Zera just returned from her first of three lectures today, and she settled in her chair to resume the work on her table when a knock came on the door.
Her head lifted, and she set down the pen in her hand. “Who’s it?” she asked, but received silence as a response.
She sat back down and was about to resume work when the knock came again; this time she grew annoyed.
Unlike what Davine had done by letting himself in weeks ago, the one at the door didn’t open it. However, it didn’t change the fact that their inability to answer had ticked her off.
Exhaling, she rose to her feet and approached the door, knowing whoever was there would keep knocking until they wore her out.
She walked to the door, and opening it, she spoke. “I do not appreciate your inability to answer simple questions!” She snapped before realising the one who stood before her was Ivan.
Ivan was the last person she expected to find at the University today. He had never visited her at her place of work before, and no matter the reason, he always waited for her to return to the estate, and then he’d come visiting. It seemed to her that whatever brought him over couldn’t wait. She had seen him a few days ago when Lionel came over to the estate to take her and Zion to Diya’s twin’s birthday party. He was speaking to Lionel, and she figured it had to do with the unmarking process. She didn’t ask too many questions because she didn’t want to invade.
Her eyes widened, and he just stared at her curiously. “Ivan!”
“I didn’t know you got this mad at work, Zera. Perhaps I didn’t notice it.” He pointed out and turned to look around as if to see if there was someone there ticking her off.
“I usually don’t.” She moved out of the way to invite him in. He stepped into the office, and this was his first time coming to visit. Though she didn’t know why, this wasn’t how she wanted it to go.
“You looked like you were ready to beat me up.” His eyes dimmed as they followed her.
She was, but she wasn’t going to do it. In truth, she thought he was Davine, and there was always something about him that ticked her off.
“There is a new staff member named Davine Yates. I thought he was the one at the door,” she answered, but that didn’t seem to clarify his confusion.
“Does Aaron know someone at your work drives you this insane?”
He knew about Davine to an extent: “I do not want to bother him, but then again, it happened once. I’ve got it under control.” She assured him, “Anyway, I should ask what you’re doing here. You’ve never been here before, and we haven’t properly seen in weeks.” She changed the topic and stepped towards her chair.
She had not had a lengthy discussion with Ivan since the hallucinations and nightmare fiasco. If she was honest, she harboured a grudge against him for the role he played in all of it. He knew the truth just as much as Aaron did, but he kept her in the dark. Among the Harts, he was the closest to her after Aaron, and a part of her was hurt by what he did. Still, she understood; he probably thought Aaron was in the best position to tell her the truth. Also, he was Aaron’s brother first, and his loyalty would always lie with him.
He nodded and stepped closer to the desk. “True, but this is about Lionel and unmarking him.” He answered, and she became focused and attentive to him.
“What about it?”
“There could be complications in the process. I already spoke to him about it, and he insists that we carry on with it. The full moon is now two weeks away, and there isn’t enough time to search out alternatives. I believe these complications are reasons for concern, but he doesn’t seem to care. I understand that he needs to unmark himself, and I can guarantee that that would be done safely, but erasing Sesi from his memory might not go how it seems.”
“How do you mean, then?”
“It’s magic, and it is unstable, and the probability of Lionel losing his entire memory is high.”
“For how long?”
“Forever,” he replied instantly.
Her eyes dropped. “Oh.”
“I already explained this to Lionel, and he insists that I carry on with what needs to be done. I understand the need to escape and put the past behind, but chances are we will all become his past.”
“And there is no other way?”
“Unmarking him and not tempering with his memory is the only way, but that means he would also have memories of Sesi and everything they shared. Lionel is willing to risk it, but I am not. Like I said, the magic is unstable, and who knows what else it could unleash?” he said.
“I understand. But what do you want me to do now?”
“Talk to him; talk him out of tempering with his memory. The pain will go away in time, and so will the memory, but if he does this, he might have nothing to get back to.” Ivan said.
She understood Ivan’s worry, and she promised she’d speak to Lionel today and also explain things to him.
Ivan thanked her and then asked about the new staff member, Davine. She told him what she knew so far about the new staff and why she had her suspicions. Yes, she had hallucinated him saying Daniel Spears when he first arrived, but there were other things about him that felt strange. He worked in the same position at the same university where Daniel once lectured. He also had some similarities to the old Daniel, like gestures, smiles, and eye colour. She couldn’t call it a coincidence, which was why she didn’t want him close to her.
Perhaps this was just her missing Daniel. It had been over two years since he left, and sometimes she thought about him. She worried about him, and most of the time she couldn’t help it. He was the last hunter in a world filled with wolves, sages, and other supernatural creatures.
“Do you know where he is?” she asked suddenly, staring up at Ivan.
