by Alexis Davie
Sure, he physically was stronger than his brothers, but he had a big heart—sometimes too big—and he was prone to getting hurt more quickly in an emotional level. Therefore, he shut himself off to feelings and focused on the task at hand. It was only during the quiet of the night when Oryn’s loneliness hit its peak.
“Good morning, Mr. Veskovic,” the doorman uttered when he entered into the building.
“Good morning, Phil,” Oryn greeted him. He had always felt comfortable and confident when people addressed him so formally. Naturally, a smile formed on his face on his way to the seventh floor, where his offices were.
His company, GreenVeil Data Storers, occupied fifteen floors of the ANZ Centre Tower, where there was a private cafeteria, gym, and wellness center for his staff. Oryn believed in taking care of his employees, given that they were the reason why the company was as successful as it was. Oryn was humble and believed that giving credit where credit was due was an important part of being a CEO. Of course, he didn’t allow anyone to walk all over him or make unreasonable demands, but he was understanding and kind—to an extent.
When the elevator doors opened on the seventh floor, there was already a buzz in the air, and employees were working at their usual pace. Filing clerks carried around carts of files, and happy chatter was heard from the staff lounge to his right.
He walked past his personal assistant Naomi’s desk, which was empty. She was probably waiting for him in his office.
Sure enough, he noticed Naomi standing in his office through the glass doors. She was arranging his files in the way he liked them to be when he opened the door, and her long blonde hair was straighter than usual. She turned around and looked disdainfully at the large wooden grandfather clock in the corner. Naomi hated that clock, said it made the office feel like a haunted old mansion, with its Persian carpets and wooden bookshelves lining two of the walls. Oryn, on the other hand, loved it, and it reminded him of home. The office was in fact his second home, so he might as well be comfortable while there.
Naomi, her brown eyes sparkling in contrast with the dark blue blouse and pencil skirt she wore, raised an eyebrow and glared at him. “You’re late.”
“Good morning to you, too,” Oryn grinned and entered the office, closing the door behind him.
“Yeah, good morning.” She rolled her eyes at him, which he found amusing for some reason, and he walked around his desk. “Why are you in such a mood?”
Naomi was the one person who knew him better than he knew himself, and that was both terrifying and comforting to Oryn. She knew how he drank his coffee, when he needed something stronger to drink, when he’d had a bad morning, when something was bothering him, and when he was happy—or happier than usual. She had been working with him ever since he’d started the company more than ten years ago, and he wouldn’t have come so far if it hadn’t been for her. She was his rock, his confidant, the one person he could tell anything without being judged.
Naomi was not only easy on the eyes, with a curvy body and long lean legs, but she was smart, well-spoken, and had that spark inside her that Oryn found very appealing. He was, however, in no way attracted to her, even though she was the person whom he felt most comfortable with, and whom he couldn’t live without.
She made all his appointments, wrote all his briefings, speeches, and knew enough about the company to know what was needed in human resources, personal relations, and even the control room where the data was backed up. Oryn was convinced that there was not a single thing on Earth she could not handle.
“I’m not in a mood,” he muttered.
“Could’ve fooled me,” she scoffed and stepped away from the desk.
“It’s nothing, really,” Oryn answered, and he briefly caught sight of his reflection in the glass windows. His brow was furrowed, deeply so, and his jaw was tense. He wasn’t really sure what exactly was bothering him. The conversation he’d had with his mother had ruffled a few feathers, and he kept thinking about not wanting to be alone.
“Fine, don’t tell me,” she sighed and threw her hands up in the air. As she walked towards the door, Oryn sat down in his leather chair.
“I had a talk with my mother last night.”
“Oh.” Naomi cringed and turned on her heel. “Was it a bad one?”
Oryn interweaved his fingers. “It wasn’t a good one.”
A glimmer appeared in Naomi’s eyes, and she sat on the chair in front of his desk, crossing her one leg over the other. “Tell me everything.”
Oryn narrowed his eyes at her and muttered, “You relish my pain, don’t you?”
“Depends on the pain,” she winked coyly. “Now tell me.”
He took a deep, miserable breath and replied, “My mother is worried about me.”
“As all mothers are,” Naomi interjected.
“She’s worried that I still haven’t found a girlfriend and that I am lonely. Apparently, it is no way to live, or so she says.”
“Are you lonely?”
Oryn opened his mouth to answer, but his words failed him. Was he lonely? Of course, but was he going to admit that to Naomi?
“I don’t know,” he replied simply.
“Your mother probably has ulterior motives, like all mothers.” She shrugged. “Either she has someone lined up for you who she wants to introduce to you, or she is afraid she will never get grandchildren.”
“She’s made the latter abundantly clear at many of our family gatherings, so I know that’s true. She also knows better than to try and pair me up with someone whom I have no interest in dating,” Oryn answered.
“How will you know if you don’t get to know them?”
“Because they’re usually blonde, and…”
“And?” Naomi shook her head, causing her long blonde hair to purposely fall over her shoulders.
“And not my type.”
