by A J Manney
“Raven, I wasn’t sure where you had gone. Come in.” Raven stepped into the room behind Zalia and looked around the room.
“This room is so beautiful!” she said reverently.
Zalia looked at her, “Isn’t it? What’s your room like?”
Raven continued looking around, “It’s fine, but not this fine.”
Zalia looked at her and blurted out, “You should stay in here with me.” Raven looked at her in surprise.
“Your Highness…”
“It’s Zalia. And we should stick together. We’re all we have left. Will you please stay with me? I don’t want to be alone,” Zalia finished quietly.
Raven began, “I don’t know that it would be appropriate.”
Zalia walked close to Raven and looked her right in the eye. “We’re equals now. We’re friends. I don’t really know what I am anymore, but I know you are definitely not a servant anymore. We’re going to figure this all out together, as friends.”
Raven still didn’t look very sure, but she nodded. “All right,” Zalia said. “We need to get ready for dinner. What to do first,” she muttered to herself. Another knock sounded at the door, and both Raven and Zalia turned toward it. When she opened it, a guard was standing there. He held out a basket to her with a few gowns laid across the top.
“The King requested this be given to you,” he said as he handed the large basket to Zalia.
Zalia pulled two beautiful dresses off the top of the basket and peered into the basket. Inside the basket was a mix of beauty and bathing supplies, clean clothes, shoes, and more. The next two hours flew by as Zalia and Raven took turns bathing and getting dressed. After a week of traveling outdoors and only washing on occasion, they were both happy to rid themselves of their grime. Feeling fresh and clean, both girls put on a clean chemise and lay down on the bed and rested for about an hour before they had to finish getting dressed for dinner. Zalia stretched and sat up, feeling a little more rested. She walked over to look closely at the gowns the guard had brought them. Both dresses were a royal blue color the King and Prince wore. Raven stared in awe at the dresses. Each girl chose a dress and put it on, helping each other with the clasps in the back. Raven brushed her hair one more time, and Zalia ran a finger through her unruly curls. Both girls had decided to leave their hair down.
Raven’s eyes teared up. “I wish my ma could see me now,” she said softly as she spun in front of the mirror.
Zalia’s eyes filled with her own tears. “Me too. You look beautiful, Raven,” she said and gave her a hug. Their hug was interrupted by a knock at the door. “That will be the Prince, looking to escort us to dinner,” Zalia said to Raven. Then she swept her arm through Raven’s and glided them towards the door to walk to dinner with Prince Beckam.
Dinner took place in the King’s quarters. It was a relaxed and informal time. The King sat at the head of the table; at the other end was Prince Beckam. Zalia sat to the left of the King, with Raven next to her. Next to Raven sat another man. Zalia couldn’t remember his name, but he was the advisor or something to the King. He maintained a lively conversation with Prince Beckam. Reid sat across from Zalia and Raven, and next to him sat one of the warriors from the greeting party that had detained them upon their arrival at the castle. The King introduced him as Kell, captain of the King’s Guard. There was an empty chair at the table, but nobody mentioned anything of it. They began to eat their dinner. Zalia’s stomach growled loudly as she took in all the amazing food on the table. There were lamb chops, stew, jellies, fritters, fresh bread, cornbread pudding, and dried figs set before them.
The King looked around the table. “A fine feast this is this evening. We celebrate our new friends’ arrival. I keep things pretty relaxed in my private quarters. Please help yourselves.” Zalia looked around in surprise. She was used to the servants serving dinner in her kingdom. She’d never been at a dinner where you served yourself. She grinned and began filling her plate. She liked it.
At the end of the table, Beckam saw her smiling and grinned at her mischievously. “Hungry?” he asked.
“Starved!” she replied. Zalia had just taken a massive bite of food, probably inappropriate for a princess, when the King looked up and said, “Oh, you made it. Our last dinner guest. Please come, join us, Prince Valen.” Zalia looked up, wondering who this new prince was. She looked up and met the intense dark eyes of the man who had saved her life.
