"I trusted him with my life, I never thought that he would be capable of doing something as unbelievable as this." said Zuph as he showed his displeasure plainly, there was no need hiding that this did not affect him in front of Wura, she was their queen after all and they should be able to be completely honest with her.
"What do you mean trusted?" asked Wura as she narrowed her eyes at him taking note that he used past tense instead of present.
"I mean I do not trust him any longer, either with my life or anything else for that matter." said Zuph plainly.
"And why is that? Why are you so quick to discard the trust and friendship that you have all built up for years?" asked Wura as she did not understand why this seemed to affect Zuph so much.
"Well simply because I do not trust him any longer, and If I do not trust him, he probably does not trust me. We are talking about a man who is our leader, a man who we put our trust and confidence in, a man that we see every single day, we talk at length, and yet it never occurred to him to share his true thoughts and feelings with his so called comrades." said Zuph as he scoffed.
"Oh but you are his comrades, even more than that you all are friends, ever single one of you... you said it yourself, you know that Mero is very secretive and he does not like revealing his feelings... maybe he did not want to implicate you... imagine if he had told you and when Nora asked if you know... what would you have said? Would you have lied to her?" asked Wura feeling guilty.
"No, of course not, I would never lie to her, if I did, that would not make me any better than Mero who has been lying to her all this time." said Zuph.
"You see... maybe he was trying to protect you... sometimes the less you know, the better." said Wura as Zuph looked at her incredulously.
"That may be true, but I highly doubt it... he does not trust any of us enough... and you... you seem to be defending him quite an awful lot my queen... did you... did you know anything about this before Nora told you about it?" he asked carefully picking his words as Wura's eyes went wide as she instantly controlled herself.
"I am not defending him neither am I applauding him for what he did... It is just that we should not fool ourselves, Mero is a good man, we all know that, did he make a mistake? Yes, of course he did, we all are human, we are bound to make mistakes, but that does not mean that one mistake should erase all he good deeds he has done." she said.
"I can hear the truth in your words my queen, but tell me and be truthful, did you have any idea that Mero was in love with another woman?" he as as he held Wura's gaze and Wura not wanting to show any sign of guilt raised her head high and looked straight into his eyes.
"No, I did not have any idea that he was in love with someone else, what do you mean by that? Nora is my friend, my closest confidant, are you trying to say that I would hide such important information from her?" she asked feeling betrayed as her hands subconsciously balled into fists.
"Forgive me my queen if I have offended you with my words, it is just that you and Mero are rather close and I presumed that out of everyone, he would at least reveal the truth to you, but I see now that I was mistaken, he cannot even be truthful with you." said Zuph as he sighed and Wura sighed.
"It is alright Zuph, I understand that you are angry, you are disappointed and most of all you are worried for Nora, we all are, but I do not think that we should be blaming Mero as much as we do." she said.
"Is it not better that he told her the truth instead of continuing in a relationship in which he did not love." said Wura.
"Trust me, as much as my heart aches for Nora, I am happy that at least Mero told her the truth, it does not matter how much you love somebody, if they do not love you back, things will be difficult in any relationship, love is the most important thing, with love comes understanding and knowledge." said Wura as Zuph kept silent.
"It still does not matter, why enter into a relationship with her in the first place if you knew that you were not really serious about marrying her?" he asked.
"Maybe in the beginning he did not know that, maybe he was unsure, but we should all be grateful that Nora goes through this pain now sooner than later." she said.
"You speak the truth my queen, but that still does not change my thoughts." said Zuph causing Wura to sigh.
"If you think like this then the others probably think the same as well?" she asked as Zuph nodded.
"It is not that we do not trust him, he has just given us a reason not to trust him, who knows what else he is hiding from us." said Zuph painfully.
"I can vow on my life that Mero is an honest and upright man... he has made a mistake... we all make mistakes, I just ask that you please know the full truth before you judge him, or anyone else for that matter... you can never know how much heartache and pain people go through, they do not write it on their foreheads, it is best that if we do not know much, we should remain silent, do you not agree?" she asked him as Zuph frowned.
"Yes my queen." he replied reluctantly.
"Thank you." she replied as she sighed.
"Now, I think that we should go back, Nora would be panicking and all I wanted to talk to you about has already been said." said Wura as she proceeded to leave.
"My queen..." called Zuph as she stopped and turned back.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Did Mero tell you personally what he did?" asked Zuph as Wura nodded.
"Yes he did, just this morning." she replied.
"Then do you know who the woman is?" he asked as Wura felt her heart leap out of her chest as she unconsciously nodded unable to lie.
"Who is she?" he asked.
"Zuph... out of respect for the trust Mero has in me... I cannot disclose that information at the moment, please understand me... I would do the same for you." she said painfully.
"I do understand... but it would never have been me." he replied as he walked away and Wura sighed, she had never felt as stressed as she was in that single moment.
...
Nora paced up and down in her tent, she was worried that Zuph was being scolded by Wura for being here with her. After all he was an honourable knight and he was unmarried, and she was unmarried as well, and in the eyes of the public that was unacceptable.
Her heart was pounding in her chest, she would not like for Zuph to get in trouble just because of her.
Nora was so lost in her thoughts that she was unaware when Zuph walked in and as she paced around she bumped right into him.
"Are you alright?" he asked her as she looked up and nodded.
"And are you alright?" she asked in worry as he just smiled.
"Never better." he replied as Wura walked in and Nora took two steps back.
"My queen..." she said as she bowed.
"You do not have to look so tense Nora, I just needed to speak to Zuph about a few unimportant things." said Wura as she smiled knowing fully well that Nora had been extremely worried.
"Ahh... okay my queen." said Nora as she did not seem to believe Wura at all.
"Yes, so all I want you to do is focus on feeling better and as soon as you do, you can resume your duties alright?" she asked as she smiled.
"Alright my queen." replied Nora.
"Good, I will come and check on you again in the evening, make sure to eat lunch and take care of yourself." said Wura as she smiled and gave Nora a hug as Nora nodded.
"Good, bye." she said as she smiled.
"Goodbye my queen." replied Nora softly.
"Zuph, I will see you later." said Wura as she looked at Zuph nodding knowingly.
"And so will I my queen." said Zuph as he nodded and Wura took her leave.
As soon as she was sure that Wura was long gone Nora turned to Zuph and asked worriedly.
"What did she say to you?"