Albert had to reorganize his plans for the Wilshire's island cost was finally seen in the horizon and the battle was soon to begin in the name of seizing control of the sacred spring. Princess Selene's turn is about to come to the light so he had to make sure she's safe and away from Alex's grasp. However, he decided to interfere no further in Alex's plan and let his crew handle this matter aside from his own personal feelings and motives. So he decided that from now on, he will wage this war against the oldest noble family the way he believes in. Albert walked silently to Serena's room, on his way he passed near the kitchen but didn't stop to say hello to Alice, there was no way he could face here as the man he'd become, he would have to wait until he was able to make it all up.
Serena didn't expect the officer's visit, and she couldn't imagine what the purpose of it was but Albert jumped immediately to the point as he put between her hands the royal seal.
*****
Serena knocked on Alex's door softly, and hearing {who is it?}, she announced herself with a choked voice. She did not hear a permission to enter or a frank refusal so she entered with hesitated leg and shaking lips. Alex's eyes were busy with the book he was reading. Serena looked at him for a while then unable to wait to hear the answer her heart was craving to, the denial to the scheme Albert described. She asked him:
"Is what Albert told me true? That this entire journey and the fighting and the sacred spring are mere excuses to seek your own revenge?"
" If you know the answer, why bother asking?"
Serena eyed the man in shock; her body was feeling heavy all of a sudden as if it could no longer bear this heavy yet fragile burden she called her heart. Alex could hear the sound of her hands dropping limp on her sides yet he didn't turn at her, he flipped to the next page expecting that this conversation was over but Serena's voice rose again in the room :
"I refuse to believe this... these whole battles and the men who sacrificed themselves and died are tools for your stupid revenge?"
Alex was already told this once, it wasn't going to make a difference hearing it again from a different person and perhaps it was only going to set the flame more abalze. She held her breaths hoping she'll hear a satisfying answer, that of regretting or even denying the truth. Alex intended to flip the page but stopped. Serena stood on her toes ready to hear what he'd to say but all what she heard was these concise words said to drive her away from the room:
"You want to hear it from me personally?"
Serena was certain there was no point of any further talking, she knew him and even if it was for one night or even shorter, she knew how much her sister meant to him. He could be only seen smiling while beside her, she recalled this when she noticed her sister's picture dangling from the book, the page at which Alex had stopped flipping. Angered, she hit the desk with her hand strong enough to make the picture slip from the book and fall on the ground, she plucked the book from his hands and threw it on the floor as well saying with a congested face:
"Will you look at me while speaking to me? Since I laid foot on this ship you've never looked me in the eye! Is it all because I look like that stupid woman? Cannot you see that I'm a whole different one!"
Her face was colored red, her cheeks were puffed like two ripen apples that quickly shriveled by the cold dry air, she'd always wished him to look straight at her eyes but at that moment, she regretted her wish coming true. His eyes were so apathetic like a dead man's, yet piercing and tearing any left hopes. They were beautiful yet hard and sharp at the same time like diamonds. She could not breathe again until he moved his eyes away from her frozen pupils.
"Then, you leave me no other choice."
Regaining her self – control, and weighing the matters of war and heart as they should be weighed. She stood straight throwing the royal seal on the table, Alex following her movements with lazy eyes.
"Anyone who opposes the bearer of this seal is accused with high treason and punished by death no matter what."
Alex looked at the golden seal; where the royal family crest was carved. Strangely, there was a smile on Alex's face that the woman could not fathom. Treason was not something that meant a dime to him, he had long deserted his kingdom after Claudine's death, but the matter would not be the same for the men of his crew. But that was not the matter at all.
" Is he too coward to use it himself?"
Alex inquired mocking the new officer. Serena didn't like the offensive tone he spoke with; she explained defending the young man's behavior:
"He said that with this seal and my family's acclaimed noble name combined together, even the crew of the Amphitrite will fear the consequences of defying the king."
Alex stared with disdain at the seal displayed on the table as if to be threaten with. Scorn in his eyes, fire in his heart, deepening the scar on that closed heart even more, he said with contempt:
"You'd go that far? The king stood with that woman, he protected her! It's your sister we're talking about!"
Agony, sadness, loneliness, all reechoed in his words only in a keen ear that could detect these feelings, the ears of Serena alone at that moment. That act of hers was enough to provoke a silent cold man like Alex, it was enough to make, for the first time, his latent feelings agitate, to make life touch his calm yet angry words. As for Serena, this was not about her and Alex anymore, it was about a whole kingdom's people who are waiting to get back their lives.
" I don't believe that a single woman, no matter who she's, deserves all of these sacrifices."
Serena declared frankly. This matter of revenge was no longer about right and wrong. It had long became an obsession, losing its just meaning.
Alex rose to his feet, towering over her unwavering figure and asked in mockery:
"You think my men will obey you?"
"They will. After all, they have families and friends too on land, if they were to know of your plans they won't listen to you anymore. They will obey me, Alex!"
This time, it was Serena who looked him straight in the eye; her last words were those of a challenge revealing the strong heart she kept hidden all this time. Still, even the steel becomes flexible under the hammer of the blacksmith, that hummer that kept stroking her heart ever since that far summer night.
"Please, forgive me for this..."
She whispered, turning her face away. Alex raised his eyebrow in disappointment at the quick retreat.
"Such a weak resolve."
Alex said upbraiding the woman who wasn't actually apologizing for being obliged to use the authority of the king, or for resorting to such drastic measure against him. What she was apologizing for was the deep warm kiss her lips gifted his but nothing could revive what is dead. Her kiss resembled a butterfly seeking refuge on a sheet of ice, though expecting no warmness, it remained until it got stuck on it and her wings froze until finally falling dead. The coldness of ice would remain on her wings but their colors would not be imprinted on that sheet.