The sound of her carriage coming to a stop informed Princess Kamara that she was at her destination even before a knock came at the door of her gold stage coach followed by the voice of her one of her guards.
“We are here, Your Majesty!” he announced.
Princess Kamara took a deep breath, putting all the thoughts out of her mind before she opened the door and stepped out. Turning around, she took in the familiar surroundings of the palace, nodding her head reluctantly to the greetings of the palace staffs bowing their head to her.
Finally, she is here again. Finally, after four months, her Callan will be free again. Anything else did not matter.
Salem's guards and maids rushed towards her. They formed a line in front of her and bowed their heads in a royal greeting.
“Where is the king?” she asked one of the guards she remembered to be Dargak.
“He is in his study, Your Highness,” he replied with a bow of his head.
“Take me to him, please.” Turning to her personal maid, she added, “Henna, you can take our belongings to my former bedroom.”
“Right away, Your Highness.”
Kamara followed the guard towards the entrance of the palace, her eyes taking in her environment in familiarity.
Before long, they stood in front of the king's chambers. Dargak knocked twice.
“Come in,” came the hard command from the inside.
She turned to Dargak. “I'll take it from here. Thank you.”
“You're welcome, Your Highness.” He bowed his head before walking away.
Princess Kamara opened the door and walked inside. Her first thought was that nothing had changed about the golden chambers even after six months. Still as beautiful, as masculine, as intimidating as ever.
King Lucien looked up from the scroll he was writing and saw her.
She curtsied for him. “Greetings, Your Majesty.”
“Princess Kamara, you have arrived?” His soft tone belied the hard man he is.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I hope your journey was smooth?” As he asked, he came out of his chair and walked towards her.
“Yes, it did. Thank you, Your Majesty.” She outstretched her glove-covered hand.
He took the hand and kissed the back of her palm. “I'm glad.”
With all protocols observed, there was nothing more to say. Silence descended.
Princess Kamara broke under the silence. The tears she had been holding filled her head, and she lowered herself to her knees in front of him.
“Princess, this is not necess—”
“Thank you so much. Thank you so much, King Lucien,” she cried. “Thank you for answering my desperate letter and coming to my rescue! I was so desperate; I knew nothing else to do!”
His face softened. “It's okay, Princess.” He extended his hand. “I did not get your messages beforehand, or I would have responded earlier.”
She took the hand he extended to get to her feet. “Thank you so much.”
“How is your lover?” he asked.
“He is doing good, fortunately. After you came calling, my father allowed him to be fed, so I stopped sneaking around to get him food. Then my father fell sick ,which took his mind completely away from Callan's side, so I was able to get him better clothes and spend some time with him in the dungeon,” she confessed with an embarrassed flush.
King Lucien observed her. This wasn’t the princess he met during courting week. That princess was trying to carry out her responsibilities reluctantly, but this princess is a woman in love.
“You must love him so much,” he stated.
She nodded admittedly. It wouldn't be fair to him that he'd marry her without knowing that her heart belonged to another. “Yes, Your Highness. I love him so much.”
“I am curious to see this young man that has taken a princess's heart to the extent that she is ready to go to any length for him.”
She smiled, her eyes glowing with love. “He is worth it.”
He nodded, turned and walked back to his desk. Settling himself to his seat, he glanced at her. “When is he arriving?”
“On the morrow, Your Highness.” Her lips thinned. “My father refused to let him travel together with me because of...well, our relationship.”
“Understandable.” He picked up his inked feather. “Once he arrives safely, we'll sort out some things. Then I'll be on my way to Mombana. I have delayed enough.”
“It is all because of me. I apologize, Your Majesty. How is Queen Danika?” She missed her friend so much. It had been so long.
His eyes softened blatantly. The instant change to his features just at the mention of her name revealed a lot to Kamara that had her shocked.
She'd always known that Danika loved the king so much. She had no idea that the king felt the same way.
“Let me guess, they talked about your 'marriage' again?” Baski asked the queen, who was lying down on her bed in her room.
Queen Danika nodded, a smile feathering her face. “You need to see how troubled they were when they thought I was about to put to bed,” she snorted. “Manipulative old men.”
“They fall for the same trick every single time,” Baski remarked with a smile of her own.
The queen managed to get up from Baski's bed, hitting her shoulder reluctantly in an effort to reach her aching back. “They have to. They know I'm long overdue to birth my child.”
That gave Baski a pause. This was her constant worry in the past few weeks now. She chewed on her bottom lips worriedly. “My queen, I told you about the herbs I have that will help you go into labor.”
“You also told me that it is risky,” the queen reminded her.
“Everything is risky in life, my queen. It has worked for a lot of women over the years. Just a few had...complications.”
“I've told you before that I don't want to take such herbs, Baski.” She was worried too, but she did not want to take herbs like that. “My child will come out when he wants to.” With that, she smiled at the older woman before heading towards the door. “I will be in my bedroom. I'm very sleepy and tired.”
“Alright, Your Highness. I will have food brought in for you when you wake.” Baski returned her smile.
“Tell the guards not to bother calling Kedo. I'm fine,” she called after she walked out, referring to the medicine man.
“Got it!” Baski called back.
Queen Danika made her way to her bedroom with one hand supporting her waist and the other one hitting her shoulder repeatedly in an effort to reach her back. She entered her bedroom, closed the door and locked it.
She took a step forward and froze in her tracks.
Someone else is in this bedroom. Danika looked up and toward her bed as soon as the notion crossed her mind.
Vetta was seated on her bed, staring right back at her.
Shock kept Danika’s foot rooted to the floor. At the back of her mind, she knew that nobody knew her presence in Mombana—in the palace. Nobody.
How did she get into her bedroom? Most importantly, what is she doing here?
A cold shiver worked down Danika’s spine.
“Greetings, Queen Danika. We meet again,” the mistress stated with a cold blank face.
.