The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 201: The Actual Fear

Chapter 201: The Actual Fear

"My Lord, what are you doing?" Annalise asked for the nth time as she stared at Damien with a very unimpressed look on her face. Her current situation was not included in her list of activities of the day when she woke up in the morning and got ready to start another new day.

"The more you will stall, the longer you will need to spend here because I have no plans of letting you go so easily without doing exactly what I have asked you to do," Damien responded just as strictly but still warmly as he could manage in that situation.

Annalise quickly spared glances in the direction of people who had appeared there to watch her suffer in hands of the second Dark Lord. Leela seemed excited about the entire thing and while Ezra and Marley appeared a little bit sympathetic toward her, even they seemed to be looking forward to the show that she was supposed to put on for their entertainment.

Then there was Elijah who seemed to be lost in the chess board ever since he lost against Leela just a few moments ago when everyone’s attention was actually on their game and not on her and the new assignment she just received. The Crown Prince believed firmly that Leela cheated to win but he hadn’t been able to prove his words so far, so he seemed to be searching for a way to prove his claim.

Freya and Sera were also present there as the two had been serving them refreshments and while the former mostly carried an unreadable look on her face, Sera seemed to be the only person present there who was actually feeling sorry and a little bit anxious for her lady.

Finally, Annalise’s gaze found Kenric who just winked at her in response to her silent request. He was undoubtedly looking forward to her carrying out the assignment.

Then, with almost next to no hope, she turned to look at tge last person who was present there, and much to her dismay, he wasn’t even looking at her and was busy with some book that he had been reading for hours.

She couldn’t hold back the deep sigh of frustration that escaped her lips as she returned her attention to Damien who seemed to be enjoying her poor situation, after all, he was the one who started it all to begin with.

"Can’t we do this some other time? Our guests are here and we should be attending to them instead of..." Annalise was on her way to give another weak try to get herself out of the unwanted and unannounced situation that she was suddenly trapped into but someone interfered soon enough to make sure that she won’t get any way out.

"You don’t have to worry about us, Lisa. All your guests will love to see you have a competition against Lord Damien. You can do it, I wish you all the very best." The mer girl chirped excitedly as she tried to motivate Annalise.

The stretch of Damien’s lips at the clear failure of his wife’s efforts at getting saved from having magical combat with him didn’t sit right with the latter. She just wanted to kick out every single person looking forward to her making a fool out of herself, of course, Sera was not on that list, however, Damien was at the top followed by the other two dark lords and Leela.

Her eyes once again wandered around and she felt her anxiety reaching the very top as she realized just how many people were present there to witness her embarrassing herself. She was nowhere near Damien’s level when it came to magical powers, let alone spells and charms. She was going to lose so badly that the thought almost scared her.

’You are giving up without even trying. Ain’t that even worse than losing to him while actually trying your best?’ Valerius’ soft voice suddenly contacted her through their shared mind link and Annalise was suddenly left feeling even more self-conscious. She knew that even though it was the first dark lord’s tactic to make her begin the combat, there was still no denying that his words were nothing but facts.

’Are you scared of losing this combat, Annalise?’ He asked when she neither responded nor moved at his first comment.

Annalise needed to find words to link with what she was actually feeling before she finally answered in a small voice, ’not really. I’m not really opposed to the idea of losing to Lord Damien as I’m already aware that right now, I’m not exactly his competition.’

’Then what is it that keeps making you back out of this casual competition? Are you worried about losing face in front of our guests?’ Valerius didn’t stop there and continued to prod further in search of something that he was looking forward to in her answers.

Annalise shook her head but immediately just how stupid she would look to the onlookers. She fixed her gaze on the man who still hadn’t looked up from his book as she replied through the mind link that was keeping their conversation private. ’I’m not. There’s nothing to feel ashamed about if I lose... or when I’ll lose. It’s not like they already don’t know who’s going to win and who’s going to lose.’

She was being as true to him as she could. She didn’t try to sugarcoat her words or cared how she sounded, she just told him what she actually thought about the matter of losing the match against Damien.

Valerius was silent after that for a while but then he asked again, ’Then tell me, wife, what exactly is stopping you from fighting this fight?’

Annalise was suddenly left at a loss for words as she couldn’t answer his question. She tried to recall exactly why she felt opposed to the idea of the competition Damien proposed to her but she came out empty, there was nothing she found there in her memories.

’I’m not sure Valerius. Somehow, the only answer that I can give you is that... the idea of this combat isn’t sitting right with me, I just don’t feel like doing it.’ She told him exactly what she was feeling.

The connection between her and Valerius got disturbed after that for a few moments as Leela suddenly started urging Annalise to start the combat and not stall for more time. However, Damien didn’t tell her to hurry as he was aware of her ongoing mind talking with his eldest brother.

She felt her mind link with Valerius stirring again before the dark lord once again spoke to her, ’You aren’t backing down because you are afraid of losing, neither because you are scared of losing in front of so many people but still... you want to back down and that’s because... the thing that is actually scaring you is your power.’

His words hit her hard and straight to the core of her mind and heart as she immediately realized just how true he was. And while she wanted to deny it, she knew that she couldn’t really hide the truth from him... or any of her husbands.

Her eyes suddenly found themselves looking into a very beautiful pair of ice-blue eyes and she felt for a moment that those eyes were looking right into her soul. ’How long are you planning of running from all the truths that have started surrounding you, Annalise? The more you will try to avoid them, the more they will surround you, and if you will continue like this, it won’t be long before you will start feeling suffocated.’

Annalise had nothing to say in response to his words because there was no way she was going to accept his accusations and think about the things he was trying to pull her attention to. Even though she had been trying to run away from those so-called truths, she was only doing it because she had no strength to face them.

As she quickly looked away from Valerius’ deep gaze penetrating her soul and turned to look at Kenric and Damien respectively, she finally realized that all of this was their plan for reminding her about the certain things she had been trying her very best to neglect and not think about from every day she got no other choice but to believe that they were the actual harsh truths of her life.

She blinked her eyes a couple of times to get a hold of herself despite the emotional turmoil that was taking place inside her before she took in a deep breath and spoke in a respectful voice, "I’m really sorry for letting all your expectations down but I’m not in the mood of a sparring session right now with anyone. I need some time for myself... alone. Please excuse me."

She didn’t wait for anyone to respond to her sudden excuse, nor did she wait to see their reactions, she just turned around and left the place.

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