Chapter 93: Chapter 93

The few seconds in the girl’s embrace felt like years of endless torture, with air being forcefully sucked out of her lungs, but it wasn’t just air, Rima told herself as she felt the numbness in her toes and fingertips, she felt as if life was being sucked out of her, very slowly and subtly while the girl whispered her threat, and right when she was about to react, the girl unwrapped her arms and stepped back, her face expressionless as before, not giving away what she just did.

With her eyes still on the black-haired girl who retreated to stand by her princess in a subtle but protective way, she didn’t sense the other approaching figure until a hand was placed on her lower back gently, startling her, turning around, she was met with Henry’s concerned gaze.

“My love?” seeing his eyes filled with concern towards her before darting sharply toward the black-haired girl who didn’t even flinch, Rima quickly regained her composure, shaking off the creepiness and the numbness which, surprisingly, disappeared as quickly as it appeared, as if she carried that effect on her skin, and even thought she wanted to expose whatever creature that girl was, she finally thought against it, it wasn’t a good timing at all, with the people still outside, and the princess standing, looking confused.

When Henry was talking to the people, Rima had noticed how many eyes darted to the black haired girl, as if asking for confirmation, and the girl nodded at them, looking at them in the eyes as if she knew them one by one, Rima understood that the girl had a deep and strong connection with the people, one which Henry was in desperate need of, especially after revealing his relationship with her, any act of hostility against the girl the people trusted would be pure foolishness, let alone the fact that her dignity didn’t allow her to tell Henry, for she never was and never planned to be the kind of woman who would cry to her lover about people bullying her, she was the ice queen and not some frail mistress, the very thought of a damsel in distress disgusted her, deciding to deal with the matter later, she put on a gentle smile as if the girl standing in front of her didn't just threaten to kill her.

“Well, I didn’t expect that of you, Miss Dahlia, I will take your gesture to heart.” Rima said with the sweetest voice she could muster, pretending that her shocked state was only due to the surprise of being hugged and acknowledged by the weird girl, her words, however, held a double meaning as she silently promised the girl to remember her deeds until the time of payback.

"Well, that was...unexpected of you, Dahlia" Nara said in a cheerful voice, faking a scowl at her friend who never showed her such kind of acknowledgment, even when she knew that she didn’t do anything to deserve it.

Henry on the other hand, smiled at the girl while his arm tightened around Rima’s waist, pulling her closer to him, and obvious sign that she was his an under his protection, a part of him wanted to believe that the black-haired girl was just showing her deep respect and recognition to his queen whom she found inspirational, but the way Rima smiled at her, the way her back was too stiff told him that it wasn’t at all that, nevertheless, he reached the same conclusion as Rima and knew he couldn’t address the matter while the people were raging.

Meeting his gaze, the black-haired girl stared at him coldly, her face still expressionless but the way her chin was held slightly higher than usual made him feel her defiance and indifference toward his threatening eyes, like a pantheress, she wasn’t willing to submit.

“I will go and check on the people, see how are they really reacting and if they have demands.” Dahlia said while looking at the princess, her chin dropping slightly, Nara wished to join her and be of more use but she knew she had to stay with their guests, seeing her princess nod in agreement even though she wasn’t asking for permission, the girl looked back at the king and his ‘queen’ and with a subtle nod and a “Your Majesties!” left without waiting to see if they had anything to say about the matter.

“We will talk about your friend later; her behavior cannot be overlooked!” Once the girl was out of their sight, Henry whispered to his sister, enraged by the girl’s lack of respect for him in front of his guests.

While the black-haired girl left the castle to roam the streets, the King, His queen, the princess, and the rest of the party all headed towards the dining room to have their meal, and while the human nobles were served the best plates, the demons were offered fresh blood to drink, Henry made sure that none of the humans reacted poorly to the sight of demons sipping blood as if it was tea, for that dinner wasn’t a normal one, it was the first one humans and demons of the highest class had together, it was a political event and not a normal meal, the maids serving the dinner were chosen carefully, all beautiful and graceful, moving around the guests as swift as a breeze, not making the slightest noise as they were not supposed to be noticed, not while the matters that popped on the table to be discussed were more than urgent.

"As expected of the invading kingdoms, they did not take our offer kindly, Both Manrast and Katara were gathering their forces at the borders while Buskeen kingdom sent back a negotiation offer, telling us to drop every claim we have on the lands they invaded, and they too are gathering their armies at our borders."

"So, we have to fight on all three fronts? Do we have enough men Brother?" Nara who was previously occupied with talking to Rima about small nothings asked her brother with a worried tone, something the princess shouldn’t do, sadly for her she only remembered that after the words left her eyes and she was met with the same looks, the one that labeled her as unworthy, looking at her plate, she bit her lip, cursing herself for she way she rushed to ask, even when her question seemed right, she had no knowledge nor experience when it came to wars but even a child could guess that they were at a big disadvantage..

"We don't" Henry said with a hint of mischief, almost sounding as if he is pleased with the fact that he doesn't have enough men to fight a coming war with three different kingdoms, Nara wanted to ask more but Rima's soft smile assured her and reminded her to trust her brother, and to not question him in front of others.

"Whose idea was this again?" Andrea who was silent all the time suddenly asked, curious to know about the mastermind behind such a risky plan.

"It was the fruit of several minds working together." Henry who was aware of Andrea's cunning nature decided to answer vaguely, he didn't trust the girl's intentions fully, not after the stunt she pulled on him and Rima that almost got his queen killed, he understood she was loyal to the shadows’ lord who was his friend but still couldn't shake off his wariness of her, something in her was evil, a seed of darkness that was part of her very core.

"But mostly it was Dahlia's idea." Henry almost choked after hearing his sister's careless words, he gave her a pointed look but the girl was totally oblivious of it meaning so she just brushed it off, the little princess somehow felt obliged to acknowledge her friend's intelligence and was proud to do so, that pride reflected on her as she was the one Dahlia served, she was the one who brought such a mastermind to the light and she found a shred of pride in that fact, luckily for them Rima pulled the conversation toward the three invading kingdoms before more people got involved in talking about the creepy girl, Unlike Nara, the snow queen understood Henry's vague intentions, and even though she wasn't fond of the girl who threatened her, she was even less fond of the shadows’ vixen.

As for Andrea, she already got the answer she wanted, being the master spy she was, her keen eyes already got a glimpse of the girl's named Dahlia's lips whispering something to the ice queen who went stiff after it, she knew there was something about the black-haired girl, she had a very dangerous aura all around her, it was unmistakable, Especially for a demon such as herself, but what surprised her the most was her scent, the girl didn’t have any scent, beside the one on her clothes, which was artificial but not hers.

So much coming out of the small black package...