Cover page 1

Chapter 1 3
Chapter 2 12
Chapter 3 20
Chapter 4 31
Chapter 5 39
chapter 6 46
chapter 7 50
chapter 8 64
chapter 9
chapter 10
chapter 11
Chapter 1

Someone was trailing her. She was just about to head to

the sea when she heard footsteps trailing her, her hand
immediately went to the dagger strapped to her thigh
sheath. It's nothing fancy, just a medium size-silver dagger
with her initials carved on the very sharp peak of it, A.H,
and the pommel has a little sea wave on it.

She kept walking until she reached the shore and that
person is still following her. She turns around, tackles him
to the soothing sands of Rava and holds the dagger to his
throat and he shamelessly smiles at her and says "good to
know I trained you well" Falcon. the captain of the guards
and also the person who trained her since she hit fifteen
years "Of course you did" she smirks. He stands up, dusting
off the sand on his cloak. Falcon is considerably attractive
but not handsome, he is six foot one with broad shoulders
and brown hair and eyes that could pull a woman if he
wanted to, but Falcon dedicated his life to serving her and
the kingdom of Rava. He is the best military advisor and
leader, he trained her so well she can give him that.

He then says "What are you doing roaming around the

streets with no guards, Arya?" Yes, he calls her by her first
name, Falcon is more than a father than she ever had. Her
dad never really gives a damn about her since her mother
died. She looks him dead in the eye and mockingly say
"What? Is the future queen of Rava not allowed to roam
around In her own kingdom?" They had this conversation
more than she can even count, and it always ends in the
same way. like this. "No, she can't unless she has guards
with her." He says. He knows this conversation way too
well. " You know I am capable of defending myself," he was
about to answer but she cut him off "besides, you are the
one who trained me. Unless you don't trust your training
then?" He shakes his head in disapproval and turns to
leave. she knows that she has to follow him and she also
knows that if she didn’t he will carry her stubborn ass back
to the palace, so she reluctantly follows him to the place
where the monster of her nightmares lives.
Her dad.

******

They arrive by the large gates of the place she supposedly

calls home. The palace can be seen from like ten miles afar
and she doesn't know why they bother with the gates in
the first place.
It's a white palace studded with blue and pale pink that
makes her wonder how her despicable of a father lives in
this joyful palace. They enter through the large blue doors
and there are servants everywhere, she smiles at them a
soft smile. Arya knows them all and she really appreciates
them and how they tolerate her father. They go up using
the stairs on the left side of the hall and she bump into a
hard body at the top the stairs and guess who it is? Her
father. He looks down on her and says "What do you think
you're doing, girl?" She bites down her anger and reply.
"Talking a walk." He looks her up and down and says " With
no guards! Wonderful" he then eyes Falcon and she pities
the creature in front of her. "Now, if you’ll excuse me I
need to take a shower." She walks past him and hears
nothing but him scolding Falcon. she wants to turn around
and stab him for that, yet she keeps walking towards her
room.

Her room is the second room on the right. She opens the
door and a gush of relief fills her chest. A large plush bed
sits in the middle of the room with four spikes on each side
and a thin layer of transparent fabric flying from those
spikes that makes her want to throw herself on the bed
right now but, no, she needs to shower, she stinks.

It's so hot in Rava at this time of the year and her skin is
itching for a cold lovely bath. She wills her legs to the
bathroom and turns on the faucet, while waiting for it to fill
the whole bath she takes off her clothes; a simple, black
leggings topped with a navy corset and an off-white tunic
and a pair of high-knee black boots. She releases her
Auburn hair from her very tight braid and let it brush
against her lower back. She then slips into the tub and the
coldness shocks her but then she relaxes and enjoys the
sun peering from the squared window opposite her.
She was just about to fully relax when she heard a knock on
the door. She gets up, wraps herself in her robe and
paddles to the door. She opens it and finds Falcon waiting.
"You have training in five minutes. Do not be late." And
leaves.

She close the door, runs to her closet which is in the left
corner opposite to her bed. She wears the sister of the
black leggings she wore earlier and a black tunic with
golden cuffs and lining at the collar. She puts her very
wavy, large hair into a high ponytail and puts on some flat
shoes and rushes out of the door to where one of her
favorite parts of the day begins.
Falcon is an excellent trainer, yet a disciplined one and
being late means being lousy and irresponsible and she
doesn’t want to get on his bad side. Ever.

She enters the training room and goes to where they

always train. Although there is a lot of rings and other
spaces to train in, they always choose a place where the
ground is made of greenery and she always choose to train
barefoot.
She walks toward where he's standing, hand crossed over
his chest, waiting for her. She nods at him "Falcon" he does
not utter a word. Out of the blue, she saw a punch directed
at her face, she catches it before it collides with her face
and this is how it goes. He never says anything and every
time she lets her guard down, she finds a punch to her face
and fortunately every time she was able to catch herself
before it hits her face. Except for like two times.
They spar for about an hour and her favorite part of
training comes. Swords play. Nothing makes her happier
than a sword, it holds all power and beats all enemies but
only if you wield it well. She got distracted for a moment so
Falcon took the chance and knocked the sword from her
hand. “you’re distracted” he says. He knows her too well,
unfortunately. “sorry, won’t happen again” he lays down
his sword, picks up a bottle of water and throws another
one to her. “When you’re sparring, whether with me or on
a battlefield or even a thief, you have to empty your mind
and even your emotions. Be numb and then when it’s all
over, allow everything to settle in. Because once you let
your guard down and follow your line of thinking or your
emotions, it will immediately put you in danger and might
even get you killed.” Surprisingly, she is not complaining or
arguing either. Because she knows he’s right. He seems
surprised that she is not arguing, Arya simply nods and
repeats " sorry, won't happen again." She goes to pick up
her sword, giving her back to him and says "thanks,
Falcon." He knows what about.
He knows that every time he gets a scolding for her
escapades, it takes every ounce of self-control not to turn
and punch her father in the face. He knows that she is
thankful for him being the father figure she never had, he
knows everything and sometimes she wishes he wouldn't
because he can easily figure out literally anything about her
with zero effort. Arya probably loves him more than she
loves her own father, how is that even possible!
Chapter 2

Rumors about him are endless. Niran knows every story

spun about him. He knows the story of which he is a
merciless king with no heart and soul and other stories who
claim that he has magic or in some way evil but not just any
evil, the kind of evil that lurks in the shadows ready to
strike whenever you are in your lowest. Stories makes him
feared and it's better off that way.
His thoughts were interrupted by a voice. His sister's.
Caroline. "Hello brother" she enter his room without any
knocking of all kinds, he is used to it by now. Caroline is a
fair young lady, she is short, with black hair smooth as silk
and eyes blue as the ocean. Yeah weird combination.
"Hello Caroline." Her smile is wild and he really loves it. He
is Caroline's senior by three years, she turned seventeen a
couple of days ago. "Have you seen lily anywhere? I cannot
seem to find that little beast anywhere!" The dog. A golden
fluffy thing, and as chubby as a three-year old baby. "No,
Care, I am afraid I have not seen that little beast anywhere"
and there she is, prodding into his room with wet paws.
She must be playing in the fountain. Again. She jumps at
Niran and he actually likes her. Caroline then takes lily and
leaves my room.

Caroline is not just his little sister, she is practically his

daughter. After their parents’ death when he was just
fourteen years old and Caroline was only eleven years old.
He practically raised Caroline himself, he is afraid one day
she might call him father. How hilarious. He hopes not.

******
Niran is king of Alynthi and because of his parents’ early
death, he was legally named king yet, he has to go back to
the council before any decision he makes. Fortunately, this
ruse will end once he turns twenty-one years old, which is
very very soon.

He is sitting in his study, doing some utterly useless

paperwork when he hears a knock on the door "come in."
And guess who it is. CALLUM. The head of his council.
"Good morning, your majesty." He bows his head just a
little bit so Niran looks up at him, waiting for him to speak.
Callum is a fair man even for someone his age.
Callum was Niran's father's personal adviser and he loved
him dearly. Callum is in his mid-fifties with grey-ish hair and
golden eyes and he is muscular for someone his age. "I am
afraid there is a delay in our food shipment this month,
your majesty." He finally says. And he doesn’t know why
does Callum bothers to tell him about food supply
problems when he knows what to already do! "You know
what to do Callum. Track down the captain and the ship,
locate it then send men to retrieve it." Niran says as a
matter of fact. "I already did, sir." He looks at Niran wearily.
"Then what's the problem?" He then looks up at him and
relaxes down in his chair waiting for an answer
"My men came back bearing news, from the last port the
ship has stopped at. And apparently the ship has
disappeared." Niran narrows his eyes and stands up so
quickly that the chair falls back. "What do you mean
disappeared? How is that even possible?!"
Callum clasps his hand, he doesn’t know what to say
because he really is clueless just as Niran is. "We don't
know sir, but I sent my best trackers and divers to look for
it." He stops then adds. "But sir, the port where the ship
was last seen was near Rava, in New wave harbor." Shit.
And Niran thought, Why would they go there! They know
that we don’t set foot in any of Rava's harbors. "Okay, you
may leave now Callum, I'll send for you when I think of a
plan." He bows and subtly leaves.
His men should know not go near Rava by any means, they
have their own harbors to rest in but they never rest in any
of Rava's harbors. Niran either needs to locate that ship
himself or find another solution.

