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“Yes they are.” Ella responded.

Those hundreds of eyes glancing at her were enough to make her head hurt.

That morning Ella had tried to convince the prince that she didn’t want to attend the ceremony anymore, especially after a butler had mentioned that Nathan would have to sit up front with his lady, meaning Ella, on his side.

“You’re going to be queen one day,” Nathan whispered, his voice gentle and soothing. “You’ll have to be strong and get used to the attention alright?”

Ella folded her hand into a small fist underneath Nathan’s hand and nodded. “Okay..” she responded meekly.

Prince Adam who was seated on the other side creased his brows when he heard Ella’s voice. He was sure he’d heard that voice before, but how could that be? This woman was obviously from Meria, and he’d never been there so how could her voice sound so familiar, so beautiful.

*

.....

Juliet Aldos pulled the hood over her face and instructed the coachman to park out of site. “Stay and wait for me here.”

The queen was practically tiptoeing through the busy market place of the capital, her face ducked out of site by her hood and her hand tightly clenching her cloak tightly. She approached an entrance to a small alley that had an old wooden door at the end of it, seemingly suspended in mid air.

Juliet inspected the hovering door skeptically as if doubting it’s very existence. Was this the place? She had followed the directions to the letter so she was sure that this was the place.

The queen gently knocked on the door which immediately creaked open, revealing the darkness within.

“Come on in my dear,” a high pitched chilling voice spoke from inside the dark space. “Don’t be afraid, I’m here to help.”

Hesitantly Juliet Aldos stepped into the door, letting out a small yelp when a force drew her in and the door closed shut behind her. The queen found herself standing in a small room decorated in bottles and vials of different colored potions. The place was covered in curtains and silk clothing that was draping everywhere, strings of beads and corded strings also hang from the walls and ceiling, and at the far end of a room, sitting behind a small glass table was a white haired old lady smiling up at her.

Juliet slowly pulled off her hood and dropped it over her shoulders, revealing her skeptical and slightly terrified face.

“Are.. are you lady Devora?” The queen stuttered.

“Well don’t just stand there at the door child, come here and sit.”

With the whip of her hand, a strong force pulled Juliet towards the table and settled her down in a chair that had also been pulled towards the table against its will.

The white haired woman circled her hand on a spot on the table and from it, appeared a crystal ball.

“Did you come with what I asked you to?” The woman asked Juliet, each word uttered from her mouth sending a chilling sensation down the queen’s spine.

The queen nodded and dipped her hand into her cloak, pulling out a silk cloth which she handed over to Devora.

The white haired woman, who Juliet was now sure was a witch, unfolded the cloth and took out a lock of silver hair. She sniffed the hair before placing it into a tiny ceramic bowl that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

Juliet watched the woman intently as she poured a white liquid into the tiny ceramic bowl and mixed it slowly. The entire process was moving excruciatingly slow, making her very uncomfortable. She pursed her lips, keeping herself from urging the old woman to hurry it up before her husband returned from his meeting and realized she was gone.

About a week ago, Juliet had stumbled upon a poster of this very old lady, claiming she was a healer and herbalist who traveled to different kingdoms healing strange ailments and casting out evil omens and devils from people’s lives.

The queen had written to her explaining that she believed she had given birth to something that wasn’t human, and that he had found a creature of the same type and was worried about what would come to pass in the future. She had explained that she could sense their inhumane aura growing day by day and needed to find a way to stop them.

When the queen had received a response, the letter had instructed her to get a lock of hair from any one of these beings and bring it to her, only then would she be able to determine what kind of entity they were dealing with. The woman had also enclosed a hand drawn map telling the queen where to find her on a specific date.

Queen Juliet had followed the instructions to the letter. A day before her son had left for Gavaria, she had offered to brush his hair so she could secretly procure some strands of his hair without raising any suspicion.

Now finally having met the woman, Juliet could not wait to know what kind of demon or devil she was dealing with, after which, she would ask how she could kill it, how she could kill all of them.

The white haired witch finally stopped stirring the contents of the bowl and picked it from the table. Juliet had to hold back a gag when the old woman brought the bowl to her lips and downed the contents.

