Inferno Royale

33 | say no more

"We have unfinished business, Cirillo," she said, ignoring her pounding heart and the tears that pooled in her eyes. She missed him dearly.

"Ah, is that what this call is for?" Laurent hummed and a shuffling noise reached Lysandra's ears. "We will discuss business the right way, check your messages, would you?"

Lysandra rolled her eyes and cut the call, finding a skype meet link in her text box. She quickly smoothed her short hair down and found a better position to sit on the bed before clicking on the link. Laurent greeted her through the screen, his hair ruffled and messy. His walls were a deep shade of blue, the furniture behind seeming rather lavish. Lysandra's nose scrunched in curiosity. The way his crooked nose crinkled and the way he always found new ways to bring her out of brooding were something she always admired.

"Where are you?"

"Grandpa's mansion in Istanbul. You know where I am, Lysa. Atleast, the network over here now is not fucked like the last time I had come to visit."

Lysandra's lips split up into a grin and she shook her head, plopping herself onto her back on the plush mattress. Laurent seemed to be walking into another room as he shut the door behind him.

"Now, tell me you miss me," he demanded and Lysandra snorted.

"Like I said, I called you to discuss business," she teased, "I have no personal interest whatsoever to talk to you."

His face fell and he rolled his eyes, asking her what his job was. Lysandra's heart clenched uncomfortably and she cleared her throat, putting on a poker face.

"You have to talk to your grandpa and preferably convince him to meet us. Perhaps, asking him questions regarding certain issues would suffice too."

Laurent gulped and nodded, thinning his lips into a straight line. "Why am I not enough for you?"

Lysandra visibly paled. She was afraid of admitting her feelings. Her whole life she had been running away from emotions and amidst all of the chaos, she unexpectedly found her peace within a certain Laurent Cirillo. Life for her got harder every time she opened up to someone and her heart was already too damaged to withstand another heartbreak. She was terrified of what would happen if she told him that in the span of few months they had spent together, she had gotten attached to him. She was overwhelmed with the bewilderment that if something happened to him for being involved in the notorious royal plot, she could never live with herself. Overcoming all of these mental and personal challenges was so difficult and she practically had to purse her lips together to not answer him.

"You can be brutally honest, Lysandra."

She was appalled. Laurent never called her Lysandra, it was always that infuriating nickname her had given her. She forced the tears down her throat and her steely eyes turned cold. "I don't know why people expect so much from me. They ask for everything I am incapable of offering."

"I expect honesty, something which is not too hard for you, I presume. Feelings are a complicated thing, you see. You become relentless, irrational and sometimes, demanding."

If only you knew, Laurent. If only.

"Now is not the right time, Cirillo," she confirmed weakly. "Please."

"When is ever the right time, Lysa?" he snapped. "I was always patient with you. But, I need answers too. You cannot simply tag me around."

"We are kids, Laurent. Kids who got sucked into this- this fucking tsunami with no warning. Our personal issues can wait, don't you think? You still do have a choice to go back to your old life and I don't. I don't know why you were hell-bent on staying with me. You don't get to play the victim now, it was your choice to follow me to Athens and throw your education away."