He walks out of his study and out of his whole rooms,

which can be a lot. His bedroom is nothing fancy, there's a
wide bed in the middle of the room with a black back and
sheets and two armoires on each side of the bed and on
the left corner is the wardrobe and a mirror.
He exits his room and heads for the terrace. He passes by a
lot of servants and he just nod a simple nod at them. His
rooms are on the last level of the castle so he has to take
the stairs to go down two levels. The stairs are at the end
of the corridor on the left and they twirl as if they were
built to madden you. The castle's insides is very dark and
gloomy and he assumes that that's what people expect
from him right? The only cheerful place in here is the
terrace and it is his only haven also.
He reaches the doors of the terrace and open them so
quickly as if he haven’t seen the terrace in ages. It's a
beautiful place full of flowers of all kinds.
Caroline usually tends to the flowers, she likes taking care
of them and it is here that he always finds her and he found
her now. Sitting in the soil and not giving a damn about
anyone or anything.
She is planting a new set of flowers at the right column of
the terrace and he thinks he sees yellow. Daffodils. "they
were dad's favorite." He says as a way of greeting. "she
looks up at him from where she's sitting and says "yes"
something like longing crosses her face so she repeated
again in a faint whisper. “yes they were." She stands up and
takes off her gloves, her blue gown is now smothered in
soil and mud.
Something he really likes about Caroline was that she never
really cared about appearances. So, he teases her " look at
you, all muddy and feisty." She hits him in his arm and he
looks at her as if he is wounded. "Stop with your teasing
brother. I know you love me." She says playfully. He picks
her up from the waist and turns with her until they're both
dizzy enough so he stops and they practically fall on the
ground but they sit on the wooden bench instead.
"Shouldn't you be ruling the world!" She said mockingly.
He gives her the look and say "funny, sister. But yeah in
fact I should be, but I am in no mood to rule the world as
you say." She kinda sensed his unease and immediately
asked.
"What happened?" He was hesitant at first but he knows
that he can’t get away with her so he tells her. "one of
ships carrying food supply disappeared near Rava. It was
last located in New wave Harbor. Callum sent his men to
track it down but they found nothing." She then wearily
asks him. " what are you going to do?" He sighs heavily "I
don't know, pumpkin. I'm still thinking about it. "She laughs
at the nickname.
Mom and dad used to call her that and it kinda stuck with
her. She looks at him and says "you'll figure something out.
You always do, Niran" Silence takes over and they keep
staring into the sinking sun until it fades to darkness and
nothing more.

Chapter 3

Arya is supposed to be learning the kingdom’s laws and

regulations and more importantly how to rule a kingdom.
But whenever, Falcon goes looking for her or even her
father they find her in the library with a book in her hand.
Completely lost in it that sometimes she does not even
know what time it is or even what day it is.
When Falcon comes looking for her it’s because either they
have training or another session about ruling, the later
really bores Arya to death and that’s why she is never on
time, but the former makes Arya always on time and never
late. Training is more like a steam-off time for her, she
takes out all her energy and maybe some of her burdens as
well.

So now, Arya is wondering which one is Falcon here for

and she really really hopes it is training but she is soon
disappointed. “it’s time for some learning, Reya.” She looks
up at the face who just spoke her mother’s nickname to
her and something like pain catches her eyes. She stands
up and heads to door “don’t ever call me that again.” it
came out so harshly and she instantly regrets it but it really
caught her off guard.
And it’s been a very long time since anyone had called her
that. Since her mom died a couple of years ago and the
sudden memory of her death, opens something in Arya’s
heart like a gash now left open and bleeding everywhere.
So, she keeps walking to the study room which is on the
last level and probably is the only room there. She enters
the room and finds her master who she sincerely hates.
Master Orion. Which she often calls him master Orio to piss
him off and irritate him and luckily for her, he is so easily
irritated.

Orion is a large, round man with a huge belly that makes

him look like someone who ate all the food in the fridge.
He is semi-bald with straight teeth and brown eyes and a
beard which he never shaves. He gestures for her to sit
down so he can start the lesson and Arya sits grumpily,
already planning on how to irritate the fuck out of him and
it begins sooner than he expected. “good afternoon,
master Orio.” She smiles wickedly and he gives a her a look
that says oh no, not again. He says nothing about it as he
grabs a large law book from the shelves behind him and
throws it on his desk which makes a loud thump. “ughhh, I
hate law sessions! Can’t we do something else today?” he
looks at her, bored and says “no we can’t” she is silent for a
moment but then here it is “how about history?” she looks
at him like a child begging for candy but he says again “no”.
she then lays back In her chair, defeated “fine” and the
lesson begins. He begins by stating Rava’s ruling law “the
king or queen of Rava shall rule fairly and with justice” he
keeps talking and all she can hear is bla bla bla, until he
notices that she dozed off and loudly says “miss Arya,
unless you plan on ruling sometime soon you need to
focus.” She then realizes that he talking to her “oh no, dear
master Orion, I have no such plans for that. As long as my
lovely father is alive and able to rule then I shall enjoy my
luxurious stay at this palace.” she tells him mockingly. He
looks at her as if he already anticipated what she was going
to say. The lesson is usually an hour and a half every two
days and almost every time Arya runs out of patience and
runs out of the study as well.

And before the time was over by thirty minutes, Arya was
bolting out of the room and heading to the library. Again.
Usually, Falcon would be waiting for her outside of the
study but he is not and she is somewhat relieved, she does
not want to face him after the encounter they had a while
ago.

Arya picked a book from the many many shelves lining up

the library and settled in a comfortable armchair in front of
an enormous window that over looks the whole kingdom.
She opened the book -pride and prejudice- and started
reading, although she probably read that book a thousand
times before. She heard the door open and close but she
did not look up and deep down she wished it was just a
servant. But no it wasn’t. “I thought I would find you here.”
Falcon. She just nods her head so he continues “hey, I’m
sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean it and it just came out of
my mouth without thinking.” She closes the book and looks
at him, but what she didn’t notice is that he is sitting next
to her chair and looking at her waiting for an answer. “I
know, I’m sorry too about how I reacted,” he does not say
anything and she realizes that he knows she still did not
finish. “I was just caught off guard, that’s all.” He looks at
her apologetically. “I miss her so much, Falcon” she was
fighting back the tears burning at the back of her throat. “I
know, I know.” He then gets up and holds her for a couple
of minutes until she is okay, and deep down Arya is so
grateful to have him in her life. She doesn’t even
remember the last time her dad held her or even talked
nicely to her. Arya then breaks away and looks up at him
with eyes that holds all meanings and a simple thank you,
so he nods at her, reassuring her that he understands but
then he speaks “I apologize in advance about what I am
about to say but his majesty requests your audience in the
throne room immediately.” She sighs annoyingly and says
“I haven’t done anything since you caught me in the city!”
“I know and I think it has nothing to do with that, so I guess
we’ll figure it out.” So they get up and head to the throne
room.
The throne is basically on the first level of and it takes up
most of it. They enter the throne room, nodding to the
guards at the door. A large dias is sitting in the middle of
the room with her father on it, looking drunk as usual. Arya
wonders what have made him this way, she remembers
him when her mother was alive and he was never drunk
but after she died, something changed and somehow, he
was never sober. “your majesty.” Says falcon with a simple
bow of his head while Arya says nothing and simply stares
at him waiting for him to speak. “I received word that there
is trouble at New wave harbor” hart says, her father. Arya
quickly interrupts him “okay so? What am I doing here?”
gesturing to the throne room. “do not interrupt me, girl!”
he says angrily. “I’m no girl and don’t you dare ever call me
that again!” she made to leave but he continues to speak
anyway “my men are saying that one of Alynthi’s cargo
ships was last seen in New Wave Harbor and then it totally
disappeared with no trace except where it was seen last.”
This catches Arya’s attention and turns to him now waiting
for more details but he offers none.
Falcon is the one to breaks the silence “what are your
orders sir?” Hart then looks at Arya dead in the eyes and
says “Arya will take care of this…mishap” Arya is surprised
cause he never gives her real work to do, he always send
his men or Falcon but never her. “why me?” she says with
confusion “you never assign me anything. Aren’t I just a
girl?” he looks at her then and with all the bitterness in the
world he says “do you want it or not girl?” Arya is gripping
her last ounce of control “fine, I do.” She turns to leave for
real this time and when she reaches the door she hears him
say “Good luck, girl” god! She hates when he calls her that.
She storms out of the throne room and hears Falcon’s
footsteps behind her, sometimes she feels that Falcon is
her shadow and it brings her peace to know that he is there
and will protect her, although she knows how to protect
herself pretty well.

Arya heads to the terrace instead going to her rooms, she

finds solace in the beautiful sunlight and fresh air. She
wonders how would it be if her mother was still alive. Will
she guide her? Help her? Take her off the hook from her
father? Will she be kind as she always was? And the most
gruesome thought of them all is that she sometimes that it
was her father to die not her mom. But then she realizes
that it is a very cruel thing to say or think. Her thoughts
were interrupted by Falcon’s voice “hey” she looks up at
him, shading her eyes from the sun by the back of her
hand. “hello, Falcon.” He sits down next her on the bench
and sighs. “do you think he assigned me this to mock or
prove that am useless?” Falcon seems to think about the
right answer. “I honestly do not know, Arya.” And she looks
at him surprised. Shocked even. Falcon always knows
everything and his answer seemed to startle Arya a little
bit, cause she looked at him with eyes narrowing slightly
and eyebrows pinched together; waiting for an elaboration.
“look, what he just assigned you is a huge task and a bigger
problem, kiddo. An Alynthian cargo ship disappearing and
was last seen at one of our harbors, is big and will bring
trouble.” He sighs then continues. “hell, we could find their
prince here in the morning.” At that she shoots him a look
of confusion. Worry. “what do you mean the prince of
Alynthi? He could do that? For a cargo ship?” Falcon nods.
“it is not jus a cargo ship. It’s a royal ship with royal
guardsmen and huntsmen, and some even claim that it had
a very special artifact that was supposed to be brought
back to the prince.” Her curiosity now is peaked “what
artifact?” he shrugs his shoulders and says “ some say it’s a
special sword made only to the prince and some say that it
is some dark evil object that will destroy the world.” Arya
shudders at that and dearly prefers the former rather than
the latter.
“well then, I hope it is the sword not the evil machine
thingie.” Falcon laughs and nods in agreement. “you’ll do
great, kiddo. Don’t worry, I’ll be with you whenever you
need me but trust in yourself more than that. You are more
than capable, just believe and don’t let him break you.” She
blinks back the tears that are threatening to escape her
eyes and says “thank you, Falcon. Thank you.” He gives her
a small smile of understanding and they sit in silence until
the sun leaves them and it turns into darkness and so does
her heart.

