"Your face plays a crucial role in this mission, why do you look like that?" Kebarah asked.
She had not stepped out even for breakfast talk more to see him.
"You did not seek permission." She stated, her gaze not leaving the dresses she had splattered on the floor. Her hair was everywhere and her eyes swollen, she looked even worse than she had when her father had died.
"I have never sought permission" He replied, raising an eyebrow at her state.
"Why?"
"What?" He asked, irritated and confused.
"Why do you never seek permission before entering my room?" She yelled, fresh tears falling from her eyes.
He was so stunned that words failed him.
When he had recovered from the shock, he walked to her in two strides then said, his voice low and threatening.
"Get a hold of yourself Yvonne."
"Yvonne?" She asked, ignoring his warning glare.
"Yvonne?" She asked again this time yelling.
Suddenly, she began to laugh, a laughter filled with grief and anger.
"Have you ever referred to me as your highness?" She asked.
"Or am I not worthy of being referred to as your highness by the masters of the game?"
Kebarah rolled his eyes and took a seat.
Childish tantrums.
"You must really see me as a clown." She said, huffing in disbelief.
"Or your son's whore."
He almost laughed at that.
Did she think she was more than that?
However, he held back.
He needed her now more than ever.
"Yvonne, may I ask what this is about?" He asked calmly and right in front of his eyes, he witnessed her transform.
"Yvonne."
"Yvonne"
"Yvonne." She yelled.
"You speak to me as if I am some child. Your tone condescending, your gaze belittling. You make me, a queen of my Kingdom feel so little." By now, she was throwing things with every pause in her words.
"Yvonne." He started, his voice calm yet commanding, compelling her to listen to whatever he had to say.
" When we first met, you were a pampered child, subsequently you became an attention seeking whore and now, when I have began to see a queen in you, when the memories of your disgraceful past had began fading in my memory, giving way to the strong and wonderful woman you are becoming, you choose to make me feel like a fool for entrusting my life long goal in your incapable hands and fickle mind. If you are throwing tantrums, picking fights when you are almost achieving your goal then I am forced to start re- thinking my choices. I, Kebarah Aarah regrets trusting you, Yvonne Simon." Immediately, he was done, he walked out not stopping once to see the state she was in.
She was stunned and stood transfixed.
When she heard his last footstep, knowing he was out of sight, she let herself crumble to the floor, fresh unrestricted tears running down her cheeks.
Her hair fell to her face but she could not afford to care.
"What am I doing?"
Kebarah leaned on the wall adjacent to the opened door, a wide smile decorated his face as he enjoyed the sound of her sobs.
He had been worried for no reason.
It was really just childish tantrums.
Quietly, he walked out of the room, not bothering to close the door behind him. He walked calmly to his room, brought out his journey book, a knife and his little blood bowl.
Swiftly, he cut his wrist and watched as the blood trickled into the bowl.
Slowly, it filled the bowl and at the same time stopped dropping.
He glanced at the cut then dabbed it with a piece of white clothing, his eyes on the book before him.
A moment later, he brought the book closer and, picked a brush and carefully placed it into the blood bowl allowing it to soak for a while before he began writing in the book.
"Focus on Keane, I have found my potion."
A little while later, the words appeared on the book
"Father, you found the snake?"
He smiled before he wrote back.
"I had a reserve with an old friend, you see my dear son, I am not the only one desiring to kill a monster."
Dunni pondered on the words that had just appeared before him, he was confused but he knew it was no use asking, his father will only explain when he wills.
"Okay father, I am glad you have found a solution. I will do as you have instructed."
When he did not get any reply, he went ahead to ask what has been on his mind ever since they had left for the air nation.
"How is Yvonne, father?"
Kebarah frowned at the words before him.
He would get rid of her very soon, Dunni's attachment to her will do no good.
He thought to tell him to forget her but he could not underestimate how much Dunni cared for her so he chose to keep him in the dark for his own safety.
"She is making me proud." He wrote back.
**********
The sun was at it's peak, the heat merciless on everything living making them scamper for shelter yet to a group of travellers, it was the least of their concern.
The guards could hardly breathe, afraid to irritate the royals riding in front of them.
Anybody could tell something was amiss yet nobody dared say a word.
They were riding at a dangerous speed, not the usual friendly race they engaged in, this is better likened to competitors trying to oust one another and in the process, giving the helpless guards behind them a hard time catching up.
Velaine hoped the speed, the heat on his face, the sounds of the horse's hoofs could numb his thoughts yet the louder the distractions, the more his thoughts fought to be heard.
What was he doing?
He could not even berate himself like he had done the previous night.
He had gone way too far.
Earlier, if she had asked who he was, he would have spilled the truth without blinking.
It was not just her scent or the feel of her soft pale skin against his face or even the insatiable hunger he felt at that moment, he may be a man and could succumb into lust of a beautiful woman but he was not a man that could driven by it. Something else about her had held him hostage.
He may have been entranced ever since he heard the reason she had wanted to hunt or maybe it was before that. Maybe it was when she had attacked him or when they were running from the shadow hunters, that little pout she had on when she discovered he had no shadow hunter on his heels, or it probably was when he picked her up, the sight of her blue eyes reflected by the orange hue of an almost rising sun could do the trick yet it may have been all of that and so much more.
He has been acquainted with so many royals yet none was this perfect. Her father, his father, all others had either been too kind or ruthless. They either cared too much about staying in power that they turned ruthless to keep it or cared too less about it and lost it leaving their people at the mercy of the ruthless ones. But with her, he witnessed a balance, something he had thought unattainable came to her naturally. She is a temptation he would have fallen for earlier had she not reminded him of his promise.
The promise he had made to his father long before she was born.
"Promise me son, you will covet nothing of the masters, not even their daughter."
But that was not the only thing holding him back after all, he had broken that promise already, he was occupying a position only masters could occupy.
His real reason was far more intense and could not be ignored. When he had snapped back from the spell she had him under, he had felt ashamed and felt like the traitor she had accused him to be, jus that this time , he was a traitor not to her but to his people l, yet when he caught a glimpse of the frustrated tears in her eyes while he gave her to Eric, seeing Eric hold her in his arms, he found himself leaning back to the mistake he had almost made.
This is more than he could bargain for.
He should not be feeling this way, he should not be worried she was disappointed in him for lying rather than worrying that his cover had been blown. He should not be worrying about how miserable she was having to lay in someone's arms, he should not worry about her laying In arms that were not his.