45The doors parted open once the announcement of the King’s arrival resounded in the spacious hall. All the noble guests turned their fronts to the foyer from where he would be making an appearance. Everyone was eager to know what it was that made the king host a balling event in the midst of an uprising fatal war. The moment was like a pond of freshwater ready to be drunk before the whirlwind of sandstorms would pollute it. It must be something important that could not be waited for despite danger looming on their heads.Zebian entered the hall with all his grandeur and majestic stance. His long furry robe billowed out as usual, his chocolate brown hair was immaculately combed back and the royal uniform he donned was buffing his broad torso and loaded biceps. He looked deliciously hot and irresistible like always. Many peeresses whose families wrote proposals to the king were present at the ball, their hearts secretly anticipating he would notice them, but none of them had the idea
******It took Renai a second to realise she was alive. The grave wouldn’t be as cold as the surface beneath her. The freezing floor had frozen every square inch of her body, even her fingers were desensitised. Her breath felt cold and couldn’t bring any comfort to her trembling body either.It had been several hours since she had been shuddering like this but her senses refused to source back to her mind. She had been conscious of her surroundings but too light-headed to move an inch and finally now, after long excruciating hours and consciousness finally reaching the right places, she managed to move her body and sagged against a wall. Taking faint breaths, she lifelessly raised her hand to dust off her sticky tendrils just to realise her wrist was secured with a cold material. She opened her eyes and looked down at herself. Her heart fell in the pit of her stomach seeing her limbs tied by shackles and chains pooling around her. The unforgiving and cold breeze was swooping in from
46Two Days LaterThe sun was rising. There were hues of first light seeping through the cellar, falling on a barely alive human. Renai was laying on the floor, her eye sockets were heavy-lidded and her whole face was perilously swollen. She was staring at the daybreak with absolutely nothing in her mind. She could tell her soul was gradually leaving her body, her lower body was almost deprived if any sensation. It had been three days since she last ate something, not precisely ate but tried to. It was stale bread and some dry beans. The food was so bland that she ended up disgorging all the contents out. Tears were unstoppable. She put a hand on her stomach and stared at her dying child with pitiful eyes. She wouldn’t have feared death if this little beat hadn’t been in her womb. The baby was too weak to survive malnourishment. She was sick worried she would lose him if she didn’t eat anything.She blinked at the rising sun before hearing the creaking sound of the door. Someone was
“Relax, I was only helping her. She needed to be fed,” He explained politely. Arlet ground her teeth and fumed in fury. She stepped ahead and fisted his lapel. Kolton seemed caught by shock. “Did I tell you to feed her? Did I permit you…huh?” Arlet asked with a twitched jaw. Kolton frowned in disbelief. “She looked famished. She could have died if I hadn’t fed her,” He reasoned indicatively. Arlet rolled her eyes. “She should, for all I care,” She taunted, loud enough to be heard by the prey. Renai gulped down the embarrassment and willed her tears to stay back. She knew Arlet didn’t like her and why even would she? She was the jinxed one who stole her husband. She was the one who came in between them. Of course, she would hate her to her bones. “Look, sweetheart, you promised me you wouldn’t hurt her if I brought her here. I kept my promise, you will have to keep yours,” Kolton looked meaningfully at her. She wouldn’t betray him. She loved him. She confessed it herself. He raise
47Arlet was dragging her by the chain around her neck. Renai was forcing her legs to work even though it was killing her exhausted limbs. She was numbed to feel the strangling. Her entire focus was on snivelling and constantly begging Arlet to save Kolton, though her voice was undertone and throat gunged up. His stiff gaze blankly locked at her had her mind on the loop. She didn’t care about herself, she cared about the dying man who most probably would be having his last breaths in that cold cellar.They were passing through the corridor when suddenly a loud thump of footsteps hampered the women’s steps. Arlet caught the shadows of soldiers storming in their direction, her heart jackhammered and she hastily hunted around to find a secret spot. Her eyes flashed at the pillar. Her gut instinct unconsciously pushed her behind it. She dragged Renai and compressed her palm against her mouth. Renai shakily breathed over her skin. Her heart was aching when she heard the soldiers trudging i
48Zebian had been pacing around the room like a madman. He had been like this for eight hours. Anxiety was vesting in every pore of his being. No royal servants had seen the king bearing an emotional breakdown ever except for Lucian. His heart was warning him of seizures every time he watched her having them. She was jerking frenziedly. Her body was too weak to shake this badly, only if he could take her pain. It was killing him more than she was suffering. It had been many hours and many seizures she have had since the moment he had taken her back to this heavily-guarded villa. The physicians were on their toes all the while. They were giving their all to save both; the mother and the baby, but the case was turning hopeless. The little one’s life was at stake from the second the arrow pierced her as the arrowhead was coated with poison. And the mother, she also had fewer chances of survival as well. Doctors were keeping the majesty briefed. Every time they told him the severity of
She was staring at his face as he blew air on the hot soup. His eyes were swollen and he looked exhausted. Of course, the war and fighting had tired him out. Her heart was filled with pity for him. He lifted his lashes to her mouth as he fed her. “You c..cried?” She asked, gulping the brew. His eyes flicked to her eyes. If only he could tell how many sleepless nights he had spent beside her, praying for her, feeling dreadful whenever he thought she would give up on him. If only he could sob in her lap and tell her how powerless he felt in all these days of misery.“Did you make it?” She asked him to change the topic as he was only staring at her face, it was making her feel awkward. A soft smile crossed his lips as he forwarded the spoon. “Who else could make it with such fine perfection, my beautiful?” He sneered, keeping his gaze on her sparkless orbs that still held the whole world for him. She looked self-conscious. A small bubble of wrinkle sat between her brows.“I’m not beau
Renai had seen Zenner killing people. She first saw it when he was taking her to Calmia on Gordian’s—Bancroft’s Sword of Honour—command. She woke up in a carriage after she passed out in her house, looking around she discovered she was not in Sebria anymore. They stopped in a market. A few minutes later, she heard a commotion, she glanced outside the window and saw Zenner stabbing an old man for not giving him the apples on the rate he demanded. It was her first time witnessing a murder. She never recovered from it. Neither had she the courage to see people getting butchered by him. She also didn’t want him to hurt Zebian. King or not, Zenner was close to him. He could have easily killed him. “He said if I told you anything, he would behead you and your people would turn up against you. I didn’t want that, I never want you to get hurt,” Renai flitted her misted gaze at him and snivelled. Zebian was over the moon. His insides were dancing in happiness. The effect her words had on him