“And what exactly is your type, Oryn? I swear, in all this time I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you with a woman before. Your type is probably the only thing I don’t know about you,” she chuckled.
“I’m sure you don’t know that much about me.”
“Try me,” she challenged and crossed her arms with attitude.
“My birthday.”
“October eighteenth. Easy.”
“My favorite food.”
“It is and will always be filet mignon with garlic,” she said. “Paired with a dry red wine, preferably a Pinot Noir.”
Oryn’s lips curved into a slight smile, and he sat back in his chair. “My favorite author?”
“Oryn, you’re really underestimating my knowledge of you. It’s a little insulting,” she scoffed. “And it’s Poe.”
“Okay, Miss Know-It-All. What am I afraid of?”
“Your mother,” she chuckled. “Not being good enough for your father, even though you would never admit it to anyone, including yourself, and not being in control.”
Oryn’s jaw clenched. She’d hit a nerve with her comment about his father, and he lowered his gaze.
“Oryn, I didn’t mean to upset you—”
“I am not upset.” His voice was cold and stern.
“Right, okay. I’ll go get you some coffee.”
“Thanks, Naomi.” Oryn turned to the files stacked neatly on his desk and placed the top one on the desk in front of him. As he opened the first one—it was a contract of a new employee he needed to look over, although Naomi already had—Naomi came into the office once again, with his coffee. She gently placed it on the coaster and handed him his pen.
“Thanks,” Oryn uttered and clicked the pen three times.
“You have a meeting with the new marketing team tomorrow.”
“It’s about time,” he said. “Were they not supposed to have started last week?”
“No, you distinctly told them that tomorrow was their first day. You know, with the dates of the new contracts, and for payroll to set everything up,” Naomi replied.
“Right, right,” Oryn mumbled absent
mindedly.
“Drink your coffee. You’re fading away,” she ordered and walked to the door of his office.
“It feels like it,” he mumbled.
Naomi turned at the door to look back at him. “Is there anything I can do?”
Oryn, who was now focused on the contract in front of him, answered, “No calls for today. Not even from my mother.”
“Got it,” she said. “I’ll just tell her you’re out making friends, or grandchildren, or whatever.”
The pen slipped out of his fingers, and he frowned at Naomi. “Don’t you dare.”
She chuckled heartily and shook her head. “Don’t worry. I’ve got your back, boss.”
Oryn smiled genuinely at her, grateful for everything she had done for him and would continue to do. Naomi left the office, allowing the silence to encapsulate him as he worked on the files, reading each one through and signing it off.
Oryn worked the best in silence; the sounds of the city made him anxious. He had thought of maybe installing soundproof walls in his office and having an indoor waterfall, but he didn’t have any space where to put it. His office was filled with modern antiquities he had restored throughout the years. A large painting of his parents’ palace in Lunca hung on the wall beside the grandfather clock, and he often found himself staring at it for hours.
The memories of Lunca were still fresh in his mind—rebuilding the walls after the First War—and they would not go away any time soon, although it had been five thousand years already. The dreams didn’t go away, either. He might be the most steadfast of the four princes, yet he was the one who hid the most pain—not only the pain of others, but his own pain as well.
2
The darkness engulfed one of the two bedrooms in the apartment, and not even the light of the moon could break through.
Adley Murdoch lay in the dark, covered by her comfy blanket, her heart racing in her chest. She had no reason to feel threatened. Her life was not in danger at that moment, but the memories seemed all too vivid that night; memories which she had tried to bury inside herself. They always seemed to claw themselves back to the surface.
Her phone vibrated on her nightstand, but she made no effort to reach for it from under the covers. She knew who it could be. It wasn’t the first time her phone went off tonight.
Adley worked for a marketing company in Auckland as an entry-level marketing assistant. Having a college degree in the field, it wasn’t difficult for her to find this job, but she was extremely grateful that she had managed to impress the interviewer.
She had been born in a small town in Ohio, where she had grown up and gone to college. She had never considered traveling abroad or settling into a new place, but she was glad she had. After a near-death experience, Adley had decided to take on the world and moved to Auckland. Only having been there for a few months, she hadn’t made any friends yet. There were a few women at her job who she was friendly with, but usually, she didn’t feel comfortable getting close to people too quickly.
Car horns blared below in the streets, people who were going to events, restaurants, and being social, and Adley wondered whether she would be able to do that again. Being traumatized was one thing, but isolating herself in her apartment as much as she could to the point where it was making her hear and see things was quite the other.
Adley threw the covers off her when her phone blared again beside her. As expected, it was from one of her colleagues, practically begging her to come out with them. They had been talking about going out to a new club and wanted Adley to join them. Of course, being the quiet, submissive girl she was, she diplomatically declined every single time, saying she already had plans… to crawl into bed and drown in a pool of misery, sure, but they didn’t need to know that.
She quickly replied with a, ‘Maybe next time. Sorry,’ and she placed her phone back on her nightstand. At least she didn’t have to tell them to their faces, although she would have to explain herself tomorrow at work. Hopefully they would be way too hungover and tired to grill her about it.
