Centuries ago,
Kamaz threw Acheron off Zelda without a second thought.
Because Acheron was drunk, he could not see how fast Kamaz had moved as he picked him up again and threw him to the other side of the room.
He crashed on the vanity table, causing the contents to fall and some to crash without hope of being able to be used again.
Acheron struggled to stand up as he held his chest and coughed a little.
"You are crossing boundaries being here, Brother," Acheron said with a rough smile. He tried to assume a fighting stance but he was too drunk to do so.
Prince Acheron's guards came into the room and tried to hold Kamaz back.
Kamaz lifted Acheron by the neck and pressed him on the wall, strangling him in the process.
The guards tried to pull him off the Crown Prince but with his free hand, he shoved them away.
Zelda knew she had to step in.
It was only a matter of a few minutes before things escalated.
She wanted to get her Pipa, but she knew it was a great distance away, and by the time she returned, Kamaz could have wrecked more havoc.
Her brain had not been thinking right but she felt like she knew exactly what to do.
It was a knowing that seemed firm and certain!
She ran towards him and instead of going to his back like others did, she picked one of the broken glasses on the floor.
She closed her eyes as she tore at her skin and her blood dripped from her arm.
The scent of drug-induced blood wafted into Kamaz's nostrils, and he let go of Acheron.
He turned around to Zelda who was standing in the middle of the room.
Tears were streaming down her eyes.
If the backup soldiers come in and they find him in the state he was - darkened eyes and protruded nails, they would find out what he is.
She moved towards him with the tears in her eyes and he vamp sped to her.
He pulled her arm, but as he yanked her hand to his lips, her soft sobs reached his ears, and he heard her.
He dropped her hand and held her face as his beast calmed. His elongated fingers retracted, and his eyes came back to their normal baby-blue color.
"Zelda…" He called softly as he wiped the tears that streamed down her eyes.
The backup soldiers came in, and they dragged him away from Zelda, their fingers connecting for a second before he went with them.
The King was already involved and he was taken before the King and Queen.
He felt remorseful. But his only remorse was seeing Zelda hurt.
As his eyes returned to their normal colour, he had realized what he had done.
The tears in Zelda's eyes. The blood on her arm. She had hurt herself to save him.
His head was bowed.
"What happened Kamaz? Why did you choose to pick a fight with your brother?" The King asked in a neutral tone.
He continued to stare at the floor before him and all that came to his eyes was the pain he had met in Zelda's eyes. The sound that came to his ears were those of her soft whimpers because she had been desperate to save him.
'Not worth it!
Not worth her! Maybe I can choose the death I have always sought for now. Free her from the doom that is me!'
"You will answer the King's question, Fifth Prince, or it will be regarded that you made a direct attempt to the Crown Prince's life without any reason." The Queen said.
She smiled when he remained motionless and chose to say nothing.
'Here I was thinking I would have to create a grand scheme on how to take out this moth. Now even the King cannot save him!'
"You still choose silence over your very life!
Seeing as you just recently became responsible for some soldiers, I honestly thought you would look beyond yourself for once.
Be rest assured they will be transferred to better hands. Them and your only maid."
'Transfer? Zelda? To who?'
"The Crown Prince…" Kamaz suddenly spoke gruffly as he lifted his head.
"...tried to make immoral advances on my maid, and I tried to stop him before he brings shame to the Crown," Kamaz said. He made sure to look straight at the Queen's eyes while he said the last words.
The Queen's hand tightened around the circular design of the armrest where her arm was resting. She wished it was Kamaz's head so badly so she could squash it.
"Since the Crown Prince is currently not fit to refute or confirm my claims, should we wait till he comes around?" Kamaz pressed, a daunting look on his face.
As much as the Queen wanted Kamaz's words to be false, she feared what could result if it was true.
"If your words are true, it means you lost your manners as a Royal. Because of what, a mere maid?" The King asked rhetorically.
Kamaz's eyes blazed and his hands turned into fists at the description of Zelda as 'mere!'
"Fifty strikes in front of anyone who cares to watch in the Palace.
Take him away!" The King ordered tersely.
He knew responding to the King would only open Zelda to their scrutiny and he bit his tongue, wanting to lash out on the lot of them.
Kamaz was tied, arms apart, and shirtless.
Maidservants, guards, and some Princes who saw his punishment as fun gathered around.
The scourge came down on his bare back blow after blow, picking his flesh away with every strike.
Blood gushed out and before his healing abilities could kick in, the gash would be whipped again and would widen.
This went on till the fiftieth hit!
By the end of it, he was released, and he walked to his chambers, where he locked the door behind him.
Zelda's scent permeated his nostrils as he turned around and he soon found out the reason.
Because standing close to a table with a bowl of water and a clean towel in hand was Zelda.
The reason he had locked his door was because he knew Zelda would want to treat him. He didn't think he could bear to look at her face again and he thought to shut her out.
But she had clearly outsmarted him!
There she was, looking as beautiful and fierce as ever even though the sadness in her eyes could not be neglected.
'My beautiful little bird!' Kamaz thought in his heart.
"You shouldn't be in a room before your Master. Especially when that room is his, and he hasn't requested your services! " Kamaz said. His voice devoid of warmth.
Zelda placed the bowl of water and towel on the table.
"And no master should be as stupid as you are!!" She said, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.
Before he could say anything, she ran towards him.
"I thought it was over. I thought I had lost you!
I thought you…you would never come back to me!" She said as she lifted a shaky hand to his face.
Kamaz's defenses were uprooted and flung away.
He placed a hand over hers that was by the side of his face.
"I was lost, but you found me, Zelda. You saved me…again!
And I'm sorry for making you hurt yourself. That shouldn't be the price for my sanity" He said. He placed a kiss on her hand and a tear rolled down his left eye.
Zelda saw the tear slide down his face, and two things happened within her - something broke, and something else was stirred.
She stood on her toes and aimed to place a kiss on his cheek. At that same moment, Kamaz turned from the kiss he placed on her palm and his lips met hers.
Zelda was shocked and her closed eyes opened. She wanted to pull away but Kamaz wrapped a hand around her and pulled her to him.