The Snake Princess (Magi Fanfiction)

Chapter forty five

Chapter forty five

Amirah stopped dead in her tracks. A wave of dread washed over her, her eyes coincidentally meeting with the queen of Askal's. She gasped, hands moving to cover her mouth. She recovered quickly, finding her composure and wearing it like a mask as the queen spoke:

"Ah, there you are. King Armakan has arrived and requested you meet him in the courtyard, Princess Amirah." Alex and Annalena had both tensed at Marianna's sudden appearance, their own composure cracking into fear for a split second. "Anna, dear~, can you find the others for me? Alex, you can lead Princess Amirah to the courtyard, yes?"

"O-Of course!" Alex compiled all too easily. Annalena agreed with just as much forced enthusiasm.

Amirah looked between them with a flat expression that hid concern and fear, then she spoke, "Shall we get going, then, Alex?"

"Y-Yea, let's," Alex nodded, and the pair set off in one direction while Annalena and Marianna set off each in their own.

Once the other females were far from view, Alex seemed to shake off his unease, grabbing Amirah's wrist and pulling her into a side room off of the large corridor they'd been walking down. When Amirah tried to speak, Alex placed a hand over her mouth, "Shh. Listen. I need to tell you something. It's important."

Amirah furrowed her brows, her reply muffled by his hand. She peeled his hand off, asking, "What are you doing? What is it?"

Alex glanced around, whispering, "You need to get out of here. I-...I don't know what my mother has planned but you need to leave." His eyes landed on the princess, widening.

She looked as if she already knew everything he was about to say. Her golden eyes were suddenly dark and, frankly, terrifying. It reminded Alex of the way Sinbad had looked at him several times when he was around the princess.

Pure hatred.

"A-Amirah...do you...?"

"I recognized Annalena; looks like your plan failed," Amirah pushed past Alex roughly. In one swift motion she pulled her fan from her sash, activating her weapon equip and moving her arm back to point the razor-sharp end at Alex's throat. Looking down her arm at the prince, Amirah snarled, "Well? Anything to say, Al?"

"I-I... A-Amirah, this is a misunderstanding. I-" Alex took several steps backwards until his back pressed up against a wall, Amirah's staff still against his throat as she matched his pace. "I wanted to tell you! I planned on telling you! I-I just... It's not my fault! She's would've killed me!"

"I think she's the least of your worries right now. Antheia!" Amirah stalked even closer to Alex until they were face to face, eyes welling with tears as she activated her djinn equip. "I trusted you, Alex. I..." She scoffed, shaking her head. Stray tears rolled down her cheeks. "I should've expected this, really. I should've listened to Sinbad and Sharrkan... They always suspected you, your country. It all lined up so perfectly; how did I not notice?"

"Amirah, please," Alex tried. "I'm so sorry for everything we did to you. I -we- just did whatever she said. We had no choice. I didn't realize until I met you in Sindria how horrible what we did was. I'm..." Alex trailed off, eyes locking onto someone behind the princess. "A-Amirah, watch out!"

The wall where Alex and Amirah stood exploded into flames, Alex grabbing Amirah and dropping to the ground in the nick of time. Shrill laughter filled the air, and from the smoke that now filled the room came Marianna, a long metal staff in-hand.

"Well, well, well, what's this~?" Marianna strolled towards Alex and Amirah as the pair rose, coughing from the smoke. "Alex, did you really think you'd get away with ratting me out?" She clicked her tongue, "It seems that nothing is going quite as I planned...I suppose it was bound to happen at some point anyway... So, Amirah, what are you going to do about this? Kill me~?"