Chapter Eight. Misunderstanding.

Both Maria and Alexa screamed on top of their lungs as they clung on so tightly to each other. But no guards came to their rescue even as there were guards at the entrance to the Chambers. They were so terrified Alexa nolonger even cared that she was currently hugging her highness so tight and also on top of not only princess Maria's bed but both princess Maria and the great king's marital bed. Where were the guards?

Alexa was worried because Maria's voice was slowly getting caught and her weight in her hands was getting heavier by the minute. The princess was about to faint due to all the exhaustion from yesterday and the shock that resided right before their eyes right now. She was about to call out for help again when someone walked direct into the chamber. It was the great king himself and right then, Maria's eyes closed and she was falling.... from her grip that had loosened somewhere when the king caught her right before she could fall off the bed. Alexa had a feeling everything was just wrong at the moment.

Darius who had earlier been walking towards the throne room with his forest cat Ramiel trailing him stopped moving when he couldn't trace the cat follow him anymore. He had turned around in time to see him taking a turn around the corner and head straight towards his Chambers and he had tried his best to call the cat back but he refused. No servant could interfere between him and the cat,not even the guards unless it was necessary which had never happened. His cat always kept his peace and only growled a few times when his account with the queen mother went out of hand.

He followed Ramiel who had no plans to halt in his movements to his Chambers and soon enough,he heard his wife and someone else scream out of terror for the cat and he hastened his steps. By the time he reached the chamber, his wife's voice had died down as though she lost all hope before she was falling... the princess had fainted. He didn't know why but his life seemed to have completely taken a wrong turn since he got married.

He hadn't meant to scare her and right now Ramiel who had caused all the commotion stood magnificently on his spot watching them all. He was sure the forest cat meant no harm but the problem was how to explain it to her. The cat was his personal pet that almost always kept him company in the palace. He was used to roaming around and even visiting his Chambers without a problem and he must have done it on impulse today just like all the other days. But could his wife even believe him?

He caught her protectively in his arms and prevented her from falling and her now closing eyes looked up at him before she closed them completely. Everything was a mess right now. He hadn't even forgotten her earlier words earlier when she had said she hated him and then she was so disappointed when she bumped into him last night that she even spat it to his face. And now, here comes another mishap and he didn't even know what was coming this time.

He took her to the other side of the bed and tucked her under the blanket before he looked at her terrified personal maid whom wasn't even aware yet that she was standing right on top of his matrimonial bed and commanded

"Take good care of her" he commanded and left before the maid could even bow to his command. And when he reached where his pet stood,he did the same. "Let's go Ramiel" he said to the cat but he refused to move. "Move" he commanded and the cat finally moved to followed him. Meanwhile Alexa's mouth was hanging wide open with shock she could have fainted the next minute if the animal stayed any longer.

She saw the massive double doors close behind the king but her eyes remained focussed on space before she turned to look at her princess who was in slumber while her cheeks were all marked by the tears from her earlier crying and shouting. She Slowly started to doubt whether herself and her princess would manage to make it out of this palace alive.

....

When Maria finally woke up later in the late evening hours, she let Alexa help her shower and change her cloths without a word. And when a maid brought her food, she quietly ate in silence which made Alexa worry about her lady. Much as Princess Maria was royalty, she never kept quiet at least not in Alexa's company. The princess always had something interesting to talk about to her but right now, she was being so quiet Alexa couldn't help worrying about her. When she was done with her meal, she quietly went back to lay down on the bed and Alexa who had been watching her all the time came to her side.

"My lady..." she called and was surprised to hear her highness's soft voice it was almost a whisper.

"Will we die?" she asked quietly and Alexa's eyes widened before she violently shook her head. "Then what?"she asked slowly and Alexa couldn't help reaching out her hand to hold the princess's hand in a comfort gesture but she halted and retrieved her hand Midway.

"My lady.." she started "It was a misunderstanding.." she explained and Maria's head whipped her way but the princess said nothing. She must have been traumatized by the sight of the cat coming at them. Could she have lost her voice too? " His Majesty didn't imprison me,he wasn't...he wasn't the one holding me captive..." she explained and got her Maria's complete attention. She then explained to her princess how the king back home had captured and held her back when it was time for them to leave after the princess's wedding and then how the great king had come to bring her to his kingdom for her. By the time Alexa was done explaining, Maria who took some time for the information to sink in hardly stopped her mouth from hanging open in shock was speechless.

She had not only defied the great king but also shouted and yelled at him meanwhile accusing him falsely. She was sure he was furious right now and only the heavens knew what was in store for the both of them right now. Was that why he had sent her his big cat? Was he really going to feed her to the wild animal? She felt really scared.

"Then why...why did he come all the way to Marlize and bring you back here?" she asked Alexa who shook her head.

"That he did not say. He just asked for your personal maid and brought me here" she explained.

"And you rode Rosie,a horse on your way here along with him?" Maria asked getting even more shocked at the moment if that was possible and Alexa nodded. "Then is that...is that the reason why he brought his tiger to eat us?"she asked as her eyes were on the verge of tears once again but Alexa shook her head again.

"I don't know if his Majesty has plans to punish us because I haven't heard of it yet. But I have heard that the cat went astray and came here when he had been following his Majesty around. It is said that the cat often comes over to his Majesty's Chambers because he is his personal pet" Alexa explained to Maria who couldn't get shocked any more and just stared into space. So the man even had a forest cat for his personal pet! But she couldn't fathom why he had gone to all the trouble to go back to her father and bring Alexa here to her. Could it be that he knew she was scared of him? Or was it that he maybe cared a little because he had confined her inside the chamber and forbade her from going outside? The man was unpredictable.

Suddenly,Maria felt bad for having accused him falsely. She had talked to him so angrily and even pushed him out of her way without giving him a chance to explain yet he had seemed like he truly didn't know what she was talking about,but she hadn't listened. Instead, she had angrily walked away from him when her own father was the cause of all her predicament. She had blamed him and called him all cruel names in her mind for no apparent reason at all. She was feeling guilty and her heart clenched when she thought about all her behavior towards her husband. He was her husband no matter what and all she was doing was send him farther away from herself.

"D...did he come back here after he had left?" she asked Alexa and she nodded.

"He came back to check on your condition later and he told me not to leave your side before he left" answered Alexa and Maria's heart clenched even more. He had even come back to check on how she was doing! She remembered how he continuously kept on catching her from falling from right back home after their wedding to last night when she had bumped into his hard chest and today in the morning when she had fainted. Much as he was said to be cruel,he never let her fall and always caught her and then he had gone to all the trouble of going back to her father's kingdom to being her her maid and she only paid him back by glaring at him and sending him away. He was the great feared king but he never even shouted back at her when she yelled at him or even punished her. And now, even if he were going to punish her, she knew she had been wrong all along and she would bear with it.

"Is he going to come again?" she asked Alexa who had no answer because she didn't know. But Maria knew that she had to apologize to him for all her childish behavior. She had judged him basing on what everyone said about him instead of listening to him first.