“Ahem… what are you doing here, Paisley?” I quirked my brow to the top of my head, recovering from the initial shock of seeing her.
“What am I doing here? I come here to read all the time…” She inched closer one step at a time, her eyes flipping from Mary to Nadia who stood at a spot with their faces to the ground, ostensibly shivering in fear of her wrath. “And you what are you doing with this two… smelling fello-”
“Stop it, Paisley! These are my friends. Don’t call them that, please,” I warned her with a strict distraught look. “We only came here to look around as well as read.”
“um…” She wasn’t satisfied. She gave them a thorough round-up and faced me. “You should stop meandering around with these fellows. They are not our class and you know the Queen Mother would be crossed with you if she finds out you keep company with lowlifes.”
“Paisley!”
“I’m serious… Look at you, beautiful-” She paused and flipped her eyes at them ferociously, a snarl leaving her mouth as a taut command. “Out!” At once Mary and Nadia’s face met mine and in defense, I glared at Paisley.
“They ain’t going any-”
“Don’t worry, Da-Ms. Danika. We will wait outside,” Mary cut me off and dragged Nadia out.
“Why will you do that, Paisley? Do you realize they are my friends and you shouldn’t treat them like that?”
“They are nothing but lowlifes! Fucken Omega riffraffs. They belong to the gutters and not with royalties! Keep away from them if you do not want to be contaminated by their stenches and uncouth behavioral diseases!”
“Paisley! You are being cruel!”
“I am doing the right thing! Saving you from louts! Stinking weasels!”
“I thought you are a kind person!”
“And I thought you are reasonable! I am kind which is why I’m saving you.”
“They are not any of those things you said. They are my best friends and love me unconditionally.” Tears shone in my eyes at her cruelty. “All they wanted to do was make me happy and now you treat them like that?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes, her hands reaching out to me and I flinched back. She bit into her chin in constraint, lifted her hands midair, and when it came down it was a growl, and then she grabbed me furiously and dragged me to the back of one of the shelves and placed me on it, trapping me between the book and her. “If there is anyone who cares very much about you as a close friend, it’s me. I’m the only one whose company you should seek prior to the homecoming of your mate. Not those swine!”
“Don’t say that.” I was losing my mind. “I told you I will not do anything with you. I’m not like that…”
“You can’t tell until you have tasted it!”
What is she saying? Is something wrong with her? With a pinched exterior, I ran my eyes over her facade. “Are you alright? I thought you are pregnant for the King and wants him for you, why are you doing this?”
“Yeah, I might be pregnant with the King’s child that doesn’t mean I can stop thinking of you. You don’t even want to give me a chance for even a night-”
“Stop! Stop it, Paisley! You are giving me a migraine with thi-this absurdity! I am tire-”
Angry air was knocked out of my lungs when her mouth came crashing down on mine, her hand going around my neck to hold me still. My head went on a rampage, fear clouding my mind. What is happening? Wh-I regained myself and began fighting her off but she seemed too strong for me, holding my hand by my side as her mouth assaulted me.
She pulled off a bit with a smirk, and when I dared to cuss at her and take in a lungful of air, she came back and thrust her tongue down my throat. This girl is a nut job. Underneath this delicate exterior, she possesses such amount of strength. I couldn’t move with her body pushed into mine and her hand caging mine.
I thought I was going to die.
Eventually giving up and allowing her to have her way, she forcefully ripped away from me, with a full-blown smile, her lips swollen from our kiss, and from the way mine ached I knew it would be the same.
“You are crazy!” I yapped in fury, disoriented, then I noticed she had gone still, her countenance becoming very muddled. Then I felt air on my hair which informed me that my shawl has fallen off.
I frantically looked down and snatched it off the ground to wrap it around my head in a haphazard manner. “Are you happy now? As you can see I’m not what you think! I’m ugly! So can I have my peace now?!” I cried, a lone tear skidding down my face.
