Emerald - ON HOLD

CHAPTER XXIX - A mysterious woman

"I'll find you in the west corridor of the palace, near the northern gardens. We must meet immediately.

Ask your son for help. He'll know how to take you there in a safe manner. Make sure no one recognizes you.

T."

Day was coming to an end in the misaran capital. Life kept going as usual, save for the latest gossip trend: the wedding between Smaragd of Hèllasz and Aten of Misara.

All kind of speculations were running through the streets, and the servants of the royal house, against all their gossip principles, let the rumours be without participating in them. They swore to Princess Rubi that no word would came from them referring to the wedding preparations. And any person with self-preservation instinct knew better than to disobey an order given by the Commander of the Tajàh Army.

- The less people know about the details of the ceremony, the better. This bad feeling doesn't go away and I won't take any unnecessary risks. - Rubi seemed quite agitated and spoke these words to her brother as they went to the dining room.

- I do think you should wait until Ishaq's letter arrives.

- We have no time for that... Wait! - Her voice came in a whisper as she held Aten by his upper arm and stopped him.

- What's the matter with you?

- Shhh! Do you see that, at the end of the corridor?

Aten had to focus to see what Rubi saw, but eventually he found it. The silhouette of a woman, standing in the corridor. She seemed to be waiting for someone, and by the looks of the shawl covering her head and her face, it seemed that she didn't want to be seen or recognized. She had her back turned towards them, and the fading light made even more difficult to distinguish her.

A man came out from indoors to meet her, and greeted her by taking her hands in his. She bowed her head slightly and got closer to him to tell him something. Then, both of them went indoors again, disappearing from the sight of the brothers.

Rubi's mouth opened and her face filled with disbelief.

- Aten, you didn't see what I saw, right?

- I'm afraid we both saw the same thing. That was indeed our father.

Rubi clenched her jaw and closed her hands into fists. She went to the dining room in a frantic pace, and Aten had to make an effort not to lose her. When they both arrived, servants were placing the trays with the food on the table and a couple of them made them gestures to sit and wait for the cups to be filled. Smaragd and Nira had already arrived, but one person was still missing from dinner.

- Where's father? Won't he join us?

- I'm afraid not, dear. He told me he had to take care of something particularly complicated, and because of that he'd be having dinner on his study today.

- So that's what he said... Fine, we'll have dinner without him.

Her answer was dry and cold, and Nira noticed it instantly, but said nothing. It was not rare that her daughter would answer in such ways whenever she was upset.

Dinner passed with no incidents besides the fact that Rubi didn't speak a word. Everyone decided to let her be, and went to their respective activities once they were done eating. Aten was the one who decided to follow his sister out of the dining room.

- Will you confront father?

- If I find him and he's with that woman, I will most likely kill her on the spot. I don't want a bloodbath right now... I'll wait.