The Crown Prophecy

by M. D. Laird

  “I thought you might have been cooking now that you have your own place,” said Eve as she eyed the food the cook had placed on the table.

  His sad expression remained, but he forced a smile. “I did initially,” he replied, “until I realised how terrible I was at cooking and that you seem to have to spend your life doing that and other chores. So I hired a cook, a housekeeper and a gardener. It’s a little extravagant, but I have become rather spoilt.”

  Eve grinned. “You’ll have to pull a lot of shots of espresso to pay for this.”

  “I’ll enjoy it whilst it lasts,” he said, sipping his wine. He sat silently for a few moments and appeared distracted. Eve was about to speak to break the silence when he suddenly spoke up. “How have you been?”

  “Good, thank you,” she replied, helping herself to the mouth-watering rack of lamb. “You?”

  He shrugged and spooned potatoes onto his plate. Eve felt deflated. They had enjoyed a pleasant conversation in the library, and she did not know if it was something she had said, but they were back to the awkward silences. More than that, she was concerned for him. He did seem morose. “Are you enjoying your training?” he eventually asked.

  “Yes and no,” she replied. “It is hard work, and I’m pretty awful, but I do feel more confident, and I’m fitter than I was a few months ago.” He nodded and sipped at his wine, Eve frowned. “What’s wrong, Calab?”

  “Nothing,” he replied.

  “Tell me.”

  He gazed at her for a moment before he said, “I can’t even describe it…I’m just …”

  “Lost?” she offered.

  “Yes,” he said, “I miss my old life.”

  “I know how that feels.”

  “I know you do.”

  “You need a new focus,” she replied. “It will still be hard to adjust. I’m still struggling to adjust after nearly two years, but it is easier when there is a purpose.”

  “I don’t know anything else. I don’t know any other way of life. I don’t know what I can do.”

  Feeling compelled to help in some way she asked him to help her with her training. “I could use the extra tuition. You’ve seen many a battle, I’m sure you could teach me a great deal.”

  “Is that a good idea?”

  “Why not?”

  “What would your guardian say?”

  “He will be okay with it,” she said. “But if you don’t want to, that’s fine.”

  “I’m much stronger than you,” he said bitterly. “You’d be better with someone more…evenly matched.”

  Eve said nothing and they finished their meal in silence. She felt her brow furrowing. She never knew how to take him and rarely understood what he meant by anything. Every word he spoke seemed to imply some hidden meaning that she could not grasp. Once they had finished eating, the cook cleared their plates, and they took their wine to the library and sat beside the fire. The awkward silence continued and Eve tried to hurry her wine so she could excuse herself. Calab appeared to notice and frowned.

  “How are things between you and the guardian?” he asked.

  She suspected he was asking for a reason to fill the silence rather than out of genuine interest or perhaps from some masochistic curiosity. “Good,” she said, “I enjoy his company.” A flicker of irritation betrayed him—masochistic curiosity it was then.

  “His mortality will be a problem for you.”

  “Yes, but all my family are mortal—I will lose everyone soon.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to seem harsh. It might be tempting for you to stay with him, though. He knows about you and is a connection to your old life. You might be tempted to stay with him for longer than is fair.”

  “I won't.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Why do you care?” she asked, and his gaze met her frown.

  “I do care that you might be making a mistake.”

  “What mistake?”

  “He is mortal, he needs to be with someone who he can grow old with and have a family with.”

  “I can give him a family—we’ve spoken about adoption.”

  He winced and glared at her. “You can’t grow old with him. You won’t even be able to be a part of his life in Lycea. He’ll be growing old with everyone around him thinking he is all alone, and he’ll be attending every wedding and every funeral alone because you’ll never be able to be there.”

  “I can be there for him,” she spat. “I can use a vox to disguise my age.”

  “Your life with him will be a lie.”

  “Why are you doing this, Calab?”

  “Someone needs to make you see the consequences of your choices.”

  “And again, why do you care?” she snapped. “We have spoken about the future. I have made him promise that he will leave me if he meets someone he can have a life with.”

  “If he loves you he won’t leave you,” continued Calab. “Especially if you tell him that you love him… You have, haven’t you?”

  “What business is it of yours?”

  “It isn’t, but you’re going to ruin his life, and for what? Your own happiness? Are you even in love with him? By my count, this is the third time you’ve been in love in two years.”

  “Stop it, Calab.” She snarled. “Did you invite me here so you can taunt me? Are you missing meddling with people’s lives so much that you have to start on me?”

  “It’s the truth; I can’t help it if you don’t like it.”

  “So, out of the goodness of your heart, you are trying to save an innocent man from a terrible fate? You have no other motive?”

  “Not exactly, but I know you will regret it when he is old, and you don’t want him anymore, and he will have wasted his life on you.”

