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“You're beautiful inside and out,” he said. “Goodnight, I will see you soon.”
“Bye,” Zara's insides were all knotted up as she felt butterflies inside of her. She smiled and shut the door. She had not been expecting him, but she was glad that he had come to see her.
Oo00oO
The King summoned Tiana and Amira for breakfast the next morning, which surprised both of them. The King had made it clear that he did not want to be with the two of them at the same time. As they arrived, he was already at the table and gestured for them to sit down.
“Your Majesty-” Tiana tried to speak but the King raised his hand to stop her. He did not want any small talk.
They all ate silently. Amira and Tiana knew that the King had something on his mind. He was like that; he was not as hot tempered as his brother was, he took his time to speak. Toward the end of breakfast, he finally spoke.
“So the two of you know about Zara,” the King said calmly. As soon as he returned to the palace from Zara's house, Alma teased him for sneaking in late. The King ignored her comments and asked her to find out what happened between Zara and Tiana. “I do not appreciate the both of you laying your hands on her,” the King added.
“You defend her?” the queen snapped at him. Tiana's jaw hung open. She did not know that the King had been that invested in her.
“Don't you dare speak to me like that. I warned you to stay away from her and you did not listen,” the King roared. Tiana's eyes flew open. He rarely lost his temper.
“I beseech you, let her be. She is a maid.”
“No, I beseech you to obey me. Otherwise you will feel my wrath.” The King stood up and left his quarters for his office. Amira and Tiana stayed at the table. Tiana was more shocked than the queen was. She was speechless. She stood up and left the room in confusion.
Chapter 12
It had been several days since the King warned Tiana and Amira to leave Zara alone. They did not expect him to react that way as he rarely lost his temper. Since that breakfast, both women kept their distance from the King, although Amira did send a maid to check if Zara had been given her job back but she had not. The queen felt that she had gotten rid of her.
As James walked into the King’s office, he had a grim look on his face. “You don’t look like you have good news,” the King stated.
Scratching his head, “Well, I have bad news and interesting news,” James said, as he looked at his old friend.
“Let’s start with the interesting news.”
“Well, I am still waiting on final confi
rmation, but I’m close to completing that background check on Zara.”
“And? Why are you delaying this?”
“I think that she might be a princess.”
“What?”
“Did Zara ever tell you where she was from originally?” At the King’s look, James continued. “It took some doing, but I was able to piece together that Zara and her family are originally from el-Quaseem. I don’t know if you recall, but there was a coup there about a dozen years ago and the King was brutally murdered by members of his security. The queen and his daughter, his only child, disappeared and were never heard from again. The country never recovered and was eventually absorbed by their neighbours to the east.”
“Zara mentioned that when they moved to Quabeca, her mother was pregnant with her sister, but never mentioned any of this.”
“Well, she was young. She might not have known about it or maybe she blocked the memory. It was not a particularly wealthy kingdom. Some land and horses.”
At the mention of horses, the King smiled. Zara had talked about riding as a child. But for her to be a princess? This was too good to be true, as it would make the battle to come much easier. The King remembered Zara’s mother telling him that Zara was important. Maybe this is what she meant. “Are you certain?”
“As I said, waiting on final confirmation, but so far, yes, I’m sure I’m right. Now…the bad news.” Taking a deep breath, the King nodded for him to proceed. “As you know, your dessert tested positive for opiates. We had to be careful as we didn’t want to draw suspicion, but we think we know who did it.”
As the King sat forward in his chair, James took a deep breath. “As you know, we did a thorough search of the entire palace, as well as fresh background checks on everyone.”
“And?”
Taking a deep breath, “Does Lady Tiana know of your allergy?”
“I’ve never had reason to speak of it with her,” the King replied. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, unsure what else to say. “Are you sure?”
