Humiliated, Sirrah couldn't sit there any longer as every other person in the vicinity had gone quiet. A stunned silence, as heavy as thick cream settled in the air. She got up and with a heavy head walked out of the festivities.
It took barely a few minutes for everyone to get back into the groove, but she heard faint murmurs of how Princess Morava was rutting like a wild animal all over the festival. This was the third ti she had sex with the soldiers. She also heard that at one point, Morava was having a threeso.
Rigel followed her quietly. "Would you like to et with Eltanin?" he asked politely.
Sirrah had no answer to that. She didn't know what to do next. She shook her head and walked back to her carriage. Alpha Alrakis was gone. On the way back to the palace, she thought of the several questions Biham would ask upon her return, the foremost would be about Lusitania. She prepared herself for the questions. She would tell him that Lusitania ran away with so soldier and later her mutilated body would be found. She would present the body of the servant girl as evidence. But what about Morava? He had said that if Morava committed one more mistake, he would send her to the dungeons or to the Nyxers. She was extrely angry when he had said he would send her to the Nyxers. So, she had arranged for Lusitania to be sent to the Nyxers, instead, as revenge.
She didn't want Alrakis to look for Tania, that would create an unwanted problem. She had everything under control. If Morava had mated with Eltanin, people would have forgotten about Tania, but now… now teams were searching for Tania and no one was bothered about Morava. With a numb mind and heavy limbs, she walked back to her guest room, hoping for the fiasco to end.
Morava had this one last chance to mate with Eltanin and she lost it. Sirrah sat on her bed and burst into tears. Eltanin would never marry a woman so tarnished, a woman who had fucked half his soldiers, who had tried to drug him and abducted his slave. Morava had fallen from grace to such a level that there was no redemption. She was afraid that Biham wouldn't even allow her to be in the kingdom. What if she ended up getting pregnant? And what if even after so much fucking around she didn't get pregnant?
The gravity of the situation ca crashing down on her. Holding the edge of the bed, she squatted on the floor as a loud sob left her. She didn't know how long she sat there, but when she got up, the light of the candle on the table was flickering. Shadows danced on the walls. A shaky breath left her. She had thought that she would wait for Morava to return and then leave, but the waiting would be horrible with so many people watching her and making comnts. It was better that she leave Draka before sunup so that no one saw her leave. She will cook up so excuse for Morava that she will co later. As for Tania she already knew what she had to do.
She called her servant and asked them to start packing and round up the soldiers to leave as soon as possible. "But Your Highness," said the servant girl. "Most of the soldiers are combing the palace grounds for Princess Lusitania."
Sirrah narrowed her eyes and clenched her jaw. 'Let them comb it. Let them find her body. I will put the bla on Alrakis for her murder. Biham will be left with no choice, but to accept Morava as the heir of Pegasii.' She walked to the window and looked at all the commotion that was caused due to festivities and guards running around. "Start packing," she instructed the servant girl. "We will leave as soon as possible. Send my orders to the Pegasii soldiers that they should assemble at the main entrance before sunrise."
"Yes, Your Highness," the servant girl said and bowed. She hurried to leave to pass on the orders. A few minutes later, other servants ca and started packing.
Sirrah began pacing the room, hoping that Morava would return soon. But she hadn't returned, even after the moon was hanging just above the horizon, waiting to leave this side of the world to rise sowhere else. First rays of dawn were still hidden behind the veil of night. Gray light spread over the woods and the palace as the torches flickered to their last.
When the last of her trunks were packed, a heavy knock sounded on the door. The servant girl got up to see who it was. The guard from the outside said in a nervous tone, "A body has been found. The queen has been asked to co to identify the body."
Sirrah turned sharply. "What?" she said loudly for everyone to hear. "Calaman's horns!" She pressed her hand to her chest as she rushed out of her room. "Whose body?" she asked, her lips quivering. "And why have they called to identify?" On the inside she knew that it was the servant girl, but a sliver of doubt crossed her mind, wondering if the body was Morava. "Where was the body found?" She asked to dispel her doubts since she knew the location of the servant's body.
She found General Fafnir standing in front of her door. He bowed to her. "The body was found in our orchards," he said. She sagged with relief, clutching the knob of the door. That was where the servant was buried. "But we would like you to identify the body."
"Why?" she asked, feigning bewildernt.
"Because—" Fafnir pressed his mouth as if very pained to give the news. He looked extrely tense. "Because we believe that it is Princess Tania."
"Wh– what?" Sirrah exclaid with wide eyes. "Are you mad? Why would anyone murder Tania? What has the poor girl done? She had just got what she actually deserved." Fake tears welled in her eyes. She looked up and complained to the gods. "She was such a beautiful soul. I had just found another daughter and you have taken her away from ." She sagged against the door. "Oh God! Why have you given her so many problems?" She wiped her tears. Then she looked at Fafnir with the most dejected face she could form and asked in a low voice, "Does King Eltanin know about it?"
Fafnir appeared tense after seeing Sirrah crying. "We are not sure that the girl is Princess Tania. We are just speculating. It is possible that the body isn't Princess Tania. You can't assu that she is dead."
Sirrah snapped her mouth shut at the grave mistake she just committed. How could she sound so sure that Tania was dead? "Oh, of course! It could be a false alarm."
"Yes," ca Fafnir's stiff reply. He peeped inside by tilting his head and comnted, "Are you leaving Draka?"
Sirrah's throat beca dry as paper. She ignored his words and said, "Please take to the orchards."
"King Eltanin is still in the cave," Fafnir inford. "He doesn't know about the murder."
Sirrah's surprise was like a splash of ice water.
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