One Crown & Two Thrones: The Prophecy

by Iseult O'Shea

  Eveline looked down at the board and found herself falling into a trance, the voices of the men around her fading away. The voice deep within her had been right. She had ruined the lives of those around her. Deep in thought she barely felt the presence of Wordsworth and he came and laid his scruffy head upon her lap as if knowing her pain.

  “Hello,” Eveline smiled down at the dog. “Can I have a kiss?” she asked pleasantly. The dog needed no command he lifted his head and licked her face softly. “My boy,” Eveline soothed and she wrapped her arms about him, getting down from her chair so that she was face to face with him, her constant friend and companion. “I love you,” she whispered into his large ear. Wordsworth replied with a low grunt.

  “He is a beautiful dog,” Jophiel said as she entered the room and came to stand beside Eveline and the wolfhound. “I think he loves you with complete devotion.”

  “I love him with equal amounts of devotion,” Eveline said quietly, looking up into Jophiels face with furrowed brows and an anxious expression. Jophiel saw the look of anxiety.

  “Come with me a moment Eveline, I wish to show you something,” she said with a gentle smile and kind eyes. Eveline rose to her full height, her long fingers within Wordsworth’s shaggy coat.

  “She hasn’t finished,” Ada groaned looking up from the table with sad eyes.

  “I’m not sure she is really wants to play Ada,” Jophiel argued lightly as she took Eveline’s arm and entwined it within her own. “Come let us go to the dining room.” Eveline followed Jophiel out of the room staring back at her husband whose brows were also furrowed. Silently they entered the dining room a lit with candles, the fire burning brightly in the centre. “Come I am by command of Galean to attend to your wounds before dinner.”

  “It’s alright my foot is fine as it is,” Eveline said as she took a seat at the dinner table.

  “I am also commanded to hear none of your protestations,” Jophiel smiled warmly, her face content and happy considering the fact that she had been ordered to dress the wounds of the woman that has forever ruined her life. Eveline kept quiet, arguing with Galean was futile and yet a little glimmer of hope arose from the ashes of their ruined friendship and she felt warmth that he had thought of her.

  “I’m truly sorry,” Eveline heard herself say, her eyes on the fire.

  “Sorry for what?” Jophiel said with raised brows as she took off Eveline’s patent shoe before rolling down her nude stocking and laying it on the ground beside her discarder shoe.

  “For causing you pain,” Eveline whispered as she felt Jophiel remove her bandage.

  “You have caused me no pain Eveline, why ever do you think you have?”

  “I heard your conversation with Galean and Theodore this afternoon on my way to the library,” Eveline confessed shamefully. Jophiel stopped unrolling the bandage and looked up into the grievous face of Eveline.

  “What did you hear?”

  “Enough to know that I have caused you and Galean irrevocable pain that cannot be redeemed,” Eveline sighed heavily. Jophiel found Eveline’s hand and took it within her own.

  “Look at me Eveline, please,” she pleaded forcing Eveline’s golden gaze to find her own pair of green eyes. “Believe me when I say it is not you who have caused me pain. I hold nothing against you and never will for I have found a friend in you and that is something I never thought could happen. If anything you have brought me comfort and I am thankful for that.”

  “How can you be so kind when it is because of myself that you were abandoned by my husband and his promise of marriage,” Eveline said with serious eyes. “How can you not feel anger in my presence?”

  “Theodore left me before he knew you,” Jophiel said with anguish in her voice. “You did not force him to leave me, he choose to leave me behind and I foolishly clung onto the hope that he would return with the same love and devotion he had promised once.”

  “How can you bare to be in his presence? I am so angry at him, so very angry,” Eveline admitted sourly. “And I hate myself more than I could ever hate anything. Why all of you have put everything on the line for me I do not know and I wish I did because then maybe it would make sense and I could find clarity amongst the smoke that seems to engulf me.”

  “Eveline I too wish that I could grant you the clarity with which you seek, but I cannot,” Jophiel said firmly. “I will grant you this piece of information however,” she held Eveline’s wavering gaze. “Have you read Dracula by any chance?”

  “Dracula? No, why? Am I vampire?” Eveline asked with coloured cheeks.

