Princess of the Damned (22 page)

Sayan knew who the queen was referring to. “Something like that.”

Essa knelt behind him and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders. “Is there something I can help you with, Your Majesty?” She whispered into his ear. “I can’t compare myself to a dancer, but I will serve you the best I can.”

“
I am your brother-in-law,” he reminded her.

“
You are more than that. You are my King.” She nibbled on his ear. “Give me a chance to prove myself to you, Your Majesty. I am confident I can win over her place in your heart.”

“
Forgive the interruption, Your Majesty!” The guard captain ran toward them. His eyes quietly observed the queen. “Lord Yasa, Lord Kenu and the others are requesting your immediate presence at the meeting room.”

“
I’m coming.”

Sayan stood up and followed the guard captain to the meeting room. The nobles rose as he and the queen entered the room.

“
What do you need me for?” Sayan asked them.

“
Your Majesty, you have missed out on half of the discussion.” Lord Yasa said.

“
Sum it up for me,” Sayan ordered and then took a seat in his chair.

“
We were discussing the candidates to be your queen consort, Your Majesty.” Lord Kenu said. “As you know, protocol demands that you elect a queen as soon as possible to secure an heir for our kingdom.”

“
I am well aware of that. I will leave the decision to you. I have no opinion on the matter.”

“
Your queen is your life partner, Your Majesty. How can you say that you have no opinion?”

“
A woman is a woman. If you want an heir, I will do my part.”

The nobles stared at each other.

“
Please give me permission to voice my opinion, Your Majesty.”

“
You have my permission, Lord Yasa.”

“
Forming a strong alliance has always been the objective of royal marriages. It ensures the future of our kingdom. We have always thought that the Eastern Princess was the best candidate to be your partner. However, now that the Eastern kingdom has fallen under our control, she is no longer of use to us. That leaves us with two possible candidates: Queen Essa or Princess Nala.”

What does Nala have to do with this? “Do I have any other choices? Queen Essa is my brother’s widow and she is still in mourning.”

“
The Southern princess is eight years old, Your Majesty.”

Sayan massaged the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Is there anyone
else
?”

“
Of course, you can choose any of the noble’s daughters.”

“
Do what you want, I have a terrible headache.” Sayan kicked back the chair and left the room.

As he walked down the hallway, a little thought managed to get past his headache. If she married him, he could make her stay with him. If she married him, she would not be able to leave. Sayan shook his head to shake the thought away. No matter how tempting the option is, he still couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

If marriage could tie her down to him, he was more than willing to do it. However, it would not be a marriage just for look. The kingdom needed a legitimate heir and that is the part that worried him.

Even though they do not share a single drop of blood, Nala was the one who brought him up. He looked up to her, respected her, and loved her as family. There is a very strong, invisible line that he was never meant to cross and should never cross. He couldn’t bring himself to do it.

The more he thought about it, the more he was angry with her. If he had to use marriage to tie her down to make her stay with him, did that mean any man could do it as well? She almost married the Western Prince and if she had, would she have thought that her husband was more important than him? Any man could be more important than him?

Nala is so unfair in that way, because to him, no one could ever be more important than she was. Not even the parents who abandoned him, not even his siblings, not even the woman who would be his wife. He felt a stab wound in his chest when he remembered the day that she had left him. She did it once and she would not hesitate to do it again. Her biological family is more important to her than he could ever hope to become.

He stopped when he heard Nala’s laughter in the garden. She was surrounded by small black puppies that closely resembled the beast. They were chubby and surprisingly cute.

Sayan cursed himself. What was he supposed to do? Walk up to her and ask her if she would bear his child? Sayan flinched when her pale green eyes noticed him. The heat rose up in his body. He prayed to the gods she could not see through his thoughts right now. Nala had always been exceptionally sharp at reading other people.

His eyes were so focused on Nala that he did not notice Trent sitting nearby. Why was he still around? Didn’t he have his own kingdom to return to? Even after their confrontation, he still had the face to come see Nala. Sayan hadn’t expected to see Trent again, not for a while.

Suddenly, he did not want to go over there anymore. Sayan marched back into the meeting room. The nobles got back up to their feet again to greet him.

“
I will have Nala as my bride.”

There was not a surprised face in the room.

“
That girl will ruin everything!”

Essa paced back and forth in her chamber. She had thought that she would have more time to carry out her plan, but the situation was dire. If Sayan married that girl, she would not have a place to stand in this kingdom anymore. She would not have the power or influence of a queen. She would just be a widow with an imaginary title!

That could not be. She could not lose to a mere dancer girl. What could Sayan possibly want from that dancer girl besides her bewitching appearance and her vast wealth? Essa let out an irritated groan. Any king would marry for one of those two reasons.

“
If I don’t have influence in this kingdom, I cannot send reinforcement troops to my father!” Essa shouted out. “How can I make Sayan fall in love with me? How can I get rid of that girl?”

“
Do not despair, my queen. You are no stranger to rivalries in the palace.” Her trusted servant bowed to her.

“
Of course not, but would I really stoop as low as those women? Does a princess-born like me really need to use vices to get what she wants?”

“
Your position and your kingdom are at stake, my queen,” said the servant. “Is this the time to worry about your pride?”

“
Of all the insolence!”

“
Forgive this loyal servant, my queen.”

