His Queen

The Battle

Ziya's POV (*= a switch in POV's in the middle of the chapter)

Time flew by quickly and the day of departure had arrived. I could feel it, the kingdom buzzed with both excitement and fear. My soldiers stood tall and imposing, displaying the pride they had in their homeland to the fullest.

Squadron one sent out news that the coast was clear and that it would be safe to move forward, and that we did. Some squads that had talented mages who specialized in portal making, left before the rest of us and others chose to make the journey on foot or horse. My squad and I decided that the best plan of action was to travel a good portion of the battle on foot, and then teleport when most if not all of our forces have reached the destination. Knowing my father, he would be on the battlefield at the last possible second, so it would be better to match his time.

For the most part the journey was silent, besides light chatter here and there. Everyone was on high alert lest there be a disturbance nearby. My focus revolved around my breathing, the closer we got to the battlefield, the more nervous I was.

For some reason, my gaze sought out Darius, and even amongst the hordes of people, I could spot him easily. Surprisingly, this is the most serious I have ever seen him; normally he has an air of nonchalance about him that always made him appear calm and relaxed. But now, he looked very much like a King.

And as if he sensed my gaze on him, he turned to look in my direction. He gave me a small smile and said something to the person next to him before walking towards me.

"My love, if you stare at me like that any longer, you'll burn a hole in my head," he said with that sly smile of his.

"And here I was admiring you for looking mature today, my mistake," I jested.

"So, I was right to think that you were admiring me," he smiled. And just like that, his coy behavior soothed whatever anxiety I was feeling earlier. "Better now? You seemed tense earlier," he asked.

"Yes, better now," I replied. It was silent for a moment and even in the silence my mind didn't wander to the common place of negativity. "Do you remember when you said that you would do anything that I asked?" I said.

He nodded slightly, "Then will you listen to my request? Please, no matter what happens, stay away from Liam," I said.

"I know," he groaned.

"No, you don't, and it's because I know you don't that I ask this of you. Liam is not someone to be trifled with...he's dangerous. He will easily use you to get to me, if given the chance, so stay out of his line of sight. Do you understand?" I asked.

"Yes...I understand," he said. I could tell that he was reluctant to give in to my request, and call it women's intuition but something told me that there was a chance that he would disregard my request if push came to shove. But still, I was pleased that he was being obedient, even if it was only for a little while.

And so the conversation moved forwards and we chatted about different things; he told me about how Taylor had locked Hayden and him a room so that they could make up and how the two of them fought and reconciled. I listened in silence, his stories quelling the worries of war plaguing my mind at the moment.

"I am glad you two made up," I said.

"I thought you said you didn't care what we did," he replied.

"Oh please, that was just to sound tough, of course I wanted you to make up. Take it from someone who knows, fighting with family is hard," I said.

"Well, I am glad that you're glad," he said.

Our conversation was cut short when Petra announced to me that it was time to go through the portal. Darius' and I squad walked through the portal and on the other side we were met with the sweltering heat of the Deserts of Tulpar. For some the battle has already started, we were one of the last two squads to arrive to the scene. And as predicted, so was Liam and his escorts.