Chapter 25: Chapter 25

“Don’t you dare lie to me for I know exactly who you are, Sara.” The queen said in a cold voice, her words coming sharper than blades, her eyes lost all the softness they had earlier and stared at her with a deadly glare.

Sara wanted to gulp but even that was impossible with how dry her throat felt at the moment, not to mention she was petrified, she feared that even that small motion of gulping would send her head across the room as she notices the guards had their hands on their sword handles, ready to decapitate her if she made one wrong move.

Sara felt exposed to her bare skin when she heard the queen say her name, she had some hope before, to tell another lie and stall a little until she is able to make it to the carriage, but the queen had blown that off entirely and pinned her to a corner without even moving, her cold blue eyes were more than enough as she stared at Sara with enough intensity to murder her if looks could kill.

“I…I…”

“Why do you stutter so much?” The queen asked, seemingly annoyed by the girl’s incapability of forming a single sentence, as if facing her husband’s bastard, the living proof of his unfaithfulness, wasn’t enough already.

She ran her eyes over the girl’s body, not missing the fancy dress and the diamond jewelry, they were of the best quality and latest design and must have cost a small fortune, and even though she wasn’t impressed as it wasn’t something she couldn’t afford, she was curious, she doubted Edard would get his daughter such a dress which emphasized her womanly features, she knew well how protective he was of her, her spies in the holy tower told her everything she needed to know about the girl and the way Edard had made her live her life, it was out of character for him to put the girl he was trying his hardest to hide in the spotlight with such an eye-catching dress.

But if her presumptions were true, then who provided the girl with it? Did she have any allies she didn’t know about?

Katherina kept on staring at the girl who had turned deadly pale as if she was staring at her own death, she was holding her breath, too scared to inhale or exhale or even blink, her body was stiff with uncontrollable shivers, her mouth was opened as if she was trying to say something but nothing came out, and the queen actually felt sorry for her, despite the striking resemblance between her and her mother, the girl was nothing like the mighty Historia.

“Follow me...” Katherina said and started walking but Sara was too scared to move, it was as if she had fallen into a deadly trap without any chances to escape or survive, she was so scared, fear consumed every other emotion in her heart and every other thought in her head to the point where it froze her on her spot.

“It is either you start walking or my guards will make you, for I don’t have the entire night.” The woman’s voice remained as impatient as it used to be but her eyes looked at the girl with a trace of pity, and guilt.

Too scared to oppose, Sara started walking behind the queen, her palms on her chest, she was afraid of the huge guards and their swords but not as much as she was afraid of the red-headed woman leading the way.

Sara was getting more scared by each step as the queen lead her far away from the halls, into a much more deserted area that looked less fancy than the other part of the castle.

“What are you doing here.” The queen stopped to ask her, looking back at Sara with intense eyes, it was not easy at all for both, but Katherina had it in her heart to see that the frightened girl was nothing but a helpless pawn in a game she had no control over.

“Why aren’t you with your father? Did anything happen to him?” the queen tried her hardest to hide her emotions, but behind the cold and composed façade, she was terrified that something happened to her husband.

The queen hoped that her love to her husband would subside once she let go of him, but that wasn’t the case for she had missed him so much it was a daily struggle for her not to go to him, despite everything he did to her she still loved him to bits, she couldn’t bear to think that he was in danger or that something had happened to him, her feeling only made her sound more agitated and impatient which the girl in front of her took as anger.

Sara took a small step back, terrified beyond compare especially when the guards, who thought she was going to escape, took a threatening step towards her.

“I will not hurt you if you answered truthfully.” The queen said, lying through her teeth.

“I…I came here looking for him, for Father,” Sara said, her voice barely audible, her tears staining her face as her entire body shook in fear, was this it? The family she had been hoping to meet so much? The home she had dreamed to have, since she stepped in the castle she had been only scared or intimidates, except for the good moments she spent in Eren’s arms, they felt more like a home to her than the entire castle, and he felt more like her family then the people she shared blood with.

“What do you mean by that? Isn’t he in the shack?” Sara’s eyes widened, could it be that her father returned to the shack after she had left? If so, then he must be so worried and furious for not finding her there.

“I…he didn’t come back so I left to look out for him…a, a week ago.”

“That is exactly when I took him to the shack.” The queen frowned, obviously thinking, before looking back at the girl’s teary eyes with more questions.

“Then where have you been?”

“A…a friend was taking care of me, and helping me…” Sara didn’t want to tell her about Eren, so far this woman did nothing but scare the life out of her, both Nara and Henry were intimidating but their mother, Oh she was on a whole different level for she could simply cause one’s heart to stop with nothing but her murderous gaze, she didn’t want to drag the man she loved into this and risk hurting him in any way.

