To Bewitch a Devil

The windows were opened and a cool breeze moved the curtains. Neera walked to it and quickly closed the windows and her eyes turned back to the candles. She stared at them for a while before she walked to the table.

She remembered putting them off before she slept. She was sure about that, so how did they come back on?

Neera was pale with fear as she stared at the candles. She wanted to turn them off, but she was scared of the darkness, so she crept back into her bed and covered herself with her duvet. Her eyes were crystal clear as she was unable to sleep again, the events of the night crawling up her skin.

No matter how much she tried to tell herself that it was just a mirage. That maybe she did not turn the candles off completely, she knew deep inside, that something strange happened and it had to do with her.

Neera was awake until morning as she was unable to sleep again. When the sun rose in the sky, she stood up and put off the candles, then she dressed her bed.

Zavian sent someone to call her for breakfast and she took a bath before going to the dinette. Throughout breakfast, she couldn’t say a word. Her mind was filled with thoughts of what happened the previous night.

Zavian watched the girl in front of him as she picked up an omelet with her fork, and played with it on her plate, her eyes staring into thin air.

“What is the problem?” He asked, and Neera jolted out of her thoughts.

.....

“Nothing;” she replied quickly and sat upright, pushing the egg into her mouth.

She could not dare tell Zavian what happened. The day before, he had mentioned that someone said she was evil, if she told him that she had such nightmares and the candles lit up on their own, what would he think?

Neera looked up at Zavian as she watched him eat silently.

She was scared. She had done nothing but she was scared that he would kill her for what happened. It was abnormal, she was human, if she was capable of doing something like that, it only meant that maybe, she was not what she thought she was...

Neera’s heartbeat increased as the thought that she might indeed be evil crept up her skin. Tears gathered in her eyes as she imagined hurting someone, killing someone. No, she did not want to, she could not do such a thing...

But it did not seem like this was something she could control.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Zavian, who noticed the tears in her eyes, asked and Neera quickly looked down.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I think something flew into my eyes,” she said as she rubbed her eyes.

“Is anything the matter? Is someone troubling you?” Zavian asked again and Neera shook her head;

“No, a fly must have entered my eyes.” She smiled and looked down at her food. She did not have appetite to eat anything but if she did not eat, Zavian would continue to pry, and she did not want him to.

“I hope you are taking your medicines?” He asked and she nodded;

“Yes, I am. Thank you.”

As soon as she replied, a thought flashed into her mind, and her eyes widened.

Wait... this happened after she had fainted out of nowhere, and she fainted after she bumped into that strange person on the stairs...

Neera squinted her eyes as she tried to remember what happened that evening. His face had been covered completely, and now she thought about it, she had not been in this way, but he had bumped into her, and immediately after that, she felt sick.

He must have done something to her. There was no other explanation to all of this! But why? What did he want from her?

As she asked herself that question, her eyes looked up slowly and they fell on the man sitting in front of her...

Zavian.

...

Neera returned to her room after breakfast. Zavian had gotten a letter that Eloise was dead and he left to pay his last respects. She heard that the Witches buried themselves within 24 hours after they died.

It was said to make sure that their powers returned to the land and was not drawn by evil witches. He had asked her if she wanted to come with him but Neera refused. So many things were happening at the same time and she feared that the witches will realize what she was if she went there.

Neera stood in front of the window as she thought of what to do. She could not tell Zavian. She could not tell such a thing to anyone, not even Penelope. Pen loved her but something like this was beyond her, she might get too scared and tell someone else, she could not risk that.

Neera sighed as she lowered her head. What would she do? How would she keep such a burden to herself? It was just this now, what if worse things began to happen? How would she keep hiding it?

Neera was lost in thought when a knock was heard on her door. She turned and walked to it, and her eyes opened in shock when she saw who it was.

“Axel? What are you doing here?” She asked in shock, but he placed his hand over her lips and entered into her room, shutting the door behind him.

“This is the king’s chambers! I’ll get in trouble!!” Neera exclaimed in a hushed tone as she pulled his hand off from her lips; Axel chuckled;

“The king won’t be back anytime soon, I just wanted to see you. It’s been so long.”

“You should have sent someone to call me, coming here was risky! How did you go past the guards?!”

“Well,” he scratched his head; “I told them, the king asked me to deliver something. I am a Prince, so naturally, they would believe me.”

Neera looked at him for a long minute;

“The king would be back any minute, I don’t want him to see you here.”