Chapter 4
Niran usually has breakfast with Caroline everyday and this
is how it normally is. They like to have their breakfast in the
open air which is practically the garden that Caroline tends
to. The servants bring the food at ten o’clock in the
morning and it’s always some eggs, patisseries or porridge.
Today it is some Spanish eggs with coffee and cake.
Caroline was the first to break the silence “so, how is that
ship problem of your?” she asks. Niran takes a sip from his
coffee and then replies “still nothing, we have sent more
men and my best PIs’s but they have figured nothing and it
is starting to worry me.” She looks at him worrily and says
“what are you going to do then?” “tsk, hell if I know, and
I’m in no mood to start a war, am I” she laughs at that and
that makes him smile too.

Soon after, their breakfast was interrupted by Callum. He

greeted them with a simple good morning and tiny bow but
then he says “I’m afraid sir that we still know nothing about
this ship or the men and everything we do, does little to
inform us about where the ship might be.” Niran already
knows this and he is running out of options “okay, Callum. I
might have an idea.” “yes sir?” Niran takes another sip
from his coffee and then says “prepare the horses and send
word to some of your best men to get prepared.” Callum
looks confused “I beg your pardon sir?” Niran then tells him
“I can see that there is no progress and no matter who you
send, you can’t seem to find anything” Callum is still
waiting “I shall head to Rava myself” Callum is utterly
surprised and Caroline almost spits her coffee also.
“WHAT?!” Caroline exclaims, Niran shoots her a glance
that says later. So, she takes the hint and says respectfully
“apologies.”

Callum is still staring at Niran, thinking maybe this is all a

joke “you’re quite serious sir” Niran nods “indeed, I am
Callum” and then he continues “I want everything ready by
tomorrow’s sunrise and make it as secretive as possible,
understood?” Callum is surprised by the sudden harshness
in his tone but says anyway “understood, sir” he then bows
and leaves the garden.

As soon as Callum leaves, Caroline is looking at Niran

waiting for an explanation. “what Care?” he asks “you are
going to RAVA” she says like a child excited for Christmas.
“yeah, Care. I am going to Rava. You just heard me say
that.” She gives him a look that says am not deaf nor am I
stupid. “can I come with you? Pleaseee” “No, Caroline you
cannot.” She looks at him disappointingly “why not?” he
says as a matter of a fact “I am going to seek my lost ship
and probably some political problems will arouse between
me and the king of Rava. So as you can see this is not a
voyage, this is work and it is somehow extremely
dangerous.” She sighs, annoyed. “ugh, okay fine.” Niran
looks satisfied that she did not complete arguing so he lays
back and completes his cup of coffee in peace.

******

It’s been years since Niran had a good sleep or really slept,
since his parents death things have been rough and to say
that he received a lot and a lot of death threats and letters
that claim that he is the devil. All of this is because once his
parents died, the kingdom seemed to mourn their death
and somehow the nightmares are a reminder of all of that.
So when Callum came knocking at his door at five A.M. in
the morning, Niran was already awake and ready to move.

Callum was waiting for Niran at his door when Niran

emerged from his room clad in black from head to toe;
black breeches, boots, tunic with a slim silver lining at the
cuffs and a black cloak. His messy hair is swept into a
ponytail at the nape of his neck, he looks sharp, evil. Just as
people think he is.

He nods at Callum, a simple nod. “everything is ready, sir.”

Niran nods again and says “good, let’s get going.” And they
head outside. Caroline is waiting for them next to their
horses, she gives Niran a tight hug, something she only
dares to do, and Niran hugs her back. “stay safe, brother.
And come back in one piece okay?” he smiles “okay. Don’t
do anything stupid while am gone, I won’t be here to fix it,
huh?” she laughs wildly and hits him in the shoulder
playfully “yeah sure, whatever.” He then mounts his pitch-
darkness mare which Caroline named Hiraya. He salutes
Caroline with a mocking solider imitation and leaves. It
probably will take two or three days maximum to reach
Rava.

Once they head to the streets of Alynthi, every set of eyes

lands on them, and what hurts him more than anything is
the look in the children’s eyes. Fear. And at that moment,
he thought that maybe he is the monster everyone thinks
he is. Niran is only twenty years old and after his parents
death, a lot of things seem to change. Yes, he can be
heartless and brutally cruel when need be. Yes, he will kill
anyone who harms the ones he loves without that blink of
an eye just because it is him that has lost so much and still
chose to live. to be human. over and over again.

they reached the outskirts of Torrine, the capital, and enter

the dark forest; where everything and anything looms in
the darkness, protected by it. they walk carefully, aware of
their surroundings and their hands on their swords and
daggers. a branch breaks and falls from a tree, they all turn
around so quickly following the sight of the branch "keep
moving" Niran orders. he knows these woods too well to
not be fooled by it. they skid to a halt and jump off of their
horses and walk beside them instead. They reach the other
side of the forest when something howls in the distance,
like a wolf but more fearsome. Dark. it is so dark they can
only sense the presence of it. something moves behind
them and they turn around and catch something. Red eyes.
Then they realize how much trouble they are in. It's a black
shuck. A black monstrous sort of a creature, with legs
hinged like a werewolf and eyes red as the searing fire. It is
said that one look from its eyes to yours will bring you a
slow, agonizing death in a year, it hypnotizes you and takes
you as its prisoner. so, while trying to out run it, you have
to control your emotions. Be numb.
Unfortunately, one of the twelve men Niran travels with
could not control his fear and was lured away by the
creature's magic and he was gone, doomed to a painful
death in just a year of time. Cause it is always the promise
of forever and the never-ending life that withers the soul.
And that was just what happened.

They started moving quickly heading to the forest’s exit

and they were able to leave peacefully with no more
casualties

Chapter 5

It has been three days since Niran and his group of men
moved from Alynthi and survived the black shuck and now
they are near New Wave Harbor. Niran knows that if he
went straight to the harbor, with no previous word, it
would mean declaring war. And this is something he does
not wish to initiate, so, he decides to head for the royal
palace and talk to the king of Rava himself.

Once Niran and his soldiers enter Rava, everyone seems to

be in shock even the Ravanian soldiers stationed
everywhere in the city. The palace is practically in the
center of the kingdom and is impossible to go unnoticed,
they neared the palace and the guards went suddenly
alarmed and stiff and in some sense of way they were right
to stiffen. It was Niran Boone in front of them, future king
of Alynthi and the most horrid of them all.

“I need to speak with your king” Niran said as a way of

greeting “I am very sorry sir, but you cannot speak with his
majesty without sending word” the guard hesitated but the
added “and even if he gave me his majesty’s consent to
allow you to see him, who shall I tell him wants to meet
him?” Niran chuckled and thought that the guard was
joking but when he looked back at him he realized that he
was quite serious. “this is unbelievable” Niran muttered
under his breath, then he looked at the guard and said “tell
him that Niran Boone, prince of Alynthi came to discuss
some urgent matters and shall not leave without meeting
with him.” The guard’s mouth was about to fall on the floor
after this identity confirmation. The guard nodded and
turned to enter to inform the king.

It is ten A.M in the morning and Arya is having breakfast

with her father, she does not really enjoy his company but
this is some kind of routine and she is forced to oblige.
Their breakfast was interrupted by a guard rushing in as if
he was caught on fire “your majesty,” he bowed slightly
“speak.” Said Hart harshly “we have a guest your highness,
he says he needs to talk to you urgently.” Now Hart is
alarmed and looking at the guard beckoning him to keep
talking “it’s Prince Niran Boone of Alynthi, sir,” and Arya
almost spits her tea “what!?” she exclaims with such
surprise that she then has to contain herself. “did he say
what brought him all this way from his kingdom?” the
guard seems to shrink back and hesitate but says “I’m
afraid not, your majesty.” Hart then looks at Arya and says
with dismiss “I’m afraid it’s time for you to prove yourself,
young lady.” Arya looks like she might vomit all her
breakfast but says nothing “Niran is your problem from
now on, you shall handle it and take care of everything he
wants” he then stands up and exits the room.
Arya’s thoughts were interrupted by the guard’s question
“what shall I tell him, your highness?” she looks up at him
for a second gathering her thoughts and then says “send
him to the throne room and umm send some of your
guards with him” he nods and was about to leave when she
adds “and someone please fetch me Falcon and tell him to
meet me at my rooms immediately.” One of the servants
pivots out of the room and Arya goes running to her rooms
to change and meet Falcon.