Thoughts flooded her mind, taking her back to those nightmare moments. Every emotion she had pushed to the side suddenly came to the front with the force of a tidal wave. Fear, panic, grief, and loss suddenly overcame her. The fork she was eating with dropped to the table with a loud clatter.
Chapter 5
Everybody stopped eating and complete silence reigned for just a moment before Zalia practically jumped out of her chair. “What is he doing here?” she whispered hoarsely. The king looked from Zalia to the Prince and then back again, before sighing.
“Zalia, please sit down. Let’s keep eating our dinner and we will talk this through.” Zalia looked at her grandfather in surprise.
“I’m not sitting down to eat with him. He killed my fam…fam,” she couldn’t even get the words out for the horror she felt. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t think; she clutched her stomach, realizing in horror she was going to throw up in front of all these people. She ran from the room in absolute devastation, swallowing back the contents of her stomach. She ran down a series of halls trying desperately to remember her way back to her room. Knowing she wasn’t going to make it a step further, she bit back a moan.
At the last second, she ran smack into Beckam. He grabbed her arm and pulled her quickly into a room with a bathroom. She ran to the toilet and emptied her stomach of what little contents she had in there. When nothing else would come up, she dry-heaved several times into the toilet, shaking. She felt a cold rag on her neck and tried to think calming thoughts. That only made her think of her mom and that made her dry-heave again.
The cold horror of what had happened to her family had flooded into her mind upon seeing that tall soldier, and it was as if the wall she had set up around her mind to protect her from the grief had been yanked away. A torrent of emotion, the emotions she hadn’t allowed herself to feel came cascading in, drowned her in sorrow. Her body shook with sobs she could no longer contain. She couldn’t breathe, her sorrow was so fierce. Anguished sobs and screams ripped from her throat as she saw in her mind’s eye the family that no longer existed. She tortured herself with thoughts of their last moments. Had they felt pain? Had they wondered where she was? Had they called out for her? What would she do without them?
Zalia wept for her loss. She would never again feel the comfort of her mother’s touch. She would never again laugh at her brother’s silly antics. She would never again know her father’s love. Why couldn’t she just have died with her family? Why couldn’t she have saved them? Her thoughts tormented her body. Her body, so weak from travel and lack of food, began to shut down. She heard low voices as somebody or somebodies entered the bathroom. She heard arguing, but all she knew was her grief. It was too much, and she soon sank into peaceful oblivion.
When Zalia awoke, it was dark out. She lay in the bed in the room they had assigned her. Raven sat in a chair next to the bed, sleeping. The nurse, Henrietta, who had helped her earlier, sat in a chair on the other side of the bed. Zalia sat up slowly in bed, feeling ashamed that both women were here because of her and not getting good sleep.
“Raven,” Zalia whispered quietly. “Raven.” Raven startled awake and looked at Zalia.
“How are you feeling?” Raven asked quietly. Zalia shrugged her shoulders, not really ready to think about anything right now.
Zalia looked at Raven. “Please get some sleep. Please don’t stay awake on my account. Come on. This bed is huge. You can sleep on that side; I’ll sleep on this side. You have to be just as exhausted as I am.” Zalia waited for an argument, but Raven just agreed. She had
to be so tired. She climbed in on the other side of the massive bed. Zalia turned to the other side to look towards the nurse. She was sitting up, looking at Zalia.
“How are you doing, dear?” she asked sympathetically. Again, Zalia didn’t really know how to respond. “Are you feeling ill still?”
Zalia shook her head. “I’m okay. I’m just really tired. I can sleep now. You don’t need to stay in here.” Henrietta looked at her closely.
“Are you sure I can’t do anything for you?” she asked.
“I’m sure. I just want to sleep,” Zalia said. At this, Henrietta stood up and stretched.
“All right. Get some sleep, dear. I will check on you first thing in the morning,” she said. Then she stepped closer to the bed and placed her arm on Zalia’s arm. “You are strong. You will get through this. Give yourself time and permission to grieve. Our greatest strengths come from our deepest moments of pain. Don’t give up.”
