Forever Destined to the Silver Shadow-Chapter 173: What if he gets me again?

Celestia’s POV:

Darius dismissed the training once he spotted me. He didn’t have to do that! I could have waited until the training got over. Edwin and I stayed next to the pine-oak tree until all the young warriors left the cliff.

Once the warriors left, Edwin left the cliff, too, as he didn’t want to get involved in this issue. With a confused look on his face, Darius came to me and asked, "Celestia, is everything alright in the castle?"

"Yeah, everything is fine! But why are you not coming home?"

"I was just running some errands," he replied blanky.

I understood that he was hesitating to give me a proper reply. Is he very upset because of our Father’s decision that he refuses to stay in the same place with me?

I took a deep breath and said firmly, "Darius, I am going to refuse the crown on the day of Coronation. I don’t want to be a Princess!"

"What? Why would you refuse the crown?" He raised his voice.

"I already have a lot on my plate, and I don’t need more burden! So I am going to ask our father to crown you instead of me."

"No...." he shouted even louder than he did before. "You would do no such thing! You can’t pressurize our Father to crown me."

"But Darius, our father is making a huge mistake by giving me the crown. I am not even able to use my Fae powers yet! What good can I do by being a Princess? You deserve this more than I do."

He shook his head and refused my statements. "Celestia, this is not for you to decide! Our father had made his decision, and you should accept it. You have to be the Princess and serve the people of this Realm."

"But what about you?" I cried. "You wanted this more than me!"

He got grim as I asked him that. I felt terrible for hurting him by asking such questions. Darius has been looking forward to being declared the official crown prince of the Celestial Realm. But Father Oberon never fulfilled his wish till today!

"Listen to me, Celestia! There must be a reason why our father is not giving me the crown yet. Maybe he wants me just to be a warrior and train the young warriors! I am willing to obey his commands, and you should do the same too."

"So you are not upset with me that I am getting crowned before you?"

He blinked at me rapidly and said, "Why would I be upset with you, Celestia? I am happy for you! You will have a shining tiara on your head, which will enhance your beauty even more."

I laughed at his compliment. "I am glad to know that we are okay! Will you come back to the castle now?"

"No.... as I said before.... I have some errands to run," he stammered a lot while saying that.

Why is he still refusing to come home? And by the way he stammers, it is evident that he is hiding something. I should get out the truth from him!

"Darius, tell me what is going on?"

"Nothing! Everything is fine. Now let me open a portal for you. You should get back to the castle before lunch, or else someone might notice that you are missing."

"Darius...." I growled his name like an animal. "If you don’t tell me what is going on here, then I am not going to move from this place."

He shrugged off and wiped the sweat that was dripping down from his forehead with the sleeves of his grey robe. I don’t remember seeing him this much anxious, even when the Shadow creatures were attacking the castle.

"Before I say this to you, promise me that you would not speak about this to anyone! I am trying to handle this situation by myself as I don’t want to upset our father."

"I promise! Now tell me everything."

He let out a sigh and began to explain. "A small portion of the dead rocks from the Northern Mountain regions is missing.

I remembered the glossy greyish rock called dead rock that drains out all the energy from a living entity. It was one bad experience when I was cuffed with the dead rock chain in my previous life. Now a small portion of the dead rock is missing?

"But how can dead rocks go missing?" I raised a question to him. "Father Oberon has forbidden everyone from even touching that thing. Did someone steal them from here?"

He was just frowning at the list of my questions without giving me a reply. Then I guessed the answer to those questions by myself.

"So he did this?" I asked him plainly without mentioning his name.

My heart stiffened when he nodded instantly and confirmed my suspicion. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"He is back in our region again? What does he gain by stealing some dead rocks?"

"Celestia, how can I know about his plans? He is always unpredictable! All I know is that he is coming for you, and you need to be alert."

Why am I surprised by this revelation? Silver Shadow already told me that he would come for me as if he owns me. When I was in the mortal world, he said that I am forever destined to him and that he would come back to me.

The stupid oath that I took in my previous life is still haunting me! I was so gullible enough to offer my soul to that trickster. My anxiety began to rise as I continued thinking about everything he did to me.

"What if he gets me again?" I breathed out. "And this time, I don’t even have my Fae powers within me. He is going to defeat me easily, and he will...."

"Celestia, calm down now!" Darius said when I was struggling even to breathe normally. "I am there for you. The whole Highlanders are behind you now. They won’t let that trickster get you again."