Chapter 9: Desdemona's Return

Where were you?!" Savannah's voice blared through Maria's phone so loudly that she was forced to pull it away from her ear.

The thirty text messages that had been awaiting Maria should have been warning enough as to how this conversation would go. Putting the exchange on speakerphone instead, she listened to Savannah's string of questions as she paced her living room floor.

"Are you okay? Were you abducted? Are you currently being held in a coffin? Oh my god, did he turn you into 'one of them’?!" Savannah's voice dropped to a whisper at the last question.

"No, I'm fine." Maria couldn't help but laugh, despite still feeling the thumping of butterflies against her rib cage due to the mess of this entire situation. "But the more important question is, am I fired? I tried calling Celia, and she didn't answer."

"Oh, she's fine, don't worry! I told her that you came down with food poisoning after trying prickly pear cactus and couldn't get off the toilet all night."

"Thanks for that," Maria huffed sarcastically. Though as much as she wasn't a fan of the lie Savannah had chosen, at least it'd kept her from being in hot water with her new job. The feeling of anxiety finally began to relieve itself, and Maria slid open her glass doors so that she could breathe in the fresh morning air.

"You're welcome." Savannah smacked her lips, clearly not so concerned with Maria's wellbeing that she couldn't put down her breakfast. "So you're REALLY okay?" Savannah’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Sneeze twice if he’s holding you hostage?”

Maria looked over at Alessandro's house. The blinds, of course, were tightly pulled, so he wasn't in view, but she could picture him now leaning over the stove lovingly tending to the food he was cooking. Food that she was going to get to enjoy in his company. When was the last time someone had willingly cooked for her? The thought alone sent a new wave of butterflies through her, only this time a smile followed their lead.

Despite her nose suddenly itching simply due to Savannah bringing up sneezing, Maria answered honestly as a soft smile pulled at her lips, “Yeah, I'm perfect!"

"Girl, I lied for you AND paced my room last night for half an hour, waiting for you to text me back about when you wanted to be picked up. You're going to have to tell me more than that generic 'I'm perfect' bullsh*t."

Maria hesitated, now sure how much she was ready to reveal but also giddy at the thought of getting to share all she had learned last night.

"Alright," Maria finally said, "But you better sit down."

***

ALESSANDRO'S POV

Alessandro paced the carpeted floor of his living room.

Desdemona was in his house. Desdemona— the girl he'd grown up with, the woman he had not seen in three hundred years.

"Alessandro, look at me!" Desdemona demanded, not for the first time.

Finally, he stopped pacing, taking in the deep breaths he so often took when he needed to calm his mind, but all the while avoiding her glare.

"Look at you." Desdemona scoffed, "Awake during the sun hours, cooking for a near stranger, abandoning all caution to confide in some human."

Alessandro bristled, feeling defensive that she would spit these things out as if Maria were anything other than extraordinary.

"You've become weak." She continued, "You've become sloppy! Letting your guard down, you've —"

"YOU abandoned me!" Alessandro's voice boomed in the tiny room. Desdemona glared at his tone, her eyes simultaneously the youthful ones he'd known all those years ago, and yet dimmed with scars of a painful past.

Her dark freckled skin was still a stark contrast to his paleness, and her attire seemed out of place against his modern-day garbs. But still, she was beautiful in her floor-length cotton gown laced with purples and gold. Her shoulders held firmly back, and her chin raised defiantly as she looked upon the man who dared challenge her.

"I waited for you!" Alessandro's voice struck with grief as he looked down at the woman he must have stood a whole foot shorter that him, "I searched for a sign. I scoured the country looking for any hope that you were still alive. You, my best friend, abandoned me without a word.” He hoped the heat of his words stung her as deeply as they hit him. He had played childish tricks on the royals with this woman. Replacing their fine wine with spoilt milk or placing toads inside the boots they left beneath their beds. She knew more about him that anyone ever did, and maybe ever would.

“I thought for years you must be dead,” Alessandro continued, “Then I simply hoped that you were dead. At least it would explain why you never attempted to find me after the battle when you knew the loss we’d all suffered. But deep inside I knew you were still alive. You were too strong, too powerful to die. And so when you never communicated with you I let the thought of you go. And now three hundred years later, you burst into the life I've made, full of accusations that you know nothing of, all because you're what—jealous? Is another woman really what it took for you to come back to me?!”

Desdemona laughed sharply. "You have no idea what I’ve been through or what you've gotten yourself into. How dare you charge me of being jealous of a human?!"

But even then, Desdemona's purple flecked eyes faltered, and for the first time, Alessandro saw a hint of the woman he'd once known— Kind, loving, and empathetic beyond all measure. A bit of an a*s when she didn’t get her way, but always coming from a place of goodness.

"Why are you here then?" Alessandro softened his tone, though he didn't make any move to come closer to her. He couldn’t let his guard down just yet. Her appearance meant something bigger was at play here. And, frankly, it scared him as to what she was hiding behind this put together facade of hers.

"Aren't you happy to see me? You, yourself, said you were nothing without me?" Desdemona strode around him as if she were a vulture and he the prey. She knew her attributes, pouting her plump lips just right and squeezing her cleavage together slightly as she continued her saunter. “Just minutes ago you were crying about how much you've missed me and needed me."

"I didn't say that." Alessandro remained firm in his tone. He wasn’t seduced by her, and she knew all too well that he wouldn’t be. But that didn’t stop her from playing games with him as she’d done to so many of the men in the Kingdom.

“Poor King,” she teased in her high pitched tone, “Out here all alone among these mortals. But now your bride has returned and all will be well again.”

Desdemona stepped towards him, reaching out her hand with glistening eyes. Her physical strength was evident as the sleeves of her gown cascaded down, creating the effect of a timid maiden reaching her lover. But Desdemona was far from frail. The scars from the battle he'd lost her at consumed her toned arms so he would forget what happened.

Her facade was dropping, though. Her cold, harsh demeanor slipping away the more he looked at her, slowly replaced by a woman with the strength and courage to do anything for her people. A woman who he’d laughed with, shared stories, and been best comrades with. Memories that had lay unearthed began to spin in captivating images through his head. Alessandro embraced her hands, a move more intimate than the two usually shared, but he needed to know that this was real and not a wishful dream.

“Tell me the truth,” his voice was a mix of emotions. His hand held the woman who’d been by his side through every hardship. She was a ghost from the past, but as real as the ground he stood. “Why after all these years have you chosen now to come to me?”

She pulled him into a hug, her thick hair tickling his chin as he breathed in her familiar scent of violets.

"We need you." Desdemona didn't remove her hold on him but looked into his eyes, her short stature causing her to tilt her head back.

"We?" Alessandro's voice filled with confusion convinced that she had misspoken. “There are more? But the battle…I thought…” His voice dropped off, his mind suddenly running a million courses.

"Yes," Desdemona confirmed, "...We!"