The Lonely Warrior Queen

{Chapter 13}

Catheline's POV:

My head felt dizzy as I slowly opened my eyes. My eyes were blurred as I tried to look around, trying to see what surrounded me.

"She is awake!," a sharp voice rang in my ears. "The Queen is awake!"

I sighed before pulling all the strength that remained in me to sit. What happened? Why was I in this state? What was the purpose of it. It took me a moment to get back my vision when I heard the door open.

"Catheline," I heard a concerned voice.

I slowly looked up to find a huge force pull me closer. Gentle arms they were though. I blinked for a few times before realizing who it was.

"Xander?..."

"How do you feel?" he asked as he pulled away. "Must you make me so worried?"

"What happened?" I uttered weakly, as I looked around the room. I was in my chambers.

I spotted Karra near the bed post, watching me while holding something in her hands. She held a worried expression on her face.

"I understand your misery," I heard Xander's voice again.

This time, I looked at him. Oh, how horrid I must look. I remembered how I refused food and to let go of my pillow where tears burst spontaneously.

"I loved her..." I told him, as I held his arm. "She was my friend. My father gave her to me. I promised to take care of it..."

Xander looked away, possibly afraid of my state. I never felt such sorrow in my life before. I never lost someone dear to me like this before. I always had whatever I asked for, but if I could not have it, I was never unhappy.

"I never had anything against that man," I stated, slowly slipping back to my senses. "I want to make him suffer,"

"He will get his share, Catheline," My husband reassured me. "Trust me, he will get his punishment,"

His words were a promise. But even if Xander killed him with his own hands, it would give me no justice. I had to do something myself. At first, I had to return to my normal state. I needed my mind, I needed myself to get out of his hole of sorrow, to stop drowning.
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Xander's POV:

I never saw her in such a state. Even if those two days went quickly, I just wanted her to get better. She still cries, but not as much as she used to. She even allows me to enter her chambers and talk to her.

I was in the gardens this morning, alone,  going to her favorite space when I spotted something unusual. It was a small hump of soil in the corner. It could be something insignificant. But as soon as I saw some flowers on it, I understood what it was.

So small. Yet, had such a big meaning in it.

Death.

Such a unexplainable phenomenon. No one knows when it occurs, but it is inevitable. I slowly approached the little grave, where another innocent soul rested. Just how many would be sacrificed in the future?

The first duty of a King was to protect his people. To defend the innocents and to reduce their troubles. And what was I doing?

In one sentence, it was mostly me behind the reason of my wife's tears. I may not be the husband she wants. Such a day may never arrive. If she stood on fake up, she was threading on thin ice. She would drown, just like I did. Just like I do everyday.

I long accepted that I was a curse, spreading to poison to everyone near to me. Catheline experienced all of this just because she was my wife. I could have avoided this if I simply refused to marry at all. At least in that way, everyone would stop targeting the ones who might care for me.