Chapter 89 - Like Glass

Alexander sat in his room too angry to talk to anyone. He was shocked by the encounter that he had with his so-called son. He hated the way that he was rendered helpless by his son.

Tonight he was reminded of the day that he was unable to protect Francis from him. He had healed but the scar on his wings remained to remind him that he was no match to Ander.

He hit the table hard with his hand, his anger flaring up. The anger in Ander's eyes was so intense he could feel a chill ran down his spine when he held his hand. He was confused about what to do.

The warning from his mother of the future in which Ander kill him and everyone and Francis's advice of using love to change the future troubled his mind. Till now he only thought that Francis was a fool for trying to get along with Ander but he was beginning to understand what he was trying to achieve with it.

He stood from the chair and paced around the room replaying everything in his mind. He was worried about what Ander wanted to tell that would hurt him right before Avan took him away.

"What did he mean by it will hurt much worse than a slap? What could it have been?" he asked when he heard a knock on the door.

He wondered who it was that bothered to trouble him when he had made it clear that he didn't want to be disturbed.

"Come in," he instructed and waited. The door was pushed open to reveal the queen by the door.

"I know you are busy but can I come in?" the Queen asked him nicely. Alexander nodded and let her in. He offered her a seat.

"What can I do for you?" he asked her. With his understanding of her, she probably came to him to complain about what happened to Ander. On normal occasions, he wouldn't even listen. to her but the future of his kingdom was at stake and he owed it to his late father to prevent that from happening.

"I wanted to talk to you concerning Ander," she said fearfully.

"Tell me," he said taking hold of her hands to stop them from shaking. "Don't be afraid to speak your mind," he added surprising the queen.

"He was very unhappy about the marriage alliance and I understand why you all want the wedding to take place but I don't think we should go through with it," she said in one breath afraid she might back down from speaking up for Ander.

"Why do you say that," Alexander questioned. He knew she had a lot to say and he was ready to listen. She had raised the boy as her child and loved him all his life, so perhaps seeing things from her point of view might help him find a solution to the problem at hand.

"You were married to Olivia at a very young age. The two of you weren't a perfect match as both were different people at heart and look at how that turned out," she said. "That girl Natalia told us about Ander's love for Francis only so that she could get him for herself. I don't know why but she reminds me a lot of Olivia," she added.

The point she made did make sense, it was definitely like Olivia to use people's weaknesses to get what she wanted. She also knew exactly how to manipulate everything in her favor.

"Ander is already so angry, selfish, and cunning as it is. Do you think marrying him to a girl who is just like Olivia would be good for him?" she asked Alex. Alex had no words to reply. He was only now realizing the mistake he was about to make. The girl marrying Ander would make him eviler.

"Only light can eliminate darkness Alex, not darkness," she stated. "It would be a big mistake on our part to do this. Not just to Ander but the whole of Arimelari."

"But we have given our word that the wedding will take place. As the queen and king we can't go back on our word," he said to her.

"I know but that doesn't mean that we can't try to fix our mistake somehow," she said to him.

"But I want to ask a favor from you before we proceed," she said drawing Alexander's attention. He was curious about the favor that she wanted from him.

"Name it."

"Can we handle Ander's matter as the king and queen of Arimelari? Looking at it as his parents seem to complicate things with the tension between everyone," she said and Alexander smiled.

This was the reason that she chose him as his queen when all went wrong. She was just like Silvia, she was smart, kind, and most importantly wise. She knew how to go about things in a way that solved the problem instead of creating more problems like he seems to be doing.

"Okay," he replied not having any other solution of his own.

"This means that when you are with him, you cant bring up the past or get angry at him for no reason. You have to stay calm and handle him like glass," she said making him grown at her last statement. "Like glass if not careful it might break and we will end up hurt if we try to pick up the pieces," she explained.

Alex became more confused when she explained it. "What do you mean?"

"He is already at the edge if we push him any more than that. He will be at a point of no return and we won't be able to stop him from destroying everything."

"Hasn't he reached that stage. It seemed to me like he has lost all his humanity," he stated sternly.

"Come with me," she said.

Alexander followed to the hidden exit of the palace that was for emergency purposes only. He wondered why she was leading him out of the palace in the middle of the night instead of telling him how to save the kingdom from his son.

"Where are we going?" he asked when they got to the woods.

"Almost there," she said not answering his question.

"Wh..."

"Shhh," she shushed him before she completed his statement and pointed ahead.

Alexander followed the train of her hand and was surprised by what he was seeing. He moved closer hiding behind the bush and watched closely.

"Still think he has lost his humanity?" she asked him joining him behind them as they watched Ander and Avan play around the huge tree full of lights.

Ander and Avan used their magic to create the night sky around the tree, they played pretend that they were in the sky moving around the numerous to get to the moon. The first one to reach the moon wins, with designed obstacles to hinder their path to the moon.

Ander was all smiles, he laughed each time Avan fell from his unicorn which was all the time. If it wasn't for the terrible way that Avan rode the unborn he would have thought that the male was faking the fall just to make him laugh.

"You should give up. I haven't won yet but competing against feels like I have already won," he said to the male.

Avan got up from the ground and threw a snowball at him which he easily dodged before continuing to laugh at him. "You don't just ride terribly but you also aim wrong."

"He is just a child with anger issues Alex and it is only possible to see that if you look at him without your anger clouding your eyes," the queen commented. "While I was thinking about it earlier, it occurred to me that he might not even be in love with Francis," she said to him.

Alexander looked away from Ander and stared at his queen waiting for her to explain what she is talking about.

"He is yearning for love from his loved once and he feels that no one loves him. But Francis has always been by his side since he was a baby, he has gotten used to him that he is mistaking his affection as love," she explained. "He is afraid that he will leave him too and that is why he is being obsessive. He just doesn't want the constant thing in his life to go away from him," she added.

"So what does he feel for Francis?" Alex asked being relieved at the possibility of Ander not being in love with Francis.

"He is fond of Francis and enjoys his company but not as a lover, he is young and is easily confused," she said pulling him away from there.

"So how do we let him see that he doesn't really like Francis as a lover?"

"It won't be easy but it isn't impossible. We just have to let him truly fall in love and not with that snake Natalia, she will confuse him more," she said and stroked her chin to think.

"Do you have anyone in mind?" he asked her.

"Avan," she replied.