Barely two hours after the soldiers left, a loud rumble accompanied with thunder and lightning rang in the entire kingdom and we rushed out of our rooms to see what was going on. The clearing skies had turned so much darker with thunder and lightning and they rumbled so loudly that it sent chills down my spine. The entire kingdom was covered in dark clouds and it looked as though it was past 9pm in the evening except that these clouds were accompanied with an eerie chill that was unmistakable.“What is going on?” I whispered as a loud streak of thunder rang in the skies again and everyone had to cover their ears in fear.“This is not good at all,” Serena said, keeping her eyes on the clouds that were getting even darker than before.“It’s not even the rainy season” Lillian bellowed, “Why are the clouds so dark? What is going on?” she asked and we looked around seeing the palace guards themselves wearing worried expressions.“Those clouds are too dark for my liking,” Serena admitted, f
Nobody knew how much time had passed when we started hearing the hooves of horses. Without thinking, I jumped off my bed and rushed towards the door.“They are back!”“They are back”Yells that the soldiers were back rang in the hall and Serena and Lillian also jumped off their beds rushing out of the door towards the huge courtyard and then I saw red.So red that I was almost blinded by it. I blinked my eyes, trying to wonder what could be this red and it took me a while before I realized what I was staring at. It was blood. Bloodied soldiers spread across the courtyard and I covered my mouth in shock as I staggered backwards.“Oh my god” Lillian whispered and I could clearly hear the sob that choked in her throat.I watched as more and more soldiers were carried into the courtyard and then Masoma appeared in a hurry. I could see the worry and fear in her eyes as she moved around the soldiers throwing out instructions to them in quick, practiced manners.She was trying to be calm but
Masoma’s words washed over me, over and again.Amira, under your watch, no harm comes to the King”I paused my movement slowly, staring at Jonathan who was motionless on the bed. His face was pale from his constant loss of blood and I couldn't imagine the sneer or scowl that he usually wore. On the bed with his eyes closed, he couldn't maliciously call me princess or strangle me or make life hell for me. Memories flooded my head as I kept staring at him while my face remained blank. He was harmless just like this on the bed and if I just stopped cleaning up his blood or stopped trying to stop his bleeding, he would most likely die; like I always wanted to.It was a case of reversed situations. This time around, I had the upper hand and he was the one who needed my help to live. The feeling courses through me and a small chuckle escapes my lips. I folded my hands as I kept staring at his unloving body, the blood had dyed the bed red and it wasn't stopping anytime soon. “Should I le
I didn’t think that I would have to watch Jonathan seriously like Masoma had claimed but the time soon came and it was even harder than I thought. Grinding herbs and applying them to his stabs every two hours was the easy part. I took liberty and asked some of the guards to help me with grinding and they gladly did and my only major job was to apply the herbs.It was tough to just stare at Jonathan without being able to kill him but then I had given Masoma my word that no harm would come to him. Just because they all saw that I was working tirelessly to save their king, the way the guards treated me was slightly better. And then like Masoma had said, his temperature did start to rise.I had to get warm basin’s of water and using a cloth to rub all over his body, over and over again but for some reason, the cloth and the water were the ones getting hot and soon the guards were running in and out with numerous clothes and basins of water while I tried hard to lower his temperature. Inste
THIRD PERSON’S POVMasoma hurried into the room dropping off her box of needles as soon as she saw that Jonathan was awake.“Thank goodness” she muttered as she moved towards him to examine him but Jonathan was in a foul mood but she didn’t care. Being in a foul mood was his default setting and she was too worried about his health to be worried about why he was in a foul mood.“You are fine now. I need to concoct more potions for you and watch what you eat, you need to replenish your blood back” Masoma finally spoke and Jonathan glanced at her, sighing softly.“Thank you” he said softly and Masoma scoffed.“Don’t thank me Your Highness, what you did was risky” Masoma replied, “I know you love your people and your soldiers? Even more, I know and I know it so well but jumping in like that to save them at the expense of your own life is what I will not subscribe to” she added.“Was I supposed to just watch?” Jonathan questioned with an edge in his voice and Masoma shook her head.“No. I
AMIRA’S POVI didn’t know when I slept off or how I slept off. All I knew was that I had cried for a reasonable amount of time before I slowly drifted to sleep. All Serena had done was pet me and ask me to stop crying but there was no way I could.Jonathan’s words, his sneering and angry gaze at me still felt directed to me even if he was no longer in front of me. His words had infiltrated into my soft tissues, even though I thought and believed that I had built enough walls to protect myself. Apparently, I was wrong, very wrong.I was so wrong, that no matter how strong the walls were, Jonathan could easily break them down with a look and I hated it. I wonder how all of the guards would look at me from now henceforth. I had tried my best to save the king but in return, he had given me even a harsher experience, it was tough not to imagine maybe their scoffing looks or maybe their pitiful looks and the truth was that I wanted none of them. I didn’t want the pitiful looks or the scoffi
