Chapter thirty two

°What to do°

Lately zila went out of the mansion regularly, he and Bianca had gotten alot familiar with one another and though she had no Idea of the place he occupied in the palace, she never asked they always walked around at night and during midnight they go back to their separate lives.

"Why do you always come here at night?." she asked one night

"Because I'm not supposed to be seen."

"Wait are you a ghost? I'm I the only one who can see you?."

"ha! you wish am something more like a werewolf."

"Haha nice try those things doesn't exist."

"What about witches."

"Those are just stories people made up." they both continued their talks. With time Bianca became dependent on Zila emotionally she spent her day thinking about him and night waiting for him, she would find it to be normal as he was her only friend right now and not to forget he saved her life even if he was the one who pushed her. Lately he was the one she always confined in, as since the visit to the palace Becky's brothers had been busy traveling from one place to another to ensure the order passed from the king was adhered to as they wouldn't want to be arrested, Becky on the other hand had gotten back with Mr locksmith son but still didn't like Bianca, though she tried to coexist with her in peace but none of them were interested in her feelings.

°*•

At the palace in the morning

Claire made her way to Zila's room, lately he had been avoiding her, whenever she came around he found ways to make her leave, the last time they had a little talk, from the way he spoke she could sense a distance which hasn't been there before now he was limiting the connection between the both of them and it was really heart wreaking, she couldn't believe the shy and naive prince which she could manipulate easily was now able to out smart her.

Claire knocked on Zila's door as she made her way in to see him all dressed up and relaxed playing with a silver dagger swinging it from side to side.

"Going somewhere?." Claire asked as she stood in front of him.

"Later in the day." he replied as he looked out the window to check if the clouds were out.

"Hmm you leave quit often lately." Zila didn't reply and just gave her a quick look before turning back to the window. Feeling bad of being ignored she gave a fake cough before suggesting "How about we leave together today?." zila turned to her with a raised brow and she said "I mean we go out the palace probably to hunt or do what you do when you leave the palace at night."

"Claire I suggest you go alone."

"w-why?."

"Cause I'm not interested."

Claire stared at zila she bit her lips having an angry look as she tried to push back her tears "What did I do to you zila, why do you always treat me this way for the past weeks I've been trying to get close to you and probably rebuild what we have but all you do is avoid me why?."

"Claire what closure? we never had a closure all that existed was your deceit and manipulation Claire and you know I know that and I also know you! know that."

"You know that's not true we dated." she gritted her teeth in anger and shame.

"What's this game you and your family are trying to play huh? isn't it enough that your brother is going to be my brother in law huh you refer to the past connection as though we had real closure should I refresh that memory of yours Claire you manipulated my parents into thinking we liked each other and above that you had to cut your alliance with Fredrick at the ball disgracing him and making everyone believe he was a pervert for touching you at the ball!."

"But he was." Claire began to cry so zila would feel sorry for her but Zila wasn't falling for that today "No Claire your just a born liar, you take my silence to all your actions as blindness but let me refresh that retarded brain of your, that's if you have any. You and Fredrick were seeing each other before you blankly lied to both our parents that we were seeing each other after the kiss which You! instigated, have you no shame coming back here every now and then trying to get what you can't, don't you understand when you're not desired at all why do you tarnish the reputation giving to feminism why chase a man who doesn't desire you." zila said as he now stood from where he had been sitting and hovered around her. Claire was shocked by the way Zila spoke to her, she knew she had been disturbing him lately and it might have been irritating but Zila wasn't one to speak too much for all she knew this was the longest they had spoke even back then when they were little when she had kissed him and lied to everyone that he had kissed her and they were now a couple, he had been quite then, he never spoke a word though he was surprised by how she lied and she saw it in the way he looked at her he never said a word and when he had called off the entanglement with her he had told her why he didn't rebuke her that day was because it would question her character and the people won't see her the way they used to especially his parents and it would be shameful so he had taken the accusations quietly. Claire stared at zila before saying "You can't blame me for desiring you I..I'm in....I have emotions too and yes I did make Frederick look like a pervert but I hadn't done it intentionally I was petrified and-."