Zalia nodded, too tired to unpack the wisdom found in her words. Henrietta looked down at her one more time, then stood and quietly let herself out the door. Zalia rolled over and relaxed and willed herself to go to sleep before her mind could start into gear again and the grief could overwhelm her.
As exhausted and overwhelmed as she was, Zalia had a hard time sleeping. She tossed and turned most of the night. When she did sleep, images of her family and servants and guards played out cruelly in her mind, making her cry out often in her sleep. Sunrise finally came and Zalia lay in bed, too exhausted and emotionally drained to get out of bed.
Raven woke up a little while later and sat up, looking over at Zalia. “How are you doing?” she asked quietly.
Zalia looked at her with despair in her eyes. “I don’t know how to keep going. I just want the pain to go away. I feel like I can’t face it,” she said bleakly. Raven didn’t say anything. She slid close to Zalia and wrapped her arms around her in a hug.
They stayed this way for a few moments before Raven said, “Let’s get you something to eat.”
“I don’t feel like eating,” Zalia muttered.
Raven looked at her. “I know, but you have to. You didn’t get a chance to eat anything last night. You have to get some food in your system.”
Zalia pulled away. “Please leave me alone.” It was quiet for a moment, and then Zalia felt Raven get up from the bed. All that day, Zalia dozed, in and out of consciousness. She heard people coming and going, but she never responded to anyone. A few times, she heard a low voice talking, but she couldn’t bring herself fully awake to make sense of the words. That night she slept fitfully again.
The next morning, she stayed in bed again, but Raven would have nothing of it. “Let’s go,” she said. “I’m not letting you stay in bed today. You have to get up. You must eat.” Zalia opened her mouth to argue with her, but Raven wouldn’t let her. “Nope. You’re getting out of bed today. Let’s go.” She began tugging Zalia out of bed.
Zalia grumbled at her. She didn’t feel like eating; she didn’t feel like doing anything but pulling the covers back over her head and never getting out of bed again. Raven pulled her towards the bathroom.
“We will get you washed up, dressed and ready for the day, get you some food, and then you will feel better, you’ll see.” Raven kept pulling on Zalia’s arm until Zalia finally relented.
“You’re worse than my mom,” Zalia muttered, then instantly teared up.
Raven saw her and gave her a quick hug. “Come on.” With Raven pulling and prodding, Zalia finally finished bathing. In another dress with her hair freshly washed, she did feel a little better. She was still light-headed and weak this morning, but she figured she probably just needed food. A knock sounded at the door, and Raven went to answer it. She came back to Zalia. “It’s Prince Beckam, ready to escort us breakfast.”
Zalia felt her stomach roll and wasn’t sure if she could go. She didn’t want a repeat of the other night. She looked at Raven. “You know, I’m not feeling too great. Maybe I’ll just lie down…” She didn’t finish her thought before Raven grabbed her arm and dragged her to the door.
“Nope. You need food. Let’s go.” At the door, Beckam smiled and bowed slightly to them.
“Good morning, ladies. How are you feeling today, cousin Zalia?” he questioned Zalia kindly, but his eyes were intense as he looked at her.
“I’m okay, Prince Beckam.” She looked him in the eye. “Thank you for your help the other night.” Zalia looked down at her feet, embarrassed. When she looked back up again, he was smiling.
“Please,” he said, “it’s Beckam or Beck. We’re cousins. No use for formality and I was happy to be of assistance. I’m just glad you’re smelling better this morning and clean now.” Zalia’s mortified gaze shot to his, but she relaxed when she saw his smile and the gleam in his eyes. She gave him a tentative smile.
Beckam looked at both of them. “Come on,” he threw over his shoulder as he started walking away. “Let’s go eat.” The girls followed him, Raven with a smile and Zalia a little more subdued.
When they got to the King’s chambers, Zalia’s stomach began to growl as she smelled the food. It must have been instinctive because she didn’t feel hungry. They walked in and Zalia pulled back hesitantly, her eyes searching the room.
Raven leaned in next to her ear and whispered, “He’s not here.” Zalia took a deep breath and moved with Raven into the room.