“You can’t keep avoiding the king you know” Serena muttered as soon as we had stepped into the room. I glanced at her and chuckled, “Aren’t you doing just fine?” I asked and Serena laughed, shaking her head.“Of course I am but you are not going to avoid him forever. It’s been two weeks” Serena replied and I shrugged my shoulders, “We can go on like this” I replied as I climbed into my bed.“But you said for a while” Serena interjected and I swallowed, crossing my legs beneath me and adjusting my posture so that I would be facing Serena.“Do you want to exchange that badly?” I asked her, my voice getting smaller and Serena shook her head, “He didn’t know. Kareem told me he didn’t know” she replied and I pulled my eyebrows back in surprise.“Kareem? Are you talking about Commander Kareem?” I asked and Serena’s lips parted as she immediately turned her, coughing while an amused smile crawled up my lips.“I didn’t know you two were on a first name basis” I continued and Serena turned to
Finding out that Serena had a crush on Kareem was the most exciting thing that ever happened to me since I came to the Berg kingdom. I also didn’t think that Serena would subtly admit that she indeed had a crush on Kareem. Kareem was good looking, except that there were all bastards, most men in the Berg kingdom were good looking and muscular and fine looking but there was no way on earth I was going to describe my enemies and people who made life hard for me as handsome or good looking. I just couldn’t explain how I had become so excited just at the sound or the thought of it. I had imagined so much over the night, in two thousand ways how Kareem and Serena would end up, with kids, with a lovely son, and how Kareem would defend his love when people questioned him and all sorts. It wasn’t a surprise that I was already over the moon, imagining all sorts of things. I was always a lover girl, the girl who had her head in her books and stories. There was no romance novel or romance stor
‘He’s doing way much better’‘Masoma said he would be fine by tomorrow morning. He’s the King and an Alpha, he has better healing abilities than anyone’That was what Serena had told me but I needed to see him for myself. I needed to make sure that he was alright. So I pretended to sleep first, waiting till Serena and Julianna were fast asleep, their breathing even, before I got up from my bed and sneaked out of the room. I walked silently along the corridors, inwardly praying that I wouldn’t meet a guard on the way and that Jonathan would be alone.Not that I was happy that the Moon goddess heard my prayers but I didn’t meet a single guard on the way and by the time I got to Jonathan’s room, I placed my ear on the door to listen if there was anyone in the room but it was an eerie silence that greeted me. I pushed the door slowly and peeped into the room, Jonathan was laying on his bed fast asleep and there was no one else in the room. I closed the door behind me and I tiptoed towards
‘He’s doing way much better’‘Masoma said he would be fine by tomorrow morning. He’s the King and an Alpha, he has better healing abilities than anyone’That was what Serena had told me but I needed to see him for myself. I needed to make sure that he was alright. So I pretended to sleep first, waiting till Serena and Julianna were fast asleep, their breathing even, before I got up from my bed and sneaked out of the room. I walked silently along the corridors, inwardly praying that I wouldn’t meet a guard on the way and that Jonathan would be alone.Not that I was happy that the Moon goddess heard my prayers but I didn’t meet a single guard on the way and by the time I got to Jonathan’s room, I placed my ear on the door to listen if there was anyone in the room but it was an eerie silence that greeted me. I pushed the door slowly and peeped into the room, Jonathan was laying on his bed fast asleep and there was no one else in the room. I closed the door behind me and I tiptoed towards
As I walked back to the palace, I paused and stared at the sky. It was full of stars and the moon was round and full illuminating everywhere. It was a beautiful sight and I shook my head before I slowly made my way back to the palace.Listening to Juniper talk about the fact that the person he was in love with was in love with the king broke my heart and what broke my heart even more was hearing him say that she might be forced onto Jonathan as his Queen, his Luna. My ears had prickled at the thought. My mind went back to the conversation I and Juniper had and I swallowed.“Have you tried speaking to her? Telling her about your feelings?” I asked and Juniper laughed.“That should be so funny to you, Ami. You want me to tell one of the high chief's daughters that I am in love with her” Juniper replied before chuckling, “No. Even a mad person won’t do that. I’m a slave Ami, we are slaves. We don’t get that kind of life well except it’s another slave I’m falling in love with” he added an
