By the end of each day, the room would always be tainted with a sharp scent. Fumes of smoky acid breaching the walls with an eye stinging sensation. A sour order, hefty enough to make the strongest bellies twist. Beads of warm sweat would trail down my temple as I hover above the boiling liquid, steam fogging the clear goggles, but I wouldn't care, too eager to catch the transition of the shifting poison as it darkened to a deep forest green and the bubbles swelling at the surface.

"Careful." Patrick would blabber in the background. And I would ignore. Captivated by the swirling liquid.

At the center of swirling mist a bubble swells, larger than the rest, thinning with every stretch, seemingly growing wider with every gas, just at the very edge of bursting. In the nick of time a strong-arm coil around the small of my stomach and I felt my frame lift in time just as the bubble popped. Missing my face in total, but tiny droplets flung freely.

"Are you alright?" Patrick yelped, bringing me to safe distance, his frame shielding me from the overfilling pot of green. The spilling liquid dripped down to the wood, instantly disintegrating the object until it was ash. A sound sizzles into the room as a thin vape of smoke ascends.

Like a vacant doll, I watched Patrick frantically search for a solution, noticing he is avoiding the water jugs and rags with all costs while silently cursing under his breath. Finally, he found a special cloth of white and drew it over the scene like a blanket, stomping with a brute force until it was no more, but by the time he lifted the rag, it had been too late for the mahogany wood and a stare at the remnants that resembled candle wax.

Though we stared at nothing but chewed ashes, that sizzling sound still remained, it stayed faint, until it grew louder to the point, I alone could hear it alongside my ear.

"Patrick?" I speak with an undertone.

And he turned to me, heaving out exhaustion and agitation with red blushed cheeks. His desolate eyes holding mine while he had a hand on his waist and whatever expression I gave. But than his eyes flung to the curls aside my hair and it sharpens.

"Good heavens!"

***

The towel is pressed to the end strands of my hair, or whatever has remained of it. The burning liquid ate up half my curls, luckily missing the scalp in time, thanks to the density of my curls. I squeezed my eyes, forcing myself to look at the white towel, hoping a chunk of loose dead strands wouldn't be looking back at me, but met a surprise.

Dead roots and burnt silk. I groaned.

"Now will you heed my warning when I speak?" Patrick interjects in the midst of my low wailing. His expression impassive, blue pupils narrow at me. That was the nice way of him speaking, but really, he wanted to scold me and say, 'I told you so'.

"Sorry." I could only say.

Heavily he sighs, rose up from across from me and set aside the chair, opened his arms wide for me to enter his embrace. My cheeks cushioned into his suited chest of woven silk and inhaled his expensive cologne that never overbears my nostrils. Sprayed with caution.

"I am glad you are alright, princess."

I listen to his heartbeat, and the muffled chords of his voice, melting into him with a sigh. The tight embrace of a father, a role model and someone that acknowledges my existence in the world, other than Nasir.

"I'm sorry." I cried. And he lifted my cheeks into his soft palms, and I look at him in the blur of fresh brimming tears.

"There is never anything you need to apologize for princess. Your young curious mind was doing what it knew best, and that is to be curious."

Secluded in the furthest end of the castle, a room is hidden in plain sight, where no one visits. Occupied by dust bunnies, and silken threads of spider webs, with a stench of dry mold. A single bed at the center, small enough any adult, but perfect for me at the time and a window. The wood of the bed frame dusted in grey that blew with every gust of wind.

Overtime, Patrick reconstructed it into a room of practice. A cup board installed on the walls with small jars of powder and a single bowl, the crystalline windows covered with grey plastic, shading the color to a dim blur.

Patrick had brought me down to this unknown pit, when my planned trip was cancelled suddenly. The usual trips on the second of the month, when the full moon stole the visuals of the night. Out of my need for exploration, he introduced me to something called 'Potions.'

"I will not be here forever, Princess." he would say, hoarse voice imbued with urgency. And looking back at it now, he foreshadowed this day, knowing he would pass and I would be at the center all alone.

Days, months and years. I would learn and read books on mixing detrimental liquid, learning of their side affects and testing them on those marked.

Silent as a shark. Swift as a fox, And quick as a cheetah, Before I even knew it, that saying held great value to me, and have become a motto for the later future. But alas, he soon gave me the reigns to whip and guide, and I fumbled.

'Never let the vile burn yellow. It will be traceable.'

His last training to me, those last words that still swirl like stars around my head, echoing continuously as I held the mini jar in between my fingers. The liquid must never burn yellow, I treaded lightly for a long time, making sure to use the recipes given, but somehow I went sloppy. I should have been smart, I should have stuck to the same ingredients, the poison should have thin his blood enough to leak from the eyes, choke him until and ooze only red, spilling nothing but his blood.

I grit my teeth. Rummaging it all in silence in the privacy of my chambers.

Have the cults come back? I failed the previous decades, but I have to at least fight for the second, if Nasir indeed speak the truth.

Soft knuckles hit the door, always on cue. Knuckles of a feminine feeble hand and I gently call out.

