both my shoulders.

"Daemeon, you know why I left... I couldn't stay here any longer and be their puppet..."

"You could have contacted me during those years, I've been waiting for you," He inhaled my scent and then stepped away. I glanced back and he had a soft smile on his face.

It wasn't a sly grin or a mischievous smirk. Just a smile that revealed his intentions. His intention of remaining friends with me. I smiled in return. After all these years, he remained the same but there was still that little glimmer of caution. I've been betrayed before by so many caelestians. One more of them couldn't hurt, right?

With the thorns of the rose, I pricked my thumb. The pain soured through my body as the poison seeped through the skin. I was immune to this poison having been put through many trials to develop the ultimate poison. Droplets of blood began its descend, down my wrist. A single drop staining the pure white stone beneath my feet.

Daemeon tilted his head and sighed grabbing my wrist, "Would you please stop hurting yourself! This habit of yours has to stop. I expected for you to stop this habit in these couple of years." He sighed with a huff.

His grey eyes glowed with hints of red as he sucked my thumb off the remaining blood, "Your blood is still the same, exactly how I remembered it to be."

Daemeon is a Vampyre and a powerful one. He used to drink my blood when we were little. He never took it forcefully like how I've read in those human books. He always asked for consent and never demanded it from anyone. Sometimes I had to force him to drink for him to survive.

We always looked out for each other and now I wonder if I never left, would the two of us end up together?

He was... is ... my best friend...

But...

My mind drifted to him...

To Dante...

Whatever I was feeling, felt like an unseen force controlling how I should be or how I should act... It was part of the reason I left, I never wanted something or someone to control my destiny...

If I wanted to be with someone, it would be my own choice and not destiny!

"You can have some of my blood," I tilted my head, showing him my neck. He eyed my neck and ran his fingers across my skin.

"As much as I'd love to have my filling from you," he stepped closer, "I'd rather not have your fiancé ruining my courtyard and dueling it out."

He backed away from me and remained in the stance I've always seen him use. Both his hands clasped behind his back.

"Speaking of fiancé, I need to have a word with the king about that." I glanced at the rose one last time.

"Are you sure that's what you want?" He questioned

"It's time for me to confront my demons and put an end to everything," I replied and crushed the rose in my palms. And then I walked away, heading straight for the throne room.