Chapter 15

The party continued for about two hours with the singer singing one song after another.

Akshan watched his daughter from a corner.

Mixed feelings grew in his heart.

He hoped, she would understand that the life of royalty was never easy.

He didn't wish for his innocent daughter to be thrown in the tigers' den.

Even if there was a possibility she could make it, even then, he didn't wish for her to suffer.

His heart ached.

Laila on the hand was still dancing beautifully, and even till now, she didn't sweat yet. She had amazing endurance, which made it seem that she danced and trained a lot behind everyone's eyes.

She truly enjoyed dancing.

She loved it.

If it wasn't for her anxiety and overthinking about her beautiful appearance where she hid, she would have taken many kings' and princes' hearts.

If only she was confident. If only she knew her dance was as equally beautiful.

The performers finished with the last song.

They stood in front and bowed their heads as the nobles clapped for them.

Laila was breathing heavily.

This was the first time she danced to her heart's content in front of people.

Everything else seemed to leave her mind.

She was in a good mood.

Suddenly Ahmed stood up.

"The first prince has an important announcement to make to the tribe."

General Ahmed bowed his head at the prince's corner, waiting for him to speak.

But only silence answered him.

He raised his head slightly looking over at the prince's shadow.

The atmosphere grew quiet.

"Prince?" Asked Ahmed as he walked a bit toward Kaysan.

Silence filled the room.

Suddenly his figure paused as he approached the prince.

He was frozen in place for a few seconds which made the people's anxiety raise.

He raised his hands, signaling to the knights behind the nobles.

Aaliyah suddenly spoke quietly. "The announcement will be given tomorrow. Please leave as quietly as you can. Don't you dare make a sound."

While everyone was confused by the situation no one dared doubt her words.

They all took away their instruments and their ringing bracelets and left quietly.

Laila was puzzled by everything that was happening suddenly.

Did something happen to the prince?

She looked over only to find Ahmed's worried expression.

Did something happen to him?

She kept trying to see what happened but she was pushed outside by the crowd.

Ahmed was looking at the prince's sleeping face with both a worried and relieved expression.

This was the first time the prince didn't notice his presence while he was sleeping.

This only meant he was in a deep slumber.

Did he finally have a good sleep away from his curse?

He was glad, but that didn't stop him from imagining worse reasons and being worried for the prince.

He ordered for the hall to be empty.

Aaliyah couldn't say a word to him again.

Ever since the prince showed signs of getting worse they stopped talking much.

It seems like this pained her man greatly.

She waited outside the hall.

Ahmed went out after a while.

As he got out of the door he found Aaliyah.

He couldn't bring himself to talk.

His eyes only fell on her for a moment before he turned to close the door.

She didn't say a word but gently hugged him from behind.

His's hand froze on the door handle.

Her warm hands tightly hugged his chest.

His hand fell as if he didn't have any strength left.

Aaliyah tightly held him, taking a deep breath before letting go.

She turned around to face him.

His head was down, staring at the ground.

Her soft fingers raised his chin to make her look at him.

"It will be okay," she softly said.

He just nodded at her words, not being able to hold eye contact with her he looked away.

She didn't say anything and went to his arms to hold him in her embrace.

"He will be okay," she said again while her hand warmly cuddled his back.

His arms slowly wrapped around her shoulders.

He held her tightly as he placed his head on her shoulder.

---

Laila and the women of her tribe were in the changing room.

She didn't take off her makeup. She stared at the mirror in front of her in a daze.

Swimming in her own thoughts.

Suddenly she stood up and walked to one of them she was close with.

"Tell father that I will be sleeping with Aaliyah tonight." And she ran off.

The woman stared at her confused but Laila was already gone.

She thought that would be enough of a reason as her father knew how close she was with Aaliyah.

The last time she was hurt she was put in her room.

She didn't care about the lie right now.

Please be okay, she kept repeating in her thoughts.

She gradually started running, all the way to the hall where they performed.

She fell on Aaliyah and Ahmed watching the room together, one standing at each side.

Aaliyah's eyes widened as she noticed Laila running to them.

"What's wrong?" She asked her.

Laila was panting, she ran here faster than she thought.

"I, hah," she was trying to catch her breath. "I was worried."

Ahmed walked to their side.

He stared at the tired Laila for a while.

Both the women clenched their mouths shut when he stood before them.

She stood straight afraid of his piercing gaze.

"Why are you here?"

"I-I was just worried about the prince."

"Why?" He asked curiously.

Laila couldn't answer his question.

It wasn't that she didn't want to.

She didn't know the reason herself.

"I don't know," she murmured embarrassedly.

"Leave," spoke Ahmed coldly.

Laila looked down.

Aaliyah held her, "Let's go."

CRACKS!

The three of them froze in place.

That came from inside the hall.

Ahmed disappeared bursting through the door.

He was met with a broken bottle of wine next to his feet.

"PRINCE!" He screamed worriedly looking over the shadowed part of the room.

"Med- medicine..." A growling weak voice came from the shadows.

Ahmed always had the prince's medicine on him.

He ran towards him.

But suddenly another bottle flew into his face.

He evaded closely, but the little wine left in it still spilled on his face which made him stop in his tracks.

"Don't approach me, you will... you will die."

Ahmed activated his magic eyes only for him to be stricken in fear.

The ominous energy emitting from the shadows made him kneel and almost puke from nausea.

Aaliyah and Laila just entered the room they couldn't feel it.

They were met with Ahmed on his knees.

Laila wanted to walk but she was stopped by Aaliyah, who was shivering but still managed to calm herself enough to make a good judgment.

Ahmed struggled, reaching out to a small pocket of his then threw the medicine towards the center of the shadows.

Only after the energy calmed down a bit that he retracted the magic from his eyes, and could finally stand up staggering.

The vile energy kept dissipating.

He carefully walked to the prince.

Aaliyah's heart started beating so loud.

She held Laila tightly and started hurting her but she couldn't bring herself to say a word.

"Leave," spoke Ahmed finally as he saw the prince sleeping again.

He quietly walked up to them not trying to make a noise.

Aaliyah ran to him when he made it past halfway.

She helped him walk away until they left the room.

Laila closed the door behind them.

The atmosphere was quiet.

Laila watched Ahmed's pained expression silently.

"Go, don't worry about it," spoke Aaliyah as she cleaned the wine from her man's face.

Ahmed's face darkened as he quietly stood there.

Laila nodded and left, walking away slowly thinking about everything.

The prince's coarse voice echoed in her mind.

He really is, struggling.

She kept walking staring at the ground until she reunited with the tribe's women leaving the dressing room.