The lights of the city beckoned her out onto her balcony, and she obeyed, glancing out at the Auckland skyline and the ocean beyond. The lights flickered happily, and the dark blue velvet sky was littered with stars. Nostalgia filled her soul as she remembered the starry skies of her hometown, the days she had spent in the Ohio sun, carefree and happy. For a moment, she focused solely on those happy times. Swimming in the lake close to her house with her two best friends, Mikey and Heather. The times when the trio had sat in their treehouse, often sleeping there as well.
Those good memories were suddenly overshadowed by the hurt and pain which had followed when she’d met Darius. Her blood ran cold in her veins at the thought of him, and her mind was clouded with the memories once again. The strikes, the harsh words, and the sweet man who had turned into a monster in the blink of an eye. Adley thought of him as a shapeshifter; it was the only logical explanation of how someone as seemingly nice as Darius could turn into a wicked and cruel beast so fast. Getting away from him was the best thing she could have done for herself, but a small part of her was still terrified that he would manage to find her one day.
For now, though, all she could do was carry on with her life.
Adley stared out at the skyline for a while, until she eventually went back to bed. She fell into a deep slumber faster than expected, which she was grateful for. Sleep had been very elusive to her for the past few months, and she savored a good night’s rest when she had one.
As expected, when Adley arrived at work the following morning, her two colleagues, Michelle and Trish, were looking awfully pale, were very quiet, and stayed close to the water cooler at all times. Adley smiled at them encouragingly but knew she had made the right choice not to go out with them last night. She didn’t have a very high tolerance to alcohol to start with, and she would have probably had to have been admitted to a hospital if she’d gone out with them.
“How was your night?” Adley asked as she joined them beside the water cooler.
“An absolute success, but I feel like shit,” Trish muttered.
“Same. You should join us next time,” Michelle croaked.
“To look and feel like the two of you do right now? No thanks,” Adley answered and shook her head.
“Murdoch,” her boss’s voice sounded in the hallway, and Adley jumped slightly.
Mr. Scott was a man in his forties, always dressed in a suit and a brightly colored tie. His hair was swept to the side, and his eyebrows were wild. He had a loud voice, bombastic yet kind, and he was the best boss Adley could have ever asked for. He was very understanding, but of course, he had his limits, which Adley definitely didn’t test. At all.
“Mr. Scott?” Adley asked, trying to sound as confident as she was supposed to feel.
“I have put you on the team who is going to be working at GreenVeil Data Storers for the next few weeks,” Mr. Scott announced.
“Really? Why?” Adley stuttered.
“You work well in a team setting, despite your entrance-level position. You seem to bring out the best in the other marketers,” he replied.
Adley pursed her lips to prevent her from saying what she was thinking. The only reason Mr. Scott thought that of her was because Adley had, on numerous occasions, suggested or even thought of an idea that could improve marketing strategies of companies, but they were always dismissed. When the other marketers had to make suggestions, her ideas would normally be used, and she wouldn’t receive any credit for that. She didn’t make a fuss or a scene about it, though. She wasn’t afraid to voice herself or stand up for herself, but she didn’t want to cause unnecessary friction at the office and between her colleagues. Flying under the radar was fine for now, so she dealt with it.
“Thank you, Mr. Scott,” she said gratefully.
“The senior marketers will be meeting with the CEO of GreenVeil tomorrow morning, so if you could come here first to get all their supplies, that would be great. Curtis w
ill be here to help you.” Mr. Scott turned and made his way back down the hallway he came from.
Adley exhaled slowly.
“You’re so lucky to have been picked for the team,” Trish sighed before sipping on her water.
“Yeah, like a penny,” Adley said, but her words were met by blank stares from the two women in front of her. Clearly, her American terms were lost on them. “Like a lucky penny?” she tried to explain, but Trish and Michelle didn’t respond. “You know, never mind. Why exactly am I lucky?”
“You get to spend a couple of weeks at the GreenVeil offices. They have the most amazing facilities there.”
“I hear there’s a gym and an indoor pool,” Michelle pointed out. Adley’s shoulders tensed, but she shook it off. “Plus, the views are amazing.”
“The view, right?” Trish winked suggestively.
“I don’t get it,” Adley frowned.
“The CEO is a total hottie,” Trish clarified.
“And single,” Michelle reminded Trish. “Young, successful, rich, and hot. The most eligible man in the country.”
“If not the whole world,” Trish stared at Adley with wide, dreamy eyes. “Don’t you want to switch places with me? I can’t take another minute of Burt’s cologne. It gives me a headache.”
“I can’t do that. Apparently, I am a morale booster for the team,” Adley said quietly, with a hint of sarcasm.
“You’re no fun,” Trish mumbled, gulping down the rest of her water. “Have fun with the high rollers.”
Adley scoffed and watched Trish and Michelle leave her side, standing perfectly still for a few seconds. She went back to her desk, which was in a cubicle with two other assistants’ desks, and sat in her chair.