Chapter 10: Fried chicken family
Zuri's POV
"Do you think I am a threat?" I asked her.
"In my professional opinion, you are but Emily doesn't see it"
I remember feeling too tired to say any other thing. My eyes remained closed but not tightly. I could still see Pru come closer to look at me.
"Your majesty…your majesty…Zuri" she called several times but i was too exhausted like she said, to say a word.
I didn't protest as Pru detached my shoes from my legs and positioned them beside the bed. She removed the cuff links and loosed my belt.
Wait! did I imagine it or did Pru's hand linger there for a second?
She stood up and removed the towel from her hair and her strawberry blonde hair fell to her shoulder. Pru picked up the brown dye on the dresser and opened it.
Her hand went to her strawberry blonde hair to apply the dye when she heard a knock.
I didn't move but Pru went to the door and opened it slightly.
"Have you seen my brother?" It was Emily's voice.
I waited to see if Pru would lie about me being in the room. It would tell me a lot about the girl but Instead I heard her say.
"When I talk to the king I will let him know you are looking for him, Princess"
it was carefully worded that she didn't have to lie.
"Thanks, Pru. It's almost dinner time and I am famished. Please join me, I don't want to eat alone"
"Alright"
Pru closed the door and walked back into the room.
She watched me for a few minutes before she opened the wardrobe and picked out a dark gray suit and disappeared Into the bathroom.
I must have dozed off because when I came to, I was alone in the room and I wasn't exhausted anymore.
hmm, this was weird. This was the first time in three years I slept so peacefully without a night terror or dreadful nightmare.
This was really weird.
Would it be considered improper if I stayed in this room forever?
probably!
I stood up and continued my journey to finding my half sister.
For some reason the palace staffs kept looking at me as I walked past them. I ignored them, I didn't have the zeal or the will to engage in a boring small talk with anyone.
When I got to Emily's room, I knocked but no answer came from within. I turned around and almost bumped into a young girl I assumed was a staff.
"Your majesty" she lowered her head immediately.
"Where is the princess?" I asked impatiently.
"In the dining hall, sir"
"Thanks" I murmured and walked away.
I made my way to the dinning hall and like I was told, my sister was there with Pru.
They both stood up when they saw me and only sat down after I had taken a seat.
I watched Emily watch me and for some reason, Pru was sitting beside her with a plate in front of her.
She stood up when she saw me gesture to be served.
"Sorry, I thought the princess was eating alone, so when I was given the invitation to join her for dinner, I accepted" Pru said and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
"I will just eat with the other servants"
"That is only...." My voice trailed off as I stared at my reflection on the stainless candle holder on the dining table then it clicked but I couldn't believe my eyes.
So, I took out my phone and switched on the front camera and I stared at myself.
Lo and behold, I had no freaking eyebrows!
I have been parading around the palace looking like a defeathered chicken!
I looked at Pru but she kept a straight face but Emily's laughter echoed.
"Sit your ass down, Pru!" I said in between my clenched jaw.
"Yes, sir" she sat down.
I banged my clenched fist on the table "What happened to my eyebrows, Pru?!"
"It looks like it's missing, your majesty" she answered calmly.
"I freaking know that! What happened to them?"
"I haven't the faintest idea, sir"
"Can I take a picture with you?" Emily asked as soon as she could get herself to stop laughing.
"No!"
"Maybe you suffered a sudden hair loss, your majesty" Pru suggested.
"That is entirely possible I suppose but I am not even in my thirties yet, so you would see how that assumption doesn't hold water. Do you want to come clean about something, Diplomat?" I asked her.
"No" Pru shook her head "Nothing comes to mind"
"Okay. Then hear my decree until such a time as the diplomat's mind is joggled, every thirty minutes, someone's eyebrows in this palace will be shaved off. Time starts now!" I stood up and I walked to the door before I turned to my guards "And please, start with Emily's"
"Wait what?! But I didn't do anything!" Emily yelled.
"She didn't do anything!" Pru said too.
"That's a shame, then"
It was my turn to laugh.
I spent the rest of my evening in the study trying not to think about my eyebrows. Anton joined me later for a drink. After I offered him a seat and a glass of rum, he took a sip before saying utter rubbish.
"Your eyebrows are missing"
"I know"
"What happened to them?" He asked
"No clue"
"You are getting soft, my friend" Anton said and took a sip.
"What do you mean?"
"... exactly what I said, you are getting too soft. No one would have dared cross you before, Zuri"
"No one dares cross me even now, Anton"
"Your eyebrows are missing, somebody clearly didn't get the memo" He insisted
"It's a harmless prank. Don't blow it out of proportion"
I was still talking when the door to my study opened and Emily entered. She looked like she could burst into flame at any minute.
"Hello, sister"
"Don't you dare say hello to me? They shaved my eyebrows!" Emily gestured to her face which looked like mine.
"The diplomat should have come clean and this would have been avoided" I reminded her.
"Don't put me in the middle of your war with your diplomat! See, what you did! I can't go to college looking like a fried chicken, King Zuri!"