[KAWAI]
"Your Highness, I came from the queen's birthing hall, I was sent to bring you the news about…" Arabella choked as she swallowed thickly, scared that her next words would get her into the chamber that people never came from alive. Then again, what else was she supposed to do this time?
If this was how she was going to die, then at least she would try saving herself, right? After all, she was just like every lycan in the kingdom who was scared of the king, surely she wouldn't have decided to stumble here just because she wanted to, yeah?
"I have a messenger to do that, don't I?" King Zaffuto asked Sadako as if it was the commonest thing in the kingdom.
"Yes, your Grace," Sadako said, and gestured to the warriors to drag Arabella to the spare chamber if they had to. But then the scared woman whose eyes were still closed, wasn't going to let this be how her life ended, right?
"No, your highness… I mean yes, you have a messenger but he… He is… your Highness, please have mercy on me. I only did what needed to be done. I didn't think it would happen like this. The baby, I—" Arabella rambled and that got the King to stop in his tracks.
Today, his queen was due to deliver their baby, their prince, their heir. If the maidservant was here, then it had to mean that his prince had been born, right? Damn, that was good news, but why the hell was she scared shitless and already begging for her life?
"My heir… Is he alright?" King Zaffutto asked, assuming that he already had a son. Well, in all fairness, the physician had said that he would have a son, given the size of his erasthai's tummy earlier. So it had to be a boy.
"Your Highness… My condolences," Arabella said, and in a swift motion, she was slammed against the wall, as strong hands choked the life out of her. And even then, she had stayed rigid, not daring to open her eyes.
She knew what was next, but she hoped that she would be in the afterlife with her parents too. If she was that lucky to survive, the king of Kawai.
"Say that again… word by word and carefully, because your life depends on it, Arabella," the lycan king said, his warning so clear.
"I'm sorry... The queen is dead, the royal messenger is dead, and... And the baby... S... Someone stole the lycan prince," Arabella said, and with that, the king broke her trachea, before twisting her neck, and leaving her lifeless body slumping on the floor.
No one made a sound.
****
"Take me to the birthing hall. I must see my queen myself," King Zaffuto said and his warriors along with Sadako, walked towards the exit of the hallways with him, none of them even daring to make a sound, let alone look back at the dead woman they had left there.
As the lycan king made his way to the birthing hall, he could see the lycans stay silent, and bow, waiting for him to be gone from their sight. On a normal day, the king would feel terrible that his people were not as free with him, but today, there was just one thing on Zaffuto's mind.
His family.
"You can leave now," Sadako mouthed to the lycans who had been waiting to be dismissed. They didn't know what had happened, but this was the first time they had seen their king's face and he had so many scars, probably battle scars.
The King had long hair that fell to his back, hair that was neatly held by the crown that was sitting pretty on his head. He was wearing a long cloak not to mention the regal clothing he had beneath that cloak.
The king screamed gold on him, but his face was that of someone who was ready to murder. Well, he had murdered Arabella for simply being the one to deliver the news to him, so there was probably no hope for the other people there, right?
"Your Grace, allow me to check the room," Sadako said to his king, asking the one thing that could put him in the same state as Arabella. But that didn't matter right now, because he knew so well that the man before him was determined.
He hadn't felt his erasthai dying, and that was also why the king was still in denial about all this. Then again, he couldn't just believe a lowly maidservant who seemed to not know the first thing about birthing herself.
"No. I will check it myself," King Zaffuto said, making Sadako just nod at him.
The birthing hall was on a building a little too far from the palace, for reasons that were obvious. It was the hall that was sued by all the women of the kingdom, and well, the King didn't want to be woken up by women screaming their guts out in labor.
Not even his queen was excused from that. Then again, if the queen got to birth in that hall, then it meant that the services were top-notch, and even if they weren't, they would have long been upgraded. No one wanted to wake up with his head a few miles away from his body.
"Liana!" the king called out the moment he pushed open the doors to the birthing hall. However, the sight that met him, sent him into shock for a moment there. The great king had been to battlefields and won wars, but what he saw broke his heart to pieces.
Unlike the men who had fallen because of spears or even swords used by them in war, with their shields lying beside them, this room was filled with dead mothers and their midwives. It was a slaughterhouse at best, but worse than that.
Whatever had happened here was too inhumane, even for the king.
"What the fuck happened to all the women here?" the king asked, when he got his voice again, snapping for the shock he had just been met with. He couldn't believe what had happened. He couldn't believe that someone could be that cruel to murder expectant women.
King Zaffuto may have been known as the cruelest king to ever live, but even he was not this kind of cruel. His heart broke for the women on the floor, their necks slashed, their bodies mutilated, like someone was sending the king a message, and it was clear as day.
The future of Kawai was in danger.
Killing the Queen would incapacitate the king.
But taking his heir would ruin him completely.
"Find my queen. Find me my Liana, and check for heartbeats. The women who survive, take them to the queen's wing. There are enough rooms to house them. And make sure to tell all the physicians in the damn kingdom to be ready.
"No one will leave until the survivors are fit to live alone," the king ordered and the warriors rushed into the room, careful not to step on the mothers there. They checked for heartbeats, hoping to find the survivors.
And while at it, they looked for the queen.
The only woman who could determine whether Kawai would be dead or alive today.
"Find my queen."