Arya quickly put on a pair of black leggings topped with an

emerald tunic that matches her eyes and a black corset,
tied her hair up in a high ponytail to giver her an edge and
lastly, she put on some black high-knee boots. She heard a
knock on the door “come in.” Falcon. “what’s wrong” he
said worryingly “the prince of Alynthi is here and my dad
deemed him my sole responsibility and I told one of the
guards to take him to the throne room until I come and I
don’t know what the hell am I supposed to do!” she says
like someone is running after her. “calm down, Arya. Don’t
worry, I’ll come with you and everything will be okay. Just
put on a show. Be cold. Be yourself” she stares at him and
then decides that they have to go now, they have left him
in the throne room for now for over than ten minutes and
that’s not a good start.
Arya enters the throne room looking like a someone who
does not care and with Falcon behind her looking like the
very guard he is. Niran is standing in the corner chatting
with one if his guards, discussing some matter but as soon
he spots her, he laughs. He actually laughs. "What is this? Is
this some sort of joke?" Niran says, still smiling like he can’t
believe what he's seeing. "I cannot quite understand what's
funny?" Arya replies, shocking herself with what she just
said but she betrays no emotion. Niran realized that is
pretty serious and not a joke so he stop laughing and he
outs his hands behind his back and stands there waiting for
someone to elaborate. "You should have sent word before
you came, prince." He smirks "huh, right. Forgive my
hastiness" he looks her up and down and ask "°and you
are?" She looks him straight in the eye, her chin up and
smiles "I am Arya Hart, princess of Rava and future queen."
She watches him as surprise hits him in the face when he
realizes that he is speaking to the princess of Rava. "Right,
of course you are." Niran shrugged and looked to Callum as
if to say WE'LL TALK ABOUT THAT LATER. "Well, if you
don't mind I need a word with the king" Arya looks at
Falcon, smirking and then says "you speak to me." He looks
unconvinced "what do you mean? Where is the king." He
asks, getting angry now. Arya just shrugs, waiting for his
explanation or why he is here so she simply asks " I am
wondering, what is the prince of Alynthi doing here? On
the other side of the continent." He rolls his eyes, he can't
believe he has to deal with her. "I am sorry, am I bothering
you or something?" She asks him, she is running out of
temper and he is being an ass. She turns to Falcon "he is
not talking so I suggest keep him here in the throne room
and when his royal ass decides to bother telling us why he
is here, come fetch me." Falcon bows and Arya head for
the door while Falcon stays in the room with Niran and his
men.
Chapter 6

“He is requesting your presence now in the throne room.”

Says Falcon to Arya in the terrace. “so now the prince
decides to tell us why he barged into my kingdom with no
previous word, huh?” Falcon shrugs and they head to the
throne room.

“So, I see his majesty decided to share with us the reason

for his surprise visit after all!” Arya says once she enters the
throne room, Niran was speaking with Callum when he
heard her. He turned to face her and with a wicked smile
he said “oh, yes indeed I will.” Arya inclines her head just a
little as if to say go ahead and he does. “one of my food
supply ship was last seen in one of your harbors and it was
not seen since.” Arya furrows, looks back at Falcon, and
then back at Niran “That’s impossible, don’t your men
know that they are not allowed to set foot in any of my
ports or even in the kingdom without taking an official
assent from the royal guard or even king?” “oh, trust me
they do, princess” she hates when she is called by that
name although it is rightfully hers still, it un-nerves her. She
betrays nothing “then I’m sure this is all some sort of
misunderstanding and your men probably got lost in the
way back.” Niran chuckles “my men never get lost,” he
turns to Callum “order my men, we are heading to New
Wave Harbor immediately.”

She cuts him sharply " you are in my kingdom, you follow
my rules! And if you don’t like that you may leave just as
you came!" She looks at him sternly and says
"Understood?" He eyes her with surprise. Pride even. He
kept staring at her with awe and thought wow, she is
undeniably beautiful. He realizes that he still has not
answered her "yes, yes of course." He says with a smirk
dancing on his face and leaves the throne room and heads
to the rooms he was given as a gesture from the king.
Arya turns to a wide-eyed Falcon who is just as surprised by
what she just did like her. “Wow Arya, that was….amazing”
Arya smiles “yeah, yeah it was” they leave the throne room
and head for their training session. “Do you think he’ll
leave?” she asked Falcon as they entered the training “No,
no I don’t think he gives up that easily.” She looks at him
“yeah, me neither.” They head for the greenery place
where they always train but this time Arya does not take
off her shoes, she keeps them on. She picks up her usual
sword and swings it in a circular way and thrashes at
Falcon. He blocked her swing and they started sparring “for
last time.” Arya says with a wicked smile on her face,
Falcon smirks back and they go on like that for about thirty
minutes until they stop to drink water.

Arya went to the container, picked up her bottle, and

drank. She was about to turn around and continue when
something caught her eye. Someone. There was a dark
figure standing in one of the balconies, looking at her. Not
just looking, watching her. They held eye contact and then
she realized who he is. Niran. She snapped out of it and
entered the ring again where it was now some hand-to-
hand combat but her mind always went back to him
standing there, watching her.
They finished after another thirty minutes and when she
went to look back, he was gone. For now, she just ignored
it and went to take a shower.

Chapter 7

A letter was dispatched from Alynthi to Rava. A letter from

Caroline to her brother and Niran received it first thing in
the morning when he was in the terrace, discussing some
matters with Callum. Arya spotted the messenger before he
reached Niran. “you!” he stopped at the door leading to
the terrace “who are you here to see?” he bowed a little,
avoiding her eyes “your majesty, I am here to deliver a
letter to Prince Niran.” He is a young man, a short one with
dark hair and eyes. “what’s your name?” asks Arya “I’m
Elio, your majesty” still not looking her in the eyes. “from
who is this letter, do you know?” he shakes his head “I am
just the messenger, my lady” she gestures to him to enter
the terrace and deliver his letter, he enters and he leaves
the door open, she caught a glimpse of Niran. He took the
letter and dismissed the guy, and once Niran opened the
letter he smiled. He actually smiled. Arya snapped out of it
and turned to leave but he caught her eye, he was looking
at her. He put down the letter, laid back in his chair and
looked straight at her without blinking; she stood there for
a while but then she turned around and left.

Arya entered her rooms as quickly as possible “what is

wrong with me?!” she said to no one, her hear is
thrumming in her chest and it’s something new to her. she
shakes her head and heads to the window to smell some
fresh air. Her room overlooks the whole palace, if not the
whole kingdom. She spots Niran in the terrace, still in the
same place yet now he was reading the letter, still smiling
and Arya couldn’t believe her eyes. His smile is contagious
and wholesome and how lovely would it, to be kissed by
those lips. She is so shocked by her own thoughts right now
that she leaves the window and closes the drapes and
shakes her head at herself as if to say what the hell is
wrong with me?!

A knock snapped her out of her thoughts. “come in.” A

guard. He bowed “your father requests your presence in
his room, my lady.” Arya rolls her eyes “okay, thank you. I’ll
be right there.” He turns and leaves. Arya heads to her
father’s rooms.

Once the guards on her father’s rooms spot her, they bow
and open the door without saying anything. He is sitting in
an armchair near the fireplace holding a glass of bourbon,
as usual. It’s not even past eleven in the morning and he
started drinking already. He was never like that before her
mother died but it seems that after she was gone, he
became a totally different person. “what?” Arya says
sharply as she enters. “Is this how you speak to your
father?” he eyes her with something like disgust. Hatred
even. Arya chuckles “Did you just call me here to teach
some morals?” he stands up and looks like he might trip if
he moves one more step. Arya continues “and for god sake
it’s eleven in the morning and you started drinking already?
I wish mother was here to see how much of a drunk you’ve
become!” she struck a nerve and he threw the glass at her,
it missed her by an inch but a tiny piece of glass struck the
inside of her forearm.

Arya stood there, did nothing and she was somewhat glad
she struck a nerve. He was so unbearable sometimes and
she got used to the breaking glass and everything else. It
did not hurt, at least not in front of him it didn’t. “you
done?” she asked and noticed that the piece of glass is still
in her forearm but she ignored the pain. He looks up at her
angrily “NO”. Arya crosses her arms, still ignoring the pain,
and waits for him to complete. “what’s your progress with
the prince?” he asks “none of your business, you assigned
him to me then let me handle it, won’t you father?” “get
out!” he shouts, she smiles at him “with pleasure, sir.”

On the way back to her rooms, Niran spots her and his eyes
go directly goes to her arm, where it’s bleeding. He stands
up higher and furrows his eyebrows and something like
concern crosses his eyes. Arya just walks past him to her
rooms and ignores him. He looks after her, he seems
curious to know the reason behind this cut and his curiosity
grew even more when he realized that she was coming out
of her father’s rooms and Niran was suddenly very furious,
raging even. He was about to knock on her door but
decided against it. He pushed it to the back of his mind. For
now.

The problem of his cargo ship is yet to be solved and he

needs to take action as soon as possible. Niran found
Falcon on his way back to his rooms and stopped him
“when exactly is there going to be any action taken
towards my….misunderstanding, as you may call it” Falcon
looks him at him with surprise “I am not the one you
should be talking to about this. I only do politics and take
orders, so, I may suggest that you go to her majesty and
ask herself.” Niran seems surprised by how Falcon is
speaking, how free he is speaking without a hint of fear.
And it tells him a lot of his relationship with Arya. “okay
then, I assume I cannot just knock on her door and enter
right?” Falcon chuckles “No, you cannot. But you can send
word to her through her guards and she will see to you as
soon as possible.” Falcon turns to leave and Niran heads to
his room, to send word. He enters his room and goes for
the desk in the corner of his room, picks up a piece of
paper and writes down
I wish to speak to you as soon as possible.
Time is really of essence and I’m sure you want me off
your land as much as I do, so, I suggest we end both our
miseries and solve this problem.
 -Niran-

He then calls for one of his guards, gives him the note and
tells him to deliver it to Princess Arya’s guards now.
The guard quickly dispatches the message and comes back
to Niran with a reply and he is actually surprised that she
answered quickly. It seems that she really wants him off
her land as soon as possible
I am sure it’s a misunderstanding as I mentioned
before but we shall discuss the matter. Meet me in the
terrace at one o’clock.

-Arya-
Simple and subtle. It’s already 12:30, so, Niran decides to
take a shower and change until the time comes. He gets up
and heads for the bathroom. He takes a shower and settles
for black attire as usual, he leaves his hair to dry by itself
and then leaves his room and goes to the terrace. He looks
at the clock before he leaves and it’s already one o’clock.
He enters the terrace and stops midway. Arya is wearing a
gown. Not some breeches and a tunic this time. She is
wearing a teal gown that matches her eyes in an exquisite
manner, it’s loose cut, with sleeves that start from her
shoulders and end at her wrists and the skirt is a flowy
thing that reaches the ground, her hair is loose except for a
braid in the front part of her hair. She is leaning on the rail,
her face is totally in the sun and she somehow looks at
peace and he suddenly can’t move or speak. Niran is
absolutely transfixed by her beauty and he has to shake his
head and focus but when he looks back at her again he
sees a goddess, a queen as she should be. Her eyes are like
an endless garden and he is lost in them. His eyes goes to
her forearm and realizes that the sleeve is covering up the
cut, he still wonders how she got it.