  “No,” Jophiel laughed deeply. “No you are no creature of the dark. There is however a beautiful line within the book and it is this, listen carefully and trust in my words.” Eveline leaned forward with curious eyes. “There are creatures of darkness in life and there are creatures of light, and you are one of the light, the light of lights.” Eveline gulped quietly as she digested the beautiful words.

  “I am the light of lights?”

  “That you are and I will have you know that angels who serve the light would willingly give up their life’s to ensure that you stay alive. I know this makes no sense because you have yet to be enlightened as to who you are, but know that you are precious and worth all the hassle that comes with protecting you.”

  “But I’m just me,” Eveline said quietly as Jophiel began to clean her wound tenderly. “I’m just Eveline, an angel like you and Theodore.”

  “You are no ignorant woman, you and I both know that you are more than you think yourself and that is your greatest fear in life because you so desperately want to mould in to normality, to be like you fellow men, but you are not man and were not made to be a face within a great crowd of faces.”

  “I don’t wish to be more powerful than those around me. I don’t want power or superiority, I want to be normal and flawed and a face within a great crowd of faces,” Eveline petitioned hotly. “I don’t want the burden of having to please others or to be some great creature of light that everyone beneath is dependent on. Can you understand me?”

  “I understand you perfectly but there will always be leaders who are destined to lead, many end up corrupted by power and position but you are different,” Jophiel said as she placed Eveline’s foot into a bowl of warm water. “You can challenge that power and desire within you, you can stand up to it.”

  “I wish none of this had happened to me, I wish I could go back to the way I was, a war time wife waiting upon her husband,” Eveline whispered as Jophiel arose and stood behind her, fixing her hair with pins as her foot bathed in the antiseptic water.

  “There are so many people beholden upon corrupt men and women, in need of someone to give them life and faith in life,” Jophiel lectured as she unpinned Eveline’s hair and let it fall down behind her, flowing thick auburn curls that glowed in the candle light. “They are waiting for someone to become their leader. You are not perfect, you are flawed but you are greater than those who need you. And perfection lies within the imperfect.”

  “You make me sound like a character akin to Jesus or God,” Eveline said with cautious eyes. “I am nothing like them and want none of their power or burdens. I just want to a simple life, to bask in the simple things like the beauty of nature and the beauty which lies in mankind. I wish to be an equal, always an equal never anything more.”

  “Come let us not argue it has been a trying day for both of us, rest your eyes while I do your hair and give in to the moment,” Jophiel lectured. “That’s it.” Eveline closed her eyes slightly as Jophiel re did her hair, basking in the lovely feel of her fingers running through her thick strands of wild curls.

  *

  Galean entered the Georgian house with cold hands and quickly closed the door behind him look up at the great grandfather clock. He was ten minutes early and sighed with relief. He needed to have some space and found himself walking to Bath Abbey where he had spent a good hour sitting in the pews deep in thought. On his way home he scanned
the area close to the house to make sure there were no shadows about. Content that they were safe he finally made his way back, intent on shaking off his solemn behaviour in spite of all that burdened him in order to spend some time with Belle who had pestered him to find a book on botany in the library. Taking off his hat he ran his fingers through his hair before taking of his thick black coat and hanging it up before cautiously storing the small brown bag of soft sweets under his arm making his way towards the stairs. Galean stopped as he passed the door of the dining room and stepped backwards, peering through the small gap, his eyes resting on Eveline who was perched on a chair, her injured foot seeping in a bowl of water whilst Jophiel was pinning up her hair for her. He observed her quiet state, her eyes closed and her nose pointed upwards as she was attended too by Jophiel. Despite his fear surrounding the prophecy he found himself smiling gently as she twitched her freckled nose slightly, twisting her fingers upon her lap not quite able to relax.

  As he looked on he could feel someone’s piercing gaze upon his back and turned finding Theodore’s hard stare on him. With lowered eyes and a shake of his head Galean stepped away from the room and made his way up the marble stairs with a sigh. Of course he knew that Theodore must have been affected by the prophecy but his altered behaviour was in Galean’s eyes unacceptable and it was causing a ripple effect to occur between his allies who were trying to protect his wife. There were greater problems at stake other than the state of Theodore’s heart and he Galean had to concentrate on them or else he would find himself in a precarious situation, a situation that only brought him grief and unneeded stress to the already stressful burdens he carried. Did he find himself caring for Eveline? Yes it was hard not too she was infectious and filled with surprises and he found himself constantly surprised by her and it was refreshing amidst the constant chaos.

