To Bewitch a Devil

“Your Majesty...” she called as she stepped away from Neera. Kitana did not know that Zavian was going to come. She had seen the Lords going into the council hall, so she thought he was occupied. She wanted to disgrace Neera quickly before he would be done with the meeting, but seeing him there, all color drained from her face.

“Leave here, all of you.” Zavian turned to the servants who had gathered to watch the scene and he ordered them; in a second, they all dispersed, leaving Kitana and the Princesses with the poor girl on the ground.

Zavian’s eyes fell to Neera, who was curled up on the floor as she held onto the remaining piece of cloth that covered her body and then he looked at Kitana, his eyes filled with wrath;

“What do you think you are doing?” He asked again, this time, staring straight at her. Kitana gasped. They knew each other but he was staring at her as though she was a stranger who had hurt something he held dear.

Kitana looked at the girl on the ground and back at the king and then she chuckled;

“I did not think that his majesty would be concerned with a lowly slave, or am I wrong?”

Zavian was silent for a few seconds, then he spoke;

“You must be daring to return my question with a question, I won’t ask you a second time.”

.....

At his words, Kitana grew chilly. Zavian was not smiling the least, a deep frown etched on his forehead as his furious gaze held her eyes.

Kitana gulped, she knew she was one wrong sentence away from landing herself in huge trouble.

Inching backward, the scissors fell from her hand; “I... I called her and she refused to come. She disobeyed me, and I wanted to teach her a lesson.”

There was a whole minute of silence as though Zavian was contemplating what to do to her.

The other Princesses sat in their seats quietly as they watched the scene unfold. Although they did not like Neera, a part of them was happy that Zavian had gotten mad at Kitana, this would surely ruin her chances of her becoming queen.

“What did you need her for? Have all the other maids in the castle died? ”

Kitana’s lips opened but no words could come out of them. She just stared at Zavian embarrassedly, like a bucket of water had been emptied on her head.

Zavian restrained himself from going overboard. If he did, the whole castle would buzz with new rumors, so he stopped talking and walked to where Neera was curled up.

Bending down, he removed his robe and wrapped it around her body. The Princesses gasped in shock as they watched him lift her up from the ground and carry her in his arms.

Zavian did not care about the shock on their faces, he just turned around to walk away, then he stopped and looked back at Kitana;

“Till the day you draw your last breath, do not dream of raising your hand on this woman, ever again.”

Kitana froze. The Princesses froze. Without barely glancing at them, Zavian turned and walked away with Neera nestled in his arms.

It took them a whole minute to come to themselves and then Lyra asked, not believing her eyes;

“What just happened?” She asked and Emma replied her;

“The king chastised a Princess and carried a slave in his arms.”

Kitana stood still as the words of Zavian replayed in her head and she slumped to her chair, tears trickling down her face.

Did he just scold her because of a maid? A slave girl?

In front of everyone, he had carried her in his arms, he had covered her with his royal robe, a slave girl...!

Kitana’s eyes blurred and then she shook her head;

“No, Zavian is falling in love with that girl.” She said and the other princesses looked at her, and then looked at themselves. Kitana continued;

“I did not want to believe it, I wanted to think that just maybe he did not think her to be Lilah, but no, he has a soft spot for that woman... what ever she is. Did you see how he looked at her?”

She asked, turning to the Princesses but they did not reply, each in their own thoughts.

Kitana was correct, but if he wanted the girl, why did he go on with the ceremony?

“We have to get rid of that slave girl if we want a chance to be queen.”

Kitana added, wiping her face with the back of her hand.

“Kitana... ” Daphne called, she did not like where this was going. Zavian would not take it lightly if he found out they were plotting something like this.

“What? Did you not see what just happened here? If we don’t get rid of her, we’ll just waste our time with these useless tests!”

Kitana blared angrily. Maybe she should have slit the girl’s throat with the scissors when she had the chance. It would have solved all of this!

There was a minute of silence before Daphne spoke;

“The king is allowed to have as many concubines as he wants, I hope we know that.”

At her words, the others looked at her;

“There’s no inherent problem with having the girl as a concubine, the problem is that she looks like the queen, but if he selects one of us as queen, then the problem is solved, don’t you think?”

She said and Emma nodded;

“The only reason the girl is drawing so much attention is the fact that she looks like the dead queen. But since it’s been confirmed that it is not her, we should concentrate on becoming queen, then we can get rid of her.

“You’re forgetting that Zavian has not looked upon another woman since Lilah, what makes you think he would even barely glance at you? You would just be a ceremonial queen while she would be the real queen. Imagine a concubine bearing a child before you? Oh did you think the King would touch you not to talk of getting you pregnant? The only solution to this is stopping him from falling for that girl because if he falls, we have all toiled for nothing.”

Kitana said, and then she stood up;

“I’m going inside, I cannot stay here anymore.” She said and walked away.