The king was leaning heavily on Danika even as he kept most of his weight away
from her, so he didn’t crush her. They took steady steps until, finally, they arrived at
the turn of the hallway that led to his chambers.
He stopped. “Go and tell the guards that I dismiss them,” he grated, sweat beading
on his forehead.
Would they listen to her? Danika wondered about it, but she still nodded, bowed,
and gently extracted herself from him. She rounded the corner and strode straight to
the guards. She gave them the king’s orders, and none of them argued with her. The
door was suddenly empty, like the hallway.
“It is done, Master,” she said as she walked back to him.
He nodded curtly and started forward again. Danika took her place at his side with
her arm around him, taking some of his weight while she walked with him step by
step.
They entered his chambers, and she walked him to the bed, then helped him sit
down on the edge. She then strode to the bathroom and brought out a small bucket
and a wet rag, returning to him and lowering herself at his feet. She knew he must be
in a lot of pain when she took his leg into her hand and he let her. When she removed
his shoe and raised his garment, Danika saw Baski had already applied her herbs on
him, so she helped rub the herbs over his leg to touch the places that were untreated
because of his walk.
Afterwards, she stared up at him. His eyes were on her, scrutinizing her.
She rose to her knees and bowed her head to him. “You summoned me, Master.”
The silence was deafening.
Nervousness was all Danika breathed. She pressed her hands together and
squeezed to reassure herself, but her hands turned cold and clammy.
“Why does she call you that? Her queen?”
“I-I don’t know, Your Majesty.”
“You didn’t ask her to address you that way?”
“I swear it! I’ve been trying to get her to stop, but she won’t listen,” she informed
him miserably.
Silence.
“What do you think you’re doing, Danika?” he asked then in a hard voice.
“I…” She swallowed. “I don’t understand, Master.”
“Remeta. How did you penetrate the walls that little lass built around herself?
What did you do to her, Danika?”
“I did n-nothing, Master. I swear it. Madam Baski was there. I didn’t hurt or harm
Remeta!” she gasped, trying to keep the fear from her voice. She didn’t know where
he was going with this.
The absence of sound resumed.
And then he raised a hand and rubbed his clammy forehead. “I didn’t say you hurt
her. I asked what you did to her. How…” he trailed off. Danika swallowed tightly and
waited. “How…did you get through to her?” He seemed clearly confused.
“I did nothing special, Master. I only spoke with her,” she offered innocently.
“That girl… I’ve sent for the best medicine men in the twelve kingdoms to treat
her, but none of them got her out of the protective shell she built around herself-her
mother. I…” he paused and closed his eyes. “None of us did that. Instead, she went
deeper into her own head, and she was losing it slowly. It was killing her mother, but I
told her it was time to let Remeta go. She was trying to, but it was hard for her.”
Danika listened as he spoke. She searched her mind and realised that this was the
first time he was talking to her. Really talking to her. Not commands. Not hateful,
short words. Not angry remarks. He was truly talking to her.
The king squeezed his garment, his brows knitted in thought. “The last time I saw
little Remeta, she had cut herself open with broken glass from the cup her mother
used to bring water for her. She would have killed herself that day if I hadn’t had the
two maids I went with and her mother to restrain her.”
Danika gasped in horror. She hadn’t known it was that bad for Remeta.
“They were able to get her to sleep even as she kept mumbling, ‘no life, no bed, no
life, no bed.’ She added, ‘Mama, please just let me die.'”
“Oh, heavens.” Danika covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes tearing up
immediately.
“I never visited again. It broke me to see that child that way. Baski was our nanny,
Melia, and me. She practically raised us, you know.”
“I didn’t know,” she whispered, her eyes watering.
“She did. She gave birth to Remeta two months before they took us into captivity.
It was hard for her-for all of us. She helped me survive during those few months. I
don’t think King Cone wanted me to survive; he fed me once every five days.”
Danika gasped in horror. She couldn’t imagine that. How was he able to survive
those times?
He must have seen the unasked question in her head and answered, “Baski would
request milk to feed her newborn baby, and the guards would provide it for her.
They’d keep guard while she fed little Remeta. Afterward, she’d request to see me in
the isolated cold cage King Cone locked me in.” His eyes were far away. “The guards
checked the few visitors that entered to make sure they weren’t carrying anything like
food or weapons for escape.” His lips curved to the side. “But then, they keep
forgetting that Baski was a breastfeeding mother.”
Her eyes widened. “She…”
He nodded. “She breastfed me for a good three months.”
“Oh, Creator.” Tenderness filled Danika’s heart. She had always wondered w
deeply Baski loved the king so wholeheartedly. She was a nanny to him and princess
Melia so many years ago. And now this.