CHAPTER SIX

After Verity was forced into a very heavy, enormous gown, she also had to walk down the hallway, mind you, this hallway was that of this palace that supposedly housed, five families. Due to security, and the King's condition, she had only been informed that the king had a condition, she was not told what it was, the king's court was located at the other end of the palace.

Talk about wickedness.

Since Verity and the palace maid escorting her had already had a fall out, the maid had intentionally not chosen a short-cut.

By the time they got to the court, Verity somehow knew she was going to be reprimanded.

"Why are you just arriving?" The prince that had deemed it fit to ignore her was actually the first one to confront her.

Verity's brows rose on reflex, and she actually threw up a little in her mouth.

Was he doing this here? looking around, Verity saw that not only was the queen looking at here pointedly but then, a whole lot of people she didn't know assumed the conversation happening was free drama and were openly evesdropping. She felt like snapping at them and telling them to mind their businesses.

But pretending to be a lady, she bowed a little while speaking in a voice just above a whisper, "the maid led the route." Actually, Verity wasn't sure that the maid had led her through a long path, but she was a vengeful person, so she did what she wanted- and implicated her.

After a while of silence, Verity looked up surprised that the maid who had earlier been running her mouth was dead quiet and saw her hand that had been joined together shaking. In fact, the maid was shaking all over. Verity immediately felt bile coming up her throat, looking around she saw that most of the other maids were all gloating.

What had she done?

The queen's eyes went from verity to the maid and then back. With her eyes still on Verity, she carried her verdict, "Take this maid away. I don't want to see her head still on her shoulders again!" the Queen's voice was unusually high, and Verity noticed that during the course of their conversation, the maids and all other guests were watching.

Verity shivered. It didn't take counting the number of evil gazes on her to know that she had been set up a big time. Especially since she could feel the prince's eyes boring into her.

Looking right and left in panic as the guards took the maid away, Verity knew somehow, this situation would make her life in the palace worse.

After the incident, they, led by the Queen began their walk into the king's chambers. Verity found it strange that they were not asked by a waiting maid or whatever to wait outside for the king's decision before they made their way into His chambers but then who was she to ask if others thought it normal?

Immediately they stepped into the chambers, Verity felt a shift in the air.

it felt... dark.

The king's chamber was eerily quiet and surprisingly, for a family that was rumored to be more like enemies, there was apparently a tacit agreement to be silent. Verity felt that she seemed to be the only one unaware of whatever was going on.

Like, why was the kings chamber so dark and lonely? And why did it seem like there was no one waiting on him?

And no, her flaming eyes did not give her night visions or the infamous infra-red vision ability and there was no use of torches. They were all just following the queen's footstep in a well-organized path that seemed to have been built for just this purpose.

Verity was guessing she was the only one being led "blindly" seeing as all of them appeared to know where they were going.

As they walked in the dark, cold room, which was getting colder the further they journeyed, her hands were almost gone and no, there were no ice on them- the atmosphere was just dry-freezing her. She could swear that this room was also getting deeper. Not in the sense of length but depth like an underground castle that is usually built for safety.

She wondered what ever happened that they felt the need to build the castle in this manner?

Maybe it had to do with those creatures that they said turned their soil red- the Niamuehs or whatever...

There was a trace of something like bitterness or sadness and some other strange emotions in the air. It felt evil.

She shivered when she felt another wave of air hitting her as though someone actually touched her. feeling scared, she rubbed her arms and looked around. Good God, why did no one ever tell her that carrying this gown was strenuous?

By the time the tension in the air could only be cut with a very sharp blade, they finally reached the end of the tunnel. there was still no light but at least, the queen who was at the front stopped them.

Verity didn't know how the procession did it but they all managed to cut at the right time, so no one barged into another. The trip was a success.

The queen pulled the door away before closing it back, separating us from the king's real or rather personal area while the guards stood at the door to prevent everyone else from entering. Not that anyone in their right mind would even think of forcing their way into this kind of scary place. Verity had a feeling that in this place, you wouldn't even know how you died. Even in the midst of the cold, verity's hands were still sweaty and since her maid had been taken away earlier on, she didn't have anyone attending to her. Yes, she had had only one maid.

After about thirty minutes of standing with heels and heavily loaded with unnecessarily weighty jewelry, the Queen came out of the chamber and Prince Adonis was asked to enter. he too used about ten minutes.

Verity could swear that she had lost the feel of her legs by then and thought "if the other queens and the children are to see the king, she might as well just faint now."

They lined up and continued waiting for instructions from inside the court to enter. It took about ten minutes before the instructions were passed.

During that break, Verity had stolen glances at Prince Adonis to see that he had continued ignoring her. This whole issue had started from him but no, she knew she was the one going to bear it and no one had spoken up for the maid as though everyone was waiting for this day.

Wasn't she the prince's beloved mistress? Verity snickered before turning sober once more, she had somehow caused the death of a fellow human just by speaking. Just how dangerous was this palace?

While she was still in deep thoughts thinking about how she would soon escape this very scary place, she felt someone touch her, turning back to the gathering, she realized everyone was looking at her.

Apparently, she was the one to go inside.

wait, what? why?