“H…How do you know?”

“Know what?” the queen asked with a raised brow, surprised to see that the girl had finally found some courage in her to talk, and ask.

“About me”

“I have met you before when you were a newborn, you are quite hard to forget with that hair and those eyes.” And the fact that you are my husband’s bastard, the queen smiled bitterly, not even able to shed a tear of pity for herself, “And I have met your mother once, you look exactly like Historia.”

“H…Historia?” Sara repeated, was that her mother’s name? and the queen knew her mother.

Not knowing what else to do, Sara dropped to her knees, it was so humiliating but she had nothing else to do, nothing else to offer but her dignity and full surrender. for the first time she had met someone with answers, someone who could finally tell her the truth, even though it was the same person she feared, she still wanted to do everything in her power to know anything about herself, and the fact that her father was alive encouraged her, her father was alright and they didn’t hurt him, so maybe they won’t hurt her if they knew she was no threat to them and was only there for her father,

“Your Grace, I swear to you with everything I hold dear that I mean you no harm or anyone at the matter, all I wanted was to check on my father’s wellbeing, and now that I know he is not here I promise you will not see or hear from me again. But please, tell me who am I? who was my mother? I have been living without my identity for so long and it gets more and more difficult each day, please, just tell me this and I will go and never come back, I will not bother you ever again.” Sara looked down as she sobbed loudly, remembering her pain and her truth all at once, she didn’t plan to cry out loud but she was already too consumed by fear and humiliation, and now sadness, it was all too heavy to keep inside without breaking into a crying, sobbing mess.

Sara felt a gentle hand being placed on her shoulder and raised her head up to look at the queen who was looking at her with gentle yet guilty eyes, Sara stared at the blue orbs for few seconds, searching for any hatred towards her, there was none, not to her, not even towards her mother, there was only sadness ad hurt in those eyes, and they looked at her almost the same way they looked at Henry.

“I am so sorry, My child.” The queen apologized, feeling ashamed of herself for terrorizing the poor girl whom she figured was nothing but an innocent child, she helped her get on her feet and wiped away her tears, not knowing when did she become that cruel to do such a thing to a child, it was out of character for her, for she had always been a kind person.

“I am sorry, child, but it is not my place to tell you any of the things you want to know. Only your father can, and I am sure he will, my Guards will assure you get there safe.”

“Please, Your Grace, Father won’t, I know he won’t.” Sara cried again, desperate, hating herself in that moment and hating her existence.

“We don’t have enough time, Child.” The queen said while looking at the maid who came running towards them, she didn’t need to hear what she had to say as she already knew the reason she was there, Katherina took Sara’s hand in hers and hurried in a direction followed by only three of her guards while the rest took another turn in the dark corridors.

“The holy council is already here, they came because of the demon attack but I am sure they have already learned about the existence of a silver-haired girl, we still don’t know who tried to kill you before, they are still a possible threat, you need to leave before they can find you, and Henry would probably help them.” Sara’s eyes widened in fear, did her elder brother hate her that much to give her to the men who tried to kill her?

“Two of my guards will follow you, child, Go to the shack, I believe no demon can hurt you because of who you are, but humans can hurt you and they will, go to your father and stay with him, and I will come after you in a few days, and if by then your father still didn’t tell you the truth, I promise I will.”

“But, Your Grace, I must wait for my friend. We came here together” Sara was scared but not from the queen, not after she touched that motherly affection in her, something she had felt for the very first time, she was scared from the priests but not enough to leave Eren behind.

“What friend?” the queen asked, confused.

“Duke Salvatore,” Sara answered, praying to the Gods that she wasn’t putting her dear friend in any trouble.

“Do you mean Leonardo Salvatore, the eldest son?” the queen asked skeptically, the bells in her head started to ring alarmingly.

“No, Eren, the third son,” Sara said with a shy voice, she was about to elaborate but stopped when she saw the horrid expression on the queen’s face.

“Oh child, you need to run, as fast as you can, and stay away from him the most.” The queen said urgently while urging the girl to run faster towards one of the castle’s back doors.

“Why?” Sara asked, perplexed, not understanding the urgency in the queen’s voice when she heard about her dear friend, Eren was the man she loved, her safe place and the only person who was there for her when she had no one, why would she stay away from him? why would she run from him?

“Child.” The queen looked at her with terrified eyes that sent shivers down her spine. “The third son of the Salvatores had been claimed by the demons eighteen years ago.”