  Her temper flared. “I take back what I said about you being a good man. You are a monster, Calab.” She growled. “Are you jealous? Is that what it is? You don’t want me, but you don’t want anyone else to have me either. Because you won’t love anyone and you can’t have a family you want to—”

  She did not finish before he leapt from his seat and slapped her so hard across the face that she flew from her seat and banged her head on the fireplace narrowly missing the flames. Shocked and dizzy she stared up at his face, and it was horrifying. His expression contorted into the most frightening sight she had ever witnessed. His eyes blazed with all the fires of Hell and he looked…he looked evil. She gulped hard as terror rose. Bile burned her throat and her vision blurred. He stalked slowly towards her, and she froze. He knelt in front of her, gently took hold of her chin and turned her to face him.

  “Get out of my house,” he said as quietly and as calmly as he would in ordinary conversation. “If I ever see you again, I will kill you.”

  Eve stumbled through his house as fast as she could and was in the bitter cold before she realised she had forgotten her coat. Not daring to go back, she ran towards the vector. One of her guards landed beside her and made her jump.

  “Apologies, Your Majesty,” he said. “Are you well?”

  “Fine, I just want to go home,” she said. She climbed into the vector, slammed the ‘home’ button and was soon speeding through the streets. Her breathing became rapid when she realised she had barely taken a breath. Her vision blurred from the tears and the blow to her head.

  What the hell happened? I know that what I said was harsh, but it was no meaner than what he said to me.

  The vector arrived at the Guild of Impærielas. Fortunately, there was no one around, and she was able to creep into the kitchen unseen. She helped herself to a large jug of ice from the alchemical freezer and a bottle of whisky before heading quickly to her quarters. She opened the door to her room and saw Calab standing by her bed. Panic soared through her. She dropped the jug and the bottle and lost control of her bladder. She turned to run, but he was faster, and he was in front of her. He spoke, but she could barely register his words. Nor could she register that
she had held her breath again as she struggled against him and everything turned black.

  Eve woke to find herself lying on her bed. Her wet clothes had been removed, and she was wearing her nightdress. Calab had retrieved the ice from the carpet and was pressing ice—wrapped in a towel—against her cheek.

  “I am so sorry,” he pleaded. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I am begging you to know that I mean it when I tell you how sorry I am.” She did not dare to speak but studied his face; every trace of menace had vanished. It was not the violence that had terrified her, although his strength did not make her want to experience another blow from him anytime soon, it was his face. She had felt as though she was looking directly into the deepest, darkest bowels of Hell. It seemed surreal now, and she could not even picture what she had seen, but the memory caused her to wretch. “I know I frightened you,” he continued. “I know what I must have looked like, I have only looked at someone like that once before, and they had a heart attack, so you’ve handled it rather well.”

  Am I supposed to laugh? She did not.

  He continued gently, “You saw my true demon essence, and I really am sorry you did. That is the side of me that is pure evil.” Eve said nothing, she was still shaken and afraid she may say something else to unleash that monster once more—was that it? She had called him a monster, was that why he flipped? “The opposite is true for angels. When I was an angel, I had a side that was pure goodness and you would have felt as though you were looking into Heaven. Our normal personalities are fed from that essence.

  “We have still retained some of the characteristics of our angelic selves, so we’re not complete bastards all the time, but when we truly lose our temper, then the demon essence emerges.” She met his gaze, she felt confused and bewildered. Was he threatening her or just explaining himself? Was it even safe for her to speak? “Please say something,” he pleaded. “I know you’re scared, but I promise I won’t hurt you.”

  She moved to sit up, and he backed away, she picked up the whisky bottle that was thankfully undamaged and had been placed on the bedside table. After taking several long gulps, she turned to him to see him waiting anxiously. “I don’t even know what I said,” she started. “I know I was mean but no more than you were.”

  “It’s not your fault,” he said, lowering his gaze from hers and replacing the ice in the towel that had already melted under his hot skin.

  “I must have said something.”

  He closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. “You touched a nerve, a raw nerve that is becoming rawer with each passing day,” he said softly, “but you couldn’t have known so don’t blame yourself. All of this was my doing.”

  She wanted to hate him for what he had done. In the vector, she was determined that she would never forgive him or speak to him again as long as she lived. Now she was not looking at a terrifying demon, she was looking at the young boy of no more than twenty and he was pitiful. She reached her hand to touch his cheek. He did not stiffen or shrink away from her touch as he usually did and instead seemed to welcome it. “Tell me,” she pressed. He met her gaze and seemed to weigh up the pros and cons of telling her. He swallowed realising that he, at least, owed her an explanation, but he did not want to say the words. She offered him the whisky bottle and he took it with a small smile before taking a long gulp. “You don’t have to tell me,” she said. “If it’s too painful you don’t have to explain.”

  He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. He placed a kiss on her hand before holding it to his chest. “No one but my brothers know this,” he said, “not even Thalia. She may suspect, but she knows no details. She does not know what pains me.”

  “I won’t say anything,” she assured him.

  “What do you know about the Fall?” he asked gently.

  “That’s the event which saw you cast from Heaven, you were part of a rebellion, and you were cast into Hell.”

  He nodded. “Do you know why?

