Warrior Hearts

Sinful Eavesdropping

On its own volition, my arm swings the dagger upwards in an arc; its tip pressing into the fragile skin of Sebastian's neck, behind which his jugular vein throbs.

"How dare you." My steady voice is in complete contrast to the unchecked rage that is flooding through my veins. How dare this man stand in front of my chambers - in my palace - and lie so blatantly about my husband? Truth be told, I'm unsure whether the thought of my child coming to any harm has me on the verge of murder, or if it's the grave accusation that Sebastian is laying against my husband.

Not so much as flinching against the cold blade that is pressed against his neck, Sebastian continues to watch me with undeterred panic in his eyes. Out of sheer insanity, or concrete valiancy, his right hand shoots out towards my left forearm to grab ahold of it.

"You must come with me, Your Grace." Sebastian urges, tugging at my arm. The urgency in the man in front of me is enough to make me stumble forwards ever so slightly. "You must hear it to believe me." Sebastian is no longer looking at me, for his head and feet are turned away from me, poised to flee down the hallway.

It takes me a few seconds to decipher the slurred gibberish mess of words that flew out of Sebastian's mouth. And although they're a mere cryptic mound to my ears, I find my feet shifting in the forward direction at Sebastian's next tug.

"We don't have time, Your Grace." Sebastian mumbles, guiding me with an urgency that is enough to fool me into believing that the palace is crumbling to dust. With each hasty step that I take, my blood pounds even harder behind my ears. By the time Sebastian and I turn the corner, the rush in my ears is loud enough that the sound of our footsteps is completely drowned out.

"Don't make a sound, Your Grace." Sebastian warns me, his voice barely above the ghost of a whisper. "Please," he adds, glancing at me over his shoulder. I nod in acknowledgement to let Sebastian know that I've understood him because I know that even if I tried, I wouldn't be able to utter a word right now.

Slowing us down, Sebastian brings the both of us to a halt outside the banquet hall. Oddly enough, the doors are unlocked, and left open just enough for a sliver of light to stream through the gap between.

"W-Who - "

"Manik, don't you think that you're going a little overboard?" Rohit's hesitant question interrupts me, his voice infiltrating through the otherwise silent hallways that surround us. My eyes widen at the unexpected sound, a startled gasp escaping my lips.

"Goddammit!" Manik hisses. "What other choice am I left with?" Instinctively, I jerk my head in Sebastian's direction, almost as if I'm seeking the answers to Manik and Rohit's conversation from him. Instead of offering me so much as an ounce of help in return, Sebastian merely places his index finger against his lips.

"You could always simply try talking to her again," Rohit offers. "You are well aware that the distance between her chambers and yours isn't so great that it can't be conquered with a few extra steps, right?"

"Talk?" Manik repeats, scoffing. "You know the woman, Rohit. When has my wife ever been ready to listen to me? She's as stubborn as a mule once she's set her mind on something." A crease forms between my brows, Manik's words raising a hundred more questions in my mind, instead of providing me with concrete answers.

"Fuck, Princess refuses to listen to me!" Manik's loud voice echoes around the empty walls. "What other choice do I have, Rohit? I have to - I must - get my way somehow."

What in the world is Manik talking about? What way?

"Manik, I'm not so sure about this plan of yours." Rohit says, reluctance dripping from his tone. I don't need to be in the same room as them to know that Rohit would much rather be anywhere else than in there. "And I'm saying this because I know Nandini. She won't appreciate being trapped in this way, and she won't forgive you - "

"And that's exactly why my wife must not - under no circumstances, whatsoever - find out about what I'm planning tonight." Manik interrupts Rohit, a hint of finality in his voice. "Or else nothing will go as per plan." The sound of shuffling footsteps has Sebastian tugging me around the corner of the hallway, and out of sight from the entrance to the banquet hall.

"Your Highness, everything is in place." A man's voice slips into my ears. "All points of exit and all entrances, including all windows, have been completely sealed off. There is no way under the sun that anyone can enter the palace now, or leave." Gauging by the respectful tone of the man, I can assume that the speaker is a guard. "Unless he's a ghost, of course," he adds.

"Ghosts are not our concern," Manik replies. Before I can hear anymore words that are exchanged between the three men, Sebastian tugs me away from the scene and back the way we came.

He is planning to kill your child tonight. For some reason, above all thoughts, Sebastian's words continue to repeat themselves in my head. He is planning to kill your child tonight.

"I don't..." I trail off, unsure of what to say. He is planning to kill your child tonight. My thoughts are an incoherent lump in my head. "I don't understand," I manage to mumble. Instead of helping me out, Sebastian continues to retrace our steps until we're positioned in front of my chambers. He is planning to kill your child tonight

"Your Grace, you must go in there and pack whatever little is of the utmost necessity." Sebastian says, nodding his chin in the direction of the doors that are behind me. Glancing at them over my shoulder, I shake my head ever so slightly.

"I don't...I don't understand," I repeat, my heart ramming against my chest in an abnormally erratic fashion.

"His Highness is planning to kill your child, Your Grace." Sebastian says these words as if they're the most obvious truth that I am missing out on. "Tonight," he adds, as if he's conversing with a complete imbecile. He is planning to kill your child tonight. Offering me a slight shove in the direction of my chambers, Sebastian jerks his chin towards the doors once again.

"I know a way to get you out of here," he tells me. "I won't let history repeat itself. Your Grace, you will not meet the same fate as my sister. I will do for you what I could not for her."

"I - "

"We don't have time, Your Grace." Sebastian interrupts me, his eyes widening with urgency. "We cannot risk it." On their own volition, my arms wound themselves around my torso in an attempt for me to avoid throwing up the contents of my dinner. I can feel the bile rising up in my throat and it refuses to be swallowed down.

"Okay," I hear myself saying. However, my voice sounds distant to my own ears. Although my feet are turning around and my hand is pushing open the chamber door, I'm not in control of my own actions. I'm a weightless doll tonight, who's being jostled from one end to the other.