"What are you doing here?"

Zyanna looked up at me, her eyelashes languidly fluttering upwards as she smiled at me, a smile that almost relaxed me and made me believe everything was as it's supposed to be.

"I wanted to see you."

"At this hour of the night? Did you not return to your chamber with Vladimir?" I looked around me, my bed-chamber still shrouded in the natural darkness of the night.

"Are you afraid, Elijah?"

"What? Of course not. Why are you here? What is the matter?" I reached out to her, but for some reason, I couldn't move.

Roped.

I was roped to the ends of the metal cart holding my bed, and though I should have easily been able to break out of it, I simply couldn't move.

"You should be afraid. You promised me, Elijah. You promised me and you failed."

"Zyanna," I breathlessly whispered. "What happened? Tell me...just tell me, and it will all be fine."

Her face was empty of emotion, her flickering eyes and her declining breaths being the only thing letting me know she was still here with me in a conscious form.

She cautiously tried to bring her hands up, still sat on my bed, but hopelessly failed, as her hands were tied to the same metal ends too, only being opposite the ones I was bound to.

Blood started to cascade from her stomach, flooding the sheets between us, and it wouldn't stop. Neither of us could do anything to shield it.

Zyanna choked out a sound that was strangled between a laugh and a cry, tears beginning to forcibly stain her face. "I believed in you, Prince Elijah. You gave me your word. I thought you could keep me safe-"

A devastatingly familiar voice cut off her remaining words. "Keep you safe? How could he keep you safe? He could hardly fend for himself; I might as well pluck his heart out and place it on my lap, just look at his pitiful state."

It was her.

I clenched my teeth together, immediately looking for ways to escape as I painfully tugged and tugged on my hands.

I could not move at all.

"Makarti! Show yourself, you disgusting, inhuman creature! Untie Zyanna, and face me if you truly value your life!"

A silhouette shook near me, sounds of cruel laughter rippling from it. "You truly thought I would fall for petty insults and threats? You don't realise what's at stake, do you? Or rather, who?"

Though her form was shockingly still secured in the dark, not a speck of her true skin revealing itself, a shining sword still reached out from it.

It brazenly travelled in my direction at full speed but at the last second, turned its head wickedly and dashed forwards straight for Zyanna.

"No!" My voice thundered across, desperately protesting with fading vigour as the sword came too close to her body to be drawn back.

It was there, right near her throat. Sinfully dancing at the very tip of where her voice would rise from.

Then it stopped, not prepared to fall back either.

My head whirled around to meet the female's silhouette standing in the same place, unable to control my anger.

I would have completely lost it all if Zyanna wasn't right in front of me, her lips quivering as she stared down at the sword.

I gritted my teeth together, hauling my eyes away from the blood that started to fall out from the bedsheets onto the floorboard.

"What. Do. You. Want?"

"What do I want? That is a question I've wondered the answer to as well. But what is the fun of letting myself answer my own questions? I'll leave that for you to figure out, Prince."

Her shadow flickered against the wind from the balcony, the coldness sharply stroking my cheeks.

"And while you try and find the answer to that, I shall patiently wait and keep myself entertained."

The wind lashed against the curtains around my bed, its elevated intensity digging up an evil shiver in me.

Suddenly, Zyanna wasn't here anymore.

The shadow of the dancer froze and rapidly disappeared like a clouded crack that was hurriedly painted over with more blackness.

The next second, there was a voice, very close to my ear.

"Wake up, Prince Elijah, it's time you started to wake up." It whispered, fluttering like the beginning of a bow being softly struck against a violin, causing my eyelids to involuntarily shut itself.