"Can you listen to yourself Claire that man spent nights in the dungeon because of your false allegations if I hadn't helped he would still be there and you know it."

"He didn't deserve me zila I had giving my heart to someone else."

"And yet laid with another how convincing."

"Why are you doing this zila why are you bring up the past."

"Please claire." zila said in a calm yet warning tone. Claire was shocked by the uncoated words that came from zila right now and she was sure he was just in a bad mood "I think you have alot right now and you must be overwhelmed with the work with the council as well as all the lesson you take from your father I'll come back later and maybe we could try again."

"No Claire, no there isn't going to be a next time, don't come back to my room uninvited you have lost that right, now leave."

"Zila I-."

"I wouldn't want to repeat myself." Zila said as he pointed the door, Claire stepped out and closed the door behind her, she stared at the man standing at the door with nothing but anger, she didn't know why zila was saying all this to her and she doesn't know how he had found out about Fredrick and her relationship.

"Good morning princess Claire." Yan greeted as he was oblivious of her mood or didn't care at all as this was the face she carried everytime, she stared at him and scoffed as she walked away muttering insults at him. Yan pushed the door open and saw zila sitting by the window "You look so peaceful someone could mistake you for a dove right now but judging from the person who left I know your boiling up."

"At last the wolf has found his way back to his pack."

"Ofcourse he would as there's no other pack i'ld like to be in but still wolves are disgusting think of a better mockery my friend."

"How was your trip?."

"It ended on a quiet note, we silenced the offender, regained our boarders with ease I wonder why the witches try so hard to invade us how do they even get to the east easily."

"They get there through the Poland border through which they connect to the spring island cross the bridge and there you go they arrive at our border." zila said as he smiled at Yan.

"Hmm well that means I'll have to ask the king to cut off the border that links to the spring island."

"That won't be possible."

"Why?."

"You've heard about the sinking ships right, if the spring border bridge is destroyed there's no way materials can be distributed to the other side of the kingdom."

"Ahh that's true so how long do we have to bare this invasions?."

"jazzer said they believe we were the ones that abducted their leader." zila ran his finger through his dagger. "Wait the lady with white hair and eyes that came to the palace that night at the king's celebration?."

"Yeah that one."

"I heard they still feel her so why can't they find here."

"Yeah, they believes she is in tremendous pain, she's alive but no one knows where she is? what they do know is she's in pain and very weak."

Knock!knock!

The both men turned towards the door to see aliz make her way inside. "What do you want?.'' zila said as he stared at her, Aliz stared back at him with the same intensity "I came to inform you that it's time for breakfast."

"Your not a maid so why bother." Zila said as he stared at his sister in anger.

"Well you'll usually say get out and then comes the vase throwing." Aliz said as she stared at Yan who avoided looking at her for long, deciding to be the bigger person she said "It's been a while Yan how was the trip?." Aliz said trying to reduce the tension they both felt. ''Oh please what do you know about war." zila rolled his eyes.

"It was successful as always miss- princess aliz." Yan said both zila as well as his sister was surprised by the formality which he used, zila chuckled softly as he threw his face to the window as Yan added "Congratulations I heard you and Derin has decided to tie the knot." and with this he stared at her straight in the eye as he tried to look for a little bit of doubt at least to tell him she wasn't going through with it, zila who had been smiling as he looked at the window his smile faltered as the topic which he hated the most had been brought up, he didn't know what Derin had done to his sister but it was evident that she wasn't going to call off this alignment, he had tried talking her out of it and at a point it felt like he was hindering her choices so he stopped and promised himself to still protect her even if she get married to derin, he would ensure to put the man straight if he dared to hurt her feelings but Aliz wasn't an open person she wouldn't speak up.

"Thanks." she said as she looked at Yan a little while longer before turning around to leave. Yan bit hard on his inner lips as the pain he felt was unexplainable "Why did she agree to marry him after all we found out and all she had said then?."

"I don't know Yan, I feel she is hurting or probably avoiding something but I wonder what it could be, I tried everything to get her back to her senses but she made up her mind."

"Mmh I think we should go join them for breakfast I'm sure it's the king who had sent her." Yan said as he stood up. "I'm right behind you." zila replied.