As soon as the vampires left, Zeres seemed to have lost all the strength that he had shown earlier and just slumped onto the ground. He weakly leaned against the tree trunk as if he was now beyond exhausted. As if the weight of the world had finally brought him to his knees. God knows how much he had held back his emotions that were still not quite stable just to be able to appear before all those people and talk to them as normally as he could. It almost caused him to break down all over again.
"I can't believe you are doing this, Alicia!" he groaned in a weak voice as he tugged his hair with his one hand.
A while ago when Alex was questioning Zeres about Alicia's funeral, Alicia's voice suddenly echoed in Zeres' ear. If only he knew how much Zeres had struggled not to show the shock that zapped through his body to escape into his expression. He never thought he would suddenly hear Alicia's voice at that moment! Did she not say that once the spell was broken, he would not be able to see nor hear her? What had happened? Was that a discrepancy? Only a one-time occurrence?
Truthfully, Zeres did not want to conduct a funeral for Alicia. Even if Alicia's body was dead, her spirit was still here. No matter what anyone else says, Alicia was yet not dead to him. How could he conduct a memorial remembering someone who have died, when she was clearly alive to him? His heart, his mind, his everything… all of him still could feel her spirit close to him. Thus, Alicia was still very much alive to him. So, how could he possibly agree for her funeral to be carried out when she was very much still here? He could never… and would never… because he was going to find a way to bring her spirit back to her body. No, he will find whatever way necessary. She would not die… she would not disappear. He would search the world to make it happen. No matter how long it will take. He would not let her truly die. Not again. He could not let this last chance to get her back to him slip through his hands… no matter what. Zeres swore to himself that he would achieve this at the cost of his own life!
But Alicia came to him all of the sudden and told him that she must agree with Alexander's demand and that there must a funeral to be held. She told him it was the right thing to do, not only because of her friends and comrades but most of all, because of the other witches. It was a way to give closure for everyone who had known her in life. The funeral must also happen so the coronation of the next queen would finally commence. She had also reasoned out that everyone might suspect something else was amiss, not just the witches but the vampires as well if a funeral was not carried out.
Zeres wanted to argue. He had wanted to tell her she was not dead yet. But he was helpless when she uttered the word 'please' and told him it was her wish. She told him she was physically dead and thus her death must be honored formally as per the witches' tradition. And Zeres could do nothing but relent to the request of the person he still loves more than his life itself. Hating the fact that he was still this helpless against her even though he can no longer touch her. Zeres balled up his fists in frustration and helplessness before sighing in defeat. He knew there was no way he would win against this woman.
"How the hell did you that?" he gritted his teeth as he dropped his head and stared at the ground. "You're supposed to be seen and heard only if and when I utter the spell." He added, frustration was evident in his voice but he doesn't sound angry at her at all.
"I don't know but perhaps, you can actually hear me if I speak when my body overlap through yours. Or this must be one of your special abilities for being a silver-haired witch." Alicia replied and Zeres could only fall speechless.
This was not good for him if Alicia could actually speak to him like that however and whenever she wanted. She would definitely interfere with his plans now.
"Thank you for agreeing and going along with my wish, Zeres." He heard her voice and the genuine gratitude he can detect in them made him feel even weaker. He could only face palm internally and realised that he had zero tolerance to this woman.
Zeres was not physically worn out. He was not lacking from any power and magic despite everything that had happened in the past whole month. But he was emotionally shattered, like a plant that had received too much water but was not exposed to even a single ray of sunlight for an entire month now.
He buried his face into his hands. He just wanted to pass out now. Even for a single blessed moment. He needed it to forget about everything.
"I hope… you won't do that again, Alicia." He said weakly as he leaned his head back against the tree and closed his eyes. "Unless you changed your mind, and you want your existence to be revealed to everyone else."
"That was because I knew you were going to refuse Alexander's request. I had no choice but to pipe in. It was truly a miracle that you can actually hear me. I tried a lot of things to get your attention before that time, even talking to you while having one part of my body go right through you but that didn't work as well." Alicia protested and gave her immediate explanation.
Zeres opened his eyes. "Does this mean, you are sitting exactly where I am right now?"