To Bewitch a Devil

46 Lydia

“Mother.”

Zavian called, his voice breaking. The woman who was in front of him walked to him and smiled.

“How have you been, son?” She asked and Zavian smiled faintly;

“I have been well, and you?”

The woman nodded and then hugged Zavian briefly. Zavian did not hug her back; he just stood still.

After some minutes, the woman let him go.

“Zavian, how many years has it been?” She asked, looking at him with tears clouding her gaze.

Zavian blinked and looked away from her, not saying a word.

“Is it not time to release them? Have they not suffered enough?”

.....

She asked, and Zavian gritted his teeth. He knew that was the reason his mother had come to see him but why was he wishing that she had indeed cared about him, that was why she came?

For five hundred years, she had come to him three times; and, of all times; it was to plead that her favorite son and her husband be released from hell.

“Father would kill me if I let him go.”

Zavian replied, and the woman sighed.

“I’ll talk to him, I promise. I’ll plead with him not to hurt you. Trust me, please, trust me this once and let them go. It’s been five hundred years, Zavian. I miss my son! I want to see my husband! What have I done so wrong to deserve this?!”

Zavian stared at the woman in front of him.

Tracing back to the beginning of the war, she was the one that had started it.

It all began when she told his father that her second son, Uriel, would succeed him instead of Zavian, her first son, whom she despised.

It was his birthright, but she wanted to steal it from him and give it to her second son.

She had convinced their father, and they had called him to ask him to hand over his birthright to Uriel.

When Zavian refused, Lydia, their mother, started plotting to kill him.

When he got wind of it, a war broke out, and since he had been commanding the army while his father ruled, he easily encompassed a large number of the soldiers to fight against his father.

He did not banish his mother with them because she had pleaded to be forgiven. But now, what does she do? Come every century to plead on their behalf.

“If you miss them so badly, you can join them in hell. I can risk a few demons escaping to put you in there with them.”

At his words, Lydia slapped him across the face.

“How dare you speak to your mother like that? How dare you?!” She trembled in anger as tears poured from her eyes. Zavian raised his hand to his face and rubbed it, but did not say a word in reply.

“This is why I have hated you. This is why I never loved you. Ha! Without batting an eye, you wish your mother eternal damnation. You want your father and brother to rot in hell forever. You have no soul, Zavian. You’re not my son! I can’t believe I gave birth to you!”

Lydia shook in anger as she cursed at Zavian.

She did it every time she came, but Zavian still felt the same excruciating pain, every single time.

He lowered his head and sighed.

“I should let them go even though I would die? Is that what you want, mother?”

He asked, and Lydia breathed; “death is not the end, is it? Besides, you have lived for thousands of years. Are you not tired of living? How much more do you want to live?”

She asked, and Zavian looked at her, trying his best to control the tears they were about to pour from his eyes.

“You can leave now, Lydia. I have nothing more to say to you.”

Zavian spoke, calling her by her name.

“I knew you would not listen to me. You evil child.” She spoke and then chuckled;

“I gave you a choice, and you turned it down. Don’t come begging me when your father comes to kill you.”

With that, she walked away, leaving Zavian standing in the empty passage.

As soon as she left, a tear dropped from his eye.

He could count on one hand how many times he had cried; for Lilah and then for his mother. Her words hurt his heart. He wondered what wrong he did to her to amass so much hatred from her. Sometimes he wondered if he was really her child.

As he stood with his head bowed, he heard a door creak open and he turned to it.

Neera stood by her door, staring at the king. She had overheard everything that his mother had told him because they were standing just outside her room.

She wanted to tiptoe back to her bed and pretend as though she was not there, but as she turned, she mistakenly pushed against the door and it made a loud creaking noise.

Neera cursed underneath her breath as she stepped out. It would be more terrible if Zavian caught her eavesdropping, so she pretended as though she were about to leave the room.

“Your majesty, I was about...”

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could complete her words, Zavian walked to where she was and hugged her.

Neera’s eyes widened as her heart banged against her chest. Even in her wildest dreams, she did not expect that he would hug her so suddenly.

A low sigh escaped his lips as he buried his head in her neck, pulling her closer to him.

Neera froze for a few minutes before her body calmed down. She did not know what to do. She had overheard the words his mother had said to him, and she could remember them all too well.

They were the most hurtful things a child could hear, so she could imagine what he was going through. Should she hug him back? Should she pat his back?

“Let’s just stay like this for a while,” Zavian spoke, and Neera bit her lower lip. She felt wetness on her neck and it broke her.

This was the first time she was seeing him show any weakness. He was always strong, domineering;

At that moment, she couldn’t think of any other thing, and all she wanted to do was hug him back.

Without a second thought, Neera raised her hands and wrapped them around him.