King Avery entered the room next. He looked at Zalia kindly. “How are you this morning?”
“I’m okay. Thank you,” Zalia said. She wondered fleetingly if she should apologize for her behavior, but she decided against it. She wasn’t going to apologize for her reaction. They had wanted her to sit and eat with the enemy. It didn’t matter that he had saved her life; he was still the enemy. Zalia took a deep breath, trying to calm her stomach or she would have a repeat of the other night. As much as she didn't want to, she knew she needed to try to eat.
Breakfast was a quiet affair. Just Raven, Zalia, Beckam, and the King. Raven wondered fleetingly where Reid was but didn’t ask. They all ate quietly.
Zalia managed to eat a small plateful of food. Begrudgingly she realized she did feel a little better and stronger now that she had eaten. After everyone had eaten, the King pushed his plate away. “We need to talk this morning, Zalia. Beckam, why don’t you escort Raven to her room; then come back and join us.”
Beckam nodded at the King and stood. Raven followed suit. “Thank you for breakfast, Your Majesty.” It was quiet when they left the room. Zalia looked down at her plate. She didn’t know what to say.
They sat quietly until Beckam came back to the room and sat down. Her grandfather looked at her and asked gently, “Can you tell us what happened?”
Zalia started at the beginning, with her being in the tower instead of with her family. She plodded through her story, ending with coming here to Cascadia.
During her explanation, neither man moved but listened carefully to every word. They exchanged glances a few times but didn’t say anything. At the end of her story, her grandfather stood up and began to pace.
Zalia looked at him. “The soldiers acted like no one even knew I existed. Why would I be kept a secret? I don’t understand. If I was a secret, then how does the King of Astra know I exist? I am so confused.” She looked helplessly at her grandfather and cousin, but they seemed just as confused as her. “And why did that warrior help me? I don’t understand. You called him prince. Is he the first-born prince to King Mylan?” she asked angrily.
Her grandfather stopped pacing and came back to his chair. Taking her hand in his, he told her, “Prince Valen is the first-born prince of Astra, Kingdom of the Dark Moon.”
Zalia yanked her hand from his and stood up. “Then why in the world would you invite him to dinner and expect me to sit across from him?”
Her grandfather sighed. “That was a mistake on my part, Zalia. One I hope you can forgive me for. I wanted to know what happened, and I wanted to hear it from him.
I should have thought how his presence would have felt to you, though. I’m sorry.”
Zalia looked at him in confusion. “Is he a friend of yours?”
Beckam spoke up. “Mine actually. Valen and I have been friends since we were kids. We kept it a secret from our parents because of conflict brewing between the kingdoms.”
“He’s not evil like his dad?” Zalia asked.
Beckam smiled. “No, Prince Valen is not evil like his dad.”
Zalia continued, “Then why did he help carry out the attack on my kingdom and kill my family?” Her voice broke on the last few words.
Beckam looked at her compassionately for a moment before his eyes hardened. He stood up and looked at her as he spoke. “King Mylan is an evil man. He was a hard man during Valen and Reid’s childhood, but when their mom died, he became evil incarnate. He...”
Zalia interrupted. “Wait, Reid and Valen...” her voice died off.
“Yes, Reid and Valen are brothers,” Beckam said. He looked at her confused. “You didn’t know that?”
“No,” Zalia said, exasperated. “Reid wouldn’t tell me anything.”
Beckam nodded. “That doesn’t surprise me. Valen and Reid are pretty tight-lipped. They have been through a lot, and they don’t talk about it much. Shoot, they don’t really talk a lot, period. Anyway, their father turned maniacal after his wife died. Valen believes his father murdered his mother but doesn’t have proof. King Mylan is cruel to his people, allowing horrible things to happen in their kingdom and doing nothing to stop it. Valen told me that his father spoke often of attacking other kingdoms, but never in front of Valen because he knew Valen was against it. Valen said he and Reid left on a trip on kingdom business when they heard news of the impending attack. He said they raced back, but they were too late to stop the attack.” Beckam looked up at Zalia. “He didn’t take part in the attack. He would have stopped it if he had known.”
