69. Exposure of Love

Back in the forbidden tower, Dev had a really hard day fighting the raven wizards, but felt some happiness in winning over Igikran once again. The dried rays of the moon did not give him a cool night; his eyes were awakened with sleeplessness and he gazed widely at the moon.
"Aren’t you asleep, Dev?" Ivan asked while leaning on the floor beside him, staring at the moon. "It’s surprising that you are still awake."
Dev looked at the full moon and exhaled his distress. "She is suffering."
Ivan started to ask who but bit his lower lip knowing the answer, "What happened to her?"
"I saw her wounds," Dev said in a sad tone with furrowed brows.
Ivan wondered at his reply, "What? Wounds? It’s surprising."
"Surprised? Ivan, I am worried about her. You said she is like your sister. How can you be surprised at her wounds? " Dev lifted his head, turned to his side, and showed his anger. "You should be worried. At the least, you have to show some concern in your words."
Ivan talked back immediately, "Dev, loosen your shoulder. What I mean is not that. We are here fighting with ravens, and it’s normal for us to have wounds. How, uh, who could hurt her in our castle? Everyone knew that you brought her to the castle and declared her your bride. Who dares to hurt your bride?"
"Bride! (Dev’s knitted eyebrows relaxed) That could be the root of her wounds." Dev rested back on the floor and stared at the moon again, "She intended to hide her wounds. She doesn’t even spill about it. She first dodged me; I thought she was ignoring me for leaving her alone."
"Yeah, she must be worried. If I were her, I would not talk to you for aeons." Ivan expressed his feelings sarcastically. "She is a foolish girl who falls in love with you."
"Ivy, stop your nonsense mouth. Hear me. She was in miserable condition, I discovered she had wounds all over her body, and I was shocked. What’s blocking her from disclosing her sufferings to me? Does she think I am not capable enough to wipe away her worries?" Dev grieved terribly.
"Why would she think you are not capable? You are the crown prince, Dev. You can make every arrangement to protect her." Ivan suggested.
"All she needs to do is to let me in." Dev shook his shoulders at Ivan just to vent his frustration, "Why wouldn’t she share her miseries with me?"
"uh, Dev, stop. I may explode. Maybe, she still needs some more time to take you in, Dev," Ivan patted his shoulder after listening to him calmly.
"Time!? She doesn’t wait to embrace me in her dreams. She is attached to me like an udumbu (monitor lizard) and doesn’t want to let go of me. Ivan, she wanted me. I saw it in her every blink of her eyes. She, on the other hand, denied discussing her writhes. We need to get back to the castle immediately." Dev was hasty in thinking Akshara was in miserable condition which made Dev intolerant.
Ivan stopped Dev, who got up to go to the castle, and said, "Dev, hear me. In a couple of days, we will be in the castle. Don’t worry. Sleep now, Dev."
Dev fell to sleep immediately to ask her who had been banging his head with a question hammer. He was disappointed and woke up immediately with a confused mind, "She is not there. I am worried about her, Ivy. What might happen to her?"
"Dev, relax. Just think about your last conversation with her. When was it?"
"It was the day before yesterday. Since we hadn’t slept last night, damn the ravens."
"Did you have any weird or unique conversation like confessing her love or complaining about you...? Dev, Think about it."
"She asked me to teach her sword," Dev replied, after thinking deeply.
"Sword?" Ivan chuckled, "Why would she want to learn sword fighting?" Ivan paused to think and asked, "Did you fight?" (Ivan paused) "Did you have a fight with her?"
Dev shrank his face and turned his head slowly towards Ivan, "You brainless firefly, your sister and I had an amorous intimate night. Which idiotic dragon would ruin the night by fighting?"
"Oh, wait, what? Intimate night? (Ivan coughed) Oh, that quick, that close?"
Ivan felt he was left alone all of a sudden and continued his wounding speech, "Hmm, I was never informed or I might not be the important person to inform about the growth in your relationship." He expressed his emotions about his dearest friend’s advancement in his relationship.
"Not in reality, only in dreams. It’s the second time. So stop shocking yourself." Dev blushed as he spoke.
Ivan wide opened his eyes and said, "Second time? Huh, I would ask when the first time was, but I won’t. Because I know I am a gentleman and you are my friend, and she is my little sister. I won’t. I would never... ever."
"The first time was back in Frozen Crescent, that night we spent together, in dreams,” Dev said with a smile on his corner lips. "Ivan, we processed the union of our relationship in our dreams. Not in real life."
“Which mindless living would spend in dreams when he have girl in her hand,” Ivan sighed with a deep exhale, "What’s the difference between doing (Dev stroked his head) I mean to say, processing your relationship in the dream and in real life? You have mated with her, anyway.”
Dev replied, which was like hot iron piercing his strong dragon skull, "Centuries-old unmated dragon won’t understand the exclusive love of hybrid dragizard."
Ivan felt humiliated and yet wanted to ask, "Uh, Dev, one last question: are you a virgin or not?" Ivan inquired and got a strong punch on his stomach from Dev. Ivan swallowed his punch and closed his mouth with his hands.
"Huh, let me enjoy the beauty of the full moon, thinking of my love. I am tired of hearing your voice." With a strong warning, Dev closed his eyes to linger in his dreams.
Dev from Forbidden Tower gazed at the full moon thinking of his love, whereas Karen from Magma Chamber was experiencing his transformation into a werewolf by staring at the full moon.
At the same time, Akshara from the dungeon gazed at the moon with a sigh of escape.
Karen voiced thinking of Akshara ignoring his pain of transformation, "I wander like a feather in search of you."
Dev lamented thinking of his Sara, "I vanished into myself when you pierced me with your eyes.” Ivan closed his ears with both hands to stop hearing the awful singing of Dev. But Dev pulled his hands away and made him hear his voice.
“Neither words nor thoughts are my minds unoccupied today,” Akshara said, crying as she endured the agony of being alone without her lover.
Karen wiped his eyes and mentioned, “My tears would be tangy if they were soaked in your love.”
Dev sang from heart, “Devoid of the aim and condition, my soul just shadows you.”
Akshara got to her feet, and voiced, without disturbing the ferocious animal, "The unknown cloud drenched my heart. It continued every day."
Karen lamented while Zohan held his shoulder, "I glimpsed you in my dream, and exuberantly I cheered. You crammed my heart.” He tightened the grip on the locket and cried over it.
Dev was worried about her health condition and her attitude toward screening nature, “Half you reveal remains are concealed. I recognise the origin of our love.”
Akshara voiced out, “Without root, seed, or rain, my orchid is full of blooms.”
Karen was at the top of the cave, Dev was in the brim of the Forbidden Tower, and Akshara was on the highest rock in the dungeon, and they all uttered the same line in their heads at the same time.
"The end of the footpath does not stop the journey."
Karen closed his eyes by saying “AXE,” while Dev closed his eyes, calling out “SARA.” Akshara closed her eyes and said aloud, “Dev.”
*****