“What happened to you? Why did-”
“Because of y’all! I can now have my peace! What is wrong with you?! Can’t you get it that I don’t want anything to do with you? You have the King and still, you ain’t satisfied. Just fucken leave me alone!”
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry! If my advances made you feel that way, I’m sorry. You didn’t have to shave off your hair for moon’s sake! That’s childish!”
I took the time she was bickering to link Nadia that I’m in distress but she wasn’t responding. I hope they didn’t leave in anger.
“Just leave me alone, Paisley, I beg you. I don’t want this…” I pointed between us, “not now. Not ever!” I spat at her face and made to leave but her right hand shot out to hold me.
“You know this doesn’t change anything, right?” She gestured toward my head. “Instead, I think it made you look more beautiful,” she purred close to my ears.
I might have been helpless initially from shock, but not anymore. I yanked with fervor to free my arms and with an icy glow walked away from her.
“Wait!” She ran after me, grabbing my arms which I noticed in time and cringed out of her way. She held her hands up. “I’m not going to touch you again if that’s what you want. Since you are here, let me show you around. I can show you a few interesting things.”
“Thanks, I’m not interested,” I bit out stiffly.
“I’m serious. I often come here to look at so many pictures of Alonso when he was young with an innocent smile on his face, as well as that of Theresa with her husband, her face still resolute to match that of the former King. It helps to know that is the kind of woman I’m supposed to be to Alonso when we eventually get married.”
I didn’t want to bend to her will, however, the mention of Alonso’s past had me curious, and the desire to see the things she talked about flailed in me. In earnest and yet concealed in a cold expression, I nodded which earned me a relieving smile from her.
I rolled my eyes and followed her as she led the way.
“Maybe you should consider removing the scarf. You look good without it to be honest… Maybe I will consider going bald too.” She chuckled. That was funny, despite me not showing it.
*
I spent the day going through pictures with her, most of which left me reeling in laughter. I saw Alonso as a kid with his fallen teeth smiling widely at his mother, the same mother who is a pain in his ass now. Then, I saw another one he took with Alfred when they were teenagers without any need to be cautious around each other or the quest for power to cause any strife between them.
I got emotional seeing him and his first mate, nestled in each other arms like their lives depended on it. In all, he looked very happy and content.
Paisley said they were his light moments leading to when he lost her. I felt ill at heart irrespective of loathing him now. I feel it too, the anger at losing one’s better half. It’s never a joyful experience.
“Theresa has always been strict, you see?” She pointed at the lioness beside her late husband without an iota of a smile on her face. Indeed she was.
When we finished looking at the family album, she took me to the portion that held their frames and a big book which she said contains everything about them written by themselves. There were so many books in front of a table-like structure beneath which they sat. Then, a large frame that held the picture of the Alpha King whose book was atop the table.
“Hold on a minute,” she told me and left, her facial expression told me she might be linking with someone.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, I flipped open the book that was sitting in front of the table holding the frame of the former King, rapidly searching for nothing in particular. I just wanted to know the kind of person he was.
Then, I saw a particular portion of the book written in italics that said,
“I accepted my traitor and lived with it. I died with my secret and hoped she paid for her betrayal.”
Accepted a traitor?
What could this mean?
What sort of cryptic statement was this? Has anyone seen this before now?
The shuffling of feet coming made me snap the book shut, my flustered face taking on a phony smile.
“Sorry about that… So where were we? Oh, the former King,” Paisley rambled on while I thought of the words in the book.
Something occurred to me and I asked, “Why ain’t you opening the books?”
Her eyes went wide. “That’s because it’s sacred and shouldn’t be opened. Every King wrote this immediately they handed over to the next King and its content was only known to them. No one was supposed to know what was contained in it. There was a separate partition in the underground where you will read whatever you want to know about each king… it was more like this too, but that one was public.
“So you mean to say no one has opened this before and is supposed to?” I cocked my frantic brow up, sweat gliding down my spine.
“Absolutely correct!”
Hmmm, what if what Nadia said some time ago was correct? Can it be possible that the former Queen was hiding something?
…