20Renai couldn’t bring herself to feel at ease. She was tapping her feet, her hands secreted cold sweat and heart raced like she had run a marathon. It had been ten hours since her escape. She glanced at the windowpane and wondered if the king had gotten wind of her stunt. How would have he reacted? She was sure he would be searching high and low for her and the fact she could be caught any second made her more anxious. She bit her lip and looked at the boy who was running in circles with a ball in his hand. Her eyes then darted to the plates that were resting on the mini table. To allay her anxiety, she picked them up and took to the sink to wash the dishes. The woman—Mary—was out on her duty. She was a sweeper in the Queen’s chamber. She said she would come home in the evening which meant she would be coming back anytime as it was almost dusk. After doing the dishes, Renai dried her wet hands with her robe while walking toward the bathroom. She had hardly taken a step inside when

21The Eight states of Sebria were under the risk of imperilment, for their king was in a towering rage. His fists were painfully clenched, cutting his palm’s skin as he madly paced around the stage of the courtroom. It had been seven hours and twenty-six minutes yet there was no sign of her being dragged back to him. Oh, God save him, for all he saw was red, blood red. He felt this abounding hunch of making every member of the royal harem feel the pain he was going through by thrashing, flogging, waterboarding before finally executing their pathetic beings for being reckless. For they couldn’t nursemaid his greatest possession. His need. His rose.He cracked his neck in a circular motion with his shoulders tensed. His feet couldn’t stop marching here and there. His heart was crushed as if someone had placed mountains of rocks on it. It was bleeding, it was screeching, it was calling her out. Fuck for being the king and still not being able to clip her wings. He loudly fumed as his

The door ever so slowly opened and revealed a petite brunette woman wearing a translucent robe, not a single curve of her body was hidden from the two men, her nipples were peaking through the see-through fabric and the line of her pussy was smiling at them. Lucian rolled his eyes and side-glanced at him. “No, Zebian. You are not,” He warned him in a whisper, but Zebian was already walking toward her.“Come here,” He halted in the middle and softly ordered. Thea, with no wish to anger him more, walked closer and halted two steps away with a lowered gaze. “Kneel,” She fell on her knees. Zebian sorely smirked and collected the blood off the block of the left chest on two of his fingers. He brought them to her mouth and smeared one finger on his cheek and inserted his middle finger in her mouth. Thea unresistingly took his finger and sucked it. Her forehead creased a frown when she tasted the metallic flavour. “Taste the blood and tell me how it feels?” He knuckle-deepened his finger t

*****A loud slamming on the door had stirred her senses. She tried to open her heavy-lidded eyes as the door kept banging. By the third bang, her senses jolted awake. She lurched forward and glanced at Mary who was also awakened by the disturbance. Quickly, Renai lifted the sleeping girl in her arms and rushed to hide in the bathroom. Mary straightened her hair and strode to the door to open. Renai’s back was hitting the wall which prompted shots of pain momentarily. She tossed Arinia in her hold to position her head on her shoulder. Her ears perked in its wake when she heard a loud sob coming from the outside. She frowned and slipped close to the door. “No, this can’t happen. He can’t do this to them. No, no, nooo!” It was Mary who was screaming in pain. Renai frowned in pain. She was tempted to go out but didn’t. She desperately waited for the person to go away. “Oh my God, Atlas. What would I do without him? I will die,” Mary sobbed louder. Renai’s heart clenched when she hear

24“Found her, your majesty,” A guard bellowed out from somewhere. Zebian’s eyes quickly followed the direction of the voice. It was among the crowd he noticed. Without realising himself, he was stepping down the stairs and walking toward the ground with restless feet. Just as he reached in the middle, the line of guards parted away and made a route for another guard to walk ahead with a woman he was dying to see. Her eyes were lowered as the guard dragged her ahead. Zebian’s mouth escaped a relieved breath as he sprinted toward her. He reached her and effortlessly joined his mouth with hers. Renai freely let him kiss her. His kiss wasn’t cruel, surprisingly. It was deep, passionate and full of yearning. His hands came to cup her cheeks as he locked his tongue with hers. He groaned in her mouth, his eyes were closed. His body was enduring punches of electric currents. She was divine. She was his medicine. How much he had missed her in a day. He parted his lips and breathed heavily.