Essa bit her lower lip. “What do you suggest I do?”

“
We must make her death appear as natural as possible. The west of the kingdom is a vast desert, home to the most poisonous creatures in the world. It would not be suspicious at all if one happened to find its way into the palace.”

That was actually not a bad idea. “What if we got caught?” No, this was not the time for such questions. “Go, but make no mistake. If you are caught, I will not be able to save you.”

“
I understand, my queen. I will help my master and my kingdom or die trying.”

Nala had been staring
at him for an hour now. She was seated by his side at the dinner table and hadn’t touched any of her food. Her fingers gently tapped on the table in a slow rhythm. Normally he would urge her to eat, but that day he could not bring himself to say a word to her.

“
There should be a limit to your impulse, you know,” she finally broke the silence.

“
Who said it was impulse? It is politics.”

“
I will not marry you,” she said. “Even if the nobles suggested it, you didn’t have to go along with them. They have grown quite senile in their old age.”

“
That is a little ironic coming from you. Weren’t you about to marry the Western Prince just because he was a prince? What is your reason for refusing to marry a King?”

“
Stop trying to be persuasive when you don’t even want to marry me yourself. You are only doing this so I won’t be able to go home.”

There was some truth in that. “You can’t deny that you are physically attracted to me. Being married to me couldn’t be all that bad.” He really couldn’t believe what had just came from his mouth.

“
Actually…” Her pale green eyes dazed off. “Do you remember the ambassador with the red hair and deep green eyes? I thought that he was very handsome. My face felt really hot when he kissed my hand.”

“
Stop day dreaming about other men when I’m trying to persuade you to marry me.”

“
Fine, I will do it later.” She smiled. “How about this, why don’t you go see the noble’s daughters and see if there is a lady that you like among them? There has to be one suitable enough to be your queen. They’re practically bred for the role.”

“
Are you the same woman who told me that you wanted me to kiss you?”

“
It did feel very nice. I wonder if I could persuade that ambassador to kiss me like that.”

“
Are you trying to anger me on purpose?”

Her eyes trailed down from his eyes to his chest. He followed the gaze of her eyes to the spilled wine dripping down from the table’s edge. He didn’t plan on taking a bath until tonight, but there was no avoiding it now.

“
Fortunate for you, the servants already started preparing a warm bath for me. I can wait.”

“
We are not done with this conversation yet,” he said as he pushed back the chair and headed out of the dining hall.

She followed behind. “There is one thing that has been bothering me, Sayan,” she said as they walk down the hallway.

“
Yes?”

“
My room at the prince’s quarters is fine. Why do I have to relocate to the room next to yours in the King’s residence?”

“
So I can keep an eye on you, naturally. Besides, I am too busy to walk all the way to the prince’s quarters every time I want to see you. It is a very long walk.”

“
It will be very inconvenient in the future.”

“
What do you mean?” He asked as he entered the door leading to the bath. Nala did not follow him any further.

“
There are two reasons. The first is you are getting married and your future queen may not like the arrangement. The second reason is my hearing is very acute. I am not very fond of listening to mating sounds before I go to sleep.”

Sayan unbuttoned his blouse. “I said I would marry you, didn’t I? If you don’t like to listen to mating sounds then don’t make them.”

“
I give up.” He heard her sigh. “I hope the water is cold, so you can cool your head and change your mind in a few days. I am going.”

He shouldn’t have said that. Now strange thoughts were entering his head. Like every other male, he was cursed with a colorful imagination.

Sayan reached for his blade immediately when he sensed something unsettling. His eyes scanned the bath for anything out of the ordinary and searched for any place an assassin may be able to hide. Did he hear a hiss just now?

Sayan turned around as fast as he could. Something was moving underneath the folded white towels on the shelf. A serpent revealed itself and launched its wide mouth at him. He swung his blade and sliced off its head, but he was not fast enough. Its fangs were already embedded in his chest. He grabbed the severed head of the serpent and ripped it off his flesh.

“
Sayan!”

Nala came running into the bath. She probably heard the sound of shock he made when the serpent bit him. It hurt like nothing he had ever experienced. He looked down and it was a cobra’s head in his hand. Damn it!

“
Oh no, it is so close to your heart!” Nala gasped when she saw the snakebite. She bit her finger and nudged it at his mouth. “It would save your life!”

He shook his head. “Not that!”

“
It would save your life!” She shouted at him.

He jerked his head away.

“
Stubborn, brat!”

His body started to feel numb.

“
It won’t be long until you are paralyzed… I will do it my way then, whether you like it or not.”

Nala caught him by surprise when she pushed him against the wall. She forced her lips onto his wound and began sucking on it.

“
Stop it!” He tried to push her back, but her strength was greater than his. It was probably due to the poison’s effect on his body. “You must stop this! Stop this right now!”

Even talking became a painful task. He could not feel his legs anymore. She followed him as he slid down against the wall. His chest felt constricted. The air felt thick and heavy. He could hear his heart drumming frantically in his ears, but it was slowing down very quickly.

She finally pulled away. Her pale green eyes emitted an iridescent glow as they stared into his. “This human is
mine
, Death. If you take him, in the name of my father, I will come for you!”

He didn’t know who she was talking to. Her dark lashes closed over her eyes and she collapsed onto his lap.