The door pushed open and Shastina walled in, her heart banging heavily on her chest, pitching her fingernails anxiously.
“Your Highness” She bowed and greeted while Queen Nneka, watching through the window, turned and faced her.
“My answer” She went straight to the point without bothering to acknowledge her greetings.
“Your Highness, I haven’t been able to find out the person beneath the mask” Shastina stated, although she knows Nneka would never believe in her lies, she was as smart even back then in their community.
“And you expect me to believe your lies” Nneka states, and she bursts into devilish laughter.
“I didn’t…” A sudden strike landed on her cheeks before she could finish with the sentences, Shastina’s hands moved to her cheeks, she tilted her head and her deadly gaze glaring at Nneka, she has to control her temper, she could have pinned her to her wall due to her nasty temper, but she tried breathing in and out to calm herself down.
“I heard about your nasty temper, you can slap me back if you can dare” Nneka stated, then she moved her eyes closed to her, piercing intently into her eyes just to make her angry.
“I don’t have the answer yet, I will let you know when I find the person” She muttered with gritted teeth, wanting to turn.
“If you take that step, before dusk you will hear the news that all your family members were killed by assassins, and the king will seek your life too” Nneka deadly whispered with a grin on her face.
“What? You can’t threaten me” Shastina started, clenching her fist in and out angrily.
“Dare me,” Nneka said
One thing is certain about Nneka s wickedness and won’t hesitate to do all her threats, sharing remained at that stop. She couldn’t move forward or backward, considering the possible outcome of what she would do to Aurora.
“The person behind the masked girl is Aurora, but the king didn’t know she was the one under the mask” She bit her lower lips before she finally answered.
A wave of quilts blew on her, making her heart ache instantly, whereas Nneka remained dumbfounded, unable to comprehend it.
“The king didn’t know the person beneath the mask yet, he fell in love with her, but he neglected his queen, a beauty like me” Nneka muttered, tears gathering in her eyes, but she sneezed it back, not wanting Shastina to see her weak state.
Although Shastina wished to scoff in her face, hearing her, she wanted to scream at her, wanting her to know that the king will only love Aurora and no one else, but she couldn’t, not wanting to put Aurora in any more danger.
“You can go,” Nneka said in a calming tone.
“Okay, your highness” Shastina answered, she turned and faced the entrance, but she hesitated in the middle, wanting to find out what Nneka thought.
“What is it?” Nneka asked when she felt her presence, she had thought she had gone.
“I want to know if you will need my help in any decision you make concerning Aurora” She uttered
“I will let you know when I decide,” She said, while Shastina bowed her head and exited her chamber.
Just as Shastina exited, Nneka slammed her fist on the wall. She couldn’t believe she made a fool of herself asking Aurora for help.
Now, she regrets that she delayed her death judgment.
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Inside one of the rooms in one of the popular taverns In town, Jericho was in a meeting with ten different men. Seven were ministers, one was the head of the palace guards, and the remaining two were the most wealthy and influential people in Gil Gal.
“Why this sudden summons on a day like this? We have an agreement not to meet in the daytime, we can’t trust the king, that he had let down his guide” One of them uttered.
“Yes” All of them chorused making Jericho sheer in rage, he slammed his fist on the desk in their presence, and instantly, a silent atmosphere descended.
“Did you think I would risk the lives of you all if the information I want to pass isn’t relevant, I won’t, I want to live longer too, moreover our motto is trod carefully, we aren’t in a rush to overthrow” He started, sighed and then continued.
“The reason for this meeting was because, I wanted to inform you all that the king is auditing the accounts department of the community, most importantly, the minister of accounting departments, I want you to start making plans on how to defend yourself because I’m sure the king would see all the discrepancy, but I hope he didn’t compare the book of stock brought it to the ones on the accounting register… If he did, there would be…” He halted in the middle.
“We should start making plans to overthrow him before he finds out about our organization, there is no need to wait for him to create an opportunity for us” One of them stated.
“No, we can’t, Alpha Malik is dangerous. We can’t tread recklessly we don’t want to lose our life. The only solution is that the minister of the accounting department and minister of finance should be ready to take the blame if the king finds out, and if we can’t find ways to settle it”
“What” the Minister of finance and accounting department chorused, shuddering inwardly…
“You can’t sacrifice us, please note we still need a lot of money to fulfill our plan. The king won’t hesitate to slaughter our head if we confess to the allegations” the Minister of Finance stated.
“Yes, still one of you should be ready to sacrifice himself, but I will make sure, it won’t take your life alone, please keep in mind what I promise you all, I won’t allow anyone to die in my brother’s hand because of me… He might be wicked, but he has some weakness, like his concubine Xena, he trusted and loved her, likewise our father’s murderer, my stupid brother loves our father’s murderer even though he kept denying it” Jericho stated, making all of them scoff, it made them irritated that their king is harboring feelings for a killer and ordinary maid.
“We can still use them against him” Jericho ended.
“Your Highness, I think we should make the king kill the maid, likewise you promised to bring one of the king’s women into our midst, why are you delaying it?” the Minister of Tax uttered.
“The woman is not ready yet, she hasn’t made up her mind, but I will make her join us very soon, also there is no need to rush the king to kill Aurora, let him enjoy the slave for a while” Jericho stated, and he sprang to his feet, meaning the meeting has come to an end.