The Knight's Princess

Chapter 10

Queen Nova and the infant have been dead for a few months now. Azaria is having a hard time with it. As a result, she decides to seek wisdom at the pearl temple.

“We haven't spoken in a long time, like this goddess Sahar. I'm praying to you after such a long time because I'm broken, angry, depressed, and hurt. On that fateful day, my family suffered a great loss. I'm still thinking about blaming myself. I know my father wants to take the blame, but I'm not going to let him because as the amulet wielder, I protect everything, including my family's and people's emotions. Why didn't I have the strength to save my mother and the baby?”

Azaria was in the pearl temple all day till nightfall. Upon returning to her room Naliyah was standing there leaning against the wall in the hallway waiting for Azaria.

“Oh my God Naliyah what do you want now?”

“You just gonna stand there and ask me what you want when you know what I want. I wanted you to save mom but instead you let her die along with the baby. Why did you let her die it's not fair. I hate you; you disgusting thing of a sister. It's your fault mom is dead; you had the power to save her and the baby and you did nothing until after she was already dead from saving you. I will never forgive you for it. So watch your back if you know what's good for you.”

“You dare threaten me?” Azaria asked with a venom like tone in her voice.

"It's not a threat big sister it's a promise"

"Don't push my buttons Naliyah I'm not in the mood for one of your antics right now. So I suggest you change your tone when you're talking to me."

“And what are you gonna do if I don’t”

Azaria uses her speed to get up close to Naliyah. Naliyah's eyes widened when Azaria got up close to her face in a blink of an eye. Azaria tapped into her power of strength and grabbed her little sister holding her by the neck with one hand lifting her in the air pinning her against the wall with such force that it put cracks in the wall.

“You selfish, black hearted, little witch. I’m so sick of your disrespect and these antics of yours; always coming for me. If you come for me again, if you even look my way with malicious intent you will come up missing.”

“Damn sister I didn’t think you had it in you, I’m impressed.” Coughing because she can barely breathe with Azaria squeezing tighter on her neck.

King Hashu noticed that Azaria was choking Naliyah as he was walking by. He immediately dropped his documents and ran over there quickly and tried to intervene.

“What in Sahar’s name is going on here? Azaria put your sister down now!”

Azaria turned out her father's command about putting Naliyah down for she was too pissed off to really listen.

“Azaria I know Naliyah is a handful and she can push some buttons and I know you’re hurting inside but little phoenix this isn’t the way to go.”

Azaria started to cry then she finally let go of Naliyah. She fell on her butt trying to catch her breath while rubbing her neck as bruises began to form.

“Leave, get out of my sight Naliyah”

“Fine I’ll go for now but I meant what I said”

Azaria couldn't believe how venomous her voice sounded when those words came out of her own sister's mouth. The shock of learning that someone despises you so much that they wish you harm is enough to upset Azaria. The fact that the person was her sister made it even more difficult for her to bear. Azaria was perplexed by Naliyah's attitude towards her. Their relationship has deteriorated since their mother and the baby died. It progressed from sibling rivalry to outright hostility and hatred towards each other. To keep the peace, they had to accept their father's proposal of estrangement rather than attempting reconciliation. Even though he desperately wants his daughters to be sisters again, this was the only thing he could do to keep them from killing each other.

Finally reaching to her room slamming the door behind her. Azaria started to pace around still in high anger at her sister and the declaration of war she set on her. Punching walls, throwing things, breaking glass etc. When she started to calm down she looked up into the mirror to see what a mess she was. Legs giving out making her fall to the floor

crying out, tears flowing from her eyes. As Azaria succumbs to her heavily weighed emotions she heard a knock on the door, but did not move from her spot on the floor. Next she heard the door open and popped her head up to see it was Prince Alonza standing there with worry in his eyes. She wipes away her tears and dusts herself off while in the midst of standing to address Alonza without trying to look like a mess in front of him.

"Alonza, What are you doing here?" Looking at him with a surprised look on her face.

"We got word of what happened and once i was notified I had to come straight to you to make sure you were ok and to be by your side through this tough time"

Prince Alonza gently grabbed Azaria's face and looked deep into her eyes to see the pain and hurt in her heart and just held her close, laying her head on his chisel chest. Azaria's body then went limp and tears ran down her face again letting out another big cry and she sinks her face deep into his chest soaking his shirt with her tears and snot. Once she was starting to settle down Prince Alonza picked up Azaria in bridal style and gently laid her down in her bed caressing her hair out her face. As soon as her head hit the pillow she fell asleep and Alonza pulled the covers over her. After making sure she was all set he made his way to the pull out couch in the corner of the room and slowly went to sleep.

The next morning Azaria started to toss and turn drenched in sweat, heart racing, and temperature rising to frantically waking up with Prince Alonza standing beside her trying to calm her down.

"Azaria! Azaria! Calm down it's me baby" Alonza held her close til she settled down and got her breathing under control.

"Shhhhhhhhh its ok baby I'm here just calm down and breathe"

Azaria finally got her breathing and emotions under control and looked up at Alonza reassuring him that she was feeling

better.

"Thank you so much Alonza."

"Anything for you baby, I'd do anything for you"

"Well can we stay like this a little bit longer"

"Of course baby, of course"

While Princess Azaria and Prince Alonza were spending time together, Nkosi was at the training grounds practicing training to get stronger and also to blow off some steam. After what happened on that fateful day Nkosi was training non stop to the point of almost an obsession. He felt like a failure to the royal family but most important of all to his best friend. Head instructor Gail walked in on Nkosi punching the wooden dummy when she called his name to get his attention.

"Nkosi!" But he didn't even stop. He was so focused and consumed in his own world he didn't even notice Gail standing right next to him. When he tried to aim a high kick at the dummy Gail caught his leg in mid air which snapped him out of his focus.

"Oh Ms. Gail I'm sorry I didn't notice you were there"

"I know you didn't" Giving out a small chuckle.

"What got you training to the point of bleeding knuckles and exhaustion?"

"I want to be stronger after losing the Queen and the unborn baby and the royal family being severly injured my pride and soul was crushed"

Nkosi tried returning to his training when Gail stood in his way.

"Gail i need to train and you are in my way"

"I know that's why I stopped you." Nkosi stood there with confusion as he was trying to figure out what Instructor Gail was talking about.

"I will train you but not here, you need special training. Training that goes beyond the normal training that we do here."

"It will be hard and taxing but if you really are wanting to be strong you will have to leave the castle for there are too many distractions with everything that has happened. I will need your undivided focus and attention."

Nkosi looks at Gail with hesitation but Gail raises her hand to stop his thought process.

"Think about it first, you have till the end of this week to let me know what your decision is"

After Gail left Nkosi to his thoughts, Nkosi continued with training but ending it early for he couldn't focus after having that conversation with Gail.

"Maybe I should see if Azaria is up for company because I need advice." Nkosi grabbed his towel that he whipped on his shoulder and picked up his water to drink before returning to his room to shower and change.

"Can't go see Azaria smelling like sweat and dirt" Nkosi thought to himself.