066 The Silent Cliff

Erebus was genuinely surprised when he didn't found Kitty there.

"Metis." He pulled out his phone, "Any trace of Kitty?"

"Not yet. She's not returning either." Metis's calm voice came through, "Where do you want us?"

"Is Menoetius with you?" Erebus asked.

"Yes, he is here." Metis said, turning to look for Menoetius, who was talking with Themis at the moment.

"Put him on." Erebus stood where he was, waiting.

"Menoetius at your service," a hasty yet delighted voice rushed into Erebus's ear, "My Lord."

"Good." Erebus said, his eyes gazing at the sea where the sun just bounced one last time before disappear under the dark blue sea level, "Where is Curtis?"

...

"He has disappeared, too!" As Menoetius finished the few last steps to the meadow, he was already shouting at Erebus, who was at that time, gazing at the sea in silence.

"How is that possible?" Menoetius, "I didn't know he had a witch with him!"

"You are aware that royalties sometimes have magic of themselves." Erebus said in an indifferent tone.

"Wow! I am! But it's not like all of them have..." Menoetius exclaimed, "I forgot. It's my fault."

"It's okay. You need to look deeper into this little prince, though." Erebus said, "So how is it?"

"Our men is looking for both of them as we speak," Menoetius answered quickly, "Why do you think they might be together?"

Menoetius didn't know about Curtis's prophecy, or the fact that Curtis has told Kitty already.

"Call it a hunch." Erebus said in a dark tone. He was not pleased that Curtis just went ahead and broke their deal.

"I..." Menoetius started, but he didn't go through with his sentence.

"Speak." Erebus looked up, a bit surprised at his hesitation.

"It's nothing!" Menoetius shook his head, and quickly added at Erebus's darkened face, "I just want to say thank you, for not exile Themis. I'm grateful."

"No need to." Erebus nodded, "Kitty was right. She was out of line, but she did it our of loyalty, which I appreciate."

"Yes, my Lord!" Menoetius was genuinely happy.

He was always the bright type, the type that Erebus rely on the most and trust the most. But it also made it hard for him to give him missions like this:

"Menoetius, you asked me 'what does it mean', that Curtis didn't do anything when Kitty was set up." Erebus said, not facing Menoetius, but the dark sea.

"Yes! Yes, my Lord." Menoetius jumped closer to him and tilted his head to read the face of his Lord, "Does it mean that he is innocent? But why am still keeping a watch on him if so?"

"Well, you are still watching him, because I won't allow him to make a move on Kitty before she's ready." Erebus picked the easier question. It was NOT his style.

He frowned at himself for being such a coward.

"What?!" Menoetius exclaimed, "But you marked him! This is so... well, I guess Kitty is not a werewolf, so she cannot mark you. But still, Curtis IS!"

"Actually, about that." Erebus glanced at him, "He had a prophecy made for him, saying that Kitty was to be the new queen. And our King has only one son."

"Oh my God! How is that possible?!" Menoetius gave out a yelp, "A mark is NEVER wrong! The witch must have made a mistake in that prophecy."

"It doesn't matter." Erebus shook his head, "I won't bound Kitty with the werewolf’s law even if I could. I'll leave that choice to her."

"But my Lord, I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it must be for you! Losing the mate... that's...horrible!" Menoetius said, frowning and was nearly to tears.

It's a horrible fate for a werewolf to lost their mate, because a mark is for life. It would mean that you can never again feel the excitement of your heart racing at a lover's smile, at an intimate touch, or at merging with one another in total trust and acceptance.

You can still have someone by your side, even in bed, but it would feel like you are ripped in half, and one of the halves is forever lost. It's a pain that hurts, and will never diminish.

Luckily, there's rare case where two werewolves don't mark each other. Often they will mark not at the same time, but the one who is slower would always make the same choice later, so this pain is not known to too many. But SOME is horrible enough a rate that no one would want this fate.

Even for now, Erebus was under great pain just for having the urge to take Kitty into his arm, but instead, he had to keep his distance and watch her leave.

It's not the pain that's unbearable, it's the knowledge that the pain will NEVER disappear, not in his life time.

"I don't understand, how could you even think about letting her go?" Menoetius murmured, "It's like a death sentence while you are alive."

"Would you rather force Themis into it if she makes the decision?" Erebus said softly.

"I don't know..." Menoetius said with fear obvious in his tone, "And I don't want to know."

"I hope you won't have to make that choice, but when facing it," Erebus paused and gazed into afar again, "You will realize that you will give her everything she wants as much as you can no matter what happen to you."

"My Lord..." Menoetius mumbled. "Oops! Yes, speak."

Erebus's lips curved when he saw Menoetius was still a innocent kid in front of him just now, but instantly a mature leader almost in shape when he was on the phone with his men.

"My Lord," Menoetius hung up the phone, "They are still nowhere to be found, so I'm guessing they are still under the spell. But L'Appart just got booked for a table for two under the name K, Charles."

"Charles Kalani." Erebus murmured, “That devil with French romance.”

The two soon disappeared into the shadow of the moon. The cliff was back in its eternal silence, as if never disturbed.