Chapter 28

He turned around to face me, his mouth opened to tell me off, words that didn't come out as he clenched his chest, rattled gasps, he contorted in pain. I ran to his aide but Princess Mokomena shielded him away from me. I peered anxiously at his back.

The familiar feeling, remembering the first day I had met him, the sensitivity and the pain laying Within a Prince that looked almost grey that day, I must have not realised it then because I was too young.

"No, Nyambe won't do this to me, he wouldn't dare..."

A voice inside me told me he would. He was a deity after all, one that I dispised.

" He is what you fear...the antidote! you don't have to looked at him to heal him" I could hear great one's voice loud and clear.

" There is no royal antidote." Ah the woman who seemed to know it all.

I was hurting but I managed a smirk for the great one, she was wrong.

I needed a shield for bad luck, I was beginning to think, I attracted a lot of it. I faced once again my journey to the dead, a dark tunnel of misfortunes.

His pain had stopped, he turned around and saw me on the floor.

"What is wrong with her?"

"I don't know my Prince, she must have healed you, isn't that what she does?" My husband's wife was unconcerned, but i must admit I expected more from her. Not as Princess Mokomena but as a human being. I was disappointed in myself for thinking highly of her.

Human snake, it is.

He looked​ at me, with my breath in low rattling gasps.

My piteous outlook must have overwhelmed him, he carried me off of the floor and took me to my chamber. Princess Mokomena on his heels acting kind.

" Lay her here, my Prince, I'll tend to her personally".

" Why would you do that? am well aware you two do not get along, So why are you kind to her now?"

" We may not get along, but she is your concubine. It is my duty to take care of everyone in this premise".

Prince Sepo looked at her suspiciously. He shook his head violently.

" She has a handmaiden, leave it for her to deal with."

He said looking at me with a hint of concern that quickly disappeared and he walked away.

Princess Mokomena found great joy in Prince Sepo's hate towards me. The realisation that, I can never get her place had given her enough joy as it was, but the hate was even better.

*******

The moment I saw Kuku, I broke down.

"See what you have done to me, isn't this enough? now I have to die because of my husband?"

" What are you saying Zae".

"I hea...led hi...m in..volun...tarily" I cried "

"that's not possible, he is a royal" Great one said.

I looked at her with crazy eyes

" What you say to me has never been of interest to me, everything is just useless.Shuting your mouth will save you face."

"Zae!!!" Kuku shouted

"No!!! Zae nothing"

" Am going to die, and it's all your fault...You ruined my life." I made it so she could see the hate in my eyes.

" She is getting worse, this child." Great one sneered.

" Let her be" Kuku warned. The Great one She hadn't expected Kuku to take my side and her command just left her dumbfounded.

It was the first time, Kuku had told the great one off for me.

" Why am I the only with an Antidote?"

I have lost a lot at a young age, when I saw a little light, I went for it but it was taken away, I have worked hard to have it back. But why is that light aiming a knife on my throat. That's not right, it's not right Kuku..." I cried.

" Zae am sorry"

" I don't need it, your sorry, I don't need it. Make it so I can live. I want to live Kuku, I don't want to die..."

" Then don't be intimate with the man and you won't die, it's that simple".

The great one looked impressed with herself, like she had solved a question worthy​ of a diamond monument.

The audacity.

I could kill the dead woman again. She was so obnoxious for my respect.

But she was right, Prince Sepo's seed growing inside me is what will kill me, not the actual relationship. Hope surged through me but i couldn't be happy about it either. Nyambe had made sure of that.

I woke up three days later. To my surprise, Namakau had told me even though Prince didn't come to see me, he had asked her to report my condition twice a day.

I still loved him, I couldn't hate him even if he was going to end up killing me. I had cheated death, consummating our marriage and living to see the next day, but, now they are saying, I'll die anyway. It wasn't his fault and I knew that well.

"Hand me my bag, bow and arrows and my staff. Did anyone come to look for me to heal them?"I asked walking across the room to the window.

" Yes" she answered " A woman from the village opposite the naji river came sorting for her husband's healing."

" what did she say her name is?".

" She didn't say, she did say that she will come again in two nights and that is supposed to be today".

" Hand me my things, I'll go to the forest to pick herbs, if she comes, you can just tell her to wait for me".

Namakau handed me the things and I  started my journey in to the forest. The forest I now knew like the back of my hands.

The leaves rustled in greeting. I inhaled and closed my eyes. There was a peace and a calmness to the forest that I couldn't understand.

It was overwhelming.

I continued with my journey into the dense thicket of it.