He moved next to her and looked and the sky just as she
did “you’re late” she says to him, still looking at the sky as if
she is avoiding his eyes. “forgive my timing, princess” he
inclines his head towards her and she turns to face at him.
He wished she didn’t because once she looked at him, all
the words died in his mouth and his heart skipped a beat.
He is taller than her so she looks up at him “Did your men
confirm that your ship was last seen in New wave Harbor?”
she asks “yes, yes they did” he looks away, trying to put
some sense into his mind and to stop staring at her lips
while she talks “I need to make sure, so, I’ll send my men to
look around before anything takes course and I’m sure
we’ll figure something out won’t we? He turns to face her
“I’m sorry but I do not have a lot of time, I have a kingdom
to rule unless you forgot” she smiles “no, I did not. I sent
my men an hour ago and they shall come back bearing
news very shortly.” Niran looks pleased so he says “if your
men came back confirming what my men said then what
do you plan to do?” Arya looks him straight in the eye and
says “that’s for me to decide, prince.” He was going to
object but she cut him “If what your men said was true
then I’m sure this is some sort of a tiny problem and we’ll
figure it out” she gives him a smile and turns to look at the
sky once again. Niran couldn’t fight the urge to look at her
forearm again and something like pain crossed his face.
Pain and anger. She caught him staring at her arm with the
corner of her eyes and something told him not to push it
but he wanted to know. Needed to know. The sleeve was
semi-transparent and he could see the bandage
underneath it and also how lousy it was bandaged. When
she caught him still staring she covered the bandage by her
other hand. He couldn’t take it “what happened?” her head
turned in his direction and angrily asks “do I ask you what
secret love letters you receive?” he was confused for a
second but then remembered the letter he received this
morning and he smiled, a full smile and says “no you do
not.” She gives him a mocking smile “then it is none of your
business to ask me anything except for matters that relate
to your stay here in Rava.” She regrets what she just said as
she sees the look of surprise and sadness on his face but he
quickly gathers himself “understood” and leaves the
terrace with no further word. She wants to go after him, to
apologize but something tells her not to. Something about
him is mysterious, like he is not what people say about him.

She wants to solve him, to understand him and why such

horrid things are said about him. Because at the end of the
day nobody is born a monster, monsters are made not
born. The way he carries himself tells a thousand stories
yet none at all. He is pretty young, maybe a year or so older
than her yet he seemed weighed down like an elder. He
looks like he is trapped in his own skin and cannot get out,
his eyes are stern yet kind and when he smiles it’s like his
whole face changes. Brightens up. Maybe they are not so
different after all, maybe they are what they have been
looking for but they’re too arrogant to admit it. Love, after
all is a cunning little thing. It toys with you like a fox,
deceiving you. And then out of nowhere you find yourself
thinking about that particular person about how he walks,
talks, sleeps and most of all how his eyes sparkle when he
looks at you or how his mouth splits into a smile whenever
he catches a glimpse of you. Love truly is a mystery.

Arya’s thought were interrupted when she realized that the

guy she sent to New Wave Harbor is standing a couple of
feet behind her “my lady,” he bows “I have news.” She
turns to look at him “speak, Maddox.” Maddox is one of
the best spies in the kingdom. He is a tall-skinny man in his
late thirties with shoulder length black hair and honey eyes
and a smile with some crooked teeth. “Unfortunately,
prince Niran’s information is deemed true, your majesty. A
ship was spotted at our harbor with Alynthi’s crest on it, I
also asked around and knew somehow the ship……
disappeared.” Arya pinches eyebrows “what do you mean
disappeared? It’s not even possible.” Maddox shrugs “what
are your orders, princess?” she looks at him, contemplating
what to do “send word to every port or harbor to be aware
of any ship that has the Alynthian crest and if they do spot
one, they must send word immediately.” He bows and
leaves her alone with her thoughts.
Arya decides that she needs to tell Niran and on her way
out she meets Falcon in the hallway. “what’s that look on
your face?” Falcon asks worriedly “Apparently, what Niran
said about his ship disappearing is true and it was also last
seen in one our harbors,” They keep walking “I told
Maddox to send word to all the ports and harbors and to
send word if they saw an Alynthian ship and now I am
going to inform Prince Niran and discuss the matter with
him.” Falcon still says nothing. “Falcon, what time is it
now?” he looks at the grand clock behind her “it’s five in
the afternoon.” She sighs “okay, can I ask you for a favor?”
“sure.” She looks around and whispers “if my father asks
you about my progress, tell him to shut the hell up and
leave me alone.” Falcon laughs and so does she, she pats
him on the shoulder and heads to Niran’s rooms, he stops
her “Did something happen again?” she looks at him “no,
nothing. Why would you say that?” he shrugs “just asking.”
She gave him a sympathetic smile “don’t worry, I can
handle anything.” And then she leaves
Chapter 8

Arya knocks on Niran’s doors and after a minute she hears

“come in.” she enters the room and sees him sitting at the
desk, his head lowered looking at whatever papers he is
looking at. His tunic is opened, revealing a part of his
tanned bare chest. He doesn’t look up and the sight of him
draped there, with messy hair and a loose tunic, releases
something in her. When he doesn’t hear anything he looks
up and he is so surprised to find her standing in the middle
of his room. He pinches his eyebrows and rests a hand
under his chin and puts it on the chair’s arm. “yes?” he
asks, Arya shakes her head and finds her voice “there has
been news from the guy I sent to the harbor and I thought
that you might like to hear it.” He sits up now, straighter,
and inclines his head as if to say go on. “Maddox, the guy I
sent, confirmed what your men said and I told him to send
word to every other harbor and port in the kingdom that if
they see an Alynthian ship, they should report
immediately.” A look of smugness settles on his face as if to
say I knew it. She rolls her eyes, he stands up and moves
closer to her and her whole body seems to go rigid at the
movement. Something about him looking so unkempt un-
nerves her and satisfies her at the same time.

“I told you so, princess.” He is so close right now, if he took

one more step, his chest will be touching hers and suddenly
her cheeks went rogue and she took a step backward. He
smirked a sly smirk and her eyes went to the desk behind
her, another letter was opened on the desk. He followed
her gaze to the desk and his smirk grew even wider. “I see
your lover cannot bear your departure.” She says and now
he laughs, a genuine laugh. “yes, yes indeed.” She looks
back at him and he looks like a fox toying with his prey.
“Caroline is a….clingy one, she hates it thoroughly when I
leave.” Arya’s face looks exactly like the color of her hair
“then I suggest, don’t keep her waiting and finish your
business here as quickly as possible.” He is still smiling
when he says “yes of course.” She gives him a smile and a
nod and turns to leave. Once the door is closed Niran falls
into a series of laughter, and he suddenly thought that he
could not remember the last time he laughed that much
and for a moment he was grateful for it.

*****
The next day, Arya woke up early and went for a walk in
the capital, precisely in the town that has New Wave
Harbor. Rivermouth. Rivermouth is a small town, with most
of its population work as sailors. The town’s main income is
the port and the sea market, where everything is sold. As
usual, she has her hood up but this time she is with one of
her guards, she is in no mood for another quarrel. Of
course with the guard trailing her, everyone knows she’s
the princess and because of that she decided to pull down
her hood.

After walking Into the town, she heads for New Wave
Harbor herself. She goes to one of the sailors and when she
nears the sailor she realizes that it is a her. A girl. It is very
rare when you find a girl working as a pirate or a sailor, it’s
a tough job. “Hey, you!” Arya calls out and the girl turns
around as a couple of gawking men also do. “you talkin’ to
me?” she asks. Arya nods. She starts walking toward Arya
and she notices that the girl is dark-skinned with honey
eyes and braids all over her hair. “What’s your name?” the
girl pinches her eyebrows and Arya notices her septum
piercing. “Zoraida.” She answers, she still doesn’t
understand what does Arya wants from her. “you lookin’
for somethin’?” Zoraida asks, Arya notices her accent, she
is not from Rava or even this town. “Where are you from?”
Arya’s curiosity took the best of her. She says nothing, still
looking at Arya, and then she finally speaks “Can I help you
with somethin’? or can I get back to work?” not the answer
Arya was waiting for “It’s rare to find a woman working
with these brutes, nowadays.” Zoraida just shrugs and she
looks bored but Arya continues “I need some information,”
Arya says tapping the bag of copper on her waist. “what
kind of information?” Zoraida asks, her interest peaked.
Arya looks satisfied “rumor has it that ships have been
disappearing once they set foot in New Wave Harbor”
Zoraida suddenly goes stiff and whispers “don’t go around
saying that, lady or you might get into trouble.” Arya raises
her eyebrows “and why is that?” Arya’s guard was standing
afar, so she was not quickly recognized and she was
grateful for it, she needed a little bit more time. Zoraida
looks like she is afraid someone might hear her and that
she might get in trouble. “just drop it, lady. You don’t look
like someone to get into much trouble.” Arya chuckles and
hands her two coppers and leaves. But she decides that she
will come back again, she has been out for too long and
now she needs to go back. She nods at Zoraida, pulls up
her hood, and leaves.

She enters the palace and bumps into someone. Niran.

