Nefarious

C146 - The Caizars' wish

We left the room, only to be stopped meters away from it. Jace had turned around quickly, his hand reached out to greet a woman behind him. "Alaina, I wasn't expecting you out here," he said politely. She looked young, yet in a way, she also looked grown. Her complexion was remarkably fair, contrasting her light brown hair that reached below her shoulders. The length of her hair was mostly curled, though not big curls. Her face was unlined, and her collar bones defined as well as her high cheekbones. She had pink flushed lips, and they looked to be natural despite their fullness and vibrant colour.

"I'm glad you chose wisely, Jace. Both you and Alex belong here, I hope you know that," she said softly, a smile appearing on her face. "Yes, of course," he answered. She cast a glance at his face, her eyebrows narrowing the slightest. "Where's your piercing? It suited you so well," she frowned. "Oh, right, I still have my tongue piercing, but the one in my nose I removed temporarily." I looked over at Vera, seeing no reaction expressed on her face. Jace used to have a nose piercing? And he has a tongue piercing? I'm not sure why that came as a surprise, but it sure did.

The woman called Alaina suddenly moved her head in my direction, meeting my gaze unhesitatingly. "Oh, my, who is this lady?" she questioned curiously. "Valerie Pennington," I answered, sounding somewhat insecure. She looked me up and down, her smile growing a bit bigger. "Valerie, you said? I haven't had the chance to meet you, or rather Alexander hasn't introduced you to us," she said. I looked over at Jace but got no signals from him as to what I should do. "You must be bewildered, my apologies. I'm Alexander's mother," she clarified. My eyes widened automatically, which she noticed at once. "I look young, yes, but I've been around for a long time. Anyhow, I have a lot on my plan today, so I have to get going. It was a pleasure to meet you finally, Valerie," she said. "You too," I answered faintly. That felt a bit strange and unreal in a way. I'd heard Alex speak of his parents numerous times, though not in detail and quite vaguely. When he explained some sides of them, however, I would never expect his mother to sound this soft and appear so kind and gentle. I'm sure she has another side to her as well though, she must have.

Once Alaina had left, and we'd waited some time in silence, Vera spoke up. "Don't fall for her act, Valerie. She has a lot of similarities with Xylan, and would probably never have spoken to you if you hadn't been Alex's lover," she warned. In my peripheral vision, I could see Jace glaring at the end of the hall as though he was expecting her to return at any time. "That explains why Alex hasn't introduced us then, I guess," I answered briefly. "His mother is nothing compared to his father. She's a cold woman indeed, but she has a softer side as well. Xylan unquestionably inherited those cold traits of his from Blaze, Alex's father," Jace stated, ending his intense glare. "Perhaps we should go then before we meet him as well," I said, a sigh escaping me unintentionally afterwards.

When walking down the stairs, I saw Vera moving a strand of her dark red hair behind her ear. It reminded me of when I used that specific movement as a way of signalising that I was in trouble to Alex. That was way back when Hayden was around a lot, and when I met Nikkie. Oh how things have changed from then, and I feel no doubt that everything will change in the future as well.

Like once before, Jace's niece approached Jace the second she caught eye of him. Her grin was gleeful despite what happened the last time she saw him. He practically lied straight to her face, yet she seemed nothing but pleased to see him. "You tricked me," she said, prolonging the pronunciation of the last letter. "I'm sorry, something came up," Jace answered softly. "It usually does, but that's okay. I know you're busy most of the time."

Jace's niece hadn't before paid much attention to me or the others around Jace, but this time she did, weirdly enough. "Are you Valeria?" she questioned, a faint frown appearing on her face. "Valerie, yes," I answered, forcing a smile. Her mouth closed, but her smile remained wide enough to show her dimples. "Alex fancies you," she said randomly, chuckling at her own sentence. I cast a glance at Jace in confusion, speculating on her knowledge on the matter. "Ah, how exciting," I chuckled awkwardly. "Great, can you please love him enough to heal him? It's not pleasant running into Xylan and being met with a death glare every day," she blurted out. "Wha-" I stuttered. "Of course, we'll all do that," Vera said, cutting me off. She looked up at Jace, waiting for him to show his agreement as well. He gave her one nod, but he seemed somewhat reluctant as though he was afraid of promising her something so uncertain. Frankly, we have no guarantees that we'll be able to cure Alex. However, as Rain said not long ago, we shouldn't spend our time thinking of other possible outcomes than Alex becoming the leader.