"She’s always yelling at me. What kind of mother does such? And, she’s full of lies! Gosh, protecting me? She hates me!" Raziah cried out to the villagers, sitting in the market square surrounded by strangers.
She sat down in the midst of their laughter and shrills, being the very youngest while defeating the circle men in a gambling game. She looked excited, and starving for more.
"You’re right! No mother should ever treat their child like that. That is cruel and heartless!" A man beside her replied, but there were only smiles on his face with his dirty skin and rotten teeth, just like many others surrounding her. A lot more of them were mostly drunk, and people who passed by would only shake their heads in disdain.
Everyone knew the little girl who had managed to make a name for herself in the kingdom of Kaneria.
"Right?!" Raziah asked and laughed along with him. There were wine cups all around her, more than half of them urging her to take a sip and be like them, and Raziah would have loved to do so but... somewhere among the crowd, Malcolm was staring at her like he was ready to breathe fire on her.
The men around her laughed again.
"As if that’s not enough, she’s hiding something from me too! She and father are always whispering. She’s the Queen, he is King, and there’s this mystery object kept inside their room that emits this creepy, crazy air. You won’t even believe it. Yuck!"
Everyone laughed again.
"We have to go now. You’ve spent too much time out here. Your mother might come out here searching for you!" Savannah whispered into her ear from behind. The maid had managed to squeeze herself through the hoard of men and women just to get the princess.
"Let her come. What more does she want from me?" Raziah scowled, "She’s been the one teaching me for two weeks now, and it’s been nothing less than torture, Savannah. I cannot take it anymore. I wanna spend the night out today. Come on, I’ve got you guys with me. Nothing bad would happen to...,"
And Savannah has had enough. She grabbed the princess’s arm and squeezed hard, her face sour and her arm vibrating, "Tell them your goodbyes. It’s getting cold. You have two minutes to do so."
And with that, Savannah left leaving Raziah with a huge frown on her face. Eventually, The Princess had no choice but to say goodnight to the crowd, and everyone cried for her not to leave yet. Of course, Raziah promised to return soon and spend more time with them.
In the dark of the night, Four of them headed back to the palace.
Raziah could feel Malcolm fuming next to her, but she ignored him and focused on the beauty and peace of the kingdom. All her life, she’s lived here and truthfully, she wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was such a wonderful place, and she was proud to know that her father was the one overseeing the affairs. She was even more excited, knowing one day this would all be hers.
"Are you guys mad at me?" Raziah finally broke the heavy silence, looking at each and every one of them. Maria was holding onto Savannah’s arm and shaking on one side with unshed tears lurking in her eyes, Savannah still had a huge frown on her face and Malcolm had one hand on the sheath of his sword, and his face looked like it was carved out of stone, "I guess I stayed out a little too late tonight. But, I had fun. That is the most important part,"
"I’m gonna stop doing this with you, Princess," Savannah said quietly, her tone strong, "This is my last straw. You’re too young to be doing any of this. How did you even manage to convince us in the first place?"
"Don’t be like that. You know I cannot have any fun at the palace. It’s always one measly duty or gathering or the other. I hate my life enough Inside those Palace walls,"
"The Queen has warned us, she had warned you several times never to do this again. Why won’t you listen to her?" Malcolm talked this time, trying to hold back his anger. Looking after this Princess was testing his limit. She was always testing his limit with her childish and selfish sense of reasoning.
"The last thing I want to do is talk about the Queen. I’m in a very good mood tonight, Sir Malcolm. Don’t spoil that,"
"You’re the only one that’s happy here, Princess," He stated.
"I know. How about we get candies on our way back? That would lift up...,"
The light breeze touched Raziah’s face, carrying her dark hair with it. Her heart skipped a beat and then started slamming against her chest. She thought of stopping to check whose presence that was behind them, and next to her she could also feel the same tension coming from Malcolm which meant he had felt it too.
"Raziah!!"
And the children’s attention was drawn to who was in front of them, and immediately Maria, Savannah, and Malcolm went down on one knee to greet the Queen. Mirabai stood there with an infuriated look swirling in her eyes as she glared at her daughter who had defied her orders once again.
"How dare you?!"
"It hurts...!" Raziah yelped as her mother pulled her hard by the ear into the palace and threw her into her room. Raziah landed with a thud on the cold floor, tears stinging the back of her eyes as she struggled to get away from her mother but was too slow for the agile woman.
Mirabai took Raziah’s shoulder and shook her daughter to her feet. Raziah could feel her mother’s trembling, and the tremble was only getting worse. It wasn’t just fury, she could see so much fear in her mother’s eyes, "What if you had been kidnapped?! What if? Or didn’t it seem as if someone was tailing you guys?!"
And Raziah froze. It did. Just before her mother had called her name, the scary presence had disappeared.
"How did you...!"
"Why do you never listen to me?!" Mirabai squeezed her daughter’s shoulders hard, her lashes trembling, "Why do you always have to sneak out of the palace every time? What is wrong with you? Why are you such a selfish child?!"
Selfish. She’s heard that word before. More tears stung the back of her eyes.
"Because I don’t like you, mother," Raziah had replied before she could stop herself, "And I’m not the selfish one, you’re. Always treating me like I’m an outcast. I hate you and your guts. If you don’t love me, the villagers out there adore my very existence. Out there is where I belong, not here."
Mirabai was stricken as she listened to her daughter with broadened eyes. Her grip on Raziah’s shoulders had lessened.
"I wish I wasn’t born as your daughter. Being a commoner would have been so much better. No one in their right mind would ever want to be mothered by someone like you,"
Moments passed, and neither of them said another word to each other. Mirabai could feel a part of her shattering into pieces from her daughter’s words, and not even the horrific sight of the young boy being extremely violated by the Rogue witch had ever broken her this hard. In fact, she thought nothing could ever feel more soul-shattering than that sight.
Then how the Rogue witch had abused Mirabai’s powers, tampering with several unknown creatures to commit unreal atrocities to the boy’s body.
But now, her daughter...
Mirabai’s legs gave in and she crumbled to the ground, with Raziah simply watching...a little perplexed.
"Mother...,"
"Raziah, come," Mirabai extended her arm to her daughter.
It took a lot of convincing in Raziah’s mind for her to accept her mother’s warm hands, and Raziah was pulled into her mother’s embrace. Surprised, Raziah lay still with her head against her mother’s chest. This had to be the very first time...
"It’s just...too much...," Mirabai’s lips shook as she uttered those words.
And as little as she could understand, Raziah felt her mother’s suffering for the first time.
#################
NEW BOOK ALERT!
~ Check out, ’ ENCHANTMENT OF THE NIGHT,’ ~
√Slowburn
√enemiestolovers
√Mystery and Allure
√Romance
√Adventure
√weaktostrong female lead
√Love after Marriage
I guarantee you’re going to love it √
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