I walked out of the palace, the sun rays falling on me and making me furrow my eyebrows in displeasure. Masoma apologizing to me wasn’t something I had seen coming, her apology in truth was late but I knew deep down that I needed it. I knew that I needed her to apologize, to tell me that she was wrong in the first place for slapping me, treating me like that and taking the side of everyone else. I wanted her to admit that she was wrong and when she finally did, the only thing it made me feel was relief and nothing else. I wasn’t more happy or excited nor did I want to even rekindle our relationship. I wasn’t interested in making any new friends ro restoring the ones I had lost. I walked straight ahead to the Kitchen.I needed to ask juniper a few things. Like what might have gotten the king sick, Juniper had a flair for gossip and he always knew things that happened. I was already used to that so whenever I had a pressing issue, he was my go-to person.I had tried to check up on Jonat
It took one conversation for me and Jonathan to get back on friendly terms with each other. And just like that, we were back to before where we talked like friends and even joked together. My radiance was slowly crawling up my face and it was so funny and interesting to see another side of Jonathan. A side that not a lot of his people had seen or will even see. I know that he cared for me, even though it was just a little bit, it showed in his everyday life and how he treated me and I knew that he wasn’t lying when he said that he hated me.We had gone past that.But I hadn’t. I was yet to go past that. The truth was there and so was the reality. I still remembered what Juniper had told me about his parents, how they had died one after the other and how Jonathan had locked himself up with their corpses for two weeks straight. He was still a very young boy back then and I wondered how the young boy would have felt seeing his parents die and all of his emotions, how it would have been
Waking up the next morning with a heavy heart was expected. It took me a long time to dress up and by the time I got to the entrance of the King’s room, I paused slightly. I had to deal with Jonathan again.Taking a deep breath; I slowly knocked on the door and drifted into my ears. I pushed the door open to see that Jonathan was on the floor doing pushups with one hand. One of his hands was behind his back as he lowered himself to the ground over and over again. His upper body, which I had seen so many times, was soaked with sweat and Instinctively swallowed as I watched him.“Should I come back to your highness?” I asked and Jonathan chuckled.“No” he replied as he lowered himself to the ground and upwards a few times before He finally stood up, his whole body drenched in sweat. I stared at his upper body and followed the trail of the sweat as they ended into his trousers. My eyes snapped upwards and meant Jonathan’s amusing eyes, I immediately lowered my eyes.“My apologies, your h
I had told myself that I had made a decision but deep down I knew that I hadn’t but the greater part of me knew that Triss was right. I had to leave, this wasn’t my home and leaving with all of the Berg’s kingdom’s secrets with my head raised high was the best form of revenge that I could do r have but as I laid on my bed and stared at the ceiling, I was conflicted and the fact that I was conflicted further even annoyed me more. How could I be conflicted?This was a matter between staying in an enemy kingdom because someone I claimed to love who clearly didn’t love me back was here and saving my people. How could I be conf;icted on what to do?I shut my eyes taking deep breaths over and over again. Seeing Triss had brought the feeling of home back and I missed home. Her words rushed into my head and a small smile slowly formed on my face.Uncle Stefan.My favourite uncle in the whole world. He was one of the few people in the royal family that I was close to and one of the few people
Then I waited.I counted the hours till it was past 10pm. I slowly opened my door and stepped out. Serena’s and Julianna’s voice had long quietened down and I knew that they had gone to sleep. Serena had come in earlier to check on me in the medicine room where I was pretending to work on something when clearly I couldn’t do anything. My chest was in disarray and I could only look forward to seeing my sister. I pulled the cloth on my shoulder upwards and covered my head and my face with it as I hurried down the walkways. I had never been out at this time of the day and because I was too much in an hurry and in distress, I had forgotten to check how the guys patrolled the palace but the truth was that, there were fewer guards patrolling the palace, very few people could dare to attack the king or even try to infiltrate the palace. The Berg kingdom itself was imprentable so there was exactly nothing much to raise their guards against. The Berg kingdom was also deep in the forest, if an
Triss.The realization stunned me so much that I didn’t know that I was frozen on the spot. I stared at the paper and I squeezed it unconsciously. Triss had someone find her way to the Berg Kingdom. Couldn’t believe my eyes. I opened the crumpled paper again and stared at it and the handwriting stared back at me.It hadn’t changed and I knew that I wasn’t wrong. It was Triss’s handwriting. I started walking towards the palace, my heart beating in my chest. Just a few minutes ago, I was thinking that the Berg kingdom was imprentable and yet Triss had done so effortlessly. I didn’t know how long it had taken her to find me or to find someone who would deliver the information to me. I wondered if the person who had squeezed the paper into my hands knew what was in it.Triss.My younger sister had shown her ability again. She had show how stellar of a princess she was. I headed to the medicine room instead of the room because I could hear Serena’s and Julianna’s voices in the room. They