"Good evening my queen." My maid says with a slight bow, the door gently springs open and a breeze entered from behind her. "King Gunter has just returned."

Again, on cue. He always returns from wherever he ventures off to, right at the brink of my ticking insanity, maybe this only means my soul calls him when I am in need, more ways to prove maybe in the end he is my husband after all, with or without this deal. But I digress.

"Thank you, Annette." I forced a smile, and kept it on my face until she closes the door again, leaving me alone, and instantly the smile falls, and my thoughts spiral yet again. How will I explain this all to him? and how will he take it?

My pulse thrums as I lift myself from the cushioned edge of the mattress, every step of my clopping heel were like metaphoric drums to the inevitable, but regardless I pulled through, making wat down the narrow hall where the maids and butlers bow to my presence, only the scent of citrus lemon steadies my heartrate. No matter how many times I force my eyes to look elsewhere, I will always find that door, and remind myself of what hid down there for decades, and what was hidden in those rooms Patrick forbade me from entering.

I enter the study, but its empty. I move to the dining area but it is empty. Like a lost dog I roam the castle, until something beckons me to visit the ballroom. Why would Gunter be there? either way I make it down the hallways, and as I am nearing the doors I am hit with sounds of billowing laughter of multiple men.

He returned, but he wasn't alone, not even bothering to check on his wife, but entertain his guests. Instantly my mood sunk to a foul level, but my fingers were also fidgeting. In my own home, I was scared, neither Patrick nor him at my side. I am going to enter this only as Queen Tiana.

My hand wrap around the handle, the door steadily tugging forwards and the laughter's slowly come to a pause until there was a pin drop silence at my presence.

As if I entered the room naked, the eyes of Aristocrats, and other royals glare at me. Shocked, confused and breathless. Not one to fully acknowledge me. My eyes drifted over the hefty man until I find Gunter seat. The back of the chair facing me, and only his hand visible, elbow planted a the arm of the seat as he lazily wags a cigar.

"Set the bottle over the table." he wags dismissively.

"Uh- king Gunter?" came the tremulous voice of a younger boy, his eyes holding mine with caution as If what he sees isn't real.

Seeing as though Gunter's request wasn't done, he huffs with aggravation, and turns in his chair, the flames in his eyes settle and goes cold at the sight of my face.

"Tiana?"

I stand there like an idiot, thinking to myself If i just walked in on a mancave. "Hi husband." I said below audible. I waited for him, planted in the same spot, hoping he could rise up and retrieve me like he would, but he didn't, he only glares as If I were a ghost, just like the other men in the room.

I fumble in my steps as I step over to him, until he finally blinks from his gaze to rise up to me. "You should be in bed." he says flatly.

"I got tired of the bed." I reply with a coy smile, looking up to his eyes.

His expression is void, and his eyes devoid of light. I don't remember how long it has been since I fully looked at him, perhaps me swimming in the total darkness for those times made him age gracefully behind the scenes. His frame wide, muscles bulging in his dark suit, his chest broad no dress shirt underneath, three buttons undone and I force my eyes not to look at his toned naked skin. His long golden hair grew and curled at the ends.

"Uh, I need to speak with you in private."

There was an abrupt hiccup of his chest and he swallows gravely, his brows knotted to my request, but didn't argue.

"Gentlemen." he commanded, the force of his deep voice rumbles mu bones. Something was villainous in his demeanor. And everyone who felt it, knew to look at him and keep silent. "You heard my wife," he shoots them a glare so vile it felt like blades shot out from his eyes. "Give us a moment."

Scuffs of feet scatter out the beige floor, like herds of a moving flock. When the son of a mafia king has spoken, it was do or die, and everyone fears death. It was uncanny how him and Nasir were not related in the slightest but both held power in their voices that could command the ocean to still. I swallow, this only made it more difficult to speak my mind, many emotions clash in me, but I swallow again, this time gulping the bile that threatens to claw out.

The only man that ever made me feel this way was Nasir, and now Gunter.

At the silence stretched finally, he turns back at me, and inhaled deeply. "So my wife." he exhales, sitting down onto the chair behind him and lifted an ankle to rest over his knee. "What is it you wanted to talk about."

I still fumble with my fingers, "Uh, could I get a kiss at least?" I try and lighten the mood.

He cocked his head. "Oh, now you want my lips on you?"

"Umm, what?"

"Don't you remember wife? you'd much prefer the lips of our guard to roam around your body."

A hiccup involuntarily steals my oxygen, and I drifted my eyes to the tendrils of black smoke from his cigar, and the burnt ashes of the plate, neither denying or admitting the statement, simply moving to the real topic.

"There is something I must speak to you about?"

He leaned back his head, as if he cleared every thought to soak in the information he is about receive.

"I think there are new organizations hiding in the area." I blurted flatly.

His lips twitched, and his eyes sharpened.

"I - I heard it from a few people and they said that the organizations are probably happening over night and -"

"What ... people?" there was a dark storm in those words, his voice so low and menacing it was like poison in my nerves, eating me alive. "Wife," he grates. "Who are the people."

It was like he knew, but needed me to say it.

