Solomon

I woke up to the feeling of choking. My eyes open and I grab my throat on instinct. I try to swallow but the feeling is indescribable as if a rock was ledged down it and stuck there. I push myself to the edge of the bed and end up falling to my hands and knees on the ground. I heave frantically.

I crawl to my desk and find my book. Pulling it to the ground in front of me but I grab the wrong one. I find the hard cover of the book that I end up coming in contact with. I drop it to the floor and my eyes do not focus on the writing as I sift through the pages for what I need. I end up sobbing out loud, making it harder for me to breathe. I fist my hands and collapse to my side.

I hear the door squeak open. I try to lift myself to see who is there but I do not hear any more footsteps. I watch as a man comes up to me and bends down to me.

"My Queen," a familiar voice roughly says. "You are unwell."

I grab my throat. "Help," I whisper with air.

He grabs the book and flips through it. "What are you looking for?"

"Reverse poison," I try to speak.

He flips through the pages quicker than I could ever. I glance up at his appearance, my eyes focusing for just a few seconds for me to grasp the details of his pale skin, his eyes white and skin sunken against his bones. My eyes fall on his neck which had stitches embedded in his skin.

I realized this the man is supposed to be six feet in the ground. My brain fuzzes and I groan, unable to keep my eyes open.

The man speaks, "Queen, I found it." He sounds far away and I can barely keep myself conscious. I feel cold hands grab my head. "No," he hisses.

"Solomon. Oh gosh," my lips say his name in a hush. My eyes push open and I cry out again.

"Here, here." He holds the book in front of me and I can focus on the words he's pointing at. I'm able to read it enough to hold onto it.

I murmur words under my breath in a slow rhythm. Barely able to push my power into them. I feel a pain strike through my head. My eyes shut again in pain.

"I will take you to your people," he suggests.

"Not yet."

"You need to be safe."

I feel like I can breathe more freely without the rock down in my throat. I relax, my body feels drained from the intensity.

He speaks again, "Let's lay down then."

I grunt unladylike when he tries to help me up, my limbs extremely weak. I pant like a dog and force myself to push up. I grab onto the cold body of Solomon and he helps me walk to the bed with his confusing strength.

"How are you alive?" I question, more to myself than him.

"You had awoken us."

I collapse into the bed, my chest rising and falling. I answered him with, "I had not done a thing to awaken your dead bodies."

"You had spoken the spell, my Queen."

I glance at the floor. "May you pick my books up and lay them on the desk for me? I do not want them to be ruined."

He shifts over to them and grabs them off the floor. He lays them softly onto the table and turns back to me. "We need a ruler."

I put my hand to my head. "They will kill me if they find out I am a Queen of.." I stop speaking and shake my head.

"Of course, we understand that."

"All of your bodies are unburied," I whisper to myself. "I am risking the kingdom."

"The Prince has been trying to contact us. Though, he has summoned the outer world."

I look at Solomon closely. "What are you saying?"

"The bodies that are far from here are gathering elsewhere."

"Elsewhere," I repeat.

"Yes. We have had to fight a group we come in contact with," he explains.

Someone knocks on the door and I jerk my head toward the sound. "Go into the bathroom and do not make a sound."

He nods and doesn't make a sound as he enters the bathroom and leaves me to handle whoever is outside my door.

They knock again. "Tanda?" the Prince asks from the other side of the door.

I want to disappear and sleep but eventually, I pull myself to the edge of the bed and walk up to the door. Before I could even open it, the door swung open, making me stumble backward and fall to my bottom. I gasp, huffing for air. I grab my throbbing head as another shooting pain stabs it.

"Tanda," the Prince says. I look up and glare my eyes. He just stares at me in a type of way that makes me want to scold him for acting this way toward me.

"You should not just open a door," I scold angrily.

He closes it behind him. He still stares at me. I try to stand but collapse back to the floor. I anxiously breathe hard again and lean forward.

"May we have a light in here?" he asks.

"I do not care. Go ahead."

He moves toward a candle and the room lights with the candlelight. I try again to get up. My body feels heavier than normal and I push myself up. I almost get to the bed before my foot stumbles. Arms grasp my waist securely. I lean in for support and I stay there for a moment to feel for my balance again.

"Are you doing okay?" the Prince inquires.

I push myself to get to my bed and collapse against it again.

"Did you eat?"

I murmur my suspicion, "I believe someone poisoned me."

The Prince stands in front of me. I reach up to rub my face and freeze mid-touch. I feel the sinking feeling rising in me, the panic. How could I forget? Years I had not let it slip and I end up having this experience and I just forget everything I've kept hidden.

I look up and his eyes are trained on my face. I grimace. "Stop looking at me. I know of my scar, Prince. I wear it because I have been a warrior."

He glances away. "Is this why you cover your face?"

I pull my hood over my head.

"I will assume you are not in the mood for dinner," he concludes.

"I need you to leave," I command him.

He shifts toward me and moves closer to where he is standing in front of me. "I will be here for you."

"You just find me as a game that you cannot win," I replied angrily.

He laughs, his voice echoing in the room. "You think I find you a game to play?" he asks me. "We are equal, Tanda. Can you not see that? I have told you this."

"I cannot marry you if that is what you are suggesting."

He grabs my wrists and pulls me closer. I try my best to pull away but he just tightens his grip. "I could make you happy. You will decide to come to me one day and I will be waiting. My father likes you and speaks so highly of you."

I gaze up at his leaning body. Staring into his eyes. He finds my own. I'm weak and vulnerable to his actions and words. One of his hands frees my wrists but keeps a tight hold on them with the other and reaches up to pull my hood off my head. My eyes close and I turn my head away from him, facing him with my scarless side.

His warm breath caresses my chin, his lips graze it and I lift my own hand and grab his chin, his stubble prickling my skin. His warmth seeped into my cold hand and warmed my insides. I part my lips and turn my head back to him. He stares into my eyes so intently that speaks nothing. I watch his dark eyes spark with something that I cannot be sure of. I let my hand fall to his mid-chest. Desire now swirls in his eyes and is something that I haven't seen in years.

The emotions rise and hit me like a hard current. I gasp, and my hand is removed to cover my mouth from the sob that dares to escape.

"Leave," I whisper. "Please."

"I need to escort you to a doctor."

"I do not need a doctor right now! I need rest."

He steps away from me, letting me go. "I will see how you are in a few hours."

"You should not waste your energy on me," I advise him.

"Goodnight, Tanda."

"Sleep well, my Prince," I answer as he turns and leaves me. Solomon comes out a few minutes later.

"Perhaps it would be best for you to have something with the Prince," Solomon suggests.

I disregard the idea. "You must hurry and leave in case the Prince decides that guards are necessary at my door." I laugh humorlessly at the remark I made.

"As you wish." he bows before leaving my room and returning to wherever he had come from.

I groan out in frustration and grab my head. What has happened to my lifeless life? Filled with endless death and sadness and now I am trying to give myself life then I am given poison? Poison.. My thoughts trail after who would want to harm me. It makes no sense who would want that.

I close my eyes and try to lull myself to get some sort of rest but I lay awake as my thoughts wrap their way around my mind like a plague, sickening my conscience.