“good morning, princess.” Arya rolls her eyes and walks
past him and Niran mutters “very rude.” She turns around,
throwing up her arms, “excuse me?!” Niran smirks and
walks towards her, meeting her in the center of the hall.
“running off so early in the morning, I see” she looks up at
him. Pissed. “what do you care?” she shouts, she is already
furious because of the zero progress that she
accomplished. “I don’t,” he says and something in his voice
and eyes says otherwise. The way he said it cuts off her
breath and shuts her up totally and oh, his eyes are
flaming, burning with emotion. She cannot place it but her
eyes are also burning. They stand there in silence for a
couple of seconds when they both hear a woman’s voice
and they both turn around. “NIRAN,” she says and runs at
him and he catches her in his arms, Arya presses her lips
together and just stands there until he turns around
“Princess, this is Caroline.” She looks at him “only Caroline?
How much love you hold for me brother.” She laughs and
Arya’s eyes shoot to Niran. Brother. Caroline is his sister.
Arya tilts her head and Caroline bows and then extends her
hand “My pleasure, your majesty.” Arya shakes her hand
and smiles. “please call me Arya.” And Caroline nods and
looks back at Niran. She caught Niran’s smile from the
corner of her eyes and Arya wishes she would just
disappear right now.
“I am sorry, but if you would excuse me, I have some work
to do and I’m sure you will be looked after.” She gives them
a smile and turns to her rooms as quickly as she can.
Chapter 9

““she is hot!” this is the first thing Caroline says to Niran

once Arya leaves them. Niran just shrugs and thumps on
the bed. “come on, brother. You cannot deny it.” He sits up
“she is….okay,” Caroline’s eyes go as wide as an elephant
“you have such an ego, Niran. Bigger than the ocean.” He
looks at her. Bored. “aren’t you supposed to be settling in
instead of this nonsense?” her smile fades “yeah, yeah of
course, then get out please.” Niran chuckles and gets out of
the room. He was heading to his room when bumped into
Arya. She smiled at him “your sister is lovely.” He nods
“indeed.” Arya never meets his eyes when she says “I
didn’t know you had a sister. In fact, nobody knows.” Niran
just shrugs “Caroline isn’t the one for public affairs and it
simply never came up or like it was always about me….the
heir.” He says the last word as if he despises it and for a
moment they stood there staring into each other's eyes
and Arya thought that maybe, just maybe he is not all evil
after all. He is just a kid, just like her. He was forced to grow
up too quickly, he was hardened by the brutality of life and
its circumstances. He was forced to face responsibility just
because life decided to surprise him and play some games
and for a moment she understood him. Her eyes shone
with understanding and he had to look away. The thought
of her green eyes gazing into his makes him scared. Scared
that she might know the battle going on inside of his heart.
How much he is tired and exhausted yet he cannot speak.
He truly is trapped and maybe she is the one to free him.
Arya is the one to break the silence “I need to go, excuse
me.” He nods and moves aside to make way for her.

She looks back, just once and he is watching her. Devouring

her, like he is memorizing the way she walks or how her
lips move or how her eyes go to his. Everything. Arya
bumps into her father and for Niran’s delight, he caught it
and stopped midway to watch him. Arya’s expressions are
angry and furious and Niran only caught snippets of what
was being said like ungrateful bitch or when Arya said
what? You wanna cut me again or something? Niran’s
blood was boiling and it took everything in him to not go
and smash that man’s skull. She caught him staring and
glared at him but he still didn’t quaver, he leaned on the
wall and crossed his arms over his chest, and then she
pulled her father into his room and closed the door behind
her. “seriously father! You had to do this in front of
everyone in the hall, didn’t you?” he looks at her with
hatred and Arya wonders how did her mother ever love
him, she did not say it though. After what happened a
couple of days again she is in no mood to get cut up again
so instead she says “I suggest you go back to your day
drinking and let me get back to work.” She then turns
around and leaves and head to the only place where she
can escape her life, her mind, the only place where she can
escape herself. The library. For once she wonders what
would it be like to be remembered by many and cherished
by few? How lovely would it be to a story, a book. Books
indeed are homes to a lot of people. Because flipping
through the pages, somehow, she is home. She picks up a
book, sits in the chair adjacent to the window, and starts
reading and reading until the sun fades into darkness and
so does her heart.
Chapter 10

Arya fell asleep in the library and was awoken by the

glazing sunlight shining in her face. She put the book down
and rubbed the heel of her hands to her eyes. She sat
there, looking out of the window, wishing that today would
be a different kind of day. A better one. Once she set foot
out of the library, she was greeted by the hustle of the
palace. Something was terribly off today and it made her
shoulders slump.

Falcon caught her halfway through the corridor where her

room is. “where were you? You were not in your rooms
when I checked on you” Arya looked at him as if she is in no
mood to talk today “did something happen?” Falcon
furrows his eyebrows and tilts his head “umm yeah, kind
of.” Arya now straightens up and looks at him to continue
“someone is here to see you.” Arya’s eyebrows go shooting
into her hair “someone? Who?’ Falcon shrugs “I don’t
know. Someone called Zoraida” Arya’s eyes go wide
“where is she?!” “come with me, I’ll show you to her.” Arya
follows him and while they were walking he asks “who is
she?” Arya looks at him, contemplating whether or not she
should tell him “I’ll tell you later.” He nods and leads her to
the main entrance of the gates. Zoraida is standing there,
her skin shining under the sun’s rays and her hair is still in
those tight braids she wears. “I’ll take it from here, Falcon,
thanks.” He nods and leaves.
“open the gates.” She orders the guards. Zoraida enters
and the first thing Arya asks is “how did you know that I am
the princess?” Zoraida looks at Arya and says “I am not
dumb, anyone would recognize the heir to Rava’s throne.”
Arya nods. “what changed your mind?” Zoraida shrugs “you
pay good and I need the money.” “fair enough, follow me.”
She does and they enter the garden, the one beside the
gates and closer to the guards. Not that Arya cannot
defend herself, it’s safer that way. “speak.” Arya orders
her. “before I say anything, you have to promise to keep
my name out of it, deal?” “deal, now speak.” Zoraida looks
around and then speaks “rumors has it that someone has
been taking these ships and others say that it’s some sea
evil thing. I am no one for legends and myths but Imma tell
you that something in that part of the sea is deeply off.”
Arya furrows her eyebrows “what do you mean off? And
why would anyone take those ships? Aren’t y’all well
paid?” Zoraida laughs “well paid huh? Where you livin’
princess?” Arya tilts her head “I’m sorry, what do you
mean?” Zoraida feels like she said something that shouldn’t
have been said, she shakes her head “forget said anything,
don’t wanna get in trouble.” Arya raises her chin “I am your
princess, I order you to speak and I’ll protect you.” She uses
her authority as a last resort, she knows that Zoraida is
afraid, she doesn’t want to fall into any trouble especially
that she does not look like she is originally from Rava.
“I’ll protect you, just say it.” Zoraida sighs “fine. Whoever
told you that we are paid fair and square has been
deceiving you, princess. And this is not the first ship to
disappear after resting at New Wave Harbor, it’s been
happening for a while now and nobody knows who or what
does it.” Arya is still so confused “what do you mean about
the wages?” Zoraida chuckles “we barely take three
coppers a week and even our master don’t own that much
money to give us, so, my guess that this money issue is
controlled by someone who holds so much power.” And
suddenly Arya thinks of her father but can he do such
thing? She knows he is messed up but not that he would
ruin his own kingdom. “okay, I’ll see what I can do about
upgrading y’alls wages. What about the disappearance of
the ships? Tell me everything about it.” Zoraida nods “it’s
all rumors but ships have been mysteriously vanishing for a
couple of months now and we all thought that it was
solved until you came to the port and started asking about
it. We thought you knew about it, damn, we even thought
you were the one who solved it.” “I knew nothing about it,”
Arya whispers more to herself than her. “I am telling you
it’s either someone abundantly taking those ships, stealing
the things off of it and killing the people on it or that sea is
wretched.” Arya sighs “do you have any guess about who
might be taking those ships?” Zoraida shakes her head
“that’s all I have to say, princess.” Arya knows that Zoraida
has a guess about the who is taking the ships but she is
afraid, so, Arya calls for the guard and orders him o go get a
bag of copper. He does and comes back and she hands it to
Zoraida “Thank you. And I promise your name will stay out
of everything” Zoraida nods, she looks wary. She whispers
to Arya before she leaves “Be careful who you trust,
princess.” And she looks at her fathers' balcony and
suddenly all Arya’s suspicions settled. Arya nods and
Zoraida turns around and exits the palace.

Arya is still standing in the terrace and decides that today is

indeed a terrible kind of day and that she might as well
complete the awfulness by having a chat with her dear old
father. She opens the castle’s door and storms to her
father. He is in the throne room this time, holding a glass of
whatever drink it is now. “We need to talk!” all the council
members look at her and then at him “you are all
dismissed.” They all look at him, for confirmation. He nods.
“What do you think you are doing, girl?” he shouts once
they are out. “First of all, I told you to never call me that.
And second of all, I knew you were a bad father but I did
not think that you are as terrible as ruler!”
“Watch what you’re saying, girl.” He yells. “tell me, father,
how do you pay the sailors and the people who work in
Rava?” she asks “fair and square.” He replies. “Oh,
bullshit!” he stands up now, the glass now discarded on
the floor as usual but this time it wasn’t thrown at her. He
walks up to her and slaps her so hard that the rings on his
hand left a mark on her face. Arya couldn’t contain herself
“I wish you were dead instead of her. You do not deserve
to live! ” and then storms out of the throne room and head
to hers.