But before the blink of an eye, it turned into each string of the same violin being devoured and destroyed by its own bow, as the whisper plummeted into a vehement scream.

~~~

I rubbed my forehead tensely, hardly sensing the taste of the food going down my throat.

Rhea worriedly glanced at me, failing at hiding her frowns at my tense behaviour that she had tried to point out, on more than one occasion since she had joined me for breakfast.

We were sitting in my balcony opposite each other, still in the comfort of my chamber, as I hadn't stepped outside after waking up with trembling fingers and weak, shortened breaths that directly sprouted from that dream.

A nightmare, more like.

"Stop chewing air, and eat up the food like you actually mean it, Eli. I simply cannot stand that look on your face." Rhea muttered with blatant frustration.

I stopped my wild thinking for a moment, and grinned at her. "What look?"

She scrunched her face in mock contempt and pointed her finger at me. "That miserable look that tells me from miles away that you're traumatizing your brain, by making it believe that the whole world is on your shoulders." She picked up the glass of water and took it near her mouth and added, "And trust me, it isn't, so it would do you a world of good, if you'd talk to me and tell me why I found you on the verge of collapsing onto the floor this morning."

I opened my mouth to tell her about what has happened, about what me and Lia had found last night that had left me quite shaken up with bafflement.

Even a little bit of dread came with it, but I definitely wasn't going to let that show.

But, at the last moment, I decided not to. It wasn't Rhea's burden to bear, and she didn't need to be engaged in the matters of my kingdom when she wasn't actually part of it. The sternly loving female was my best friend from when we were very little, and I wanted our memories together to always be like that; untouched by impurities or danger.

I presented her with a nonchalant smile. "It's nothing that needs to incite too much worry in you, Rhea. It's just the usual things, the royal duties and what-not that I've always fussed over, you know that."

"I know many things that you fuss over, but none of them has had you panting on your bed at five in the morning," She leaned forward, encapsulating my hands with hers. "Is it so bad that you can't even tell me, Eli?"

I sighed, pulling my fingers out of her grasp. "It probably sounds silly but I just...I still haven't found the true meaning of love, that I have to present on the day of my crowning. Truth be told, I haven't really been focused on that with the recent events either." I wasn't necessarily lying to Rhea, as that was definitely part of the whole truth. It had just become less important, when as a prince, it was more important for me to take care of my people and my kingdom, especially when they were under threat, rather than solely wanting to take the throne.

Rhea let out a relaxed breath and laid back with an easy smile. "That was it? Eli, you're the only heir to the throne of Yandestine! No one is taking that away from you, you know that right? If you can't find the answer to what you need now, then maybe you would later." Rhea quickly looked away from me, and switched her gaze to the rising sun that looked close enough to touch from where we were. "Besides, who knows what the future holds? You might find the answer to your question in the form of a living female, rather than in just words, right?"

I cocked my head at Rhea, silently questioning the blush that subtly overtook her cheeks, as she hurriedly wrapped her straight brown hair into a bun.

Just as I was about to vocalize my thoughts, the large glass of water on the emerald-green table between us, fell into Rhea's lap, completely wetting her long black skirt in the process.

She immediately got up, shaking her legs left and right, clearly trying to hold in her frustrated whines and groans as Rhea was all about maintaining complete grace and composure regardless of the situation. She's always said that's what her father had taught her, a rule that he apparently never let her forget.

I threw my head back and relentlessly laughed at her, not even trying to hold back until she gave me a testing glare. I shook my head and rose up, rounding the table to stand next to her.

"It was just water, so calm yourself down, Princess." I made her sit back down despite her protests, and picked up a white towel from the table, kneeling down in front of her. "This is probably going to dry out in minutes near the sunlight, but you just can't wait that long, can you?" I started drying her hands that had been caught with the legs, while the corners of the water-soaked skirt were bunched up together and carefully dried by Rhea.

"It isn't just water, Eli. It can keep my skirt wet for a long while, if I leave it out in the cold too long. This is a special skirt as well, with its transparent material and expensive make..."

Her words faded away from my attention, as I thought about what she said.

The prison is very cold too, though the little windows in each cell still let little light shine through. How did the dancer manage to write full-fledged words with the same water, when it should have dried out and disappeared before I even got there?

Water surely cannot be manipulated like that, so how?

The questions my inner voice raised ceased, as I caught the sight of Rhea's dilated pupils staring at me.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I questioned, confused.

Rhea looked down at my hands and then back at me, blinking more than what was normal.

I doubtfully moved my eyes to where she was looking, and that's when I realised what I was unknowingly doing while lost in the process of thinking.

My fingers were slowly moving across her thighs - especially my thumb - in a circular motion. They still were.

"No! Do not stop! Over there, yes, right there!"

I jumped back in utter shock, rapidly retracting my hand with me like it was on scorching fire.

To my surprise, Rhea had sprung away too, two steps behind her chair. "Elijah! That was not me!"

"What?"

"Whatever we heard, it was not me." She said, enunciating every word clearly, trying to look straight into my eyes but failing as her burning cheeks prevented it.

We both haltingly turned our heads in the direction we had heard that voice from, and now that I realised it too, it definitely wasn't Rhea's.

Thank the heavens above for that.

Despite us being within hearing distance, the pair of voices outside my chamber doors still continued, as we walked closer.

"I'm getting slightly dizzy, could I please hold onto something?"

