CHAPTER 60: CHAPTER 60

Zeenare trailed his gaze over his mother’s frame for a beat, then looked away.

This woman’s looks can be deceiving. Why did I forget? She is more cruel than kind.

"A mutated human is a forbidden seed," she informed.

As she sank into her thoughts, The prophecy never mentioned a union between a human and a Siren. Could this be a variable? she thought as she watched Zeenare closely. According to his persona, he would never say something without truth in it. Zeenare, what are you doing in the world of the mundane?

She continued. "The Tide would rather wipe out any abomination of such nature than allow it to stain or become one of our Currents."

As she walked toward the open window, she added. "With what had transpired between the humans and the Tide. The Currents will feel betrayed if that should ever happen." Her eyes swept over the bustling city.

Then turned back to Zeenare. "I advise you to wipe out whatever foolish idea is in your head right now. If not, I will remove her from the earth myself."

And whatever she said, she meant literally.

"Mother, calm down, it was just speculation," Zeenare said, holding her gaze.

"I hope it is." She replied with a straight face.

"But there’s one thing I want from you." His voice was serious.

"Go on." she permitted, blinking ones.

"I need you to find a way for me to share my essence with her without her shattering." He requested, his heart rate slowly increasing.

The Alpha Queen remained silent for a long while, thoughtfully watching Zeenare.

"Mother, please. You are the only one I can ask this of, and it is important to me." His anticipation almost turning into a heart attack.

She let out a long sigh, then uttered, "Whatever I find will be sent to you."

"Thank you." Zeenare said breathing a sigh of relief.

If she can help me with this, I can focus on finding the caster Luxen used for the curse. Zeenare thought.

As he was thinking his mother’s spoke, "I heard from Ravira that the potions are not working effectively." Her face suddenly softened.

That rude doctor with her wide mouth. Zeenare cursed inwardly, his lips twitching subtly.

"Mother, it isn’t something you should be worried about."

"Keep quiet. I will be sending you better ones later, so don’t brush me off again." She waved her pointed finger at his face.

"Yes, yes," he said, backing off. "So, how is Father?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

She walked back to her seat. "So, you know you have a family? I thought you were an orphan." she gave him a fake smile, her eyes narrowed, with her lips pressed together.

"Mother, don’t be mad at me. You know how he gets." he said guiltifully.

"It’s not his fault, that his one and only heir chose a curse over his kingdom," she said, flipping her hair behind her back.

"Yeah." He muttered, scratching the back of his neck.

With Father’s temperament, I don’t think he will ever forgive me.

"I will be taking my leave now."

"So soon? You just got here, and you are leaving already?"

"I know. But I have to be around Rhea in case anything happens," he answered, standing up.

Since this visit didn’t give me the information I was hoping for, I will have to do what I have in mind.

"Now I must have a reason for me to see my son. Hmm, what a life." She shook her head sideways, sucking her teeth.

**

The next day after Zeenare and Rhea went on a date.

"Hey, Luke. Been a while." Rhea sat on the seat beside him. "It seems we don’t share a lot of classes this session, because I rarely see you."

"Yeah." He leaned to her side, his voice soft. "I missed you too. I had some practical classes to complete. And yeah, it really looks like our modules this semester are different."

"But I never said I missed you though." Rhea rolled her eyes, pushing him back a little from her space.

"Bet you do. You’re just too shy to say it out loud." He teased, smiling.

"No, I’m not."

"Then why is your face so red?" He paused, staring at her.

"Come on, you’re tripping, right? You know my face is always red."

He looked away from her, "Guess I can’t hold you with that. What’s going on with Tia? Haven’t seen her for a while now." Luke asked, his hand rumbling through his backpack.

"She’s busy with her classes too—"

Rhea’s speech broke as a loud horde of students pushed their way into the class, with Athaliah in their middle.

What’s going on with her? Is she some kind of celebrity? Or maybe she’s sharing free cash?

Rhea scoffed at her silly thought.

As her eyes moved to the end of the crowd near the entrance, her gaze fell on Zack stood near the other closed door, leaning on it, staring at her—or rather, watching her, intently.

When their eyes met, Rhea muttered under her breath. "So you were alive all this time. I thought your absence meant you were six feet below. Lucky you." She muttered with a scornful expression, before moving her gaze away from him, back to the murmuring crowd.

What could be going on in that place? The noise is becoming too much, she thought, when Athaliah’s eyes caught her attention, staring in her direction.

