His creamy pure white hair was nowhere as long as her husband’s, but it was incredibly curly and fell down his eyebrows and back. He also had this graceful stance, strong and unwavering like nothing had ever fazed him, and nothing ever would. Not even when he has a sword close to his neck. His clothing spoke nothing of him being royalty, but his aura screamed the opposite. Apart from his hair and eyes, he looked exactly like her husband - like a twin or something.
"Well, that’s harsh. I thought you received my letter the other day." His thick voice rumbled out, and Raziah immediately noticed there was something dark on his tongue as if there were writings or engravings on it.
"What letter?" She slightly narrowed her eyes at him. He can’t possibly be speaking about the same letter that caused the biggest misunderstanding so far between her and her husband.
"Wow..." He blinked in awe, his hands buried in his pocket as he leaned close without a care. Raziah was quick to react as usual, and she had already placed the sword horizontally just by the front of his neck, halting his movements. The stranger glanced at the sword, then back into her eyes, "I’m not the enemy, Princess."
She still didn’t say a word, watching his every move.
"Don’t you want me to Introduce myself?" He enquired, bringing up his left hand to kindly push away the sword when Raziah sharply stung his palm, hurting him intentionally. She had cut through about three of his fingers, and there wasn’t an ounce of guilt or worry in her eyes as she prepared for her next move to kick him away.
She had already wasted enough time on him.
She aimed for the neck with the intention of knocking him out. Her fists were thrown in his direction, and everything was happening so unexpectedly that the stranger was thrown off balance with the swarm of questions and dumbfoundedness that had taken over him. Plus, He noticed that she moved way faster than he expected someone like her to, so his reaction time was slower than before - and it was pretty clear that her hand was going to collide with him before he can stop it.
"Z...Zoan?" A feminine voice called out from nowhere, halting the Princess in her actions.
Tatiana stood there, dressed almost like Raziah but with different colored attire. She had just rounded the corner, searching for someone because she had overheard something from some of the guards that they might have sighted Raziah in the palace just a while ago, but who she wasn’t expecting to see was the white-haired prince. Raziah had already retracted her fist that was just an inch away from its target because seeing Tatiana not thinking he was an outsider only meant that she knew him, and he might not be a threat after all.
Then, Raziah casually walked up to Tatiana as if it was something she did every day. As the princess approached the enchantress, that was when tati finally noticed Raziah was also there. Her eyes broadened, then narrowed just at the same time.
"What are you..." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
"His Majesty, Where is he?" Raziah asked calmly. The stranger had already told her that he was kidnapped, but she chose not to believe someone she didn’t know. Meanwhile, Tati’s eyes twitched at the way Raziah had rudely cut off her questions.
"Don’t you know that you...?"
"There you go again!" Acacia also showed up, dressed similarly to both women. Though her shirt was shorter than theirs, and her belly button could be seen. The sorceress strode up to them, and Tati’s face twisted in displeasure when she placed her hand on the enchantress’s shoulders, a sweet smile on her face, "She only asked a simple question tati, hm?"
Tati’s eyes shifted to the hand on her shoulders, then back to Acacia’s face, "Who do you think you’re touching?" She groaned.
"Who else? You of course." She replied again with a sweet smile, and tati could only tilt her face in shock while Acacia now had her attention on Raziah with a somewhat serious look in her eyes, "His Majesty was taken away this morning, and we just pinpointed his location."
"And when are we getting him back?" Raziah sighed inwardly. No wonder there was panic everywhere, and she overheard her husband proudly telling the people back in Sabaean that he had everything under control. For the four weeks that she’s known her husband, it was already clear to her that he had to be someone very powerful - one could predict that from the air he carries around him, and yet...
How could he have gotten kidnapped? Were the warriors from the enemy kingdom that strong? Did they infiltrate the palace and snatch him away quietly?
"We?" Acacia and Tati asked in unison. Tatiana quickly shrugged off the hand on her shoulders.
"Yes," Raziah replied.
"You can’t come." They both smoothly replied again, and one could see Tati’s eyes twitching slightly in annoyance, "You were not even supposed to come back to Erandell by this time. Why did King Eleazar let you leave?" The women continued with their synched tone again when Tatiana threw a sharp and warning glare at Acacia.
