Hope
Darius was here. And he had a deep frown on his face. Much deeper than his usual one. Kyle immediately jumped away, putting a distance between the two of us, then bowed with respect towards Darius. I, on the other hand, stood up from the bench and bent my head a little.
“Good morning,” I said to Darius. He grunted in response to both mine and Kyle’s greeting.
“What are you two doing here?” he asked, his eyes darting around the garden. “Alone.” He added with a hint of irritation in his word.
“Pardon?” I said, confused by his unexplained irritation.
“Aren’t your maids supposed to be with you every time you step out of your room? Why did you send them away? Why are you alone with him in such a place?” Darius grew angrier with each word he spoke.
I flinched along the line since he stood directly in front of me. I clenched my fists at either side as I registered his questions in my head. What maids? When did he ever assign maids to me? And what was wrong with me being with Kyle in the garden?
“What maids are you talking about? I never sent anyone away. I don’t even understand why you’re angry at me. Why is being with my guard such a bad thing? Weren’t you the one who assigned him to me?” I kept a leveled tone as I spoke, keeping my gaze fixated on the ground since I knew that I’d get frightened if I stared directly into Darius’ eyes.
That was something I read from India’s diary. It was something she had learnt the first few weeks when she visited Augustus’ parents grave.
The elders in charge of the royal cemetery were incredibly scary and could read people’s thoughts. Augustus had told her that if she became afraid of them, she should just keep her gaze on the floor and speak with a leveled tone. Without her eyes on the elders, she wouldn’t get intimidated by the elders.
Of course, this was all before Augustus betrayed her and left her to her alone. The thought of his wicked actions put a sour look on my face. I suddenly remembered that I was still in front of Darius, and with a sour expression at that.
“What do you mean? Have your maids not been with you all this time?” It sounded like he was asking himself that question instead of me.
I lifted my head to see that he was wearing a furious expression. And it was not regarding me for the first time.
“The only time that maids attend to me is when a meal is being brought or they’re called in to dress me for your dinners.” I said the word “dinners” with spite, showing how much I hated them.
“Impossible!” Darius said to himself, running a hand through his silky jet-black hair. “Arsen?” Darius shifted his gaze to Kyle in order to confirm. The guard nodded firmly without a word.
A dark look settled on Darius’ face after that. “Follow me.” He instructed.
He didn’t wait for me to protest before he started marching back into the palace. I shot Kyle a confused look and he gestured for us to follow Darius. I did that, doubling my pace since Darius had long legs and was striding impatiently.
He took a route I wasn’t familiar with and we found ourselves in a place where several female and male Lycans were strolling dully, their forms almost as small as humans. I noticed that they all had the same thing in common-worker uniforms. I guessed that we were currently in the workers’ division of the castle.
On noticing their king, they bowed without a word. When I passed after Darius, the respect in their gazes turned cautious and mocking. Darius halted on his tracks and I did the same, not wanting to bump into his back and embarrass myself in front of the many helping hands of the castle. Kyle halted by my side, posing as a wall easily.
“Where are the maids assigned to my wife?” Darius asked with a leveled tone. With that tone, a person wouldn’t be able to tell that he was incredibly angry. I could tell since I saw the veins in his large hands ticking, as well as the ones in his upper and lower jaw.
“Your Majesty,” the head of the three maids who always came to prepare me for dinner came out of from the recently gathered crowd, with her two cronies close behind her.
As she leaned down to bow, Darius fisted his hands around her hair and she screamed in surprise. I flinched at the action, not expecting it all as well.
“You had the audacity to neglect your King’s wife?” Darius asked her with a commanding voice, pulling on her hair. My legs trembled where I stood as I suddenly imagined myself in her position.
“Your Majesty, forgive me. I was a fool. Mercy!” The maid begged, going down on her knees. Her cronies followed suit, their heads touched the floor as they begged, crying for mercy.
Darius let go of the head maid’s hair, flinging her over a pillar where she hit her back against it and coughed up blood. My goodness. Unconsciously, my hand covered my mouth as my stomach churned because of the scene in front of me.
“Death is the only punishment befitting those who disobey me.” Darius said.
One of the cronies screamed. “Your Majesty, disobey you? We can never! We only thought that the human was not worthy-”
“Shut your mouth right there before I slice off your tongue,” a new voice said, pointing the tip of a sword against the maid’s throat.
Orion held a long sword to the maid with evident hunger for blood in his eyes. A shiver ran down my spine as I stared at the Lycan who always insulted me without actions.
“Who are you to think so lowly of your King’s wife?” Orion asked her, his voice deep and almost unrecognizable. His blue eyes shone with a supernatural essence that I had never noticed before today.
