Karama’s stay in Salem had protected her for a long time. She had spent time with the king outdoors, taking walks, riding with him, and strolling the lanes with him.
She smiled at the memory. After that night in the king’s chambers, he had become freer with her. Closer to her. She had come to crave and enjoy every single minute they spent together. He hadn’t taken sexual intimacies from her again since that night out of respect for courting week. They kissed a lot, and she had even taken him into her mouth and sucked him occasionally, but they hadn’t had sex since then.
He must be sating himself with his future queen. Her chest constricted at the thought like it always did. She tried not to think about it. It became easier to deal with if she wasn’t thinking about it. Kamara was going to be his queen. One day, Kamara would be married to him and become his legally.
Every princess was raised to understand how important it was to be joined with a prince or a king in holy matrimony. His wife would always come first before his mistresses. And then his slaves. Kamara would always come first to him. And then Vetta.
Danika blinked hard, pushing the pain away. There were so many other problems to think about right now. Like the fact that the courting week would end the following day, and Princess Kamara was going back to her kingdom.
The king had already spoken to her that the morning when she served him the tea Madam Baski gave her to take to him. He’d drawn her close, his eyes sliding over her hungrily. He’d placed his head on her swollen bosom and groaned. “You will spend tomorrow night with me, Danika. Here, in my bed. All night.”
A shiver of anticipation and dread went through her body at the reminder.
She got up from the grass and walked towards Remeta. She pulled the girl’s arm, causing her to stop plucking the flowers and look at her.
“Remeta?”
“My beloved queen,” she replied with a pure smile.
Danika knelt to eye level with her. She began in a gentle, coaxing tone. “Please, Remeta, save me. Save my child. ‘The prince’ like you call him. The courting week had ended, and I need the king to know that I’m carrying his child before he finds out by himself and thinks I’ve betrayed him by keeping it from him. Not to mention when he gets the idea in his head that he isn’t the father of our child. I shudder to think of what will happen to me then.” She shook Remeta’s arms slightly to see the intensity of her pleas. “Please, Remeta, go to him and tell him. I’m tired of carrying this secret, it’s too heavy. It’s weighing me down, stressing me badly. I don’t know what else to do. Please, Remeta?”
Silence met her pleas. Her knees on the grass began hurting as time passed; it seemed like forever.
Then Remeta placed her hand on her cheek. “My beautiful queen.”
“Yes, Remeta?” she answered readily and hopefully.
“Beware of the three W’s,” was all she whispered before she turned and ran away.
.
CHAPTER 40
DANGEROUS GROUNDSD
anika walked hand in hand with Remeta after their time in the garden. She hadn’t been able to get a meaningful response or anything at all from Remeta. It worried her and put her on the verge of tears. Her time had run out. The near future wasn’t looking good for her.
They were almost to the front of the palace when she saw Kamara and her personal maid, Henna. They were coming out of the royal quarters.
Kamara saw her and her steps faltered. Danika watched the princess warily. Kamara had been scarce in the past few weeks; she was exactly the typical princess like she had been, always holed up in her room, reading, reading, eating, more reading. Was that what it was, or was there another reason?
Danika took another look at Kamara’s oval face and noticed the few almost invisible details she missed the first time. Kamara’s eyes were dull, and she looked tired. Not physically. Emotionally tired and sad.
“Give me a minute, Henna,” Kamara said with a look over her shoulder.
“Yes, my princess,” Henna agreed with a bow of her head. She turned and walked back through the hallway they came from.
Danika turned to tell Remeta to excuse them, too, but Remeta had already run towards the other side of the palace, probably in search of her mother.
Kamara started walking close, and Danika met her at the center. Danika inclined her head slightly. “Princess Kamara.”
“I already told you to call me by my name, Danika.” She continued walking, leaving Danika to walk with her.
Danika matched her steps with her own. Silence descended between them as they walked. The silence was supposed to be comfortable, but Danika felt tense.
“Are you angry at me for something?” she blurted out suddenly as soon as the thought popped into her head. That would explain a lot of things, like the reason Kamara hadn’t sought her out for the past few weeks. And when they ran into each other in the hallway, she only inclined her head and kept going without stopping.
Her chest constricted at the appalling thought. “You ARE angry at me.” It wasn’t a question this time.
Kamara said nothing, just kept on walking.
Danika worried on the inside, but she remained cool on the outside. Her elegance and sophisticated countenance mirrored Kamara’s with each step, and they looked like sisters.
“I saw you and the king that night. In his chambers. On the floor. In each other’s arms, asleep,” came the calm reply at last.
Danika didn’t have to think hard for the mental image to come. When it did, her blood ran cold. She saw her intimate night with the king. “Oh,” Danika muttered guiltily. She didn’t know what to say about that. Once a princess herself, she could understand the disrespect Kamara felt. Not to mention the anger and even hurt.
Kamara let out a deep breath. “I’m not angry at you. I’m not even hurt, or I would have done something about it these past few weeks.”
“You aren’t?” Danika asked, uncertain and bewildered.
“No, I’m not. Sadly, what I saw made it easier for me to understand a lot of things. I made peace with it.”
“I don’t understand.”
Kamara turned towards Danika. Her lips curved a bit, her eyes watching her. All too knowing. Her seeing gaze unsettled Danika, but she didn’t let it show. The only person who could see her weak and unsettled was the king.
Kamara turned forward and continued walking. “I will tell you a story. In Navia, there is this man that turned up in our kingdom. I took one look at him and knew immediately that he wasn’t from Navia.” Danika listened attentively; they rounded another corner. “Women in the village told stories of how the man washed up on our shores, almost drowned and drained and injured severely. I was making rounds in the village to note the crop growth and market activities when I saw him first. His blue eyes were the first features of him I noticed.”
“Blue eyes?” Danika’s asked curiously.