"Lie to me. And you will watch as I end their lives."

And suddenly then, there was a thought that scared me. For some reason, thinking about Nasir passing, hit me deep. But Gunter's threat was burdening, his eyes holding me hostage and I felt as If I were to move and flee, he'd catch me. It'd be pointless.

"Nasir, Charlotte and Ray."

Our eyes holding a glare that was almost impenetrable, his more so sinister, but I don't fumble. But something in the back of my mind screaming if I had just made a huge mistake.

He suddenly huffs, and melted into his seat, his eyes finally soaking in some kind of amusement. "You awaken for the first time in a while, and the first thing you bring to your husband is the name of another man and some rumor you two spoke of in private?"

There was no hurt in his voice, but there was something hidden I couldn't decipher.

"I gave you medicine, to help cure your depression, and the first thing you do when you rid of the medication is some bullshit rumor?"

I knitted my brows, appalled by his tone. "Excuse me?"

He inhale sharply through his teeth. "No, no, wife. Let me finish. I have been silent on this whole matter, even going as far as to allow you to secretly fantasize about having your privates touched by your guard while I am in the bedroom with you. You lost someone dear to you and I gave you time. But you stand before me now, still spouting garbage." He rose suddenly and rung a bell.

In seconds a butler strides in to the room, I wondered where it was he hid, I didn't see him as I came in. He bows to us both.

"Summon every worker of my fathers, and summon the elites again, into the room in a span of five minutes."

His eyes quiver in question, yet he bows to the orders and retreats. Distant bells resound in the halls, I stood aside Gunter in silence, glancing at him in confusion to the sudden request. Elites soon pour in. Gunter and I move to upper ground as the room overflows. Nasir finally enters and Gunter's eyes clash with his. Charlotte and Ray follow closely behind and multiple guards.

Like sharp whips of lightning, It was blue vs brown, each glare impenetrable and fierce, two uncaged alpha lions in the den. Nasir's eyes drifted t me beside him and I melted like butter.

All murmurs were questioning until Gunter raises his hand. Like the old king, my father. He rose his hand and sent the signal for silence. All eyes peer to him and not a peep.

"This meeting was sudden, forgive me." he says. The very bass of his voice shook the railings. "But rest assured, this meeting is for no one other than my wife."

My skin goes cold, I feel the color draining from my skin as all eyes divert to me. Frozen in place, and my head down, avoiding the glares in general, especially Nasir's.

"Indeed a smart and vivacious. A queen amongst queens and the light to my heart."

I swallow. While feeling the glare of Nasir's eyes on me from afar.

"Her tongue sharp and her intelligence can cure many diseases. My wife here, is the gem amongst gems. And I could not have been more honored to be able to be her husband." he looked down to me a with a gleam, that soon disperses the more he gazed. "However," I suddenly braced myself. "There was tragedy committed here on the castle grounds, I am sure you can remember. In those losses, was a dear friend of my wife's."

"Gu-Gunter." I force out lowly.

"Losing someone close to you, whom you considered family, is never a process that is easily healed from, especially when that person raised you as their own."

My bones tremble. Suspense thrumming in my veins.

"Someone who we trusted turned on us. And left a big dent in her heart ever since, when he pointed the barrel of the gun and ripped the innocent life away."

A few gazes drift to Nasir. But his eyes only held mine, as if no one else mattered in the room.

"I watched my wife wither before my eyes, since that day. I watched that sharp mind and tongue I love so much loosen, erasing the vision that captivated my heart. Many of you have said that she was unfit and not ready to hold such power."

I watched with open eyes as Gunter looked about to the room, and trailed his void eyes to me. "It is now, I believe you."

My breath gusted. "Gu-Gunter." A tear slipped down my eyes.

"I tried one last time, and gave her medications, because .. because i had faith she would return. But - but alas I was wrong. My wife awakened from her meds and came to me with the same rumor, spouting the same nonsense and believing the words of others than her husband."

I crane my head up to look him in the eyes. Paralyzed and humiliated. I could not move, I could not speak, whatever planted my feet down held me with force. Shameful and belittled, yet something tells me there was more.

"Hence this meeting at this moment. At this hour. This day. I say it before you all. Until the queen can open her eyes. I hereby denounce her.

A blade shot through me and I tasted the rotten taste of iron on my tongue. "W-what?"

"Your queen is unfit." he repeats, turning to face the crowd. "From this day. There will be no queen, I denounce her. And deemed her the royal that failed."

Streams of tears pour from me. My sob is silent, vision struggling between black and white as the objects swirl. My feet won't move, my lungs can't stretch for oxygen, I am suffocating, someone please save me, save me before I fall.

Within the crowds, my cry was heard, even when I had no sound to scream. A figure dashed until he frees from the crowd just as my feet were ready to give in. His curly hair swaying as he pushed aside Gunter. Not paying kind to anyone but me nor the murmurs of the elites, Nasir. My soul called to him? I didn't care, I was slipping into black and he caught me, lifted my numb legs and cradled me. And at that moment, that is where I desired to be. Cradled by him.