2328 Survivor's Guilt (Part 2)

"Magus Verhen?" The Queen asked.

He had remained silent the whole time but Sylpha could almost hear his inner wails of pain. The fire in his eyes was gone, his hands twitching in remorse.

"I don't know what I'll do. I really don't know." Lith said.

The Royals nodded and avoided any attempt to cajole him. They knew how deep the relationship between Phloria and Lith had been because they had tried more than once to get them back together.

Jirni and Orion turned toward their home, followed by their children and family members. Lith, instead, remained in front of the mausoleum, refusing to move a single step.

"Stay as long as you need." Jirni said. "I've already instructed the guards. No one will disturb you."

Elina, Raaz, Kamila, Tista, and Rena followed the Ernas, needing the mansion's Warp Gate to go back to their homes. Leaving Lith there pained their hearts but intruding in his grief would achieve nothing.

Besides, he wasn't alone.

Solus was still by his side, holding his hand in silence.

After a few minutes, when Lith was certain that no one was around, he fell onto his knees and Solus hugged him from behind. Together, they reminisced all the memories with Phloria that belonged solely to them.

The first meet, the first date, and the first kiss. The academy exams, the fight against Nalear, Yurial's funeral, and then the fifth year of the White Griffon until Phloria had broken up with him.

Lith's eyes were dry but his heart was bleeding. He still carried on his neck the golden lily pendant that he had gifted Phloria for her sixteenth birthday, the moment when a girl became a woman on Mogar.

The same pendant that Phloria had carried until the Magus ceremony and that he had used to stir her free will during their fight. The enchanted gold weighed a few grams but they felt like tons of scorching lava, burning through his flesh.

Lith wanted to take the pendant off and bury it with Phloria, but he couldn't find the will to part with it. The necklace was the last piece of her he had left and he felt like he deserved that pain.

After a few hours, when Solus couldn't keep her human form anymore, she went back into her ring and Kamila took her place.

She hugged him while saying nothing. The warmth of her body fought the cold of death of the Ernas cemetery while the sound of her heart reminded Lith that despite how he felt, he was still alive.

***

Inside the Ernas Mansion, Quylla's room.

Morok was sitting in a corner chair while Quylla paced around her room like a tormented soul. After the funeral, he had been there in silence the whole time, leaving only for the bathroom, eating, and drinking.

Every time he came back, he brought her a hot tea and some warm food that Quylla ignored. Once they got cold, he would simply store them in a dimensional amulet without saying anything.

"I can't believe that Fyrwal and Tessa are willing to wait 70 years for their revenge. Can you?" She asked once she was done crying and punching pillows.

"No, I can't." Morok shook his head.

"They are a couple of incompetent idiots! Phloria is dead, my parents are barely holding out, and those hags dare spout such bullshit at the funeral!" She stomped her foot, leaving a mark on the marble floor that the house promptly repaired.

"Indeed." Morok nodded.

"Worrying about those fuckers isn't going to do us any good." Quylla sighed, her shoulders slouching. "Our priority must be taking care of Mom and Dad. With Phloria gone, we can't allow them to lose the will to live.

"I know them. They can act strong as much as they want but they are seconds away from barging out the door. If we don't do something, they are going to kill Thrud or die trying. Most likely dying."

"I know how they feel." Morok said. "I felt the same when I believed that Deirus had killed you. Yet I also know that there's nothing we can do."

"As usual, you are wrong." Quylla shook her head. "There's something I can do, but only with your help."

"Anything you want. You just need to ask." Morok stepped forward, glad to see her stop moving for the first time in hours.

He took her hands and she didn't push him away. He wiped the trace of the latest tear on her cheek and she brushed it against his hand.

"I need to get pregnant." Quylla said with the sweetest voice that sounded raving mad to Morok.

"I beg your pardon?" He froze on the spot, refusing to believe his own ears.

"Isn't it obvious?" She squinted her eyes in annoyance. "If I get pregnant, I'll give the Ernas an heir, my parents a grandchild, and most importantly, a reason to live. I don't expect anyone to take Phloria's place, but Mom and Dad need something good in their lives."

"How is a pregnancy in the middle of a war something good?" Morok took a step back in shock.

"Easy. It will make me stronger and it will give my parents someone to love." Quylla replied. "Maybe in a few months, I'll become like Kamila and able to conjure the baby's eyes.

"Maybe, between my talent and our combined genius, we could discover how Glemos altered your life force and the hidden abilities of your bloodline."

"Are you kidding me?" His eyes went wide, there was no warmth in his voice anymore.

"That's my line, jackass!" Quylla pocked at his chest with her finger with enough strength to hurt him. "It's you who pestered me to go out with you. It's you who proposed to me every other day. It's you who wanted me to give you babies.

"How can you turn your back to me right when I'm willing to give you everything you wanted?"

"Because this is not how I wanted it!" Morok replied. "I wanted to go out with you to understand if I loved you, and I do, and see if you would return those feelings. I proposed because I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and that hasn't changed.

"I want you to have my babies because I love you and because I'd give an arm and a leg to be a father. But solely in order to give our children the love they deserve and the happiness I never had.

"I don't want to give them life out of duty or for them to be treated like some kind of remedial tool. My- Our children deserve to be loved for who they are, not to live in the shadow of your dead sister.

"Phloria would never allow it. Were she here, she would scold you until your ears bled."

"Yet she isn't because she's dead!" Quylla replied. "How dare you speak of her when you didn't bother to remember her name for months?"

"I always knew her name. I just pretended not to. I did it for you." Morok said.

"What do you mean?" Quylla was flabbergasted at the revelation.