"Stop that," She cautioned, fire spitting from her eyes.
"Of course." Acacia’s eyes twinkled with excitement, and a grin broke out on her face, "But not for long, tati!" She suddenly smacked the enchantress on the back, and it took a lot of self-control for tati not to pull out her sword just then and separate the sorceress’s head from her body.
"Well I can’t stay put," Raziah responded curtly again, pulling their attention back to her cold eyes. The Golden locks that always stood out in her hazel depths looked as if they were daring both women to tell her no once again. Seeing that unwillingness and untottering statue of her, Tati found herself building up another form of anger in her mind.
It was already exasperating enough that her scent is now thoroughly mixed with that of his Majesty, and that alone was enough warning to the both of them not to lay a hand on her. The more Tatiana thought about it, the more her blood boiled.
What would happen if they let out go out to the battlefield? War front? She wouldn’t even last two seconds because she’s aware of what she’s dealing with, and she just keeps acting like she’s an unstoppable force that could easily sweep you off your feet.
Acacia finally let out a heavy breath, "Raziah, you can’t..."
But Acacia was faster, "We won’t let you stay put. It’s already sundown, and we would be heading out very soon. I’ll come and get you once it’s time, take a brief rest since you’re just arriving." She declared with another grin.
Tatiana could only roll her eyes, what was the sorceress up to?
"And Zoan?" Raziah flung her head behind only to see that there was no one standing there anymore.
"Zoan...?" Acacia drawled, looking perplexed. She even glanced at tati, and they shared a baffled look, clearly showing they had no idea what she was talking about, "Who... Is that?"
What? Raziah’s eyes flew to Tati’s dark blue eyes, and she accessed the look in the woman’s eyes in less than a second. There wasn’t any gleam or off look that would indicate she was only making up her act and pretending like she didn’t just see Raziah and the man that looked almost like her husband and had screamed ’Zoan!’.
Whatever had happened wasn’t ordinary, except if Tati had temporary memory loss because that was the only reasonable explanation Raziah could think of for her weird behavior.
"Nothing. I’ll be in the garden." Raziah finally replied after a tensive silence that passed through them, before she walked away from them in the direction opposite her room. She tried to keep all other uncanny thoughts out of her head except for the disappearance of her husband which still didn’t sit well with her at how someone like him would have been taken away. She had already thought of two theories on how it must have gone down; either he let himself get willingly carried away for some reason which was more plausible, or the opponent might be stronger than they think.
"Your highness!"
Raziah shouldn’t have paused in her steps since no one addressed her that way here in Erandell, but it sounded like Felix. Looking to her right, she saw the four of them, and Fabiana approaching her. Taj and Indah Looked fine, and all that just seemed... Weird. From the state of the kingdom, it’s clear that the war had taken place, yet Raziah hadn’t sighted any injured person. The warriors running around looked unhurt and agile, or maybe they were just very good at hiding their pain.
"Your arm." Fabia pointed out at the even bloodier bandage. For some reason, Fabia’s eyes moved the people standing beside them and Raziah caught the look of fear that had crossed the doctor’s eyes before Fabia quickly pulled her along with as she started walking away. Now that Raziah thought about it, some guards she had been walking by mostly kept their eyes on her injury, and most of them didn’t bother glancing up at her face like they always did before.
Even Acacia had kept doing so when they were together, but Raziah had ignored it and thought it was all because the bandage was getting wet and of course, people’s eyes would be drawn to it. But now, she was asking herself if they were all looking at her injury because she was the only one injured no matter where she went.
The second they got to Fabia’s room and shut the door, the doctor whirled around and spat out in anger, "What were you thinking? I thought the guard had escorted you back to your room, how could even think of walking around the palace with a bloody palm when more than half of the population here..." And Fabia’s voice died off, and she instantly bit down on her tongue.
Her face turned pale, and a shiver shot down her fragile when she felt the intimidating gaze that was now directed at her.
Fabia recalled the incident of that particular look Raziah had given her when she had spoken after the Princess had healed Maria, and that alone doubled her fear. Raziah took a calm yet interrogative step towards her, with her narrowed eyes spilling out the undeniable question even before her mouth could spell it out, "What about more than half of the population, Fabia?!"
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