"No! I'm here, aren't I? Just hold onto me! We're getting through this, no matter what. Now, come!"

I didn't even try to take a look at Rhea's face, as I could practically hear her horrified expression from behind me.

I opened the doors, internally arguing with myself as to whether I should cover at least one of my eyes, just in case.

As much as I tried my best to not imagine any scenarios as to what was going on outside, I definitely wasn't expecting what I actually greeted.

Rhea exclaimed in surprise as she came to stand next to me. "What is happening here?"

My sister had one of her hands wrapped around Zyanna's waist, the other holding her right shoulder as they walked forward together. Well, it was more like they were trying as Zyanna seemed to be struggling to keep up with my sister's quick pace but Lia looked determined.

I smiled, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sure you heard Rhea, but what is actually happening here?"

That's when both of them fully realised our presence, their heads shooting up to meet my curious gaze.

I thought I imagined seeing Zyanna's expression of relief, as she subtly pulled away from Lia and tiredly moved to a pillar to lean against it; though knowing my sister's forcefulness at times, I wasn't surprised at all.

"Well, Elijah, one of the healers have advised us to make sure that Zyanna practises her long-term treatments because the bow delivered by who-knows-who, has struck her straight through the back, damaging her spinal cord in the process," Lia straightened in response to my alarmed look, and silently comforted me with a soft shake of her head. "Fortunately, the bow was thin enough to not leave an irreversible aftermath, and they apparently can't do much from now on except encourage her to make sure she exercises and eats full meals every day to get back to how she was before."

I tilted my head. "And she has to practise walking? She was fine without our help yesterday, right?"

That's when Zyanna spoke, waving at me with a 'good morning' before she continued. "I am still not able to freely walk without holding onto my stomach, Prince Elijah. They have also instructed me to practise walking at a pace faster than I currently maintain due to the injuries, and Princess Aaliyah very nicely volunteered, even though I said she didn't have to."

Lia proudly nodded. "I insisted. I could only think of me as the most suitable candidate to help her, and especially after her help last night, I wouldn't take no for an answer."

I rolled my eyes, with a disapproving shake of my head. "And you thought you could help her by screaming and screeching at her?"

"What? I was not screaming! And what are you doing, leaning against a pillar, Zyanna? There is no time to rest! In a week's time, I have no doubt that we can get you running with the cheetahs, so let's go!"

Zyanna's face clearly dressed itself in faint shock, one of her eyebrows arching in doubt, but I could definitely detect a spark of excitement dancing in her eyes too. "Cheetahs? There are cheetahs here?"

"My sister meant it in the metaphorical manner, Zyanna. You have nothing to worry about," I smiled at her, as I walked toward her reassuringly. "I'll take over from here Lia, I'm sure Zyanna would recover better with someone that does not practically blow trumpets in her ears, in the name of instructions."

Lia scoffed, mouthing a 'be careful' to Zyanna, before turning her attention to Rhea, who had surprisingly remained very quiet until now.

"Princess. How have you been? Can I also ask why your skirt is...wet?" Lia's eyes widened cunningly as she stepped closer to Rhea and whispered, "Oh you poor darling, did you have an accident? It's a pity these days what parents sometimes forget to teach their children, isn't it?"

Rhea grimaced, her face trying to hold back from a full scowl as she assessed Lia's form up and down. "My parents haven't forgotten to teach me anything Aaliyah, unless you're willing to teach me what they missed out on? But then, that would put you to shame, as you're knowledge of simply anything lies towards the negative figures, right?" Rhea tilted her head, putting on a challenging stare.

Lia stared back with equal intensity, neither of them giving up to be the first one to pull out.

Several awkward seconds passed, that consisted of me not knowing what to do to break their glaring contest, while Zyanna curiously watched the silent exchange between the evenly strong-headed pair with a delicate smile on her face.

Then, she turned to me and her smile curved upwards. "So if you're going to pull out of your offer to help me 'run with the cheetahs', then you better tell me now, Prince Elijah."

I beamed at her, internally thankful that she was nowhere near the state I had seen her in my dream.

I leaned down, even though there wasn't a significant difference in our height, and whispered with utter certainty. "Don't you worry Zyanna, when I'm done with you, I'll make sure every bit of your body is well tended to in every way possible. Shall we go?"

Zyanna nodded and started walking a step ahead of me, but then she suddenly stopped, turning around to meet my face.

"Though I'm sure I heard you the first time around, could you still repeat what you said?"

I tried not to smirk at her, as I lifted my hand towards hers.

"Long-term treatments, remember? We have to make sure we pay equal attention to every bit of your body, not just the parts that suffered from the injury."

She slowly nodded at me, her eyes looking directly into mine, almost appearing like she was trying to figure something out.

I could have sworn I felt the tiny raise of a pulse as I grasped her wrist, knowingly pressing my thumb on the part where her wrist ended and her palm began.

And mine?

The beats of my pulse stayed hidden to my knowledge, but the beat of my heart; crashing inside me as clear as day, was trapped wherever her smile went.

I could only wish that it stayed trapped, and I'd always have her safe and guarded in my haven.

It was a famous saying, but I had never realised how true it was.

Be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it.

***

Just a little note, though I am very interested the sciences, I'm not too informed on the medical and anatomical parts of it, so I did my best to research on it before referring to injuries and treatments, hehe. So if there's a more informed person in that subject here that just wants to call out anything as complete BS, you can lmao! And then, I can learn as well, but for now, I'm just going to go with the flow, if that's ok everyone. :)

So, a penny for your thoughts on this chapter?

What do we think about our recent addition to Trace: Rhea?

Stay blessed and beautiful,

OceanaCamerons 🌹🌹🌹