She closes the door that it shudders behind her and starts
thrashing and throwing everything in the room. She heard
the door open and close and she assumed that it was one
of the guards or even Falcon “get out.” She said without
even looking at who entered. “I SAID GET OUT. GET
OUT. GET OUT.” She turns around and starts pushing
that person and hitting him in the chest but it’s not Falcon
nor the guards. It’s Niran. “what are you doing here! GET
OUT!” he holds her, she is still thrashing in his arms and
screaming. His heart is being ripped by hearing her scream
and all he can do is hold her and whispers in her ears “calm
down Arya, it’s okay,” they fall to the ground and she is still
whispering get out but then she says “please” and his heart
broke all over again. He wants to hurt whoever hurt her.
“it’s okay Arya. Everything is going to be okay.” She looks
up at him now, he is holding her, stroking her lovely hair
back from her face. Her face is fragile, weak. Her eyes are
beyond sad, broken even. “why did you come?” he shrugs
“couldn’t help it.” He gives her a sad smile. And for a
moment they sat there, him holding her and saying
nothing. It calmed her and she is now whimpering like a
cold baby. He thought, just for a moment that she is not
the spoiled princess after all. She is broken, hurt and so
strong in a fascinating kind of way. He wants to hold her
until all her pain is gone. He wants to help her and maybe
she’ll help him too, but the look on her face broke
something in him. Something he did not know was in him.
When he heard her scream, a part of his heart shattered.
He was beyond salvation. She stole his heart in a way he
cannot fathom and just like that he was hers, yet, he was
afraid. Afraid that she might hate him, despise him, and
maybe she would be right to do so. He would not blame
her if she did. He looked down at her and she was asleep in
his arms, he admired her face, her eyes, her lips.
Everything. He kissed her forehead, a soft kiss, and then he
carried her ever so gently and laid her down on her bed,
covered her, and stood beside her bed for a couple of
minutes. He bent down, to reach down her ears and
whispered “you stole my heart, Arya.” She was deeply
asleep so she didn’t hear him and maybe that’s why he said
it. He looked at her face one last time and turned to leave
but a hand caught his. “don’t go.” She mumbles in her
sleep and his heartbeats quickened. He contemplated
whether or not to stay but then he moved the chair next to
her bed and sat, she is still clutching his hand like she is
afraid to let go, and that breaks his heart even more. “I’m
here, love. Not going anywhere” she tightens her grip on
him and he strokes her hair until she is deeply asleep.
Chapter 11

Niran fell asleep in Arya’s chair but when he woke up Arya

wasn’t there. He jerked up, looking around and he caught
the clock, it was ten in the morning and he realized that he
never slept that much. He felt safe with her.
He rubbed the heels of his hands to his eyes and stood up
to go to his room. He entered his room, took a shower and
changed his clothes, and went to meet Caroline. He was
heading to her room when he caught a glimpse of Arya in
the terrace, she saw him too and was moving towards him,
so, he stopped walking and waited for her.
She smiled at him, a greeting smile. “Thank you.” He knew
about what and all the words seemed to vanish and die
“nothing to thank me for.” He nods and smiles a smile that
doesn’t reach his eyes, she smiles back and her eyes hold
all meaning and appreciation in the world. Caroline
interrupted them “good morning.” She nods at both of
them and they both reply “good morning.” Niran’s voice is
hoarse and Caroline tilts her head, knowingly. “I hope you
find our lodging appeasing,” Arya says to Caroline. “very,
indeed.” She replies with a nod and a smile. “would you
care to join us?” Caroline asks Arya “where?” Niran looks at
Caroline, furrows his eyebrows “breakfast.” Caroline says.
Arya looks surprised, she thinks about it and then “yes, that
would be lovely.” Caroline beams and they all head to the
terrace to have breakfast.

They sit in the middle of the terrace, the sun is bright and
shining. Caroline breaks the silence “can I ask you a
question, Arya.” Niran looks worried and Arya nods. “have
you ever been in love?” Niran almost spits his food and
Arya coughs. She looked at the sky and thought about a
book. Her favorite character talking to her, telling her that
everything will be okay. She looked next to her and saw
him sitting there, holding her. She thinks of her book best
friend and how he was always there for her. She looks at
the sky and sees her chosen family and for a moment she
thinks that she’ll never understand how books hold a large
place in her heart and how devastating it is and how
comforting it is to know that they are with her and only
her. She looks back at Caroline with something like longing
in her eyes. Pain even. “No, never.” And then her eyes
averted to Niran and his eye was on hers the whole time.
Caroline nods “I’m sorry if I crossed a line.” Arya shakes her
head “No, not at all.” Niran was watching Arya for the rest
of the time and they said nothing after that until Arya
excused herself and left.

Niran turned to Caroline “Was that necessary?” Caroline

eyes him “what? I wanted to know” Niran shakes his head
“and why is that?” “I don’t know, it’s just a question,
brother. Don’t make a fuss out of it.” Niran closes his eyes
and leans back in his chair and thought about how Arya’s
eyes were full of emotion and pain, he wanted to know
more. He wanted to know her. He wanted to know the
reason behind those sad eyes. He stood up “I need to
discuss some matters with Callum. Do not get into any
troubles, Care. And please abide asking question okay?”
Caroline rolls her eyes “you’re no fun, brother.” He narrows
his eyes at her “fine, Niran.” He exits and heads to his room
and calls for Callum.
“you called for me?” Callum says as he enters the room.
Niran nods “how is it going in Alynthi?” any troubles?”
Callum shrugs “just the usual stuff.” Niran looks up at him
now “what do you mean the usual stuff.?” “you know,
rumors, rebel groups, and with you gone people are kind
of….celebrating.” Niran rests his hand on the chair and
slides down “huh, of course, they are.” Callum is still
standing there, waiting for an order, anything. “the
Princess herself is in control of our ship problem but if this
issue is not resolved by the end of the next this week, I will
leave and probably ask for compensation for the ship.
Either it’s money, food, anything.” Callum nods “should I
inform anyone about that decision?” Niran shakes his head
“No. I’ll do so when I see fit.” Callum nods “should I send
word to my men Alynthi that we may be heading back at
the end of the week?” he shakes his head again “you are
dismissed.” Callum turns around and leaves.

Niran stands up and goes to the balcony to smell some

fresh air, his shirt is opened and his hair is messy. He spots
Arya in her training. Again. And she saw him. Again. She
moves with such ease and he wonders how lovely would it
be to spar with her or even have her near him, that thought
made his heart quicken and he had to look away to stop
thinking about her. Whatever he did or wherever he went,
he always thought about her. She was always there.
Hovering in his mind, as she owns it. Or how his heart
thumps whenever they are too close. Something tells him
that this is not a good sign, because maybe he’s better off
unloved. Forgotten.

Chapter 12

Arya went looking for Falcon first thing in the morning. She
needs answers. She found him with the guards, discussing
some new protection regulation, they nod at her and
Falcon turns to face her “we need to talk.” He furrows his
eyebrows and nods. They move to the garden and Arya
says “I didn’t know you too were lying to me.” He is utterly
confused right now “lying to you? What about?” she shakes
her head. “you told me that the laborers and sailors were
paid fair wages.” “That was what was informed to me.” She
furrows. “cut the crap, Falcon. I’m not a kid anymore, I was
introduced into the ruling games way too early, so, you can
just cut the bullshit and tell me.” He is surprised, he gives
up “I was ordered not to talk about it, even to you.”
“why?!” he shakes his head “I tried talking about it with the
minister of finance and your father but neither listened to
me. They said that this is what they deserved and that they
were lousy and lazy. I did not believe them so, I went to see
for myself.” She crosses her arms “and?” “and they were
working their asses off but none dared complain about the
wages. They were too afraid to lose their jobs, no matter
how low they were paid, they still needed the money. Most
of them had family to look after and couldn’t afford to be
fired.” She nods “and what about the thing where ships
had been disappearing for over a month now and nobody
cared to tell me.” Falcon raises his eyebrows in question
“what ships? I thought the Alynthian ship was the first?”
she shrugs “no, apparently not.” “how do you know?” Arya
smirks “I have my sources.” He smiles “of course you do.”
She turns to leave but then Falcon asks her “what are you
planning to do?” she shrugs “a lot of things Falcon. A lot.”
And the look in her eyes tells him that she is up to no good.
She found Niran in the hall “can I have a word with you?”
and something in her eyes and determination tells him that
today is not the day to be sarcastic. He nods and they enter
her rooms. “any updates?” he asks first. “No, not really. But
I gathered some new information, it probably doesn’t
matter to you but I need to as you something.” He inclines
his head “go ahead.” She swallows “did your ship contain
anything other than food or cargo?” he shakes his head
“no, it did not. Why?” she sighs “okay good.” He is so
confused right now. “another question if you don’t mind. Is
this the first time your men set a foot in any of Rava’s
harbors or did it happen before?” “they only rest in the
harbors which we are licensed to set foot in and honestly? I
don’t know why they went to New Wave Harbor in the first
place. Our root doesn’t even go there, so, I guess this is a
problem both of us need to work on.” She nods “I’ll work
on the disappearing thing and you on why did your men go
there in the first place.” He nods “okay.” “okay.” She
repeats. He smiles “have a nice day” and leaves the room.
Chapter 13

It’s been more than three days and still no progress on

anything. Arya is frustrated and Niran is about to leave and
return to his kingdom. Niran has about one day until his
weekends and so is the same for Arya, she has one day to
at least make a crack. It’s nine A.M and they are both
awake, they have not slept. Arya was out in the kingdom,
searching for any mishap. This time no hood was up and
she was roaming around with her identity visible to anyone
and everyone. Some people bowed but others looked at
her as if they want to gut her, yet, she kept her chin high
and did not recoil from their gazes. Arya heard some
whispers about New Wave Harbor and about the waters
there, people whispered about how the waters are cursed.
Evil. Like something was lurking beneath the surface but
how? We all know fairy tales, they were told as bedtime
stories but were never once supposed to become a reality.
Arya’s curiosity was peaked but she decided against her
instincts. She turned around and headed back to the
palace.

