Chapter Six

Beverly had waited for days to see if anything was going to change. She wondered if she was ever going to set her eyes on her dad again. Now that days had rolled into weeks and nothing has changed, her optimism began to flag gradually. 

In such a short period, she had formed a great bond with Madam Pat and Alice and they had become fond of her too. She's being treated like family. Even though she hasn't forgotten about her father, all the love that's being showered on her barely gave her a chance to set herself into depression. 

One of the activities that she engaged herself in the most is hunting. This was always fun to her as she had been doing this right from when she was small. Thanks to her childhood friend and lover, Elton, who knew how to hunt. He taught her some hunting skills during some of their secret adventures in the woods. 

Back then, every hunting she did with Elton, they did them surreptitiously due to their royal status. It must not be heard that they were going into the bushes and woods to hunt so even though they knew the basics of hunting, they never explored to their satisfaction. They only did minor hunting and most times, they find means to give out their games before returning home.

This time, the case was different. There was nobody to stop or restrain Beverly from hunting, so she had the chance to explore. After some more practice, she became an expert and she derived pleasure from hunting. 

One evening, after Beverly came back from the woods and had just taken a nice shower, she was rummaging through her bag for some clothes when she stumbled on a small piece of bead that belonged to Elton. 

He had given this to her the same night they had their first kiss recently. The memory of her dear Elton swept through her mind and she sank into her bed, remembering how their relationship started.

Rico had gone out for long hours one day. He left home with nothing that day and everyone was surprised when he returned home with a small boy later that night. 

When people questioned the boy's identity, he narrated to them how he had had a son outside and decided to keep it a secret from the family since a lot of people did not like him and had looked down on him saying his bad character would not even allow him to get a wife let alone have a child, unlike Miller. 

He further explained that he did all this to prove his point – that Miller is not the only responsible son. And that, most times, when he is not at home and people think he has been up to one mischief or the other, in reality, he had gone to see his new family in another town.

His father and some of the chiefs gestured at each other as if trying to convince themselves to believe him.

To confirm further, one of the chiefs asked about the mother. Rico replied telling them that she eloped with another man to another city, leaving the boy all to himself and It was when he went to pay them another visit that he discovered this and he found the boy wandering about.

Immediately, King George and the Chiefs felt a pang of sympathy and without further ado, they welcomed the boy gladly. Since then, everybody knew him to be Elton, the son of Rico. With this, Rico even earned a little respect from some of the chiefs but it only lasted for a while when they found out he's still the same arrogant troublemaker that he used to be.  

It didn't take too long for Beverly and Elton to get along with each other. They played together and soon became fond of each other as friends. The more they grew and the years rolled by, the more their bond waxed stronger. 

Now that they have grown into young adults, their relationship took a new phase recently and Beverly can't get over her first kiss with Elton just yet. 

Their affair had always been a secret one. On the same day of Beverly and her father's disappearance, they had met somewhere not too far from the house to chat a little as was their wont.

While they were under a tree, Elton wasn't even paying full attention when Beverly talked. He kept on staring right into her ravishing eyes which made him melt. Beverly noticed the quiet gestures that were coming from him and she pretended not to, trying to see if he would make the first move. 

Her heart skipped a beat when it suddenly seemed like Elton wanted to say something that she had been expecting. She tried all she could to hide her nervousness but a little blush on her nose snitched on her. Elton noticed this too. But he couldn't summon enough courage just yet and the next thing he could utter was "I think we've stayed too long outside, let's get going Beverly"

Instantly, Beverly's jaw dropped and as she made her turn to get moving, she had only taken two steps forward when she felt something restrain her from taking another step. She looked back to see Elton holding onto her. Before she could fathom what was going on, Elton pulled her closer to him and his lips brushed against hers.

Good Heavens!

She was zapped with bliss when his lips found their way into hers, sweeping her tongue against his. 

It was a great moment and she reveled in it. 

That day, Elton crowned the whole romantic moment by telling her "I Love You" and those few words resounded in Beverly's head till today.

Beverly whimpered in reminiscence until Alice came knocking on her door shortly after, calling her out for dinner.

*******

Miller lay on his bed one morning staring into vacancy. His body has not been able to adapt to this torture called a room yet. Every morning he woke up with different degrees of body pains, sometimes, it could be mild and sometimes it could be severe.

This feels like hell!

He has been deprived of every other thing that was meant to give him comfort. Food was the only that that was provided regularly as Rico had ordered.

Initially, Miller rejected food until he began to starve and he took cognizance of the fact that he needed to stay alive if he wants to set his eyes on his daughter ever again.

He suddenly heard a door slam shut, accompanied by a loud and echoing "Long Live The King" coming from Rogers. Then a sinister kind of laughter followed. And with this, he was dead sure it couldn't be anyone else but Rico. Immediately, Miller struggled to his feat in a fiery temper. His eyes looked red as if waiting to pounce on Rico. 

Even though it was obvious that Rico would overpower him, Miller was past caring. At this point, he was so exasperated that he would have

challenged Rico if not for the chains that restricted his movement.

He heard heavy footsteps approaching him and suddenly the outside door to his little cell was kicked open and instantly, he caught sight of his werewolf brother. 

"Rico!!!" 

Miller shouted in annoyance from behind bars but he was cut short by Rogers who Interjected saying

"King Rico is what you will call him. Have you no manners?" 

"King Rico my foot," Miller retorted.

"You and I know that I am the rightful king of Omaha until you induced your goddamn manipulations.

"You can go and eat the throne for all I care. Now, where's my daughter?" Miller demanded.

Rico laughed, trying to keep his cool this time and at once he looked at Miller with a feigned sympathy on his face.

"Oh! My dear brother"

"Or better still, Your Highness," he said mockingly

"Oh no! What is your Highness doing in a cell? Rogers, you're such a wicked man," He added and turned to look at Rogers who immediately started laughing hard. Rico burst into Laughter too and they were both laughing uncontrollably.

It didn't take long before Miller brought them back into silence.

"You filthy bastard! Our father showed us so much love and what you could do to pay him back was to kill him just to ascend the throne."

Rogers surged forward to teach him a little lesson but Rico gestured that he let him be.

Miller continued…

"As if that wasn't enough, you separated a father from his daughter by kidnapping him."

"As I told you, I'm not interested in the throne, now that you've had your way, let me go, you Monster"

"Hey!" Rogers tried to call him to order again, but Rico took over.

"Okay Miller, I've been nice enough to let you rant all you want. Thank your stars that I just became king because you know too well that this act of generosity from me does not come so easy."

"Now listen to me," Rico commanded. " I will have you stay here and watch me rule Omaha until I decide to let you go."

"Right from when we were growing up, you've always been the favorite boy for everyone. Now, the tables have turned. I get to enjoy the fame throughout Omaha while you enjoy your fame in this chamber that we've made available for you."

"Let's not waste our time on him, My King," Rogers said. Remember we still have an important discussion.

"Oh.. very true," Rico said as he started towards the door ignoring how loud Miller was calling his name and hurling profanities at him. Rogers followed him outside and soon they were out of Miller's sight.