"WHAT?" Luca roared, as Liam trembled before him. Liam had been the unfortunate one who had to inform him that the Queen was missing in the maze of darkness after she made another attempt to escape. Knowing the King's anger, Liam had already hidden the two guards responsible for the failure and dispatched the rest to try and find her. But twenty minutes later, they had found nothing and Liam was forced to tell the King.
Liam understood the difficulty- the guards were forbidden from touching her, told to use their bodies as a means of stopping her without touching her or looking at anything other than her feet. Meanwhile, the Queen had literally jumped the banister and landed on her two feet. How were they to compete with that? But fear had overtaken Liam and he stood quiet as the King ranted and threw books at him. Absorbing the hits, he knew that the books would become gunshots if he opened his mouth.
After about 10 minutes of letting his anger out, the King had refocused his efforts on making sure she was well. Both he and Liam took off towards the maze. Luca had spent his childhood exploring the maze and he knew it like the back of his hand. The most experienced maze master, he was sure that he could find her in no time, but he prayed that the darkness didn't consume her before he found her.
The maze of darkness was a relic of the Old World, designed to entrap one of the most powerful forces of darkness. The force could kill anyone in its walls, a fact that Luca knew all too well. The force had taken his little sister and mother from him when he was 12 years old. Luca had never intended to become king, all he wanted to do was defeat the force. What he hadn't known was that when went head to head with the force, his soul was infected with darkness and that darkness made him the Night King. His slaves and guards were all entrapped by the darkness and immortalized, only to die when he decided it was their time. He managed to remove the powerful darkness from the maze but the effects still lingered in the maze and the souls it had consumed. If she remained in the maze for too long, the darkness may start to spread to her soul, albeit much weaker as it was only remnants of the true force.
Determined to not let it spread to his one love, Luca raced through the maze. Using a number of shortcuts, he made quick work of the maze, covering 80% of it in 15 minutes, his fear multiplying after every minute he couldn't find her. Finally, he heard loud pants and a padding of feet on the floor-
it could only be Alia.
Rounding the corner, Luca saw Alia running with a crazed but determined look on her face. He knew that she was trying to run away and normally he would have been upset at her. But looking at her frantic eyes and heavy pants as she hobbled on the floor, clutching her side, any sense of anger towards Alia was replaced with concern and guilt. His Queen was suffering because he had failed to show his love and devotion. But he would be sure to prove it to her once he got her out of this damn maze. Fortunately, he saw no changes in her aura which soothed him about the effects of the darkness. She did have a chance.
"Alia, my love, stop!" He called out. She froze and spun around, noticing him with the same frantic look growing in her eyes. She knew he would be nice to her now but would be infuriated once she got back in the room, so she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of taking her back. Ignoring his call, she spun back around and started running as fast as she could. Luca kept up with ease, which only drove Alia to run even faster. She was running so fast that she didn't notice the sharp edge of the corner she was preparing to round in an attempt to lose Luca.
SLAM!
Her left shoulder ran smack dab into the sharp edge, her body being twisted to the left from the force that she ran into the wall. Pain seared through her left side and she could feel that her packing earlier had only somehow worked as she felt a warm sensation creep around her left abdomen and hand, covered in scratches. Her left hand throbbed in even more pain and she fell on her outstretched left hand, in an attempt to protect the left side of her body that was destined to fall first as her contorted movements had resulted in her doing a full circle with her upper body and her legs giving out so that her legs were sprawled up to her.
She lay on the ground, failing to find the strength to get up as Luca ran to her. Without saying a word, Luca lifted her into his arms bridal style. He nodded to a guard on the team, indicating that he wanted the doctor to be called. But in his preliminary check, Luca had found nothing problematic. Knowing that she was exhausted and needed to relax, Luca signaled another guard to organize a bath for her. The two men bowed and left without saying a word.
Luca carried her straight into the bathroom and gently stroked her face as she shivered in fear. "My dearest, you must bathe. Or shall I bathe you?" With that threat lingering in the air, Alia slowly shook her head, indicating that she would bathe. Satisfied, Luca left her resting at the edge of the bathtub, shooting glares at the two women bowing near the bathroom door. "You two, make sure she feels relaxed. Use the best scents and body scrubs. She is to do nothing, and arrange to have food available for her." The women nodded and quickly moved towards Alia as Luca walked out the door, closing it behind him.
Alia remained quiet as the women removed her shirt and sweatpants, but shook her head when they went to remove her undergarments. No one would get to see her without those on. One of the women quickly turned and offered her a bathrobe.
"My Queen, we must clean all your clothes. You could remain in this until you are in the water?" She suggested. Alia nodded, closing her eyes in shame. She quickly stripped and almost immediately, wrapped herself in the robe. Seated again at the edge of the bathtub, Alia felt every muscle in her body throb with pain, but all her brain could focus on was the mysterious man. Even though he just brought her here without saying a word, she could feel the anger radiating off of him in waves.
