Long after sunrise, Vetta laid on her bed staring out of her window. Her eyes were swollen and there was no strength left in her body.
She'd been crying all the way from Mombana back to Salem, all through the night. Danika's apologies had thrown her off guard. It was so unexpected—as unexpected as hearing her name from her lips.
She'd freaked out. Till now, there was no way to explain the way she felt in those moments, and she'd done something that she'd never expected she'd do. Run away.
That unplanned, uncalculated, escape caused her to bruise her arm in the unceremonious fall she'd landed on. But the pain was hardly felt.
With a soft sigh, Vetta got up from the bed and walked towards the window. As she watched market men and woman go about their daily activities and children playing around, Danika's words filled her ears over and over again.
But that is why it hurts so much, isn't it? Because you are starting to forget?
You hate that hating me did not come so naturally anymore like it did before...
You hate that deep within yourself, you know that I am not pretending to be who I am.
You hate that these days you have to look at me and try so hard before you can call up that hate...
You are healing, and you hate that too...
You developed a conscience and you hate that too.
Tears threatened. She blinked them hard away. She'd told Danika everything she did to her in the past. Not only that, but she also knew that she'd come to kill her.
Would Danika tell King Lucien about it? It was the perfect weapon against her. Would Danika use it to ruin her? To make the king hate her so much and even execute her?
Did she even need to wonder about it? Anybody would report something like that.
Taking a deep breath, Vetta wiped the tears from her eyes. Well, she wasn’t going to sit around waiting for her doom to come.
She'd go to the palace today to see King Lucien. It's been so long since she saw his face, and she missed him badly.
Baski and Sally were helping Queen Danika get ready for court.
The queen seated in front of the mirror with pale tired eyes that looked like they hadn’t seen any sleep last night. Sally stood behind her, combing her hair and rolling it at the top of her head while glancing worriedly at her occasionally.
“What happened in your bedroom, yesterday, my queen?” Baski asked for the countless time as she cleaned the queen's shoes.
I almost died yesterday, that's what happened. Queen Danika swallowed the words. “Nothing, Baski,” she replied as usual.
“Yet you tightened the security of the royal quarters and transferred all the guards that were on duty yesterday. There's a strange knife I haven't seen before in your dresser,” Baski said.
“You didn't add that she cried all evening long, “Sally added softly. “I was so scared.”
Queen Danika raised her hand and touched Sally's soothingly. “I am sorry for scaring you. You too, Baski. But I am fine.”
Sally's expressive eyes obviously said that she didn't believe her, but she nodded her head anyway. “If you say so, my queen.”
They settled into silence afterwards.
“D-do you have any i-idea w-what it feels like to protect someone you love with everything in you only for someone else to come out of nowhere and take him from you!?
Then they expect you to j-just throw everything away? To just get up one morning and m-move on?
Don't think I let you go. And don't think I will not be back. I will b-be back, and I will k-kill you! I just need...”
“I got news that the Princess Kamara has already arrived at our kingdom Salem.” Baski's voice filled the air.
It jolted the queen out of her painful thoughts. She swiveled her head to see Baski. “Really? She has!?”
“Yes.” The woman was smiling. “Now the king can carry out whatever plan he had so fast and come back to Mombana.”
“I still can't believe he came here on that night,” Sally added. “It's still unbelievable even though I smelled his cologne in your bedroom the next morning.”
“I know, right? The cat swallowed my tongue when I saw him in the hallway that night.” Baski grinned. “I remember thinking that Lord Riverdale is about to enter big trouble.”
“It's fortunate that he was able to go home in one piece. The maids rumored that he ran out of the royal quarters like his legs were on fire.”
As they conversed freely, Queen Danika settled back into her thoughts. Would she tell Lucien what happened? The truth is, she had not made any decisions yet, but somehow, her heart was strongly against telling him. Somehow, her heart held onto the memories of Anarieveta, crying so badly and shaking in her arms.
She was so into her own head, she had no idea tears were falling from her eyes until Sally's hand wiped her wet cheeks. She turned and saw them staring at her so worriedly. “Are you really alright, my queen?” Sally asked, almost on the verge of tears herself.
Giving them a watery smile, she nodded her head. “Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry your heads; it's just my hormones making a mess out of me.”
But Baski didn't buy it. “Will you ever tell us what happened?” she asked worriedly.
The queen lifted a shoulder...and let it fall exhaustedly. “Maybe. Someday.”
“We are at the boarders of Salem! Almost there.”
A guard's voice woke him up from sleep. Callan looked around the small-spaced carriage. He must have fallen asleep out of tiredness. Then he stuck his head out of the carriage window and looked around.
They were in a dessert of some sort with many guards all over the places. A small mountain stood so much distance away to his left. Indeed, they were at a boarder of some sort.
Those guard's uniforms. They looked so familiar. Too familiar.
“We are expected in the palace,” a prison-guard's voice filled the air.
Callan watched from the carriage as the prison guard interacted with the security guards. A few minutes later, the guards cleared the route and allowed them entry to the kingdom.
“Welcome to Salem!” one of them shouted.
As their carriage passed through, Callan was transfixed. He couldn't stop looking around.
As they entered the kingdom, his heart stopped in his chest. Then it ran away.
This place. This place.
Memories assailed him.
Unlike before, these weren’t flashes, but a film of the part of his life he forgot.
Lots of flicks. Pictures. So many of them.
“Arrrgh!” he screamed, grabbing his overloading head with both hands. So many memories!
Starting from a young age. His aunt, Queen Meetia, raised him. The death of his parents. Happy memories with his aunt. Her death at old age. Living with his new family in the palace. His cousin...Prince Lucien.
Memories assailed him of all his moments with his big cousin. All those times he followed his cousin like a tail wherever he was going, especially during his sword trainings. A time when he was young and he skinned his knee, then his cousin kissed it and made it feel better.
Then the night they were ambushed. Enslaved in Mombana. All the tortures they endured. All the tortures his brother endured for him. The nights he could not sleep, his brother talked to him and put him to sleep.
The memories of the day he was killed. Everything that happened on that day filled his head. The woman that killed him. The woman that saved him.
“Are you alright?”
“What is wrong with him?”
“Pour him more water!”
“The princess will have us whipped if anything happens to him!”
“What is happening?”
The guards' voices slowly dragged him back to consciousness.
Callan looked around to see the guards' worried and relieved faces. They'd soaked his clothing with water while trying to revive him.
“Are you alright?” one of them asked, looking relieved that he'd come to.
“Yes. Yes, I am fine now,” Callan was able to reply, his voice hoarse.
“Thank goodness! Let the journey continue!” the rider announced.
As the journey continued—as they moved deeper into the kingdom of Salem—Callan felt like a new man.
His memories had returned. All of them.
Oh, and his name was not Callan. He is Prince Declan.
.
.
.