“Uh?”
“Daniel, do you know where he is?”
He frowned at her and asked, “Why would you ask me that?”
“Because you tend to keep an eye out for those you care about,” she answered without having to think about it.
Ivan was the wise one, with an intense amount of power flowing through his veins, but his weakness was his big heart. He cared about everyone, including those whom he shouldn’t, and she saw it with Daniel two years ago.
“There’s nothing wrong with caring about people,” he argued, and a defensive frown accompanied his words.
She shook her head. “I never said there was. Do you know where he is?”
“He’s in Rayfield, last I checked.”
Rayfield was a small town in the south of the city, and it would take a three- to five-hour drive to get there.
“And when was that?” she raised her brow.
“Over a year ago.”
“How is he?”
“He’s alive. Alive and well.”
“Thank you for keeping an eye on Daniel and for telling me about him,” she said, and he just nodded.
He turned to take his leave, but she said, “Is Sesi happy with Manon?”
He halts and says, “I don’t think you want the answer to that.”
The truth is, she didn’t, because if Manon was truly her mate, then she would be happy with him.
“We should focus on what’s important, and that’s Lionel,” he told her.
“I will speak to him, I promise,” she answered, and he said no more words before leaving.
After leaving work, Zera headed for Lionel’s apartment. She didn’t call before coming over, and luckily for her, he was at home. When she knocked on the door, he opened it, and she saw him in his art clothes. The look on his face told her he expected her visit. She let herself in because he didn’t say anything after seeing her; he just walked away. She followed him, and they came into his art room, and she saw he had been painting.
He carried on painting like she wasn’t there, and she began to speak. She told him about Ivan’s visitation and why he came.
“Ivan told me all the risks involved if he were to embark on erasing your memory. He told me that you know all about it, but you told him to continue.” He stayed silent, and unlike all the while she had been here, she needed him to speak now. “Why?”
He placed the brush in his hand down beside the board, folded his arms across his chest, and gave a mild shrug, like it was nothing. “I want to forget.”
“I get that, but there is a high chance that you will forget everything and everyone, including art and family, in the process.” She stepped towards him and asked, “Is that really what you want?”
He didn’t need to answer; she saw the answer in his eyes. He didn’t really care about losing his memory of everything as long as he got to forget Sesi, and that broke her heart. “Lionel…”
After the birthday party a week ago, Lionel went home with the lady she had seen him with. Zera believed it was the start of something good. She was wrong; it wasn’t so easy to get over heartbreak. She would know; she tried to get over Aaron for five years and still couldn’t.
Pain flashed in his eyes, and he looked away from her. “She was the one good thing in my life, Zera.”
“Is that reason enough to forget about everything, including me and Zion?”
He opened his mouth to speak, but snapped it shut. He rose from the stool he sat on and moved to the window to stare out. “I just want to forget.”
“It’s your choice, but I think the beauty of life isn’t in forgetting about the pain but in moving on from it.”
Yes, she had supported forgetting about Sesi in the past week, but Ivan’s revelation had changed her mind about it all. If he would forget them all, then was it really worth it?
…
“You seem more worked up than usual,” Aaron said as soon as Zera opened the door to the bedroom. He was standing beside the wardrobe, undoing his tie from around his neck and looking at her.
“Isn’t that what work usually does? To work you out?” She raised a brow.
“I don’t know, maybe. But I don’t mean physically because you look great; I meant mentally.” He clarified.
She sighed and moved to the bed to set her bag down. She sat down and undid the buttons of her polka-dot blouse. “I was with Lionel.” She muttered the four words with a heavy heart.
“That makes sense.” He mumbled and hung his tie inside the wardrobe before moving to undo the buttons on his sleeves.
She frowned at him for his interruption, rose from the bed to take off her blouse, and kicked off her shoes. “Ivan said the unmarking will be on the full moon, which is two weeks away.”
He raised a brow and said, “Okay, that’s a good thing, right?”
“It is; he is one step away from healing, and I am happy for him, but he wants to forget the memories he’s made with Sesi. Ivan believes that might mean forgetting everything, which includes everyone and everything he has ever known as well.”
“That doesn’t sound so good; did Ivan tell him this?”
She nodded. “Ivan did, but Lionel doesn’t seem to care. He’s so clouded by his pain that he believes forgetting is the only way out for him.”
Aaron walked over to her, placed his hands on her shoulder, and slowly massaged her there. She sighed, and her lashes fluttered.
“I’m sorry.” He said this and leaned in to kiss her hair.
She shook her head and said, “It’s not your fault. It’s his decision at the end of the day. I just wish there was a way to heal him without sacrificing his memories of us all completely.”