The Cruel

28

Mara stood before her servants. She looked at them with no fear while they kept their heads down and had a fearful face. Even if they couldn't see Mara's face, they saw her mask. That was enough to scare them.

"Who did it."

Mara said in a hushed tone but it was an angry one. She sounded so angry.

The servants watched from the corner of their eyes Mara grab a cup and pour it on the ground. Mara looked back at them with an angry look.

"Someone better speak up or you all will be killed."

Mara got all of the servants to get in a straight line, they all looked nervous as they shook underneath her stare. They all were silent as they didn't know what Mara was going about today. Had they done something wrong?

That's when they hear it. Oh how they dreaded to hear that. They knew if someone was to fuss up about it, it wouldn't matter, they were all dead the moment they walked into the room.

"Who poisoned my drink this morning?!"

Mara's rage could be heard from rooms across and next to.

The servants didn't say anything. Mara had her dagger in her hand. Some looked at the ground with fear. Praying for forgiveness from whatever they believed in. But others stared back at Mara.

Fear was shown. The mask was shown.

Mara scoffed. She was angry. They would all die and she knew it.

"Bring me all of their heads."

Mara said in a cold tone. She spoke to one of her closest aides, a soldier. She didn't bother to get to know the man other than he would get every one of her commands done.

And he had. He brought Mara every one of their heads. He did it like a dog. Mara pitted him. She knew he did this as he believed in the prophecy.

A prophecy she knew was fake. Her brother and mother knew it was to. The Lisan Al Gaib. A fraud. She knew her brother was special.

He was a genetic prophecy, that he was but everything else was wrong.

Mara envied her brother. Mara may have come from the same womb as him but she knew that she wasn't a genetic prophecy like him. She simply was nothing but a genetic makeup of her mother and father. The worst traits is all she inherited, personality wise.

Mara stared at the soldier. Her thoughts were disturbed by the soldier placing each one of the suspected servants head in front of her.

Mara said nothing and made him leave the room. Mara already knew who had betrayed her. A servant that was second in the line of heads. Mara knew that this act was selfish on her part.

Defenseless servants were put on the spot and some of them were innocent. But in Mara's eyes in that moment, she didn't know if everyone was against her. If she had let them go, they would resent her.

The best way to do this was to make sure none of them survived.

———

Mara was sitting in her sister's room. Alia was on the edge of the bed as she stared at her sister.

"What did I tell you."

Mara said in a snarky tone. Alia knew that Mara had told her time and time again to not trust the servants with everything. Yet Alia had no one to talk to.

She always confided in the servants. That was a default of hers. Mara was angry and it showed.

"I-"

"No! Just stay silent!"