Iron Will

"What happened?" Emet asked as soon as they entered Azalia's quarters together.

It wasn't as spacious and luxurious as the King's quarters but still was impressively big. Expensive furnitures were filling the place, sheets and cushions in white satin covering the large bed in the middle of the room.

Azalia went to sat on it, her heart still beating fast inside her chest. Her first encounter with Melech had been intense to say the least. She had been expecting a lot of things, but Melech forcing her to strip and trying to humiliate her hadn't been what she had imagined for their first time seeing each other.

It was only her sharp tongue and her iron will that had saved her. The way she had stood up to the Adom King had been reckless. As confident in her powers as she was, Azalia knew she would have been no match against King Melech if he had truly decided to hurt her. Adom people had inhuman strength, and so no amount of struggling would have prevented Azalia from being crushed under Melech's hands if he so had wished.

Still, she had held her ground and refused to submit. She had bluffed her way through victory, her sheer stubbornness enough to make Melech take a step back. She had showed him that she wasn't to be played with, and that she was stronger than what the Adom King had surely thought her to be.

But all of this had came with a price, and Azalia felt devoid of any strength left after such an intense altercation.

"Nothing." She answered Emet in a tired voice. She was exhausted, her wrist still hurting from the way Melech had gripped it with his burning palm but, even more so than the fatigue she was currently feeling, it was utter anger that was swirling inside the Lavan princess. Her blood was boiling inside her veins, her whole being feeling revolted at the thought of Melech so blatantly disrespecting her.

He had made her strip, as if she was a mere prostitute in a whorehouse, and had thought he could touch her without her consent, before they had even talked about the scared ceremony that was supposed to be their marriage.

"You cannot expect me to believe nothing happened when you're in such a state." Emet told her in a concerned voice.

Azalia still hadn't pronounced one word since she had left the King's quarters. Her face was closed off, false calm masking her features, but Emet could see the anger burning inside her azure gaze. He knew her well and had no problem seeing the irritation she was trying to hide. It wasn't hard to understand her first encounter with the Adom King hadn't gone well.

"I need to know what happened so I can protect you." Emet insisted. He had rarely ever seen Azalia like this before, her blue eyes thunderous and her body filled with growing tension. "Did the Adom King do anything to you?" He asked and Azalia's whole being suddenly stiffened at the simple mention of the dark haired King, memories filling her mind and anger submerging her again.

"He tried to." She finally admitted to her knight. "He asked me to strip and then thought he could touch me."

Emet didn't even need to hear more in order to understand what had happened. Wrath instantly took over him at the words, a growl leaving his lips as uncontrollable rage set inside him. "How dares he?" He snarled in a voice laced with disdain for the Adom King.

Azalia was the greatest treasure of the whole land, nobody should ever put their hands on her without her consent and then expect to live on.

"I should kill him." He stated as he suddenly started to walk toward the door.

"Emet! You cannot!" Azalia immediately stopped him. She placed herself right before him, the princess quickly preventing her knight from leaving her quarters. But Emet was blinded with anger and couldn't think straight anymore.

"He shouldn't have harmed you!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

"He didn't harm me! I didn't let him!" Azalia replied. And it was the truth. Things could have been way worse if she hadn't stood her ground like she had done.

"But he disrespected you!" Emet reminded her. He couldn't accept this; he couldn't let someone treat Azalia like the King had just treated her without doing anything. His role was to protect the princess and so anyone who would try to hurt her would have to pay the price.

Now feeling even more determined, Emet managed to walk past Azalia to head toward the door. He was set on his goal. He wouldn't stop until he had killed the Adom King, or had at least tried to do so.

But the knight suddenly ceased to walk as soon as he felt arms snaked around his waist from behind him. "Emet, please..." Azalia pleaded as she pressed her face tightly against Emet's broad back. "I cannot lose you."

If Emet would defy the King, he was sure to be killed. He maybe was one the finest combatants of the Lavan kingdom but even him couldn't fight and hope to win against a whole army. They were in enemy territory and they were alone against everybody.

"Princess..." Emet whispered before slowly turning around and cautiously pulling Azalia into his arms, the knight protectively holding the Lavan princess close to him. She was using her power on him, sending waves of tranquility, peacefulness and serenity into his body. It allowed his mind to clear up and his anger to fade away.

"I need you." Azalia whispered. "You're the only one I can trust here. You and Temira are the only people I can rely on."

If Azalia didn't have Emet with her, she wouldn't be able to take it. She had been suddenly forced to leave everything she had ever known; her family, her home, her friends... only to be given to an egoistical King that didn't see her as more than a pretty trophy wife. She had to spend the rest of her life with someone she didn't chose, in a Kingdom she didn't know.

It was frightening and unfair.

"I'm here for you, Azalia. Always." Emet gently murmured, his arms securely wrapped around Azalia's slender body. "I won't let anyone hurt you." He promised.

It'd been years since he was by Azalia's side; since they had been very young due to their parents being close. He had seen her grow up and become the breathtaking beauty she was now, and would do absolutely anything for his princess' sake.

Azalia was so beautiful and precious. Smart and strong-willed and vulnerable only before those she trusted. Emet couldn't help but want to treasure her dearly...

"Listen to me, Emet." Azalia raised her head to meet Emet's gaze. "The Adom King will surely try to do something like this again." Azalia had felt it when they had made physical contact for the first time: Melech was unstable. His mind was filled with wrath, anger and chaos, swirling emotions that showed nothing but negative thoughts. 

Azalia almost trembled at the thought of so much anger in only one man. It scared her, terrified her even, but she had to be brave. She couldn't afford to falter now. Not when she had been the one to decide to accept the alliance with the Adom Kingdom to save her people...

