Chapter Three

Immediately her mother got behind her back, she unclenched her palms which she had folded a couple of minutes ago. There were fire glowing which was bigger than the one it exhibited earlier. It blazed like it needed to kill to survive, as the flames continued to burn higher.

Everyone stood there as if transfixed to the ground and not being able to move. She raised her hands towards her siblings and the fire circled around them.

" Are you out of your mind Lina!' Her father said, his face leaving the shocked expression it carried to anger. It was evident enough that he was boiling inside but he could do nothing about it. He tried to move but he could not and he looked at his other wife, the second queen with shame in his eyes.

" Father are you not going to bring us out?" Amelia asked, as tears started to drop from her eyes. Her hands were all over her body as if she was dancing to a hip up music. She turned to her brother with nothing but panic in her eyes.

Oh yes, she was panicking! She didn't know how to save her younger brother. She felt it was her responsibility to take care of him and now she had failed. And both their parents had failed them too.

Queen Lora, who was still shocked about the turn of things came back from her other world. It was then that hot tears started to stream down her face, messing up the heavy make-up she had applied earlier.

" Lina you have to set your siblings free right now!" She said, her heart heaving up and down. " You wouldn't like what would happen to you if you don't."

" And what if I don't?" Lina retorted, her eyes equalling to the ones she was receiving. " Do you think that after all these that I will be afraid of you?"

Damn the threat!

Queen Lora's anger escalated and she turned back to the king. Meanwhile the king was staring into space, recollecting how everything had happened. Just the fact that the child he hadn't born was causing so many tantrums and damages was enough to eat up his spirit.

It had been a long time when, the very beginning of his troubles.

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She came running to me, her eyes beaming with joy. I remember that she was very gloomy and seemed to be rather in a haste. She was running like a nobody, forgetting she was the queen and everyone looked up to her.

I was glad that she was happy and I stood there still waiting to hear the good news from her. I was ticking off the time in my heart by the beating of my heart. I felt somehow odd, both a feeling of happiness and something creepy. The latter hung longer still and I couldn't just wait to hear her good news, if it would be good news to me.

Finally, she stood before me. She looked into my eyes before hugging me tight, oblivious of the servants around. I wrapped my hands around her body, noticing the shaky tension it showed. Then my suspicion aroused but I stood still, waiting for her to spill the beans.

After what seemed like ages, which were barely minutes she loosened her grasped and rubbed her face. All these while, my heart had been beating harder than supposed and she seemed not to have noticed. I still resolved to be told first, before making inquires.

" I have good news." She began, her back palm rubbing her right eyes. I took it from her before placing it at her side. She should know better than to behave in this manner. She was the queen, the mother of their people and she ought to have behaved in the likes.

" Are you listening?" She said, her eyes searching mine. Now it seemed my tolerance had run enough for I was beginning to boil enough to beat the sun in a competition.

" Must I say I am before you begin?" I said to her, before shooing the servants away. I should have done that earlier.

" You didn't act like you are excited." She replied, her voice getting hold of the steady edge. I continued to look at her, perplexed on what to say. Here I am dying to hear the good news she said she has and also having the uncertainty that something might be wrong somehow and she's complaining about me not being excited.

That's bullshit!

" You got good news, what is it all about?" I said, my voice betraying the emotion on my face. I guessed she recognized it and that was why fear appeared in her eyes.

" I am pregnant." She said, as my world suddenly stopped moving. What I feel right now is a bundle of joy, the joy of being a father. I immediately gave her a tight hug, and we stared like that for the next twenty minutes with me kissing all over her face.

" Wait. Please wait." She said, as she slowly moved away from me. I knew that instant that the cause of the shallowness at the pit of my tummy was about to be told and I held my breath waiting for it.

" Okay." I told her, as I continued to stand in a lone place while watching every expression that showed on her face.

" Thank you." She said, pausing to swallow her saliva. " You remember the day I cried this week over the fruit of the womb? I had gone out after that time, wandering on my own. I needed to cry with nobody disturbing me, so i left the palace and found somewhere that was solemn, a place devoid of life. And that is when I saw him."

My tummy flip-flopped as I already felt uneasy. Just the word 'Him' was enough to make me weak.

I hope this isn't where my mind is going. What had she done with the man? Was she going to tell me about it, really?

" Who?" I managed to ask, and I held my breath so as not to break down in front of her.

" The Devil."

" His Highness!" Queen Lora said, as she was trying to bring him back to the world. " What are you doing dreaming when our children are still surrounded by the flames?"

He shook his head, while trying to shake the bad memory away. He looked in the direction of Lina's mother and gave her a hard stare. She recoiled back, as she assumed what he remembered.

Meanwhile, Lina had been watching from his memory. She had the ability to watch when someone was reminiscing in the past and she saw all that happened. She had been secreting waiting for her mother to give out information about her existence, but then the witch her father married did not let her.

Her mother hadn't told her anything yet about herself, except that she was different, which everyone knows even unborn babies. She wanted to ask her father what her mother said later but she stopped herself in time for she didn't want them to know she had such ability.