Is she looking at me? Rhea thought, shifting her body to the side to see if Athaliah’s eyes would follow her movement. But they didn’t.

So Rhea’s eyes flicked to her side, at Luke, and his eyes were locked on Athaliah. Then she looked back at Athaliah, who flashed Luke a bright smile, waving slowly at him.

Rhea’s eyes trailed back to Luke, and on his face was a smile, slowly twitching at his lips before it became a wide grin that didn’t quite appeared genuine.

His hand slowly rose, waving back at her.

"You know her?" Rhea asked as they both watched Athaliah from across the class.

"Of course." Luke knitted his brows, throwing a confused glance at Rhea, tilting his head.

Why does it look like I’m the only one who doesn’t know her?

Then he added, "Shouldn’t you know she’s the top student of our department."

I don’t recall that ever happening. Shouldn’t that be Jane? Her thoughts continued.

Rhea said nothing to that and simply watched Luke and Athaliah’s interaction.

"What is all this?" Tiffany’s pitched voice cut through the class as she and a blonde hair girl stepped into class, breaking the noise. "Why are you all gathered at the entrance like rodents?" Her fingers wiggled with disgust.

"Pfft, are there crumbs on the floor, you are dying for or something?" Then she continued, "Shoo now, shoo away." She waved her hand at them like they were chickens, as she stepped further into the class, her waist swaying like a deer.

"Ah. Thank you, Tiffany, that was helpful," Rhea whispered under her breath.

Athaliah, on the other hand, wasn’t pleased with Tiffany’s gesture, but she didn’t say or do anything.

Tiffany strode to a seat directly below Rhea’s row, placing her things, roughly on the desk.

"You going with what you said yesterday?" the girl next to Tiffany asked for confirmation.

"Yeah, I’m not taking no for an answer this semester." Tiffany replied, her fist clenched in determination.

"And if it doesn’t work?" The girl questioned, her eyes batting once at Tiffany, her lips pressed in a thin line.

Tiffany crossed her legs before answering. "I’d have to throw myself at him one way or another."

The girl chuckled, her hand covering her mouth. "Crazy bitch."

"I think being crazy is the only way I’ll get him," Tiffany added.

Who in God’s name are these girls ganging against? I pity that boy. With Tiffany’s strong personality, I hope he’s a bad boy. Rhea pondered, tracing her pen lazily on a note.

It’s definitely going to be a bad boy. No nerd can pull her. Rhea chuckled out loud as she tried envisioning how the boy might look.

Suddenly Rhea choked on her spit, coughing, her eyes darting at everything in the class except at the seat before her, as Tiffany and the girl looked at her with a glare that said: Were you eavesdropping on our conversation, bitch?

The class when grave silent as everyone else found their seats after a lecturer stepped into the class.

"Today’s class will be about discussion, so form a group of six, and be quick about it." The lecturer wrote a topic on the board.

And Tiffany, Luke, Athaliah, Rhea, and two other students formed a group.

"Each group of six will write out points from your discussions about this case." The lecturer pointed at the file case on the projector.

Then she added, "This case was closed due to insufficient evidence, and it was recently reopened. So I need fresh eyes to point out the odds we missed."

"For the group that provides the necessary information, there is a reward and the privilege to visit the crime scene. So prove yourselves worthy. You have one hour."

Tiffany walked up to the extra two students, her hand on her waist, "If you don’t know what to say, just keep your mouth shut. Don’t come here and start uttering garbage because you think you’re smart," then turned to the rest with a pointed look.

"That’s rude," Rhea muttered.

In that second Tiffany’s head snapped in Rhea’s direction. "You care to miss the rewards?"

Rhea said nothing to her as they began their discussion.

When suddenly, Luke spoke out like robot between a discussion.

"Yes, she’s right," agreeing with Athaliah’s opinion.

Wow, that’s the first time I’ve seen Luke interacting with another girl so dutifully. Look at how he’s smiling like a child. Rhea thought, This is nice. At least now I’ve confirmed that the kiss meant nothing to him.

"Do you want to hang out?" Luke suddenly asked Athaliah, his eyes oddly focused on her.

Where did that come from? Luke It doesn’t fit in this conversation. Rhea pressed her lips in a thin line, glancing at Athaliah, hoping she doesn’t act rudely.

But surprisingly she smiled.

"Yeah..." She replied dragging her response while turning to Rhea, grinning fakely, with faint hostility in her eyes.