As soon as the witch drank the last drop, the little bowl slipped from her fingers had dropped to the table with a crash, shattering it into tiny pieces.

“Are you okay?”

Juliet attempted to touch the old woman who had frozen in place, but withdrew her hand when she saw the woman’s pupils roll up to the back of her head.

“Sing the song of an ancient prophecy!” The woman spoke, her lips were moving but Juliet could hear different voices speaking at once, making her stumble backwards.

A current of moving air began circulating the room, sending bottles, vials and books crushing into the walls. The lamps overhead went out and the beads and window panes began to rattle.

“Sing the song of an ancient prophecy! Bring back the souls of our fallen brethren, free our brothers from the shackles of their oppressors and rebuild our empire! Paint the walls of our empire with blood of our oppressors... redime populum nostrum!! redime populum nostrum!!”

(Latin: redime populum nostrum, English: redeem our people)

The wind in the room became so devastatingly vigorous that Juliet had to hold onto the furniture to keep herself from being carried away by the currents.

“redime populum nostrum!!” The woman screamed and went into a fit. Her body was jolting in her chair and her hair and clothes were standing on end, she looked like she had been possessed.

The white haired woman let out a gut wrenching scream before her body went limp. The wind suddenly stopped and all the items that were swirling in the air all dropped, crushing and breaking.

After the mayhem subsided, Juliet weakly got to her feet and stumbled towards the white haired woman who was now laying motionless on the floor. She inched closer to her and with a trembling hand, attempted to shake her.

The woman shot her head up and scampered away from Juliet. “Get away from me!” The white haired woman screamed, Juliet could clearly see the raw fear in the woman’s eyes.

“That thing you call a son does not belong to this world!” She hissed. “It will be the end of us all!”

*

“Your highness if you will..”

Prince Adam rose from his seat and moved steadily to the podium, his medals and ornaments glistening in the light that was sipping through the windows. He drew his sword and gracefully placed it on his side, with one hand behind his back and his head held high.

“I asked prince Adam to go first so I could sit here with you till you’re more comfortable,” Nathan spoke, “are you going to be okay when I leave you here?”

Ella slowly nodded her head in agreement.

“Ella..” prince Nathan placed his finger on the red head’s chin and tilted her face forward. “Face up beautiful, you’re nobility, you should never lower your head at any point.”

Ella slowly lifted her eyes forward and faced the crowd.

“William Morrell!” The frail man announced

Ella watched William rise from his seat, fully dressed in shiny armor and a large sword on his side. The man got down on one knee and bowed his head respectfully in front of the dark haired prince.

“I dub thee, Sir William Morrell of Greenhill!” Announced Adam.

“So that’s prince Adam?” Ella whispered.

“Yes it is,” Nathan responded, “what’s the matter? Are your eyes straying already Ella?”

Ella looked up at Nathan’s taunting smile, she blushed and shook her head. “No of course not, he just looks familiar is all.”

“I’m only teasing you,” Nathan responded as he resumed stroking Ella’s hand. “But I hope you know..”

The prince looked down at Ella and tightened his grip on her hand. “I would fight for you Ella, I would trample over anyone who dared take you away from me.”

Ella gulped and turned her head back towards the crowd once more, watching the different knights as they approached the dark haired prince.

*

“I dub thee, Sir Louis Vandros of Guria!” Prince Adam announced.

The frail man from before walked towards the prince and bowed slightly at him before making another announcement. “And now, we will invite to the podium, prince Nathan Aldos!”

Nathan leaned over and kissed Ella’s temple, “are you going to be okay?”

The blue eyed woman nodded and Nathan rose from his seat. He walked gracefully towards prince Adam and they two handsome me bowed to each other.

When Prince Adam turned to return to his seat, his deep brown eyes locked with Ella’s blue orbs. In that instance, it’s like every sound around him was muted except the sound of his heart, thudding against his chest.

~Guine~

Nathan turned around abruptly when he noticed screaming and gasping coming from the crowd, the audience seemed to be urging him to look back at the high table. His face paled when he saw Ella laying on the floor, unconscious.

“Ella!”

Nathan dropped his sword and rushed to the redhead.

Prince Adam was frozen in place as he watched Nathan carry the limp woman into his arms. “Call a doctor!”