Chapter Seventeen

I don’t have the guts to go back and find Juniper even though I know clearly that he deserves an apology but I am too much of a coward to apologize to him. Somewhere in my heart, I hope he comes to find me himself but my new place of assignment is the palace. I knew that he couldn’t suddenly show up and that left me depressed for a while that even Serena noticed.

“Are you okay?” she asked as I slowly sat up on my bed.

“I…” I paused slowly, I didn’t know if I could share with Serena, she had been nice to me and helped me out. In fact my stay had been amazing with her around, I had been successfully ignoring Lillian because she was just an idiot.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, it's fine. You don’t have to” Serena quickly added seeing my hesitation and Immediately shook my head.

“I have a friend” I slowly revealed and Serena’s eyes widened, “You do?” she asked in surprise and with a smile I slowly nodded my head.

“Yes. He helped me survive before I came here. He would usually sneak some food for me each time I got mouthy and my former roommates would bully me and starve me” I added and Serena’s face morphed into a frown.

“Starve you? Bully you?” She asked with distaste in her mouth and my eyes widened in surprise.

“Why would they do that?” she asked and Lillian walked into the room.

“That’s not even right. Why would you also allow them to do that?” Serean echoed again, “I was wondering if you always looked like this, you definitely didn’t look this skinny and bony before now” she added and Liliian snickered.

“Of course, she is no longer a princess, how else do you expect her to look like?” she asked and Serena turned to her with a frown on her face.

“That is not an excuse Liliian, there is no excuse for bullying anyone. No excuse” Serena said firmly and Lillian immediately clamped up surprising me. I pursed my lips and smiled at Serena.

“I’m here now so it’s fine” I assured her and Serena sighed, “No one will dare bully you here” She added as she glanced at Lillian and then at me.

“Why don’t we go and clean the dining area. I didn't clean it after the king had his lunch. There was a meeting there this afternoon, so I'm going to need some help. Can you help me, Amira? Serena asked and warmth crawled into my chest and I nodded getting off my bed with Serena and we grabbed our cleaning materials and walked to the dinning hall.

“I actually don’t need help but I know that you would be uncomfortable talking with Liliian there” Serean said as soon as we got to the dinning hall and I nodded my head with a smile.

“I know and I’m so grateful for your consideration” I replied and Serena laughed.

“No worries” she said and true to her words, the dining hall hadn’t been cleaned and we started cleaning together.

“I kinda got into a fight with him” I finished my previous story and Serena chuckled, “And you are feeling sorry?” she asked and I nodded my head.

“It’s been about three days and I can’t get rid of the guilt in my heart. It wasn’t his fault and I just acted out because I was in my feelings” I replied and Serena smiled.

“You know, apologizing isn’t much of a big deal. You can just find him and tell him that you are sorry” She said and I winced.

“I know right but I’m too embarrassed to go and find him….” I trailed off while Serena burst into laughter.

“And you somehow hope that he’s going to find you and ask what was wrong and maybe apologize to you?” she asked and my eyes widened, “How did you know?” I asked and Serena laughed.

“That was written all over your face girl” Serean said and we both had a short laugh.

“Well if you are that embarrassed, i can accompany you to find him and then apologize to him” Serena offered and I stared at her my mouth agape.

“You’ll do that for me? I asked and Serena laughed again, “Why not?” she replied and I swallowed.

“Thank you” I replied slowly and Serena nodded her head as we continued cleaning.

 I glanced at Serena again, my chest filling up with warmth. I had somehow found myself incredibly lucky. I could literally call Serena my friend because only friends do this for each other. I was so sure she knew my background and what had happened for me to be here and somehow she wasn’t sharing a mutual hatred with everyone else or with her king. She was consistently kind to me and that sometimes especially times like this, It felt as soon i was dreaming.

A part of me couldn’t believe that she had offered to follow me to see Juniper. That way, my embarrassment would be cut in half and I would be able to finally apologize to him. And maybe introduce my only two friends to each other as well.

“Amiraa!” Serena’s voice drifted into my ears and I turned to her sharply and an amused smile spread all over her face.

“Yes?” I asked and she shook her head slowly.

“You were lost in thoughts again. I had called you four times already” she replied and I winced, “Really? I’m sorry about that” I quickly apologized and Serena laughed.

“There’s no need to apologize for being lost in thoughts. I just wonder how many more meetings like this are going to happen” Serena said and I quickly caught onto her point.

“Meetings? IS anything happening?” I asked and Sereana sighed, nodding her head.

“Yes, something is definitely going to and is already happening when you see them having these meetings” she responded and I nodded my head.

“So what’s happening this time around?” I asked.

“I think we are going to have a war” Serena replied and I blinked, “A war?” I questioned and Serena nodded.

“It might be happening really soon with how intense that meeting was,” Serena continued. The clinic would be full again of injured soldiers, I hope less people die in this war and less injured people. War is never nice to any of the warring kingdoms or clans” Serena replied and a snarl escaped my lips.

“I hope the king dies in the war” I blurted out before I could stop myself and Serena stared at me in horror.

“Amira!” she chided and I chuckled.

“I can at least wish for that or I can’t?” I asked as hatred started spreading in my chest again.

“No Amira, you can’t wish for that or even say that out loud” Serena said as her voice went lower.

“What? I really wish for him to die in that war” I repeated again.

“Really? You wish for me to die in the war?” a voice echoed in the dinning hall and my spine froze and before I could turn, his hand was already on my neck and I was roughly pinned against the wall.

“Your Highness” Serena screamed as she left to her knees while I glared hatefully at Jonathan. His hand was closing tightly around my neck but I didn’t fight and I just allowed him to keep choking me. I started coughing and gasping for air while maintaining eye contact with him, I wasn’t going to beg him for mercy.

“Mercy Your hIghness, have mercy” Serena cried still keeping her head on the floor.

“You are not going to beg?” Jonathan asked and amidst my coughing fit I burst into laughter.

“Beg you?” I asked laughing again, “I won’t ever beg you for mercy. Ever. At least this way, you can finally kill me” I spat at him.

“Amira!” Serena screamed as I glanced at her. She had finally raised her head and her face was full of worry and of concern. She looked at though she wanted to cry again and I suddenly felt a pang of pain in my chest.

“Your Highness” Serena continued, “Mercy, your highness. Mercy” she cried again and Jonathan chuckled at me.

“Someone is begging for me to spare your life but you seem to care less” he taunted and I coughed again, her face already becoming white from lack of oxygen.

“You seem to have forgotten what would happen to your family and your kingdom if I die” He reminded me and I laughed , shaking my head.

“How could I forget?” I asked and Jonathan laughed.

“And yet you still wished for me to die?” He asked as he burst into laughter again, “You are finally showing your true colours. You don’t care about them do you?” He asked and I smiled sadly.

“I care about them so much and that’s why I am still here if you die, let’s all meet in hell”