Chapter Twenty Seven

AMIRA’S POV

I 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 scoffing looks, none of them made me happy or would console me.

I pushed myself off from the bed, both Lillian and Serena not in sight. I was going to plead with Serena to please do my chores while I did hers for a while, I couldn’t imagine running into Jonathan after this. It was tough to even forget his words.

To him, I was a slave and filth.

I remembered how dangerous his eyes looked when he found me sleeping beside him. Those eyes screamed volumes of his anger and if he didn’t enjoy torturing me and making fun of me, there was a chance that he would have pulled out a sword and sliced through my neck at that point. It was so weird that his hatred was pushing me beyond normal and yet the hatred had somehow kept me alive.

I opened the door and looked across the passage, checking if any soldier or guard was passing. I didn’t want to see anyone, I wasn’t prepared to have people looking at him either so after seconds of peeping and seeing no one, I finally stepped out of her room and hurriedly along the passage, passing the shorter and more secretive passages to get out the palace. Secretive passages not because there were a secret but because someone who rarely came to the palace would not know those passages. Very few of the guards and the maids knew some of them.

I started walking towards the kitchen but I had yet to reach the kitchen when I ran into Juniper and another lady talking. Juniper had a small frown on his face but as soon as he saw me, he waved excitedly at me and the lady turned to glance at me and walked away before I reached him.

“Who was that?” I found myself asking and Juniper furrowed his brow, “Who are you talking about?” he questioned.

“The girl that just walked away. The one that was talking to you just now” I replied and Juniper chuckled.

“That’s Valerie. My childhood friend, even after my parents pulled what they did and everyone abandoned us to avoid the wrath of the king, Valeria still hung around. She’s not a slave but we still have a close relationship and we still talk a lot” Juniper replied and I nodded my head, secretly envying Juniper for having such a reliable friend that didn’t abandon him in times of need, maybe that’s why Juniper was like that too.

I wondered why I had never seen her before but then, except in the kitchen, I never really saw Juniper, even till now, I had no idea where his room was. I bit on my lip slowly, I was such a terrible friend.

“You were frowning earlier, what happened?” I asked, remembering the scowl on Juniper’s face when I first saw him. Juniper immediately playfully smacked my shoulders.

“Well, i was trying to get to you” He replied and It was my turn to pull my brows together, “Me?” I asked in bewilderment wondering what he meant.

“Yes of course, dummy. I was trying to ask Valerie if she knew any of the guards personally that could help me reach across to you” Juniper replied.

“We’ve been helping with the herbs and connections mixture since yesterday but I was still worried about you” Juniper added and I winced.

“Why would you be worried about me?” I asked as Juniper moved closer to me, whispering in my ears, “I heard about the king being injured and that you helped Masoma take care of him, you helped him bring down his temperature and that you stayed with him overnight” he replied and I swallowed.

The news about the king being seriously injured wasn’t something the people of Berg knew and how Juniper found out? I had no idea.

He slowly nudged my shoulders, “I know you hate him so much so when I heard I started to doubt if they had forced you to do it, I know that you would never agree to do that, there were better chances of hearing that you tried to kill him when he was injured than hearing that you played such a major role in saving the king” he said softly and I closed my eyes.

“No one forced me Juniper, I chose to” I replied slowly as I opened my eyes to see Juniper’s shocked and surprised eyes staring back at me.

“Ami,” he whispered.

“I gave my word so I helped out” I continued and a smile slowly beamed on Juniper’s face, “Thank you Ami, for doing that for our kingdom, on behalf of…” I didn’t let him finish his words.

“Your people and your kingdom are not welcome” I cut him off and Juniper froze.

“Ami? What do you mean? You saved him” Juniper stated, “What else would we be but grateful?” he asked.

“It is true that the King does hate you but I can assure you that when he finds out what you did, he’s going to be grateful regardless of his hate. That I am so sure of” he finished and I burst into laughter as the memory of earlier before rushed into my mind.

“Oh Juni, you are so wrong and whoever told you I had saved the king obviously didn’t tell you the entire story. He or she didn’t tell you about the fact that when he woke up and found that i had dozed off on his bed, he chased me out not before berating me in the worse ways possible and he even found a new name for me this time around, filth” I said, the words i had just spoken making my chest constrict.

“Oh my god Ami” Juniper whispered again as I tried to force back my tears but one of them stubbornly and indignant slid down my cheeks and I immediately wiped it.

“When he’s like that, who says you and your people can be grateful?” I asked as Juniper immediately pulled me into his embrace slowly patting my back.

“It doesn’t matter, the people of the Berg Kingdom are still very grateful” Juniper replied, “The King… the King…” he trailed off again and I chuckled, stepping out of his embrace.

“You don’t need to defend him. I totally understand” I replied and Juniper stared at my face before breaking into a small smile.

“I doubt if this will improve your mood but do you want some hot marshmallows? I’ll make them for you” Juniper suggested and a smile broke on my lips.

This was my friend who would always find a way to make me happy and lift my cheer, I immediately nodded, “Of course” I replied.