Chapter 131: A New Birth
Turning around to meet Ivan’s crimson eyes that flashed with intent, Draven remained unaffected as he approached the spiraling stairs where he stood. His amused gaze lowered to Ivan’s fist that had balled at his side, he was clearly controlling himself not to snap and send a powerful punch to his face, but Draven knew more than anyone that Ivan could not do it, not unless he wanted to face the consequences of provoking the Four Lords, infact, it wouldn’t matter anymore as they were already provoked by his recent actions and attitudes.... Most especially when it came to that woman.
"Where is the orb?" Draven’s calm voice resonated within the hall, and the corner of his lips lifted as he asked. "Where is the young woman? She has to return with me to Vesunard. For a human possessing the powers that match the tales of an old legendary Orb, it is not safe to keep her within the surroundings of your beloved humans. Do you understand?"
"I’ll understand when three divides a hundred." Was Ivan’s monotonous response to Draven, and his eyes narrowed, forming a suspicious slit as he took a step closer. "I find it rather strange, you wanted to end her life earlier by sending her into public humiliation, but suddenly... the four Lords are elusively interested in having my little lamb and shipping her to Vesunard...which of course won’t happen unless you trample over my dead body," he arched an eyebrow, "what is it you’re not telling me?"
"Did you read that quickly?" Chuckling once, Draven turned around with his hands folded behind his back, his cloak swishing at his abrupt movement before descending down the stairs, and he said. "What I did was merely staged, Ivan, and trust me when I say there are many things you are yet to figure out." He paused for a moment before proceeding. "Her revelation, her trial, everything, it was all part of my one big plan to deceive Carina and her foolish children into convincing the three Lords to send the servant out for public disgrace! It wasn’t because I wanted her dead, I was trying to trigger an effect, but whatever the case may be, If I hadn’t done that, she would have faced tribunal judgements and you would meet her dead, so instead of blindly accusing me when my actions kept her alive, you should be thanking me."
"I’m not in for your mind games today, Draven!" Ivan’s hand grasped the rim of the stairs, and he gave it a squeeze in order to control his temper. When he descended down the stairs after Draven, taking his hand away from the rim, he had unknowingly left an indentation on it due to the pressure he had channeled through his fingers, forgetting his own strength.
"It’s not a mind game, it’s a fact." Draven asserted with all seriousness as he turned around to look at Ivan. "I saw everything, what she did to Claire, Carina, Eamon, the guards... you blindly aiding her to take them out and that was the trigger I needed. I don’t know if your conscience is letting you deny the truth but you’ve been searching for the obvious without knowing it was right in front of you. That human you so wish to get married to is the missing Orb, she’s the mystic Orb that you’ve been desperately searching for."
"What?" Ivan’s crimson eyes snapped wide in disbelief, and the momentary silence that lingered after that felt still, even the sound of a pin dropping could be heard.
"That is nonsense!" Ivan shook his head in denial as he eyed Draven, "she’s a human being, technically, but the orb is not."
"We were the ones who handed the orb to your Father, it has been in our possession unless someone needed the Orb for reasons that would grant them the ability to access it." Draven asserted yet again, with more rigidity in his tone. "Your Father needed it to bring back the nature this land had lost, and that night when you saw the human advisor take the Orb away, the reason for that glow was because.... A new birth was going to be made! Her existence is not meant to be, she needs to return to what she truly is now out of my way so I can rectify the mistake your Father has made." He declared, eyes gleaming with a hidden threat that gave no promises.