To Bewitch a Devil

He had been up all night, watching Neera sleep. He sat on the couch and listened to her breath even; then he walked to where she lay on the bed.

Sitting down beside her carefully; he watched her sleep under the duvet.

The more time he spent with her, the more he didn’t want her to leave his side. It was strange that it was happening so fast, but the more he tried to pull away; the more he found himself being drawn to her.

Zavian didn’t know how long he stayed by her side before he finally retired to his room to sleep.

That morning; he had a meeting with the council concerning the queen selection. If it was left to him; he would have called it off, but he couldn’t, there was a lot at stake now and he couldn’t risk it.

As he put on his robes, the maid who had washed the bathroom was about leaving, and he sent her to call Neera to the dinette.

Zavian sat down as he waited for Neera to join him. He didn’t want it to be obvious that he was waiting for her, so he put himself some food but ate slowly, as he waited.

A long time passed and yet no one opened the doors. Zavian frowned as he looked at the food and noticed they were getting cold.

.....

He wondered what was keeping her and just when he was about to stand; the maid walked in with a concerned look on her face.

“Your majesty, she is not in her room.” The maid spoke as she stood a little afar off.

Zavian was quiet for a few seconds, and then he blinked;

“Go find her and tell her to meet me” He ordered. Quickly, the girl scurried out of the dinette; as she went to look for Neera.

Zavian was to have a meeting with his council later that day, so when Neera was taking too long to show up, he ate by himself, instructing the maid on standby to not clear the table until Neera had come for breakfast. He wondered where she had gone that morning.

As Zavian walked down the hallway; he sighted Princess Lyra and Kitana walking in the courtyard and he stopped in his tracks. For a moment, he thought about his potential Queen.

He couldn’t imagine being married to any of them; or anyone of the princesses in particular. His heart was drawn to Neera, and if it was within his powers, he would make her queen.

Zavian blinked when he realized what he was thinking and at that moment realization dawned on him.

He was slowly getting to a point of no return. Freya had warned him; he did not listen. This was exactly what she was so scared about, he had promised her he wouldn’t go back on his word, but now... he wasn’t sure he could keep to that.

Zavian clenched his brows as he pulled his eyes from the courtyard and walked forward.

Lyra and Kitana moved under a pine tree. Lyra looked around, making sure no one was in close range before she spoke.

“I don’t think the King has noticed her absence yet.” She said.

Kitana crossed her arms as she watched the lady in front of her who was trying her best to hide her worry, but failed woefully as she couldn’t keep the panic off her face; nor stop her eyes from constantly looking over her back.

“He will soon, but it will be too late,” Kitana said.

Lyra looked at her. How can she be so calm about it? She, on the other hand, was very nervous. Was she making a mistake? Could she have just planned with her brother to keep trying harder to make Neera his wife?

It was too late for second thoughts.

“I told them to make it a quick death.” Lyra said. “She won’t suffer.”

Kitana could not help the laugh that erupted from her. Lyra looked at her, puzzled and disturbed.

“I am sorry, it is just...you are killing a human. Why are you acting like it’s your first time? She is a threat to this kingdom and she deserves to die, we did the right thing.

“How did you know she was going to buy the letter?” Lyra asked;

Kitana laughed evilly as she shook her head. “Oh Lyra; what do you take me for? I had her monitored long before I told you anything. I can’t afford to make any mistakes, you know.

She had not seen the girl for a while since she had been with the king, so I was sure she didn’t know about her leaving the castle. Thank goodness it worked.”

Kitana said with an evil smile; Lyra sighed.

“Thankfully, we’ve put this behind us...”

Lyra spoke and her words cut short when she saw the other princesses walking towards the hall.

“Let’s get going, it’s time for the briefing. I wonder what task we would be asked to do.”

She spoke as they walked forward, joining the others.

Lady Beatrice met with them in one of the smaller halls.

“For your next task, you are going to need to sharpen your knives, Princesses.” She said.

The princesses looked at themselves; where they going to fight?

...

After the meeting was over, Zavian walked back to his chambers; as he approached Neera’s door, he stopped and knocked; when there was no reply; he pushed the doors open. A deep frown formed on his brows when he saw that the room was empty and the bed was still dressed.

Zavian walked to the guards and asked;

“Did you see Neera leave the room this morning?” He asked.

“Only this morning, Your Majesty.” The guard replied, his head lowered.

“And she hasn’t been back since then?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

Something did not sit right with him. He summoned all the maids that had attended to him that morning, and he asked them if they had seen Neera that day.

They all said that they had not seen her, the girl he had sent to call her that morning said she had looked all over the castle but she had not seen her.

Zavian was quiet for a few minutes as he thought about where she must be. He didn’t want to think that something had happened to her.

No... there was no way. The thought of it caused goosebumps to form on his skin and he clenched his jaws.