Chapter Five. Herself

King Darius took elegant long strides of steps through the palace halls towards his Chambers making heads turn in his direction wherever he passed. It was because it was very rare to the great king lose his composure or even walk with such urgency in the palace unless there was a crucial imergency inside the palace or when there was preparation for a battle to come sooner than planned. His face as straight as always,he walked without a single word to anyone as he already knew what he needed to know. He had asked a maid earlier where his wife was and she had answered that the princess was still in their Chamber. It seemed she had decided to obey and keep his commands.

He opened the doors without waiting for the guard to open them for him when he had his own hands and barged inside only to find his wife standing restlessly in the chamber as she paced back and forth. She also looked to be not in the best of moods as there was something close to agitation on her face but his first concern was whether she was alright and he sighed with great relief as she seemed to be in perfect condition except for her agitated expression. She stopped pacing when she noticed his arrival and turned to look at him without a change in her expression.

"You..." She accused,her eyes narrowing. "where is she? What did you do to Alexa?" she demanded, accusation clear in her voice and he just stared at her with confusion as he couldn't even understand what she was talking about.

"Answer me" she commanded. "Where did you put my maid? What did you do to her?" She was now on the verge of yelling and he was confused even farther.

"What do you mean?" he finally asked but she glared at him with detest clear in her eyes.

"Don't even try to fool me" she warned. "I want my maid given back to me. Now!". She commanded him once again and he was torn between surprise and confusion. No one ever dared command him like that in his life. Not even the queen mother! And there she was not only accusing him of something he neither knew about nor understood but also repeatedly commanding him! He stared at her completely dumbfounded.

"Give me back my maid. I want Alexa back. I want her back to me.."She sobbed and sat down against the wall once again hugging her knees but his feet moved on their own and he went and bent over to help her up and make her explain to him whom Alexa was,but the moment his hand reached out to touch her, she stopped him Midway.

"Don't touch me" she hissed with anger. "Don't ever come close to me if you don't give me back my maid. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you" She yelled as she sobbed and he froze meanwhile she got up and pushed him back out of her way before she ran to the bathroom and banged the door behind her with a loud thud. He could hear her continue sobbing before he finally turned around and left the room in a much more hurry than the way he came,not at all minding the way heads kept turning at the sight of the way he was walking towards the queen mother's Chambers.

....

Maria sat down leaning her back against the huge wardrobe and sobbed. She continued to sob for a long time before she finally left the bathroom to go back to the bedroom with her eyes already red and swollen. She lay down on the bed and clung the blanket to herself as silent tears continued to flow down her cheeks. She couldn't believe fate actually turned out this sour for her. First,her own father sold her to a ruthless king in exchange for pieces of fertile lands, next her new husband kept shouting and scaring her and now even her only maid,her only friend had been taken away from her.

She could only imagine what must be happening to her Alexa if she was even still alive. How could he call himself a husband after making her go through all this hell? She wondered what great sin she could have committed for God to 'bless' her with such men in her life. First her own father and now her husband. Her maid Alexa was gone. The only person that always managed to bring a smile to her face even when she was at her lowest of spirits.

Did the ruthless king really have to be this cruel even to his own wife? Why? She continued to sob for so long until she just fell asleep after she had dismissed the maid that had come to coax her to have her lunch as she had not had her breakfast. She wasn't hungry. She just couldn't believe how her life had ended up taking such a turn.

When Maria woke up later that evening,a maid came and showed her the rest of the part of their Chamber. Maria wasn't interested but one thing caught her attention. There were two smaller separate Chambers at the other end of the large chamber that they shared, somewhere Darius hadn't taken the initiative to show her. Why would he anyway? He was the great king after all.

The maid also explained to her that each one of the both of them had their respective chamber of the two smaller ones with one on the left being already occupied as it was her husband's while the one on the right was for her. Maria sighed even as it wasn't a sigh of relief. She at least had a good way to avoid her husband from now on. She would make sure to keep her distance.

And she quickly moved into her personal chamber without even asking herself why the maid was suddenly showing her all this, something which was meant to be done by her husband. Even if it was only for the mean time as she was sure the cruel king would simply command her to come back to him whenever he wanted, she would make good use of the mean time that she had and keep away from him. After all he had commanded her not to go anywhere without his permission like she was a small child,but he hadn't included their Chambers among that 'anywhere' that he mentioned. And with that thought, she entered her personal chamber and locked the doors behind herself. The maid had explained to her that there was a bathroom,a small library and a bed inside the chamber. She was sure she could definitely keep to herself for some time in here.

.....

When Darius left their Chambers,he headed straight to the queen mother's Chambers and barged inside unannounced. Seeing him, the other woman who had been sitting calmly sipping on a cup of tea considered putting down the cup she was leisurely holding in her hand before she finally took her time to stand up and approach him.

"What a surprise, 'king' Darius!" She exclaimed falsely as she put emphasis on the word king as though it meant something else to her. " But you are welcome my dear son. Am glad you finally remembered your mother and chose to come to her instead" She exclaimed calmly with a smile plastered on her lips. But Darius hadn't come here for pleasantries and she could see that, even as she ignored it.

"Where is she?" He asked straight to the point as ever but the woman raised an elegant brow at him instead before she laughed sacastically even as Darius remained at his spot with his unfathomable expression.

"Whom?" she finally asked keeping her mirthless smile in place. "Don't tell me your bride of just yesterday ran away very early this morning!" She exclaimed and laughed again as Darius just stood there and watched her closely. "I warned you, didn't I? My dearest son! But you chose to act as the 'great King Darius that you are" she added with a sacarstic chuckle and Darius who had been watching her for enough time now lost it. In no time at all he was holding her by the neck, pinning her to the wall before he glared at her and demanded..

"Tell me where you put the girl, queen mother" he snarled and the previously smiling queen mother noticed the danger at hand just then and decided to get right to business.

"What are you doing? Let go of me" she whimpered as she tried her best to move his powerful hands from the deadly position, blocking her wind pipe.

"Darius,let go of me you ginger head. What are you doing?" She continued as her attempts were proving futile yet she was running out of oxygen.

"Tell me" he commanded,rooted to the subject.

"Alright Alright.." she gave in. She had to save herself first and sure enough, Darius loosened his inhuman grip on her surely damaged neck and she managed to gulp in a few deep breaths of air but he didn't let her go completely. He glared at her and that was enough to tell her there was no time left to play and she had to spill the beans no later than now, otherwise the monster could kill her without a second thought.

"I don't even know what you are talking... No ...no. I don't know. I...I swear on the throne,I don't know anything" She swore as Darius tightened his grip on her neck once even more than the first time the moment her sentence was going where he saw her denying what he was asking. What was wrong with the ginger head?Did someone kidnap his wife? But who would dare, except for herself? She thought curving her lips at the corner as she watched his retreating back heading the way he came before she clutched her neck with both hands and yelled for the damned maid to come in an instant.

The son of a bitch had been too hard with her neck. What exactly was wrong with him today. But still there was news good enough to rejoice about, and she would make sure to order for the most expensive bottle of wine in the palace to be brought to her and have it just outside his Chambers in his own garden to celebrate. But before she could do that, she had to attend to her bruised neck first.