  “I read something in the guardian book about Nephilim and the flood and… Oh.”

  Oh god! Why had I not realised? It was right there in black and white!

  He had even asked Asmodeus if he could have children.

  Why didn’t that strike a chord?

  And right before he hit her she had told him… She did not even want to think about it and cringed at the words. “You had children.” He nodded sadly. “I should have guessed, Calab, I’m so sorry.”

  He shook his head. “It’s not your fault.” He kissed her hand again and held it for a few moments. He took a deep breath before he spoke. “Before humans occupied the earth there was no Hell, only Heaven. Angels of varying ranks filled Heaven. I was of the same rank as the sons. Heaven was strict, you could not move without breaching some rule, and we had to spend most of our time praying and chanting. However, we did not know any different—we had nothing to do with Anaxagoras then.

  “Then humans were introduced to Lycea and many angels, myself included, were tasked with the role of watchers which, as the name suggests, meant we had to watch over the humans. I became quite fascinated with them. They had a free rein and seemed to do as they pleased. They could experience pleasure and pain and enjoy the flesh in ways we could not even imagine. They became intoxicated, fought and even killed each other without consequences. I was jealous. The rules imposed by Heaven were strict, and there was no physical pleasure or desire to be felt. We could enjoy only food and wine but did not experience the hunger or the thirst required to appreciate it.

  “We dutifully carried out our roles initially, but some of us became besotted with the daughters of men. We had never laid eyes on the female form before, and their beauty enthralled us. Forgetting the rules and forgetting our purpose, many of us became involved with females. As angels, we were able to feel the deepest love but had to resist it for eternity. I couldn’t and I fell in love with Kayin. I could not enjoy a physical relationship though I enjoyed loving her and having that love returned. I did have a physical relationship with her out of a desire to make her happy and pleasure her. We had two beautiful daughters, Ayo and Esi.” Calab wiped away the tears that were forming in his eyes and continued. “They were Nephilim—half angel and half human. They were the most precious creatures, and I loved them more than I loved anything. For the most part, my time as an angel was miserable. It was an endless servitude of self-sacrifice and denial. I only knew happiness when I fell in love with Kayin and had my children.

  “I wasn’t the only one; many of the angels had many children. They grew up and had their own children and soon the world was well occupied by Nephilim. Heaven was furious and flooded Lycea to rid it of the Nephilim and of all the humans who had been tainted by angels. Kayin and my daughters perished in the flood along with everyone else. We were furious, and we revolted. The battle was extremely violent and saw brother against brother. Heaven was mightier in the end and cast us to the wastelands that we fashioned as Hell.

  “After the waters had subsided, humans were reintroduced to Lycea, and as an act of vengeance, we tormented them with plagues, famines and many other cruelties. Heaven conceded to compromise with us eventually and offered us a deal. Without the watchers, humans had become considerably more violent and often sadistic, and Heaven wanted to give consequences for their actions. We began working with the angels to test for worthiness; those who were unworthy joined us in Hell.

  “As a sweetener, we were given a chance to live in Anaxagoras or discreetly in Lycea, if we agreed to keep the peace and never have children again. It was a choice between Infinite wrath and infinite despair and we chose despair.

  “We had changed, we had become the opposite of what we were. The essence of good was replaced by an essence of evil, and the angelic beauty was replaced with demonic ugliness. Instead of feeling no pleasure and pain, we felt everything and instead of feeling love, we felt nothing. I don’t know which the cruellest act was, whether it was killing our children or kil
ling our ability to know the love we had for them and feel the grief of their passing.

  “The years of servitude passed and although I could not feel love, I felt no pain of loss. I could enjoy the pleasures of the flesh, and though I could not love, it did not matter very much to me—until recently. Over the last hundred years or so, I began to feel things that I had not felt for a very, very long time. I hid it away, denied my feelings, and continued my work as though nothing was different. Then I met you. I have seen many a human girl in my years, but I have never actually known one since I became a demon, not even the hominem. I saw the patriarchs in court but did not have much to do with them otherwise.

  “I saw the look of sympathy for us in your eyes even after I had kidnapped your guardian’s father, and you were unfazed and unafraid when you approached me in the park—it stirred something. The turning point was the moment that piece of filth hurt you. Something flickered inside me. A switch was flipped that I haven’t been able to turn off despite all my efforts to do so. Slowly, more and more each day, my feelings have been seeping back. My capacity to love has been restored, but it is severely damaged. The pain that I now experience has broken it. The pain of losing my wife and my girls consumes me. For thousands of years, I have not been able to feel anything for them other than anger and wish for vengeance. I have never grieved for them and never remembered our love with any fondness, and now it has come to me at once. It suffocates me.

  “I can remember all the joy I felt when I was falling in love with Kayin and the happiness I felt when I became a father. I cherish those feelings, I really do. However, the pain…the pain is excruciating. It is as though all of the time it has been denied me it has amplified. I cried the days my daughters were born, and I have never been able to cry since. Now all I can do is cry.