Chapter 32: State of Emergency.

A small knock on the carriage pulled the duo's attention to the Princess who was now wide awake. She had sat up, knocked, and pulled down the small compartment window that separated them from the guards outside. They were already five hours through the journey, and she had been as quiet as always.

Upon hearing the wooden window pulled down, Felix turned around and faced the Princess who met his eyes from where she sat.

"Stop the carriage." She stated.

Signaling to Fertiti, she pulled down on the horses and they paused somewhere along the road. Raziah then stepped down from the carriage, leaving her sword behind this time. Her eyes held a bit of tension as the warm air of the night hit her skin, dancing with strands of her hair. Her back was properly straightened, with Caius and Fabia watching her from inside and wondering what she wanted to do.

Fertiti had climbed down from the carriage, stopping behind the Princess to escort her highness Incase she was going to help herself somewhere in the bushes. Confusion and wonder began settling into everyone's cores when Raziah didn't move for almost five minutes, she just stood there staring ahead without a word.

"Your highness, is there something wrong?" Fertiti was forced to ask, after analyzing the view and area around them without sighting or finding anything that could have warranted this. She checked Several times, walking around in fact just to make sure she had cross-checked it properly, over and over again.

"She's weird," Came a familiar jolly voice from inside the carriage. Fabia's eyes finally shifted from the unmoving Princess to her nephew, who was crawling his way to meet Raziah. Instantly, her hands flew toward his arm, grabbed and pulled him back to his former position.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Wherever snow-white is," He grinned. Fabia rolled her eyes at him. Then, Caius enquired again as he pointed out at Raziah, "She keeps doing that. Why is she doing that?" He creased his brows as if he was trying to concentrate, thinking the answer might just spark in his head. Following the direction of his pointed finger, Fabia sighed softly when she saw that Raziah was still rubbing the wristband.

Earlier when they thought she had dozed out, that wasn't the case. Raziah was awake the whole time, and for those Long hours, her fingers never left that wristband. At first, it was creepy and then it became something bitter for Fabia to watch - then it became scary. How could someone spend long hours without rest, deep in thought, still as a statue, and then the only thing moving was her hands, caressing the old wristband that looked very tight around her arm?

And from the doctor's knowledge, she had this little hunch on what that action might mean to someone like Raziah. Yes, she hasn't known Raziah for long but Fabia's mother had told her a few things years back, and she could correlate her mother's words to what was happening now. A heavy and sorrowful look clouded the doctor's eyes, and she could already feel the tears gathering around her eyes with the admitted threat to roll down her cheek, but for the sake of the boy beside her, and for the sake of the Princess herself who might come to notice her soggy eyes even if she later doesn't say a word about it, Fabia swallowed back the stinging and harsh pain, smiling down at her nephew, "That's because it is who is she,"

"Who she is," Caius repeated.

Illusively, Raziah finally took a step forward. She moved forward, taking a few steps before she stopped again. As everyone watched her, they could only wish they could read what was going on in her mind because her actions so far were just... unusual. She searched with her eyes through the darkness, hoping to find what she was looking for because the vibe she had been getting...was something worthwhile. She had just taken another step forward when her Keen gaze dropped, making her abruptly turn around and walk back into the carriage.

Fertiti couldn't help but share a look with her leader, asking a few questions with her eyes.

Meanwhile, there was only one person amongst them who didn't think twice about his actions at the moment, "What did you see?"

Raziah glanced at the kid apathetically, "Nothing."

Next, he pointed at the wristband, "It's beautiful but old. Where did you get it from? Did it come from you? Aunt Ana says it's part of who you are. How is it part of who you are?"

"Caius!" Fabia exclaimed horrifically, smacking his back to get him to shut up.

"Ouch!" He pointed, turning to glare at his aunt.

A small knock from the window pulled their attention, and Felix pulled it down to ask, "Shall we get going?"

Raziah nodded softly.

"Your highness, we will be taking a shortcut this time so we would arrive at the palace around sundown tomorrow." He added, watching her from where he sat.

Raziah only nodded her head again. She didn't care to ask why they didn't take the shortcut on their way here because for one she didn't care - and what difference would it make? Going back to her earlier position, she didn't close her eyes this time. The pandemonium in her head needn't a dim vision to get them swarming in this time - because the new wave of thoughts that had her racing inside required both her eyes to be wide open for this twist of events.

She wasn't expecting that.

Or... Is it already time? Or was the time close?

Now she was even more restless than before.

By the time Raziah was able to settle her rampaging insides down, and lean back on her seat into an even more comfortable position, so many hours had already passed and they had arrived at Erandell.

The kingdom was awfully quiet and... empty. As they rode slowly through the towns and market, there was hardly anyone around. The only sounds that could be heard often were galloping horses and warriors running back and forth past them in a rush as if the whole kingdom was in a state of emergency. Felix had stopped and talked with a few of the warriors, but he didn't relay the information he had gotten to any of them.

Raziah had watched him carefully, noticing a slight look of distress in his eyes and walking steps. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Arriving at the palace, Fertiti quickly ushered Fabia and Caius to a guest room that was close by while Raziah was headed back to her room. No, their room.

She was hoping to find him there, and there was nothing more important than that right now. Even the palace was looking scarce, with fewer maids and guards walking around. Everything felt somewhat eerie, and the bad feeling that Raziah had been getting was building up, making her throat itch badly. The grip on her sword grew tighter subconsciously as she finally arrived at the door to the small room, her mind reeling back to her last encounter with her husband.

Controlling herself was what she needed right now, and she had to put more pressure on herself to achieve that. She would have to pretend like that monstrous air he had released never occurred, and then she would act like a good wife and clear the air between them. She already knew it was her fault for not telling him, and she had already been meaning to apologize for leaving the palace without his consent before he spontaneously changed.

She didn't even know whether he was in there, but she wanted to believe he was. He could be anywhere though, but they had always been together inside that room majority of the while they were together so it would be nice if he was in there right now. Taking a deep breath, her mother's soft words passed through her mind - giving her more courage to just push the door and walk in there.

Just as she reached out for the doorknob, the air around her swiftly changed. Someone was standing right behind her, and Raziah was already unsheathing her sword in response to the caliginous feeling, ready to attack whoever it was that was planning to suffocate her with his presence alone.

He moved fast, with his lips already close enough and whispering into her ear with his obscurely low-pitched Voice, "Your husband was kidnapped, he's not in there, Goldy."

She faced him the very next second with the sword less than an inch away from his neck region. Raziah thought she was hallucinating at first because if it had been her husband that spoke, then she would have known. Actually, the voice did sound familiar but she had told herself firmly that it wasn't his Majesty - but as she stared into a pair of porcelain - white iris whose color was almost matching that of his retina, she was almost convinced her husband had changed the color of his eyes.

But... That was impossible.

His statue was just like that of her husband, and the only physical difference was the color of his eyes and his hair. Raziah's eyes took an even more chilly and intimidating gleam as she brought the sword even closer to the man's neck, and the escalating sense of insecurity could only escape from her lips as one simple question that carried a meaning very, very powerful.

"Who are you?!"