Like Dahlia expected, the king's stable was way bigger than the one she worked at. Even the stable back at Kayer didn't hold a candle to the one she was standing in.
Each horse had a spacious and highly equipped stall with shelves holding their combs, brushes, and saddle. For some reason, two chandeliers were decorating the ceiling of the stable, lighting up the place as if it were a ballroom.
There was even a water fountain at the center of the stable with water pouring out from the horse statue. The king's horses were living the royal life and despite being horses, they had better living conditions than the servants at the castle but Dahlia couldn't complain, she knew the same could be said about Kayer.
Dahlia always wanted to help the less fortunate and ensure there was equal treatment among everyone but there was nothing she could do. While at Kayer when she still had a royal title she was powerless, and now that she too was a slave, who could she save when she needed saving?
Continuing her journey of exploring the stable, Dahlia noticed golden nameplates hanging delicately on the varnished wooden doors of each stall, with the names of the horses engraved on them.
One nameplate, in particular, caught her attention, the one at the far end of the stable with the name Storm written on it. She walked toward the stall and found a black stallion with the thickest and shiniest coat, a long and perfectly trimmed mane, and a delicate forelock standing proudly inside, staring at her as if she had just breached his territory.
"What a magnificent horse you are." She exclaimed, enthralled by the mere presence of the horse.
From the aura around the horse, Dahlia could tell Storm was the king's personal and most favorite horse. No other regular horse would ooze that much power without having an owner in power.
"Two seconds won't hurt." Dahlia tried finding reason with herself as she slowly opened the stall door and crept inside. She had already broken two rules; leaving her room at night, and entering the king's stable without permission, and now thanks to her thirst for knowledge, she was about to break another.
"If I end up dying tonight, at least I got to groom a horse like you." Dahlia smiled at Storm as she went to grab a brush from the shelf.
Ever so gently, she ran the brush through Storm's thick coat and detangled any lumps. Much to her amusement, Storm didn't shy away from her touch, instead, he looked like he was assessing her and observing her every movement, contemplating what to do next.
"You're quite smart for a horse aren't you, Storm?" Dahlia asked the horse, earning an approving neigh from him in return.
Dahlia was so focused on the task she was doing that she didn't hear the door to the stable open or the footsteps that were slowly getting closer to her until it was too late.
"I'm surprised he's letting you touch him." A voice echoed in the rather quiet room.
Startled, Dahlia dropped the brush she was holding and slowly turned her head like a thief who was just caught in the act. "I'm so sorry, I was just-" She choked on the words she was about to say when she took notice of the person standing before her.
The way he carried himself, the rather expensive riding gear her had on, and the royal broach hooked unto his shirt weren't hard to miss. The man standing before her was the king! The very person whose rules she had just stupidly broken.
"Y-your higness, I wasn't I-I didn't mean to sneak into your stable." Dahlia stuttered the words out of her trembling mouth as she bowed before Azriel.
A new type of fear came over her at that moment, a fear she never felt when Draco threatened her or when she was sold off, this one was different, it was the purest form of fear and sheer terror.
Azriel was who Draco thought he looked like whenever he tried to scare her but of course, nothing compared to the original, and standing before Azriel made Draco's threats seem mediocre and like child's play.
He had the aura of a black hole, sucking her soul and any reasonable thoughts from her body, leaving her to tremble like a helpless rabbit in the presence of a lion.
"So you mean to tell me you just accidentally made your way here and accidentally found yourself grooming my horse?" Azriel asked in a dry tone as he quizzingly cocked a brow at the girl who was still bowing before him. "You can stand up now." He told her.
"I-I wouldn't want to be disrespectful-"
"Are you defying my order, young lady?"
Without wasting a second, Dahlia raised her head and stood straight all while avoiding meeting the gaze of the man imposing fear on her. "I'm sorry Your Highness." Her body shook as she spoke.
A few seconds passed before a throaty chuckle filled the room. Dahlia stared confusedly at Azriel who was chuckling rather than getting ready to have her head served to him on a golden platter.
"I'm sure you're expecting me to lash out at you," Azriel spoke up as if reading her mind.
Unsure of how to reply to him and not wanting to get into more trouble by saying the wrong thing, Dahlia kept quiet and began biting her inner lip, a habit she developed whenever she was anxious.
Noticing her distress, Azriel continued speaking, "I understand what curiosity does to a person, and I'm sure you were eager to know what was behind the doors that were open only to a few," He slowly made his way into the stall as he spoke, "Storm here is a rather sensitive horse and aside from me, he never lets anyone else get close to him, much less brush his coat for as long as you did so I'm impressed."
"I didn't do anything special your highness." Dahlia was feeling suffocated by the proximity between them. Although the stall was big, it wasn't big enough to host a horse as large as Storm plus two other people, and being that close to none other than the King of Zrika nearly made her pass out, she hadn't even gotten the courage to look at his face yet.
"Believe me, you did." Azriel continued unfazed by how close they were standing to each other, "Where do you work?"
"The other stable, your highness." Dahlia firmly replied despite the storm building up inside her.
Why is he asking me that? Oh god, he's going to make sure I lose my job and possibly my head. Why did you have to come here, Dahlia?
A hundred different scenarios of what would come next were already running through Dahlia's mind as the fear of what Azriel would say kept gnawing at her with each passing second but what came out of his mouth was far beyond what she expected.
"Interesting," Azriel appeared to be in thought before speaking up again, "Would you mind if we went out for a ride?"