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I did not know what I would do if, one day, Metheus found someone else to love.
“Razuku, you do not have to worry about my sensibilities. I am asking Cora a favor. She can do it in any way she wants.”
“Your Majesty, I have long accepted that it is you that our king has chosen to marry. He had rejected me many times. It was I who could not accept it.”
Cora tried to ease the sadness in her eyes with a tilt of her chin. She was a proud woman of Rama, beautiful and intelligent. She could have had anyone, even a royal, but she had spent too much time pining for my husband.
“Cora, I am so sorry if we are implying something that is no longer true,” I said.
“You do not have to be, Your Majesty. I will see what I can further find out from Ari, without, of course, ending up in his bed,” she grinned. “I doubt that I will find out more. One thing is for sure. He is not a good friend.”
We stealthily separated from each other. Cora had to especially go on her way, possibly plotting ways to “accidentally” meet Ari along whatever path.
I went to find Rowali. I felt guilty about not spending more time with her. I was selfish. Francilia and I wordlessly walked up the steps, heading straight to the room where the young girl had locked herself up for days with her nurse.
We knocked.
“Come in,” a soft voice answered. She did not sound like herself, and I was not surprised. Not one bit.
“Rowali?” I tentatively called as I opened the door.
She was in her bed, with her back turned away from us. Fuza gave us a gentle shake of her head as if she did not know what to do with her charge. Then, she settled more comfortably in her chair and drifted off to sleep. She must have spent many sleepless nights watching over Rowali.
“May I come closer?” I asked, walking in as gingerly as possible. Francilia followed, with her steps as covert as mine.
“Yes,” was the weak reply.
I should have gone to her more often. It was not normal for this spritely young girl to be staying inside her room all the time. However, she just had her father die. She did not even get to enjoy the love of a mother.
I sat on the side of her bed and gently touched her shoulder. I did not want to claim that I knew what she was feeling. It was one thing for me to feel sorrow because of Metheus’s own and hers, but a child losing her parent was different. She was now an orphan, and the only family she had left was Metheus – and me.
“I know you are mourning your father right now. I understand. You can cry as much as you want to. However, do not forget that we still have a fight waiting for us.”
I felt her alert, her body stiffening under my touch. She turned, and my heart broke to see the blotchy, dried tears on her face.
“That is what I was trying to tell Metheus. I want to be in on the fight, Luella. Simply waiting and staying away – i-it makes me feel useless as if I am not doing anything enough to find my father’s murderers.”
“We will return home,” I promised. The words just came out of my lips without warning. I knew that I had to keep it. For her sake. For my own. “Soon.”
That got her sitting on the bed. There was hope in her eyes, overshadowing the sorrow that was there even for a little while. She embraced me, and I hugged her back. She was the closest I would be with Metheus for now. Once I knew what to do with Ari, we were leaving. My mother had nothing against me returning, and Metheus could not do anything if I willed myself into this decision. However, Rowali would be my responsibility. Returning to help was one thing, but returning with a young girl in tow was another.
“I miss Metheus! Did it even make sense for us to be here?”
“Of course, Rowali. There was a storm that hit Prozeus.”
“I did not know that! People do not tell me things.”
“I am so sorry. I am just saying that it was good you were not there,” I said, knowing that Metheus would be more worried about his little sister being there.
“So, do we go tomorrow? In a few days?”
“Soon. I am trying to solve a little problem.”
She pouted and crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking younger than her thirteen – almost fourteen – years.
“Rowali, how well do you know Duke Ari?”
She rolled her eyes at that.
