Douce Dépendouce

Chapter 4

She didn't reply. "Never have you been so interested in Ydris either."

My brain went blank. This was exactly what I needed.

"I- what?" I said foolishly.

She shrugged. "You just seemed off with the talk of him."

My eyes didn't leave the spot that I was staring at. I felt all the heat leave my body as my heart rate escalated, my blood chilled. I didn't know how to answer, or what to even say at all. I couldn't just sit there, I had to do something.

"Look I..." I started, turning to face her, her eyes deeply set on mine. Her gaze made me feel small as she eyed me, waiting for me to continue. "...I was tired, and I was drifting. I had a long night at the barn last night."

I let out a breath as I finished my sentence, turning away from her. I still felt her lingering glance on my back as we walked on, her eyes soon turning away and focusing ahead, the conversation finished.

After excruciating minutes, we reached the top of the Circus. I felt my eyes dance around the place, looking for any sign of Ydris. Thankfully, he was nowhere to be seen. As I looked at the wagon, I remembered stepping in, not even knowing that I wouldn't step back out again until the morning.

"Pandorian energy is strong here, uncomfortably strong," I heard her say, her voice lost in my mind.

I left my thoughts, seeing Alex already dismounting. I clucked Hu on as I realized we had lagged behind and soon stopped him next to Tin-Can.

"Alright," she spoke, pulling the reins over Tin-Can. "You hop off and go inside, I'll be in once I tie the horses up."

I looked at her, her face not even amused about me going in first. She looked up at me, waiting for me to answer. I just sat there, staring at her and then the tent. I then looked at my hands, forcing myself to set the reins down, dropping my feet out the stirrups and swinging my leg over, dismounting. I watched as Alex took Hu's reins, leading him and Tin-Can away.

I couldn't bring myself to move. My legs felt limp as I longly looked at the Circus, a sick feeling coming into my stomach. Swallowing that down, I walked forward, my breathing intensifying with each step. I tried to be as slow as I could, hoping that Alex would join me. I then turned round to look at her, seeing her fiddling with Hu's reins; she wasn't coming anytime soon.

I sucked a breath in as I turned back towards the tent, pulling the curtain back and stepping in. As I looked around, I saw the display set up from yesterday, now complete. The lights were strung neatly around and props were displayed along with ramps. I took my hands out of my pockets, my eyes soon drifting to the middle of the arena as I saw the back curtains open from the far back, revealing Ydris.

"Ah, my dove, back so soon?" He said, stepping into the arena, heading towards me.

I felt myself freeze as my eyes lingered to his, watching as he stood in the middle, his eyes connecting with mine. His lips formed into a sly smirk as I headed towards him, stepping into the arena.

I opened my mouth, my throat dry. "Do you know about Pandora?" I spat out, now only a few feet away from him.

His eyes widened a bit and his smirk went into a sly grin. Now that I was in-front of him, he stepped forward, his hand grabbing my chin with his soft, yet firm grip, pulling me closer to him.

"Pandora?" He said, the thin gap between us once more. "What a change in interests."

I swallowed, not being able to break away from his gaze. I couldn't bring myself to step back, not one bit. My heart bounced and my heat suddenly returned, now making me sweat. My eyes traveled over him, only the sensations of last night rang in my ears. I desperately wanted his lips on mine, feeling his soft, smooth, silky skin on my hands. Hearing his heart pound with mine and his muscular chest hovering over me made me want to close the gap again.

"What made you want to know about such a desired place?" He asked me, his voice quiet, his eyes going from mine to my lips.

I couldn't control my pounding heart. Everything going on around me faded away, everything focusing on him. After a minute, his eyes traveled back to mine, intensely sucking me in.

Before I could answer, a sudden voice broke me away.

"Pandora," I heard the voice say, making me freeze.

For the first time since he saw me, his eyes left mine. He looked over me, his grip loosening on my chin as he let me go. I then quickly turned, seeing Alex standing at the entrance of the tent, her arms crossed tightly as her eyes seethed with anger.

I felt my face burn as her eyes locked on Ydris, and then at me, noticing my expression.

"I see you've brought a friend, ma cherie," he spoke, looking back at me, his expression still having a glimpse of craftyness.

I watched as Alex looked back at me, giving me a look step away. I felt myself look back at Ydris as he noticed my face change, then back at Alex.

"If I speak correctly, our last encounter was with the Time Clock was it not? When you tried to demolish my show," he spoke, no longer looking at me, his voice having the slightest touch of dismay.

"By matter of fact, when you tried to seduce Concorde," Alex replied.

Yris gave her a small smirk, folding his hands calmly across his chest. "Then what more would you want from me? Now that you have your dear friend back, what am I in need for?"

I opened my mouth to speak, slightly surprised that he knew what we were here for, soon being cutted off by Alex.

"You're the only Pandorian who's not in Pandora that we know of, who is living in the real world. Plenty of opportunities to work your magic," Alex said, her eyes still locked on his, her expression furrowed.

Ydris laughed. "My dear, why would you think such? I'm far more busy with other duties that require my needing to portray your battle with Jorvik."
I felt myself flush again at that sentence, knowing what that was designated to. Trying to hide it, I looked up at him, his eyes staring deeply at me, almost waiting for a response.

"Keeping yourself busy with shows and your creepy as hell jester helping you?" Alex snapped. "I highly doubt that."

"Hm?" Ydris said, looking back at her. "Xin my dear jester. He's simply helping me with my shows as you guessed." He gestured around the arena.

"So you have no interest in Pandora or the Druids at all?" I said, my voice quiet compared to Alex.

He grinned lightly at me. "I couldn't help but not wonder from times, after all, who wouldn't want to do so when this battle is so large?"
I swallowed. "You have every opportunity to do anything with Pandora, anything that could make it take over Jorvik."

"Then why don't you do so?" Alex added.

Ydris held his gaze with me, ignoring Alex's presence. "I could in many ways, but that would be powerful and destroy the world mes cheries. If I was to do so, nothing would be left except for the ruins of that universe."

My gaze flickered to Alex, who now tensley stood, an unsatisfied look was her clear expression.

If Ydris was withholding anything information about Pandora, or anything that could be used against us, he was hiding it well. Getting a single piece of clear information to leave his mouth was hard. Evern with the responses he had given us, that could barely bring us to fragment our pisces together.

"Now my doves, if the questions are over, I must get back to prepping," he said, cutting off the silence which had been held. "A show mustn't go on without a performer."

Alex opened her mouth, being cut off by Ydris as he placed his finger to his lips, his gaze coming onto me. He simply gave me a charming smile and a slight smirk before he spoke once more, "Do come back, dove, the show will be worthwhile."

Before I could blink, he snapped his fingers, a puff of purple smoke covering my vision. Before I knew it, I found myself back outside the Circus tent, Alex near my side. 

A/N: Sorry if this chapter took a while to upload, I wasn't feeling the best this week. Once again, thank you for the views, I know it's not a lot, but it's deeply appreciated. Enjoy reading! <3