She stilled as she thought of what he would do to the guards she ran away from. Ignoring her screaming body's protests, she moved to stand up, but was instantly met with gentle resistance. Alia looked up to see one of the women with her hands on Alia's shoulders, keeping her from standing.
"Please, my Queen," she begged, "if the King sees you doing anything, he will be infuriated." Alia could see the fear in her eyes. She slumped back onto the bathtub edge, feeling helpless. With every thought, she wanted nothing more than to run away. But she couldn't leave these people to suffer from her selfishness. It had already happened once today and she was terrified to think of what Luca would do if she continued to resist.
Feeling dejected, Alia spun around, gingerly sliding in the water, not caring that the robe around her was getting drenched. She felt two hands wrap around from behind her and open the robe so that two other hands could slide it off her shoulders. "Apologies, your Majesty," she heard from behind her.
Completely bare, seated in bubbles and water that rose up to her neck, Alia felt acutely self-aware, closing her eyes in embarrassment, but the gentle hands massaging her shoulders and head, soon had her feeling relaxed as the pain began to melt away inch by inch. The hands glided over her body, carefully avoiding her more private parts.
Feeling completely at ease, with the scent of rose, vanilla, and honey filling her nostrils and consuming two of her remaining senses, Alia let out a small moan as the chronic knot in her left shoulder was tenderly worked on. The hands instantly stilled, "Are you alright, my Queen?" Alia weakly nodded her head and the hands continued their gentle assault on the knot.
Once she had been thoroughly massaged, during which Alia had managed to fall asleep twice, the hands on her body were replaced by a soapy sponge, and two hands began massaging her scalp. That sensation was a reminder of home for Alia and her self-awareness of being in a bathtub and naked with two women was gone. All she remembered was her grandmother massaging her scalp as a child, and despite her desperation not to, she couldn't help a single tear fall out of the side of her eye. The hands on her scalp and the sponge froze, as the women frantically looked to see why she had cried.
Seeing no cause, one of the women began crying, "My Queen, we apologize! We did not mean to cause you any discomfort! Please forgive us!" Alia's eyes flew open and she was a woman submerged in the water before her up to her waist, her hands covering her face with a loofah in her right hand. She felt terrible- she completely forgot that it wasn't her grandmother. Reaching her hands out, Alia grabbed the hands of the woman gently. The sobbing woman froze and allowed Alia to move her hands from her face. She offered Alia her cheek as was the standard expectation of a slave who had made a mistake. Alia looked back at her in confusion, her hands continuing to rub over the woman's trying to relax her.
"My Queen, please punish this worthless slave. I have caused you to shed a tear for which I should not live."
"What? No!" Alia looked shocked. She was so comfortable, she had forgotten herself. How could this woman think this? "I'm fine. I just want to get out and be alone."
"Yes, my Queen. Of course, my Queen. May I finish washing your hair?" The woman behind Alia spoke.
"Can I finish myself?" Alia asked. She really appreciated their help, but she felt awkward having them help.
"My Queen, the King has forbade us from allowing you to do anything." The woman spoke, firmly. She knew the Queen being unhappy about having her hair washed was minimal compared to the anger the King would have if he found out that she did anything.
Alia felt the same guilt twinge inside of her. The guilt that kept her from standing up for herself. She silently leaned her head back and felt the woman's hands slip back into her hair, while she whispered, "Thank you, your Highness."
After a few more minutes, Alia was thoroughly bathed and a new robe was placed around her as she was led to the first door she knew was the entrance to the closet. Perhaps this was her punishment for running away, she thought to herself.
Instead, she was welcomed by an incredible sight. A massive room with built in cabinet running across every wall was filled with all sorts of bright clothing, neutral clothing. It looked large enough to be its own store with 75% looking to be women's clothing and 25% men's clothing of all varieties. Thinking that this must be Luca's wife's clothing, Alia felt awkward as the women presented her with a number of different clothing options. Settling on a full-length silk nightgown with 3/4 sleeves and light blue lace against a sky blue background, Alia felt incredibly fancy but out of place. She was in an unknown place with unknown people in an unknown woman's clothes that she wasn't even sure would fit her. After all, she was no little girl.
Slipping the gown over her head, Alia was pleasantly surprised and a bit scared at how well the nightgown fit her. She glanced over to the women who stood there, their heads bowed and hands clasped in front of them. "Excuse me, whose nightgown is this?"
"Yours, your Majesty," one of the women stepped up and spoke.
"Mine?"
"Yes, your Highness, this entire wardrobe was purchased this morning to your exact size. The King ordered that no expense be spared." Alia was left speechless.
Feeling overwhelmed, she did the only thing she knew to do to calm herself, pray. Walking over to a shelf in the closet, she went to grab a scarf that she tied around her head, covering her hair. Alia then walked into the middle of the bedroom to stand over the hardwood floor near the window with the women silently following her. Dropping to her knees, she closed her eyes and folded her hands before her. Alia silently began to pray.
Even if she couldn't leave that easily, she would remain strong. She would remain herself and she would fight for everyone here. Against this unknown darkness. She asked for support to defeat her fear. She asked for strength to defeat his obsession.