Lotus lowered her cloak to cover her face as they rode out through the back gate. Razial informed the guards he was seeing someone out and the guards winked at him, thinking he had sneaked in a hooker earlier.
Lotus had to roll her eyes under the hood.
Once they were outside and a safe distance from the palace, Lotus threw her hood back and glared in his direction.
"Really? Razial, you had no other excuse?"
Razial simply shrugged his wide shoulders as he held the reins with his right hand and controlled his steed.
"Men are simple creatures, Princess Lotus. All of them have one basic need, and they always back their fellows in its fulfilment."
Lotus shook her head slightly. Her light hair were highlighted under the moonlight, its silvery glow ade each strand stand out and Razial had to nip the urge to stare.
The air was crisp with temperatures hurtling towards freezing. Their kingdom was on the verge of tumbling into extreme winters.
"Unbelievable, seems like you are pro at this. How many women do you sneak in and out of the palace like that?" Lotus incredulously asked. Their horses galloped on the paved roads, the sound travelled far and wide.
~Clip~Clop~
Razial discreetly smiled and said, his face brightened under the silvery light of the beautiful orb in the sky.
"I am not a womaniser, I thought you knew that much about me. Or are you jealous, perhaps?"
Lotus’s free hand dramatically went to her chest as her lip twitched.
"Huh? Why would I be jealous? Like I care where you want to stick it." Lotus focused her attention back on the path they were travelling. Trying to hide her rosy cheeks. She had no intention of speaking the last sentence but somehow she had.
Razial had distracted her with his stupid tactics again and now she couldn’t focus.
His earlobes turned red from her words; lucky for him, she couldn’t see that in the dim light.
"Ahm!" He loudly cleared his throat. "So will you tell me whom you are meeting in the middle of the night? A lover perhaps?" Razial asked, tone slightly irritated, heart beating faster than his steed’s gallops. Hoping it wasn’t the case or he would have to get rid of another man.
"Like I said, none of your business. Don’t poke your nose in it. You came as a guard, stay as a guard." She pulled the reins, letting her mare take charge so she could get ahead and he would follow.
Razial snorted but remained on her trail letting her remain ahead. His desperate eyes wouldn’t stop drinking her in. The wind had picked up, and he was hoping she was properly wrapped in warm clothes; he did see gloves on her hands. The winters of Speldaria were harsh.
To his surprise, they arrived outside the library Lotus frequented. What was she going to do in a library in the middle of the night?
Rubbing her hands together, Lotus finally halted her mare near the rectangular structure of the building with red stones that had a spiral tower with a sundial set into it.
It had a peculiar design.
Lotus threw a tentative look at the building and took a round all the way to the back but found no one.
She was about to dismount the mare but Razial was quicker. He had jumped down his stallion and now offered Lotus his hand. She took it, balancing herself on the stirrup, she stepped down on the hard ground with a thud.
Her head swivelled in all directions, looking for Siroos but found no traces of him. She stepped closer to the locked door of the library.
Razial took both the horses and tied them to the nearest tree.
Lotus flicked her fingers and a single vine sprouted out, shaping itself into a key. She inserted it into the keyhole of the lock and twisted it. The lock came undone with a whirring sound as Razial stood guard over her. She took off the lock and threw the double door open. It creaked in, the darkness was replaced by the moonlight peeping through the ajar door.
Lotus stepped inside followed by Razial. The musty smell of the books and the eerie silence of the night welcomed them.
They had hardly taken a few steps in when she heard Siroos’s gruff voice behind her.
"Princess Lotus?"
She quickly turned and saw two men in cloaks marching towards her. Their tired and grim faces were illuminated by the silvery light of the magnificent white body in the sky.
She had never seen Siroos dressed in a cloak before. The cold weather seemed to have altered his choice of attire.
"Alpha Siroos, I hope it wasn’t too much trouble to find this place," Lotus answered, and her eyes wavered to the ever-smiling Faris. That smile seemed to have been snatched away, instead, she found his face rather gaunt and eyes sunken in.
Siroos shook his head and his questioning eyes went to Razial.
"I apologise; he wouldn’t let me come alone," Lotus gestured for them to come inside so they could talk in peace.
"It’s fine, he is part of whatever we are about to dive in," Siroos cryptically said, stepping inside and offering his hand to Razial.
Confused by his words, Razial decided to stay quiet for the time being and just understand what was happening. They shook hands.
Siroos was followed by his younger brother, Faris. The usual charm and ever-present mischief in the boy’s eyes were lost somewhere.
He solemnly shook Razial’s hand as well with an apologetic silent understanding passing between them.
"Princess Lotus, Commander Razial," he greeted them in a strained voice.
Lotus’s heart pained for the young boy. She had adored him on her trip to their land. He brimmed with such vibrancy. Now he seemed to have lost a part of him.
"Faris, is everything alright?" Lotus sympathetically asked but he only shook his head, making her heart even heavier than before.
"Can we sit and talk? It’s urgent and a lot is at stake," Siroos requested, trying to keep the burdens of his heart from leaking onto his face. Seeing Lotus reminded him of Cassandra over and over again.
She gave him a judgemental look but didn’t attack him with questions.
He had to be prepared for her wrath as well. She was most probably going to break down and blame him. He had promised to keep her sister safe and yet he failed again.
"I haven’t been able to breathe properly from the moment I received your urgent message but I will give you time to explain." Lotus tried to not blurt out every question that lingered on the tip of her tongue regarding Cassandra. Seeing both of them so downtrodden, she knew something of grave magnitude had occurred.
Razial closed the door so they could keep warm. The wind was biting.
"I will start a fire."
Moving towards the fireplace Razial arranged the logs and set out to start a fire. Taking off the glass lanterns hanging on the walls, Razial lit them up as well and hung them back so they had ample light.
Lotus, Siroos and Faris walked amidst the huge shelves piled up with old leather-clad tomes and books of all genres. They settled around a round wooden table with comfy low chairs.
While Siroos and Faris sat agitatedly, Lotus began to remove the gloves she had adorned.
"So what brought you to Speldaria in such urgency? Is my sister alright?" Lotus asked, her worried eyes shifting from one brother to another. Both seemed exhausted and spent. They exchanged nervous glances, their lips thinned out as if they were barely holding themselves back. Lotus waited for their response.
"Can we trust him? Because what we are about to reveal is supposed to be privy to the ears of people we trust. This information in the wrong hands will have catastrophic effects. We can’t risk that. Although he might be involved in the future which connects us all." Faris finally faced her and spoke clearly.
"He is trustworthy. You have my word," Lotus promised and hoped Raizal wouldn’t betray her, this was his chance to redeem himself in her eyes.
Her heart was already forming an opinion that she should give him a chance.
"Princess Lotus, this won’t be an easy conversation so brace yourself." Siroos glumly spoke.
Lotus’s heart jerked inside her chest as if it had been poked with something sharp.
"Please! Don’t keep me waiting, just tell me what’s wrong. I fear for my sister," she urgently requested.
Siroos sadly nodded his head and began to unfold everything that had transpired in the last few months. Beginning with the curse that had been placed on him and his pack and going up to the point where Cassandra was taken by an unknown enemy. An enemy that the mage they had contacted had failed to locate.
Lotus’s eyes kept widening with shock, every word Siroos uttered made her heart restlessly ache. And by the time he finished speaking, it almost stopped in shock.