Chapter 9

Baara stood before the the king and his ministers all waiting her battle prediction and advice, she gulps as her eyes met with everyone in the room, her heartbeat was so loud that she feared that they may hear it

"Speak!" King Diarus exclaimed

Baara takes a deep breathe "Hello, everyone, Uhmm,well, about that battle with the Uhmm..bad guys, they may attack tomorrow, or next week or even next year, the spirits Uhmm wants me to tell you all here today in this room that, you should prepare for the worse, and Uhmm why wait, strike first,so yea that's all I have to tell you all today, the spirits have spoken! Goodnight". She immediately leaves the room

All the ministers starts murmuring

Darius immediately goes after Baara "Halt!" She yells at her she stops walking and turns to him

He walks close to her "What the hell was that? How dare you make a fool out of me!"

"I wasn't, how dare I?me? I just, it's hard for me to talk in front of those people your highness, forgive me"

Diarus looked at her face, he knew exactly what it felt like to talk to them, they don't even respect the king "Fine,from now on you just tell me ,okay?"

Baara smiles "Yes your highness " she bows

"Let's go then"

"Oh , to where?"

"Back to my chambers of course"

It was strange, Baara didn't understand why the king suddenly wanted her in his chambers, did he want her to tell him about the battle in private ?reaching the kings chambers, he offers her a seat and comes back with a big book

"Here" he hands it to her

"What, what is this?"

"This is a book that will help you know more about the kingdom and it’s history, once you’ve mastered your reading I hope for you to study this book really well, that way you may start to see visions of the future of this kingdom “.

For some reason Baara felt a strange feeling in her stomach “I don’t know what to say your highness except thank you “. He smiles at her

His smile made her heart beat like she has been running for miles, no this can’t be happening she thought to herself, I can’t let this happen.

The king gets on his feet and stretches out his hands “come I want to show you something “ she takes his hand and he helps her up

They go for a stroll in the garden “Do you know why I love this place and ask the servants to make sure the garden is taken care of everyday ?”

“No, I do not”

“Well this was the place I remember smiling the most, it contains my happiest memories from when I was younger, I always hope one day I will be as happy as this place made me when I was younger”

“I can only imagine what you’ve been through, having to take the throne,the battles at such an early age, I don’t remember my family very much, my uncle is the only family I have left, and I am willing to do everything just to make sure his happy”.

Darius turns to Baara looking deeply into her eyes “I don’t want you to ever feel like anyone is looking down on you, anything you have to say you can say it to me from now on, I will be your voice “ The concerned look in the Kings eye made Baara’s heart flutter, and his words were so comforting never in her life has she heard anyone sound worried about her , it felt good.“Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”.

She smiles “Yes your highness and thank you”

“You’re welcome, let’s go back to the chambers shall we?” They were about leaving with Atara and Calvin step into the garden with their arms around each other, Ataras eyes meets with Darius gaze and she immediately separates from Calvin “you can smile at my brother,hold hands with him, but my presence makes you sick to the stomach, am I a virus ?” His words were filled with hurt, and Baraa could only feel pity for him because she knew if he finds out what the queen and his brother are up to,he might loose it

Baara gives the king a hug from behind, it catches him by surprise “Your highness” she said with a pitchy tone “don’t let her majesty bother you, you have me now,and I promise to only smile at you, to only hold hands with you, your presence will be my only joy” she tightens her embrace

Flustered Darius was speechless, Baara takes his hand “Let’s go to our chambers,and leave the queen with her company “ and like that they walk away

Atara scoffs in disgust , but she had an uneasy feeling,she didn’t like what was happening at all.

Reaching the chambers, an awkward silence falls upon the King and Baara

“Uhmm, you did good” Darius  said

Baara blushes “Thank you, and Uhmm you did good too,thank you for sharing your story “

“It’s okay,I know what it feels like to look down on”  Baara doesn’t say anything, she observes the room thinking of what to say to lighten the mood

“How well do you know your brother?” She instantly regretted the question

“Calvin? Calvin has been a really good brother, even if we aren’t from the same mother,he’s the only one who actually embraced me as his brother,my fathers other children with his concubines all hated me, even Calvin’s mother didn’t like the fact we were always hanging out together she would always yell at him to stop being around him but he didn’t care, and because of this, I trust him with my life”.

Baaras eyes widens from shock, but to hide it she quickly stretches and fakes a yawn

“I will go to bed now, I will just sleep on my comfy floor while you enjoy the marvellous looking bed”

Darius smirks “we can’t share the bed silly oracle we made a deal,we only need to make it seem we spend a lot of nights together “

“I know, Goodnight your highness and thanks again “

As Darius lays in bed for the first time in many years he had a smile on his face.