The Prince and His Slave

[Hidden]

[Arius]

I ran through the halls looking for Alexandra. I had to find her. I had to hide her. There was no way in hell that he wasn’t going to look for her. He wanted to kill her.

       I skidded to a stop when I saw her. “Alexandra!”

       She turned and smiled at me. Saia was with her.

       “Where the hell have you been?!”

       Her eyebrows rose. “I was helping Saia, what’s wrong?”

       “My father found out.” I said as I grabbed her hand.

       I saw the blood drain out of her face. “What…?”

       “He knows.” I said. “Now come, I need to hide you.”

       She looked at Saia, who was also pale.

       I pulled Alexandra’s hand. “Did you not hear me?”

       She looked at me for a moment and then took a deep breath. “Sorry. I…”

       “That’s fine, now come.” I turned to Saia. “Be careful, okay Saia?”

       She nodded.

       “If they ask you if you know Alexandra, or anything, just say that you’ve seen her around. Don’t tell them you two are friends. Do you understand?”

       She nodded again.

       I then turned around and started to run, Alexandra’s hand still in mine. Where can I hide her? The first place I thought was with Subira. So that’s where I went.

       “Where are we going?” Alexandra asked.

       “To Subira.” I didn’t look at her. I knew that if I saw her stress that would just add to mine.

       She didn’t say anything.

       When I arrived at their door, I banged it with my fist.

Subira opened it, and I could tell that she saw my stress the second she saw my face. “Arius, sweetheart… is something wrong?”

       I pulled Alexandra into the room and closed the door. “Yes. Father has found out.”

       Subira’s eyes widened. “What?”

       “I need to hide Alexandra. I don’t think he knows it’s her, but he’ll find out. Can she stay here?”

       Dr. Tumini and Haru walked out of two separate room right then. “What’s going on?” Dr. Tumini asked.

       “The King has found out about Arius and Alexandra…” Subira said softly.

       Dr. Tumini’s face paled.

       I saw the shock on Haru’s face. I don’t even think he knew there was something between Alexandra and I in the first place. “I need to hide her.” I told them.

       “Here?” Dr. Tumini asked.

       I nodded. “I don’t know where else…”

       “Arius, you have to think this through… how long do you think you can hide her?” Dr. Tumini asked.

       “Until I can convince my father to let her live.”

       “And do you honestly think you can do that?”

I hesitated. “I have to try.”