To Bewitch a Devil

30 Are you mad?

He took the cloth and dipped it into the bowl of water and patted the red bruise on her face with it. Neera grimaced when the wet cloth came in contact with her skin.

”Sorry, does it hurt too much?” Zavian asked in a tender tone, and Neera shook her head. She was surprised at his reaction.

She thought that he would get mad at her for how she spoke to him, but he instead became more affectionate. Now she thought about it; she must have been crazy to have spoken to the king like that.

What if he really killed her?

Neera gulped as she thought of his claws in her chest, squeezing her tiny heart and pulling it out.

Although she wanted to die, she didn’t want to die in such a painful gut-wrenching manner. When Zavian finished wiping her face, he pushed her hair behind her ears, and looked in her eyes;

Neera avoided his gaze. He was sitting too close, and his eyes drowned hers when she stared at them, so she looked away.

The room was totally quiet; not a sound was heard. Neera looked everywhere in the room but at Zavian. She was getting nervous with how he was staring at her and how quiet he was.

Zavian looked at the girl and his eyes trailed down to her lips, and he remembered what Lilah’s tasted like. She was like a drug, like an addiction; even to this day, he could still remember what she felt like.

.....

He wanted to feel them again in his mouth; he wanted to hold her, badly. Zavian’s throat knotted as he struggled against his fleshly desires.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and Zavian came to his senses. Standing up, he walked to the door and opened it. Three servants walked in with trays of food and placed them on the table.

After they left, Zavian shut the door behind them.

Walking to the table, he sat down. ”Come and eat,” he said.

Ordinarily, Neera would have hesitated; but she was famished. Without a second thought, she stood up and went to the table, sitting down opposite him. She waited for Zavian to eat before she took a plate and served herself; ”thank you. ” she said.

Zavian did not reply; he just continued to eat.

They ate quietly for a while; then Zavian asked; ”Do the court maids treat you badly?”

He asked, and Neera stopped eating for a minute, and then she shook her head;

”It is not their fault. Anyone would treat me badly,” she said, a sad smile forming on her lips before she continued eating.

Zavian looked at the girl sitting in front of her. Even when they treated her poorly, she did not still blame them for their actions. She found a way to shift the blame to herself; he wondered how much she had already given up on life for her to be that way.

”From now onwards, you will only answer to me, do you understand?” he said, and Neera looked at him.

”I will get in a lot of trouble, Your Majesty,” she said, panic on her face, as she looked at him.

”Do not worry about that. I will address it.” He said, there was still panic on Neera’s face, but she did not say a word.

Zavian knew what to do, and no one dared go against his orders.

After dinner, Neera begged that she wanted to stay with the others, and Zavian let her leave. She hid some food and went to look for Pen.

Going back to the washing area, she saw that Pen had finished rinsing the bedsheets and had hung them to dry. Hurriedly, she walked back to the maids’ room.

Pen was dressing her bed and about to lie down to sleep when she came in. When she saw her, she jumped from the ground;

”Neera! ” she called, walking to her. ”Neera, what happened? Where did they take you?”

She asked, looking all over her, making sure she was alright.

”It was the king, he sent for me. ”

”Oh, thank God. I thought it was Freya. But why did he send guards to come get you?”

Neera sat down on the bed, opening the piece of cloth which she had used to tie the food. ”He called me earlier, but I did not go to him. ”

Pen’s eyes widened; ”You did not answer the king?! Are you mad?!”

”Now I think about it, I think I was mad. I was ready to die at that time, but now, I don’t want to die anymore. Well not by a demon’s claws anyway. This is for you. ” she chuckled, handing the food to Pen.

”Well, I guess everything turned out fine, seeing that you could bring food to me.” Pen said with a smile as she ate the meat.

”Yeah, maybe... the King said he was going to address my ill-treatment, so I guess from now onwards, I won’t be maltreated anymore. ”

”Oh my God. That is good news. Yes! Finally! And no one dares go against the king.” Pen exclaimed in excitement as she chewed on a chunk of meat. ”but will the king be able to control his sister?”

She asked, a worried expression on her face;

”Well; ” Neera sighed; ”if the King’s sister is the only one I have to deal with, then my burdens will be greatly relieved; but I think he will talk to her. I hope she listens. ”

Pen smiled, and she squinted her eyes at her friend; ”the king cares about you, a little too much. At this rate, he’ll soon fall for you.”

Neera widened her eyes; ”I was not present when you made those words.” she said, looking around and making sure no one overheard Pen.

Now she had eaten; she had forgotten the pain from the slap and all the work she had to do earlier that day. The king had assured her that she won’t be punished unduly again, so she was fine, for now at least.

”Thank you for helping me out with the bedsheets. ” Neera thanked Pen.

”Oh don’t mention, but Freya is indeed heartless to punish you for what the King did. Was it your fault that he chopped off the hand of that demon?”