Olivia Sparks

Right in front of Olivia was Queen Isla, sitting with her back straight and never touching the backrest of the couch, her shoulders leveled, and chin up—as expected from a queen or must be a product from her decades of experience too. 

Whatever it was, Queen Isla looked regal as always, standing out against the lotus garden jade wallpaper that adorned Maxen's private study. 

The enchanting pattern as Queen Isla's backdrop made her look as if she was a goddess that descended from the Heavens and was now floating above a pond.

But what surprised Olivia the most was Queen Isla, whose sprightly face seemed to glow differently as the mid-morning sun cast a soft light on her face.

It was summertime in Nisia, and even when it was still mid-morning, the sun shone brightly as if it was noontime already and it filtered through the floor to ceiling window, illuminating the private study inside Maxen's room.

The queen just said how poisonous her sister was, yet her face was calm and collected as if she had long accepted the truth and came to terms with it. 

It was amusing for Olivia to see this side of her mother-in-law who was always a ball of fire, and could brighten up a room anywhere she went with her level of energy.

Olivia thought Queen Isla must have been in so much pain and disappointment in the past that the latter finally let go of whatever resentment she had for Rona Co. 

After all, Queen Isla couldn't deny the truth that she and Rona Co were connected in more ways than one could imagine that was why she had no choice but to embrace her sister in a way that she knew best—warning those who would cross paths with Rona Co.

The weight of Queen Isla's warning hung in the atmosphere, but it did not suffocate the ladies one bit which was the reason that not an ounce of panic was showing in their faces nor by the way they held their backs straight as if they were born ready to face someone as deadly as Rona Co.

"It's weird hearing those words from you," Olivia commented after hearing what Queen Isla had to say about her fraternal twin, Rona Co—Pyxis' Headmistress. Her smile reached her eyes as she mirrored the smile on Queen Isla's face.

"I don't think I need to tell you that. Your face tells me you already know who she is," Queen Isla said. 

Relief sn.a.k.e.d through her veins as she regarded her daughter-in-law and a proud smile curved her lips. 

She could see past the glint in Olivia's eyes and knew there was more to the girl than she led people on. "Have you checked in on your mom yet, Livi darling?"

Olivia s.u.c.k.e.d in air through her nose, her shoulders hoisting up as she filled her lungs with as much oxygen as she could. 

She didn't want to say the words when she felt a cloud of shame hover above her head, casting a grey shadow on her face. 

"I wanted to after I had that… incident." Olivia swallowed the lump in her throat as the memory of her car parked outside the towering gates of the mental institution that Amelia was in flashed in her eyes. 

It was days after her hospitalization and a random thought came to mind. 

She thought that perhaps if she shared the news with her mother, it would make Olivia feel better a tad bit but instead of alighting her car, Olivia rolled up the windows and told Uncle Jin to drive them home.

Queen Isla's eyes softened at Olivia's admission. She waited until Olivia was ready to speak up again. 

Exhaling through her pursed lips, Olivia continued, "But it's hard for me to face her, to even look at her. She's different now that she's awake compared to when I first met her and she was asleep and beautiful. Now? her eyes are dull and empty, and I resent looking at those so I just went home."

"Don't worry about your mom, Livi darling. I'm sure she'll get better soon. She's a fighter, and I know she could fight her demons and come out victorious from the rehab. She was the brightest among our batch back then anyway. Call me crazy, like her, but I have high hopes that your mom would recover from this." Queen Isla's lips curled into a genuine smile as she recalled her days in the Pyxis.

"How did they select you? The Pyxis? I was always wondering how they did the selection. I never got to experience one because Rona found me and I skipped the process," Olivia narrated, whilst her eyes gleamed with curiosity at how Amelia and Queen Isla became a member of the Pyxis.

"It was easy to find someone like us, Livi darling. They just have to get in our tight circle and find the best and brightest. Hmm…" Queen Isla took a sharp breath and squinted her eyes to recall the events that led to her initiation as a member of the mysterious organization—The Pyxis. 

"I remember they gave us an IQ test disguised as a career test, which was lame if you will ask me, but that's how they operate back in the day. Rona, Amelia, I were the girls who got the highest score. Actually, your mom got a perfect score and Rona was furious, but Martha and I just made fun of her. Oh, and Edison, Eli's dad got in too." Queen Isla was smiling as she narrated a buried memory, the one where she remembered everyone was innocent and untainted by jealousy and greed.

She never stopped talking, and Olivia was all ears too. And just like Queen Isla, she was smiling too, not because of the queen's story but how she saw Maxen in Queen Isla. 

The two don't look alike, but the light and friendly air that both mother and son carried were identical. Maxen got his easy-going nature from his mother, the queen.

The Pyxis, according to Queen Isla, used to operate in the West, with the Suis holding fort in the East. But as the years went by, and more channels were opened, the Pyxis entered an agreement with the Suis to be their eyes and ears on the lower ground, while the Suis would still maintain their foothold on matters involving the royal families around the globe.

Everything between the Pyxis and the Suis severed after the death of the former king.

Queen Isla pointed using her mouth towards the skeleton key that dangled on Olivia's neck, and it made Olivia smile. Queen Isla's simple nuances such as that made the queen more human than the goddess that she already was and felt like a fresh breath of air inside The Highlands as the royal family must abide by the endless list of rules.

"That necklace has far greater value than its weight, Livi darling. Hundreds of years ago, spices were of the same value as gold, and when the explorers reached the seas of Nisia, the tribe king knew of what was coming for them as they had been informed by Chinese traders of what happened in the other islands. With the knowledge that was shared with the tribe king, he was smart enough to strike a deal and wed their tribe princesses to the captains in exchange for spices.

"Nisia was rich in resources, and the tribe king used it as leverage to capitalize on something that some leaders didn't bother to check on back in the day. He used those spices to expand his empire and build relationsh.i.p.s with foreign countries. 

"Soon, his sons and daughters were married off into other royal families, and that's how the Suis' web of links expanded. It didn't matter if they married someone from the fourth-generation of a royal family, what mattered was they have access inside each royal family known to land.

"And they didn't fight for power. They were far smarter than that. They didn't want to seize a country or overthrow the king or queen sitting on the throne. Instead, they taught their sons and daughters what to do once they reached foreign soil and those who did had spent their time, gathering and bringing in as much information as they could whenever they would get the chance to visit Nisa or someone would visit them from Nisia."

"I don't get it. But that's their chance to expand their empire," Olivia commented, her brows furrowed at Queen Isla's story.

"Expanding an empire meant going into a war, and that's the last thing they ever wanted to do. Money? They don't want money—they can earn that while they sleep. And power? What use is their power when their island is as small as Nisia? So the tribe king of Nisia invested in something intangible. Something that would make Nisia untouchable in the years to come. He invested in the currency of power, and that is knowledge and secrets."