The Prince and His Slave

[Hidden]

       “Is there any point in trying?” Subira asked. “Arius, do not waste your time trying to do the impossible. We have to think of something else.”

       I looked up at her. “But—”

“There’s no time to argue… Alexandra can stay here… but I’m sure he’ll find her. We have to think of something.”

Tabia

It didn’t take me too long to get out of the throne room and when I did, I found myself running down the halls.

       But Khafirin caught up to me before I got every far. He stopped me, and I swear he yelled at me so much that for the first time ever, I was close to tears because of him.

       I couldn’t be mad at him though. He was only yelling at me because I was being stupid and he loved me. He didn’t want me to get hurt.

       “Do you honestly expect me to think that you won’t get killed?” He asked me after I told him that I could handle it.

       “No…” I admitted. “But Arius is like my brother, he’s depending on me, Khafirin!”

       He couldn’t say anything to that. He knew that Arius was important to me… and Arius was important to him too. He sighed.

       “I have to help him…” I said, looking down.

       Khafirin sighed again. “Then let me take the blame.”

       I looked up. “What?”

       “You go ahead and do whatever you need too. But I’ll take the blame for it.”

       “No, you will not.”

       “Yes, I will. If you do anything that’s… unacceptable… I’m going to take the blame for it.”

       “I won’t let you do that Khafirin! You would be lying!”

       He shrugged. “I don’t have much of a choice.”

       I opened my mouth to argue, but he stopped me by kissing me.

       I kissed him back, of course. He made me feel so much better, all the time.

       But I knew, for a fact, that I wasn’t going to be able to convince Khafirin to stay away from all of this. There was no way he would listen. The only possible way to keep him out of trouble was to make sure he didn’t know about what I was up to.

       Right now, I had to find Arius. The King had already sent guards to look for Alexandra… it won’t take them too long to find her.

       Whether Arius hides her or not… they will find her.

[Chione]

            I didn’t know why Arius sent me away, but I listened. He was stressed out… I was too. I mean, was it really possible for them to hide me? The king had guards everywhere… for all I know, they were probably looking for me right now.

       I sighed as I sat quietly in Subira’s room, it was dark… and all I could hear were mumbles from outside the room.

       But then the door creaked open.

       I looked up and saw Haru.

       He smiled at me as he closed the door behind him. He walked towards me and handed me a big plate of food. “Eat up.” He said, kindly.

       I smiled and took a big bite out of the bread. I was actually really hungry.

       I then noticed that he was watching me, he then looked away. “So… you and the Prince…”

       “Yup. Crazy, huh?”

       He looked back at me. “A little… I don’t think I was as surprised as I should have been though.”

       “Why?”

       He shrugged. “I just knew that there was something different about the relationship between you two.”

       I smirked. “Different, indeed.”

       He laughed, but then stopped. “Are you scared?”

       I nodded.

       “I don’t think you should be.” He shrugged “Because if what I’m hearing out there is right, pretty much they whole royal court knows about it… right?”

       I nodded. “Pretty much.”

       “Well, in that case, you have a lot of support… the King can’t just kill you… Maybe one of the royal court members could adopt you! Then you would be royal… right?”

       “I don’t think that would work out… the King can do anything, Haru.”

       Haru frowned. “I was trying to help you think positively so you’d feel better.”

       I laughed. “Don’t worry. You make me feel better.”

       Haru blushed a bit but smiled.

       “So, what are they planning out there anyways?”

       “They’re thinking of sending you away for a while.”

       “Where?” I asked, shocked.

       He shrugged. “That’s probably the best thing to do… but the Prince is worried, and doesn’t want you to leave because he won’t know if you’re okay.”

       I nodded as I wondered if I wanted to leave.

       “They also—”

       We suddenly heard a bunch of gasps, and then crying.

       Haru looked at me and then turned to the door. He then looked back at me. “Stay here.”

       I nodded and watched as he got up and rushed to the door. I sat there, waiting. Straining my ears and trying to hear properly.

       Haru came back in right then. “Lady Tabia is here.”

       “Why did everyone gasp? Who’s crying?”

       Haru hesitated. “The Prince just told Lady Subira, Dr. Tumini and Lady Tabia that he knows for a fact the King killed his mother.”

       My eyebrows shot up.