The Devil's Tear

Chapter 10- Periwinkle Sky

"Demetri," the strained voice continued. "The devil lies in this mirror with me. Do not be fooled. Allegra cannot be resuscitated."

Demetri had gone relatively quiet.

"Artemis Delara... has also passed away," the voice informed with remorse. Demetri's head shot up, and his lapis lazuli eyes shone with fear and bewilderment.

"Artemis?" Demetri demanded.

"Yes," the voice replied. "And I am Xerxes. I daresay you've guessed who was ordering you up to this point."

"But how?"

"Cornelia sealed my remaining humanity. That does not include my clouded heart. And I was the one who requested... to be killed," Xerxes explained. "Cornelia was just following my orders. She did not agree at first, but we both realized Tytania would plunge into a tedious war if I continued to rule, and if the devil continued to roam the lands."

"So you planned... everything. Even Cornelia's contract with the devil was planned," Demetri caught on.

"Yes," Xerxes replied. "But we did not foresee his foolish tricks. Although it was quite predictable, Cornelia and I were desperate..."

Demetri set the mirror delicately on the filthy red carpet, and paced the disturbingly empty room back and forth.

"What is it you want me to do?" Demetri finally enquired, but he was quite sure of what the answer would be.

"Retrieve Cornelia."

-

"I've been waiting!" the cheery voice exclaimed. "Although you're still a bit young. I thought you'd last for more than this..."

"Forgive me," another voice said, this one more solemn. "But you're younger."

"Never mind! The point is I've finally gotten to see you!"

"How have you been?" The solemn one enquired.

"Very, very bored," the cheery one replied, swinging her head backwards. "I was watching you y'know..."

"I was aware of that since the very beginning," the solemn one replied resentfully. "That particular knowledge gave me quite a hard time."

"Xerxes..." Both of them spoke together. "Finally..."

A cool breeze blew the two women's hairs on their faces. The brown leaves crackled as the wind carried them with it across the dirty ground of the graveyard. The solemn one of the two gazed up at the night sky, and sighed.

"The moon is so beautiful, and the colour is rather unusual," she noted with a small laugh.

"Yes," the other agreed. "I get to see this beauty every night..."

"How lucky."

The two women burst into fits of laughter.

The radiant purple glow of the large white moon shone upon the grave stones. A thin line of clouds obscured the sky, turning it into a deep shade of purple. A lone crow cawed continuously, flapped its wings and flew off into the pulchritudinous periwinkle sky.

-

Alexei sighed: Euphrosyne had finally gone to sleep. Artemis' body had disintegrated into pale blue sparkles, confirming her death. Euphrosyne had sobbed unceasingly for three hours. Light cracked across the horizon, indicating dawn: the sun's awakening. Alexei drummed his fingers on the windowsill and watched the rays of light increasing by the minute. The sight yielded nothing too striking, and Alexei averted his eyes to Rosy's calm figure. A certain intuition, in a sense, caused him to look back at the rising sun.

The sun was a deep shade of orange, almost red. The sky was dull, like the light from a flickering candle.

Artemis' unfortunate demise had even saddened the sun. A lump formed in Alexei's throat, and he forcefully swallowed it down. Irma had tried to make him and Rosy eat something for the sake of their health, but they did not feel up to it. Irma had done her best to cheer the two souls up, but they were inconsolable. A star had disappeared from the sky that night, Friona had said.

Truly such an unfortunate event. Alexei had only just begun to come to know Artemis. Any longer and he could have possible fallen in love with her, despite her terrible past. Something white caught his eye, and he gulped loudly as he noticed the white box lying on its lonesome on the nearby table.

Artemis hadn't even gotten to eat it.

The door clicked, and slowly swung open, revealing Irma's worried face. Alexei smiled reassuringly at her, not knowing whether his smile was a lie or not. Irma was such a lovable child. Her older sister was quite the opposite. Her contemptible and repulsive personality turned Alexei off. Driela Kreal was very obnoxious, but her infatuation with Alexei proved useful at times. Times like these.

"Luminescent sky," Rosy whispered in her sleep, alarming Alexei. "Graveyard... laughter."

Alexei dashed to her bedside as he noticed her facial features change.

Alexei swore, and began shaking the young girl rather violently by the shoulders. Her eyes flew open, and were neither crimson nor hazel.

They were amaranthine.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and as usual, don't forget to vote if you liked it! :)