XIV. Secondly

"It was an unfair fight," Nä-ræl began nervously and Rapha was glad he wasn't the one to start the conversation as he was afraid he was going to say something wrong.

"Why do you say that Milady?" Rapha asked curiously.

"He has the blood of Lepalhë running in his veins," Nä-ræl said finally looking him in the eye and dropping her sweaty palms as she was tired of playing with them.

Rapha gave a low chuckle, "I would not exactly call it unfair." He paused checking her reaction and making sure she wasn't offended by his words. Seeing that her facial expression did not change to any expression other than curiousity, he continued. "He is a human after all, he does not have any form of magic. He just has the blood of Lepalhë, the only thing he can do is to lift up the sword with ease."

Nä-ræl nodded solemnly, "That's quite true,"

"Milady, I had better get back to working," Rapha said after minutes passed in silence. Nä-ræl could swear that she saw a glimpse of Time, pass by.

"I had someone cover for you," Nä-ræl said. "Do you mind walking me back to the palace?"

"Not at all Milady," he quickly said, trying not to sound to excited. "It would be a pleasure to do so."

"Very well then," said Nä-ræl gladly and she stretched forth her hand to hold his.

Rapha saw her outstretched hand and his eyes widened in shock as he gulped visibly. He could not believe what he was seeing.

The princess wanting to hold his hand!

Hesitantly, he reached forward and placed his hands in the princess's sweaty but smooth palm and tightened the other hand on his sword.

Nä-ræl's heart thumped loudly against her chest as she squealed internally with delight.

He was holding her hands.

"Shall we," she said, trying to sound formal but it came out as a breathy and choky whisper as she looked up at him.

"We shall," Rapha said. "Milady," he quickly added.

Hands intertwined, they walked away from the lonely hill while Nä-ræl relished the sweet feeling of his surprisingly smooth but large hands.

She looked down at their intertwined hands and wished that the moment would last forever but of course she was reminded that it wouldn't as they approached the centre of the castle grounds which had citizens and servants of Nä-rūnia bustling about.

A few curious glances were sent their way that even though Rapha was enjoying the moment, he fought the urge to withdraw his hands from the princess's.

"Till we meet again," The princess whispered as they approached the gates of the main castle.

"Till we meet again," Rapha muttered withdrawing his palm from hers.

She shot him a small smile and walked in through the main castle's gates that was opened by the guards the moment they saw their mistress approaching.

Nä-ræl could swear that she heard murmurings among the guards and saw expressions that were definitely not blank on their faces as they sighted her with Rapha.

With a heavy sigh, she walked towards the brick stairway and towards the room where she was to meet her parents for whatever meeting they had with her.

Just as she was about to knock on the door as guards weren't situated at that place for some reason unknown to her, the door opened, revealing an angry queen.

*+*+*+*+*

Captain Œrlan walked away from the hill, deep in thoughts.

The eyes.

The outline of the palm.

He and always hated reading but this time he had to.

He had to do some research about what he saw since he was not so sure of himself.

On getting to the palace, he stopped a female servant when he realised he did not know the way to the public library, neither did he know the way to the royal library even though he had been given permission to feel free to go there as he wished.

He truly never read anything!

Knowledge might have been power, but to him, reading was the key to madness.

"Can you direct me to the royal library?" He asked the young woman in his front.

"Certainly," the female said even though she was a bit surprised that he did not know the way.

Even servants knew where it was located!

*+*+*+*+*

Nä-tâshā who was beyond pissed off at her daughter stood up from the chair in which she sat opposite her husband who was sipping a glass of grape wine.

"What nonsense!"The queen exclaimed.

"Perhaps we should wait a little while." The king suggested after a sip from the goblet of wine in his hand.

"I would not wait any longer! I shall go and look for her."

"Send a servant or something dear, don't stress yourself."

But Nä-tâshā had already gone to the door. Upon opening it, she sighted her daughter who had a hint of pink on her cheeks.

"Mother," Nä-ræl began nervously even though she put on an innocent look as if she hadn't done anything wrong or something that required rebuke.

The queen put on one of her infamous withering looks and gestured for her daughter to come into the room.

Nä-tâshā turned her back and walked back to the chair in which she sat previously, trying to keep her calm. She was beyond furious. "Come in and sit," she said through gritted teeth.

Nä-ræl walked slowly towards one of the empty chairs in the room. She smoothed her dress down before sitting down and looked at her parents,waiting for them to speak.

"First of all," Nä-tâshā began. "Where were you last night?"

"Somewhere," Nä-ræl replied. "Secondly?" She asked her mother.

Nä-tâshā sent a glare that could freeze thousands of miles to her daughter. "Rude," she tsked. "That's not an appropriate behaviour for a lady."

Nä-Rüto, sighed. "Can we just get over with this. I am already tired of sitting here."

The queen ignored her husband and asked Nä-ræl where she was again but she received the same answer. Seeing that she was not going to receive any other answer, Nä-tâshā proceeded to ask the next question. "Why did you not come to see us this morning?"

"I had something doing." Nä-ræl said in a clipped voice.

"Something more important than seeing us?"

"Hmm, let me see." Nä-ræl said cocking her head to the left, pretending to be deep in thought. "Yes, more important than seeing you."

"Pray tell me, what may that be?"

"Something of importance," Nä-ræl paused and looked at her father. "Can we just talk about what you summoned me here for?"

The king sighed and rested his head in the table before putting it back up. He looked at his wife who was smiling widely. He was happy that his wife was glad, but on the other hand, he want quite sure how his daughter was going to react.

"We had an important visitor this morning that we wanted you to meet." The king started. "Unfortunately you were not available."

Nä-ræl immediately felt bad for not coming to see her father that morning. She wanted to avoid her mother at all cost even though she knew her mother loved her and was just being over protective since she was her only child. "I'm sorry, I..." She directed the apology at her father and shot her mother a small pleading smile.

"Oh it is alright," her mother said. "We have good news."

"It might not be exactly good news," Nä-Rüto said, as he knew his daughter too well.

"How can you say that!" The queen gasped dramatically placing her hand in her chest. "Of course it is good news!"

"You cannot tell," the king muttered under his breath before taking a sip from the goblet which he held all the while.

"Did you say something dearie?" The queen asked.

"Nothing at all my dear." He paused and looked at his daughter who eyed them bother with curiousity.

"The Duke of Ɓɍunïa visited today along with his son."

"No," Nä-ræl muttered.

"His son, would like to court you for a while."

"What?" Nä-ræl asked in annoyance. Anger radiating from her voice.