  Quietly he knocked at Belle’s door and heard her running about inside causing him to smile.

  “Come in!” she announced with a loud laugh. Galean opened the door and found her running about the room with Wordsworth who had found his way up into her room. The dog turned to Galean with a lop sided grin. “Galean!” Belle beamed running to him and wrapping an arm about his waist. Wordsworth followed suite and barked loudly, his nose wet and searching, finding the brown bag. “What’s in the brown bag?” Belle asked with flushed cheeks as she brought Galean into her room.

  “I got you a present but it will have to wait until after dinner,” Galean teased looking round the room which was a mess. “What happened in here? It’s a mess.”

  “We were playing hide and seek,” Belle smiled as she began to tidy up her shoes and few dolls that lay upon the carpet. “Do you want to play too?”

  “I thought you wanted to search for a book on botany?” Galean smiled as he helped the child to tidy up, Wordsworth trailing after the bag, sniffing it wildly and barking.

  “Yes I forgot,” Belle answered as she finally stopped clearing her room and picked up her teddy, placing his worn face against her lips for comfort.

  “Well dinner is in five minutes so how about we go downstairs and eat and then when we are finished we can search the library and you can have your surprise, will that do?” he asked picking the happy and content child up in his arms and walking back through the doorway and onto the corridor. Throughout dinner, everybody was busy chatting with one another and Galean found relief, the tension easing away as they ate happily. As he sipped on his wine he observed how Eveline purposefully kept her gaze from him, her eyes forever on Theodore who sat up proudly, listening to her intently as she regaled to Ada a tale involving herself and Theodore when they were younger. Galean didn’t mind much as he was busy chatting to Estelle who relayed to him some of her worries about Eveline.

  “There is something of which I should have told you Mr Edwards,” Estelle exclaimed as she sipped on her tea.

  “Yes?” Galean raised his thick brows.

  “When Belle and myself were standing upon Broad Street taking in the utter destruction of the road a strange thing occurred, a strangeness I have not been able to discuss until now,” Estelle said quietly not wishing to draw attention to their conversation, thus leaning her head into Galean slightly.

  “Go on.”

  “When you came to us that night you said that you had witnessed this dark lord Lagar?”

  “Yes, I have seen him a few times in my life not many.”

  “When I was looking through the debris and rubble I saw a man very like that slithering, vile thing standing quite still and unmoving, his eyes piercing straight through me like ice,” Estelle whispered with disturbed eyes. “One moment he was there watching us and the next he was gone.”

  “And you are quite sure it was Lagar?” Galean asked seriously setting his glass down cautiously.

  “Absolutely Mr Edwards, those eyes I am sure belonged to Lagar.”

  Galean sat back and pursed his lips bringing his right hand to his chin as he thought about Estelle’s statement long and hard. What was Lagar doing there? More importantly how had he known that they were there?

  “There is something else I wish to discuss with you Mr Edwards if you would be so kind,” Estelle pursued politely.

  “Of course,” Galean murmured.

  “My son you know is greatly stressed that much is obvious and so I didn’t want to further his distress over my daughter but I wonder if you have happened to observe a change in her, a change that I myself have noticed since that night?”

  Galean looked across at the now quiet and unmoving Eveline who had suddenly withdrawn into herself and sighed. Yes he had noticed a change in her and he knew that a part of that change was a natural reaction to all that had passed, but he also was aware of the bite upon her throat and that its mark upon her had widened. She had told him that she had been bitten by a creature when out walking but he greatly disbelieved her words, seeing something else lingering behind her gaze.

  “She is quieter than usual I grant you that,” Galean smiled. “But I believe she is simply suffering from a case of shock which is perfectly natural considering all that she has encountered recently. She has been thrust from her quiet life in Keswick, being spun in two directions since that night. I am sure in time she will settle a little and find a little of her strength again.”

  “You are sure that it is just stress Mr Edwards and not something else?”

  “I am positive that she is just suffering from stress Estelle,” Galean lied not wanting to further Estelle’s already deeply filled bowl of anxiety. Galean would keep his eyes on Eveline to make sure that she was okay, if he felt that she was altering in a way that was beyond her control he would take action but until then he had to keep himself at a distance not wishing to infuriate his friend any further.