That's why Emet couldn't start a fight with Melech. "But even so, you cannot do anything about it." She told him in a firm voice.

"What do you mean...?" The white-haired knight wasn't sure where this conversation was going yet, but already knew he wasn't going to like it.

"I can take care of myself." Azalia reminded Emet. "I agreed to become his wife and so it is my responsibility to tame his abrasive temper." She said just as Emet let out a low growl in response. "You cannot expect me to do nothing if something happens to you, princess-" He began but Azalia interrupted him. "Emet, please." The Lavan princess pleaded. "You'll only get yourself killed."

This was what bothered her the most. She couldn't take the risk to lose her favourite knight. "He cannot truly hurt me without starting a war, he knows this. But he can hurt you if you defy him, and he won't hesitate to do so."

Maybe bringing Emet and Temira with her hadn't been a good idea. They were hostages, people the Adom King could easily dispose of if he just found an excuse to do so. Still, Azalia knew she wouldn't be able to do this alone. She needed her friends with her, to support her.

"So promise me you won't anger the King." She asked while intensely gazing into Emet's bicolored eyes. She needed to know he would stay safe, for both he and her sake.

"Azalia-"

"Promise me." She repeated in a firm voice. She wouldn't stop until Emet had told her what she wanted to hear.

And Emet was weak, because he could never say no to Azalia. Not when she was looking at him like she was doing right now. "I promise." He finally gave in with a sigh. He knew Azalia was right. His life was more in danger than hers. Still, Emet knew he wouldn't be able to stay unmoving if he saw Azalia get hurt. He cared about her too much to let any harm come to her...

But he would do his best not to get himself killed, if only because he knew how much his death would hurt Azalia.

"Thank you." The Lavan princess seemed relieved. She could finally relax, all the tension she had accumulated since this morning slowly leaving her body. "Do you know where Temira is?" She asked as she walked toward her bed to sit back on it.

"She's with another attendant belonging to this castle." Emet answered as he followed Azalia. He didn't sit on her bed, it would be inappropriate for him to do so, but did stay close to the Lavan princess. "I'm sure she'll be back soon."

"I hope so." Azalia replied.

She would have liked Temira to heal her wrist so that it wouldn't mark. She could try to do it herself, but it was always harder to do it on oneself than on other people. Plus, Azalia had to admit that the healing arts weren't her strength, unlike Temira who was unbelievably good at it. Her friend and attendant could have become a druid if she so had wished.

"We'll have to be careful until we can determine who we can trust." Azalia told Emet in a serious voice.

"Of course." Her knight agreed. It was always better to be safe than sorry.

"General Onan told me that a lot of the King's counsellors weren't happy about me being their future queen. We're not going to have a lot of allies in this castle." It worried Azalia quite a bit, if she was being honest. Suddenly living in another kingdom already wasn't easy, but it was doomed to be even harder if the habitants of said kingdom didn't want her here.

"It'll be okay." Emet assured her. "You'll always have me." He gently took Azalia's hands in his, the sweet gesture making the princess smile at her knight.

"I know." She said in a soft murmur. "And I'm incredibly grateful for your presence, Emet. I can't possibly thank you enough for coming with me."

He hadn't been forced to accompany her in the Adom Kingdom. Both he and Temira hadn't been. Azalia couldn't have asked them to make such a sacrifice. It had been their choice to come with her or not, and both of her friends hadn't hesitated to leave their family and their kingdom to stay with her.

"I would have never left you alone, Azalia. You know that." Emet told her. "And you know I would follow you wherever you go, no question asked." His gaze was intense as he talked, his blue and green eyes boring into Azalia's sapphire ones. "Even if you were to decide to run away from all of this madness."

"Emet..." Azalia already knew where this conversation was going.

Sure enough, Emet said what she had been afraid to hear. "We could go to the Zahav Kingdom. Nobody would find us here." He was offering Azalia to run away, to disappear so that no one would ever bother her, but this wasn't something the Lavan princess was ready to do.

"The Zahav Kingdom has been sealed away hundreds of years ago, at the same time as the Shachor Kingdom." She reminded Emet so that the knight understood this wasn't realisable. Nobody could enter the Zahav kingdom, the same way nobody could leave it.

"Then we could hide in the mountains of the Kesef Kingdom." Emet didn't give up just yet. "I would take care of everything. We could be happy together." He told Azalia, his words honest and his gaze almost pleading.

"We could." Azalia agreed in a soft voice.

She liked Emet. Her mother would have surely asked her to marry him if Melech hadn't asked for her hand. Emet belonged to a powerful family since he was the son of the Lavan general, and had always been one of Azalia's closest friends. She could trust him with her life, and knew he would always treat her right...

But the truth was that she had never had romantic feelings for him. She had thought so when she had been a little younger, but Emet just didn't make her heart beat inside her chest. Not like it was described in love stories, and not like Melech managed to do so in her visions...

Emet was handsome and kind and loyal. He would always have a special place inside her heart, just not as her lover.

"We could be happy together, but this isn't what the fates have decided for me." Azalia ended up telling Emet. Her visions were the proof that she was going to love Melech one day, and so there was no point in fighting it. What she saw in her dreams always happened in real life. It was her destiny and, as powerful as Azalia was, even her couldn't change her own fate.

Not that she wanted to, that is.

Azalia had always been an ambitious woman, and the thought of becoming the queen of the Adom Kingdom, the strongest kingdom of the land, was quite a pleasant one. Not to forget she would still have consequential influence in the Lavan Kingdom, since she was and would stay the one and only Lavan princess.

Things were going to be hard for a while, especially if her first encounter with King Melech was any indication, but if there was one thing Azalia knew for sure, it was that she wouldn't be regretting her decision.

"I'm going to marry the Adom King and become Queen." She declared in a determined voice.