“You three have committed the greatest sin against me. Not only did the three of you disobey my direct orders of being at my wife’s side twenty-four-seven, you three had the audacity to look down on her. Even in my presence. I might be a merciful king but there is a limit to the things that I can forgive.” Darius spoke in a kingly voice, then shot a look to Orion, who nodded in understanding.
“My lady,” Kyle gestured for me to turn around and leave. I gave him a skeptical look.
“Why can’t I-” the pleading look in his eyes caused me to cut myself off and nod. I turned away from the crowd and started to leave.
I couldn’t walk fast enough to get away from the piercing screams behind me. My heart thumped inside my chest and my head banged. He just ordered Orion to kill those maids because they weren’t by my side.
I could admit that they weren’t the nicest bunch but did they deserve death? No. No one deserved that kind of death in front of their friends, and possibly families. How could everyone be so nonchalant about such a horrible thing? No one said anything.
Not even me. Not that I could’ve if I tried. My throat was all clogged up and legs were frozen in place. I just stood and watched such a scene. I felt sick to my bones as I continued walking with no destination in mind.
I just wanted to go far away so that I wouldn’t hear those pained screams in my head. I was still holding onto the front of my tunic as I walked, staggering all over the place.
“My lady,” Kyle said, standing in front of me and blocking any further movement from my part.
“Yes?” I could barely even recognize my own voice since it sounded so breathless and throaty.
“Do you need to settle down somewhere? You don’t look well.” Kyle said, his tone tilting between panicked and concerned.
Was he afraid that I would faint and cause Darius to be all over him again? Maybe, that sounded like the most reasonable logic why he would ask after me.
I let go of the chest of my tunic and placed my hand on my temple. “I’m fine. I’m fine.” I lied through my teeth, then ran my hand down my face, my legs tottering on the floor.
“I don’t think you-”
“Ah!” I yelped as my back bumped into something hard.
I turned around to see Darius with his hands behind his back and splatters of blood on his velvet tunic. I backed away from him, my movement unsteady.
“You…” My vision blurred. My legs lost strength, so did all my limbs.
*****
Darius
After examining my wife, the doctor and I left her room. The middle-aged man had a calm look on his face, so I knew that there wasn’t anything seriously wrong with the princess.
“What is wrong with her?” I asked with my hands on my waist.
“Nothing really. I just fear that she’s been put under stress recently and since she has a fragile constitute, the slightest change in her daily activities, meal plan, environment, she reacts to it.
“I suggest that you make her surrounding feel more homely and safe or else she will keep having the breakdowns every now and then which might lead to something fatal at the end.” He explained to me.
I sighed through my mouth, then pinched the bridge of my nose. “And how am I supposed to do that?” I asked, genuinely wanting an answer.
The doctor spluttered for words after my question. He cleared his throat after receiving a pointed look from me, then pushed his shoulders back.
“Perhaps start with the room. It is much too gloomy and draining. Then, I heard she’s been put through training. That could even be one of the biggest things causing her stress. Maybe the Commander can lay back while training. Then her meals, she needs to eat properly from now on. No less than three full meals a day.
“I would also advise a more friendly environment. One with people she can talk to, you understand? Being a human and all. She might not feel very comfortable with the people around her. If you could make amends and place a huma-”
“I’ve heard enough,” I cut him off before he got a chance to complete his ludicrous statement. Seeming to understand me fully, the doctor clamped his mouth shut and nodded in respect.
“I’ll take my leave now.” He said. I waved him off as he walked away, leaving me alone in the hallway.
I sent Arsen away the second the princess collapsed because I couldn’t stand the sight of him wanting to take care of her. What a fool. He’d better know his place before I put him in it.
I opened the door to her room once again and stepped inside. My wife was still fast asleep, her chest heaving up and down, unconscious of the fact that she had caught the attention of the likes of me through being ill once again.
I found myself walking deeper into the room and taking a seat by her side. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. Nothing devious about her in such a state. She might’ve looked maybe even… beautiful.
I tsked, pushing that thought out of my mind almost immediately. She was alright to look at. On a normal day, if she were to be a Lycan, free of the name Vitalis or the misfortune of being human, I might’ve approached her with romantic intent.
Unconsciously, my fingers found a strand of her hair and gently tugged on it.
“How unlucky you are to have been born a human.” I said. Before I got a chance to say more, a knock on the door startled me.
I immediately let go of the strand of her hair and stood up from the chair. I marched over to the door and opened it with a swift yank to reveal Orion, wearing a panicked expression on his face. As I opened my mouth to ask what he wanted, he said;
“We know who the leader of the new rebels is.”