章 6: Might I Wash Your Eyes?
MOON
"You don't say?" The second voice whispered harshly, excited at the prospect of gossip.
"I know a servant that works at the palace," the third voice whispered decadently. Zina lapped at the water about her, caressing it on her body slowly and languidly in the bath she was in as she listened. "The servant reported the king had killed seven palace servants in his rage. It is said the person that tried to poison him is yet to be found."
"So this banquet is a hunt?" The second voice gasped dramatically.
"A hunt?" The third voice scoffed, "I fear massacre is a more fitting word."
So someone had tried to poison the Alpha King's dish? The more Zina thought about it the more nefarious her predicament seemed.
"Seraph?" She called to the girl bathing her body. It was foreign to receive such… care, but she was aware she had no choice but to submit herself to such.
"Miss?"
"Tell me about the Alpha King's sons."
Seraph gasped, quickly withdrawing her touch from Zina's body. "I wouldn't dare comment on the Alpha King talkless of his children." She said quickly, her teeth chattering with fear.
Although her fear didn't seem very real in that moment.
Zina pitied the girl's false emotions, she could literally hear the chattering of Seraph's teeth… but that was as far the emotion she could muster for the servant. "I am to attend the King's banquet as his honoured guest, do you want me to appear before the king as a fool that doesn't know much better?"
Her voice came out more forcefully than she intended it to. The girl quickly fell to the floor, suddenly even more afraid of the woman before her. When she was informed that morning she was to serve the youngest seer guest, she thought she had great luck.
But now, she had doubts about such luck. Why was it that Seraph couldn't lead a remotely easy life? She was so terrified of Seer Zina in that moment that her meek wolf quivered in fear even though the woman in the bath before her had no wolf to speak of.
"Shall I ask for a second time?" Zina repeated to her in the same stern voice, and Seraph felt something else in her voice. Raw desperation mixed with rage that gave birth to a feeling of clinging to the very last throes of a person's life.
Who was this person before her? And what was she so afraid of? Seraph wondered. Even though the woman didn't look that older than her, she had a maturity to her cloaked eyes that sent a chill to her.
Seeing that she couldn't escape the woman's interrogation, she asked instead. "If I answer you, will you allow me to remove your blindfold and wash your eyes?"
The woman stiffened, and then turned in the bath, facing her naked torso half submerged in the water at her. Her red full lips in contrast with her deathly white hair smiled a sinister smile, "do you think you will be able to bear it when you see my eyes?"
Quivering, Seraph answered. "I believe I will be able to. However, even if I'm unable to, I shall resign to my fate with no regrets."
Zina almost admired the strength the young Seraph showed, but in her desperate situation, she had no time to spare anyone, or anything of her admiration. "Fine. Speak." She commanded the girl.
The first thing being blind taught Zina was that she was not allowed any form of weakness whatsoever. The moment people saw her, the first thing they thought about was that she was weak and vulnerable. Ever since she had vowed never to be viewed like that again, hence why she fired on with questioning Seraph harshly.
Seraph told her all she knew about the king's seven legitimate sons and seven illegitimate ones. No matter the number, the story wasn't that long as of course, she knew so little, but the general overview Zina got was more than enough for her.
"So the only legitimate son of the late Luna Queen, you called him Daemon? Is he not interested in becoming Alpha King?" Zina quizzed at the end of the Seraph's tale.
"It's Grand Prince Daemon," the girl all but admonished her, "while rumours abound that the rest of the six legitimate sons have shown an obvious interest in becoming Alpha King, he has never shown such interest. He is rather very laid back so I've heard. And he bears no antagonism to his brothers like they do for each other, hence he was bestowed the moniker 'Lover of his brothers.'"
Zina mulled that over, her mind swirling with confusion. If that was true about the grand prince, then how on earth did her captors think the Alpha King would believe her false vision? Were they setting her up or something?
"However, he is the one with the most capable blood." Seraph added as an afterthought, almost hesitantly.
"What do you mean?"
"Of all the king's legitimate sons, Lord Daemon comes from the purest bloodline. His late mother might not have been the King's first or second chance mate, but she is the only one to have ruled as a legitimate Luna Queen. Besides, his mother is the legitimate daughter of the former Alpha of the DireWolf Pack of the Desert South."
Now that new information was a variable, if Daemon came from such a powerful bloodline, and if the King had run mad as he was gossiped to have, then he would likely believe that his apparently most nonchalant son was after his throne and his life.
Daemon would be viewed as the only one capable enough to do so. But as far as Zina was concerned, that still wasn't enough to rouse the king's suspicion of his last legitimate son.
In order not to give herself away, Zina asked random questions about the king's other sons. Seraph ratted the most she knew, but Zina wasn't interested in them.
It was Daemon she cared for. The man she might soon destroy, or who might destroy her instead.
"Can I take your blindfold off now Miss?" Seraph asked hesitantly, a tinge of nervousness laced with her words.
"Why do you want to do that so much?" Zina asked, genuinely curious.
"In my village, it is believed that washing the eyes of a seer brings goodluck."
"That's weird," Zina interjected coldly, "where I come from, looking too closely at a seer's eyes can only bring you dearth and death. However, since it's your wish, I shall allow it."
"Thank you." Seraph said, her voice holding a tremor of trepidation.
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