She found Niran in the garden speaking with Callum. She

approached him “any news?” she asked. He shook his head
“no, not yet. Callum says that we were not supposed to be
near your kingdom in the first place and without having the
men of my ship, we have no clue why they took that root in
the first place.” Arya sighs and closes her eyes and Niran
kept staring at her face and how the sun reflects off her.
She opened her eyes and quickly looked away. “and I still
have no clue about how the ships disappear.” They stand
there in silence for a couple of silence until she says “I’m
sorry. Whatever compensation you ask for, I’m sure we will
oblige.” She looks defeated and it breaks his heart in a
strange sort of way. He remembered the first time he met
her, the look of determination she had is now gone. Her
eyes are looking deeply into his like they are telling a
different kind of story her mouth cannot tell. He nods “I am
sure we will.” His voice is hoarse, sad even. She nods “I’ll be
happy to hear it when you decide, just send word once
you’re settled.” She smiles and excuses herself and he can’t
help but look after her as if he is waiting for her to turn
around, just one last time. He wants to shout stay but he
does not. He is afraid that she’ll turn him down and he
thinks that maybe it is better to let her go. She deserves
better anyway. He has never felt such pain in his life, he
longs for her as if he knew her for a lifetime. He captures
everything. The way she walks, talks, how she smiles when
she is happy, and even how lovely she is when she is
furious about something. He just captures everything and
locks it in his memory and heart.

He shakes his head and turns to Callum. Finding his voice,

he says “prepare everything. We are leaving first thing in
the morning. And send word to the princess that the
compensation I want is a… ship, instead of the one we
lost.” Callum raises his eyebrows “a ship?” “yes, Callum. A
ship.” He nods and goes to inform the princess. Niran
stands there under the sun and just savors the moment.
The sun shining down on him. He opens his eyes and turns
to enter when he caught her in the terrace. Looking at him,
some unspoken words in her eyes. They lock eyes for a
moment, he is down there and she is up. She looks like a
queen. He is the one to break the eye contact, something
about her looking at him, makes his heart beat faster and
faster.
Arya heads to the library, to find some peace or even an
answer. And unfortunately, the peace and quiet do not
last, Falcon enters the library “a message was sent to you
from Callum.” She looks up at him now “where is it?” he
hands it to her “thank you.” She says. She reads it and then
closes it and leans back in her chair again. “Falcon, can you
send the financial minister to me here please.” He raises his
eyebrows but nods anyway. “sure.” She gives him a smile
and a couple of minutes later he comes back with the
minister. Laurent. He is a tall guy in his mid-forties with
thick glasses and a bald head. He bows “you called for me
your majesty?” she nods “yes, yes I did.” She waves at him
to sit down in the chair opposite her. “how is our
kingdom’s budget?” he furrows and his glasses slide down
a bit “umm it’s good, my lady.” She nods “what about our
ships?” Falcon and Laurent are now so confused, Laurent
looks to Falcon but he shakes his head. They are both
clueless about where Arya is getting at. “we have a couple
of skilled shipwrights.” He says and she nods in satisfaction
“good. Call one in, tell him that the princess needs him for
business.” “sure, my lady. But may I ask why?” she smirks
“you’ll know soon enough, once I speak with him. I need
him today if you can.” He stands up “I’ll send word now.”
He bows and then leaves. Once he leaves Arya says before
Falcon even asks “don’t ask. You’ll know once it’s settled.”
She stands up, faces him. “playing the games, Falcon.” She
winks and leaves him standing in the library alone.

An hour passed since Laurent sent word to the shipwright.

Arya never entered her room since the morning because if
she did, she would lose herself to her thoughts. So she
stays outside in the terrace, garden, even in the throne
room. Falcon enters the throne room “the shipwright is
here.” She averts her eyes to him and gestures with her
hands as if to say let him in. a muscular tanned man enters,
his hair is golden-ish, shoulder-length, and his eyes are the
darkest shades of blue. He looks so young for someone
who works in his profession. He bows and Arya beckons
him to stand up. “your majesty.” He says, his accent is pure
Ravanian and she smiles at him. “what’s your name?” Arya
asks, her voice holds the power of a queen. “Caiden, your
majesty.” She nods “they say that you’re one of the best
shipwrights Rava ever witnessed.” He says nothing “I am
looking for someone to build me a ship, a good one.
Someone I can trust.” She pauses and assesses him “can I
trust you, Caiden?” he nods “yes you can, my lady.” She
stands up, moves towards him “how long will it take you to
make a trade ship?” he shrugs “probably a month or two if
it’s something urgent, then it should be done by a
maximum of a month and a half.” “Okay, good. I’ll send
you the details by night and of course, I don’t need to say
that this ship should be flawless and without error, should
I?” he nods in agreement and she dismisses him.

When he leaves Arya orders Falcon to send their best trade

ship designs to Caiden and once Falcon leaves her father
enters the throne room. And for once there is no glass to
be seen but he still looks half-drunk and grumpy. Arya rolls
her eyes and pushes her hair from her face. She is in no
mood to deal with her father today, she says nothing until
he decides to speak.
“did you fail yet?” her eyes shoot at him full of anger and
hatred. She is so tired of doing this over and over again, she
wants it to end.
“go to hell!” he laughs “this is hell for me, girl. You are my
hell.”
She flinched, yes she knows he is not really a loving kind of
father, yet she never expected that. She swallowed down
the burning in her eyes and raised her chin high.
“what do you want from me?” her voice cracks and he
smirks. It’s like somehow, he is happy that he broke her.
Satisfied even.
“if your mother was still alive, she would’ve disgraced you.”
This sentence utterly and completely destroyed her, she
couldn’t fight back the tears anymore.
“why? Why are you doing this to me? You were never like
that when she was alive.”
He does not answer, he looks at her as if he wishes she was
dead instead of his wife.
“if you hate me so much then why won’t you just kill me or
get rid of me! End both of our torments, it won’t matter to
you anyway. You’ll end your misery and it’ll end mine.”
He raised his sword and she flinched. She did nothing, just
stood there, staring at him. “do it. COME ON” She dares
him “do it, father! I dare you.” She says again, he moves
around her, circling her. “DO IT.”
She felt it before she saw it. He cut her in the ribs, not deep
enough to kill just to leave a scar. And this was it. It hurt. It
wasn’t just a cut but a long gash that started from her ribs
and ended at her abdomen. She clutched her side, which is
now bleeding. She held her ground, she did not fall. Never
would she fall in front of him.
There’s a look of smugness on his face, she looks up at him
“not deep enough to kill, father. You’ve grown old I see.”
He does not quaver nor there is regret in his eyes. Nothing.
She feels sorry for him, he has become vacant. Empty. She
pities him for the creature he has become. She looks at him
one more time, still clutching her side, and heads out of the
throne room and sneaks to hers.

She orders the guards not to let anyone in unless she says
so. She runs to the bathroom, takes off her bloodied tunic,
and throws it on the ground. She fumbles for a clean cotton
cloth and a bandage. She puts the cloth in her mouth and
cleans the gash. She bites down the scream, tears are
escaping her eyes. She puts the bandage on it and then
falls to the ground. Arya starts crying and crying and right
now she wishes he would’ve gone for her heart, it would
end her suffering and his.
It is getting harder and harder every day, to fight, to act
like everything is fine, to put up the façade of the spoiled
rich princess. She wants to let go, maybe when she does
she’ll be free. Free of this life, of her father, of these duties,
and mostly free of herself. Of her mind, of her own skin.
She is so so tired and she wants to give up, but, no she
cannot. She gets up, washes her face, pulls her hair into a
high ponytail with braids at the beginning of her hair. She
leaves the bathroom and settles for a gown this time. A
navy-blue evening gown that covers her front but reveals
her back in a cross sort of way, the dress reaches her neck
with long sleeves and a skirt that swooshes when she
walks. She settles for a pair of ballerinas and heads out to
the garden.
It was dark and so was him and maybe that what makes
him the way he is. The darkness surrounding him, walking
with him like an old friend that he never had the chance to
let go and she wonders if he ever will.
He saw her from the corner of his eyes “looking for
someone?” he asked teasingly. You. Yet, she didn’t dare
say it.
She does not tell him that she sees him, but not for the
monster people claim him to be, but for him and only him.
She sees him as Niran who has a soft spot for his sister and
would never let anyone touch her. She sees him as a boy
with too much responsibility on his shoulders which is
gradually pulling him down, yet, he has no one to pull him
up. She sees him as a man trying so hard to be the villain.
To be forgotten. He’s trying to maintain the mask he has
worn for too long, yet, she can easily crack that mask. But
he is still doesn’t know that and she wonders if he ever will.
She still has not answered him, she found her voice “no
one.” She lied. He seems so unconvinced but he let it go as
if he is afraid to push, to know her thoughts about him. She
can see it in his eyes. She knows he wants to see himself in
her eyes, what he doesn’t know is that she sees him as
everything she wants but he sees himself as everything she
is unworthy of and that’s how much pain those eyes hold.
She wishes to take all of that pain and turns it into joy, she
wishes she could tell him everything but no she cannot and
it’s killing her.
She sits next to him, looks at the sky, and says “I agree to
your compensation proposition but you must know that
building a ship takes plenty of time.” she does not meet his
eyes, not once. Yet, his eyes are all over her. It’s the second
time he has seen her wearing a gown and she looks
beautiful than ever, he can’t take his eyes off of her.
“yes, yes I know. When the ship is ready I’ll send one of my
men to gather it.” She nods, still not meeting his eyes. He
moves his eyes to look at the sky and they sit there in
silence. For the whole time Arya was sitting there, she
forgot about the gash, about the pain. She forgot about
everything except him
Chapter 14

Niran and his men were ready by dawn and since Arya did
not get any sleep, she was awake to bid them farewell. She
woke up, cleaned her wound, and dressed in yet another
simple sheath-violet gown. She let her hair free. She went
down to meet them and, on her way out she ordered the
guards to not enter her room nor anyone else. Niran was
clad in black as usual while his sister was wearing a simple
fitted-rose dress that covered every inch of her and her hair
was arranged in a braided crown on top of her head.
Niran’s head snapped to Arya once she appeared.
It’s three times now he has seen in her in a dress. He nods.
“good morning, I thought I might come to wish you a safe
journey.” She says. “once the ship is ready, I’ll send word to
you.” She says to Niran.
“thank you for hosting us.” He gives her a small smile while
patting Hiraya. Caroline hugs Arya and Arya winces in pain,
Niran furrows but then Caroline pulls back and Arya
straightens “it was good meeting you, Arya.” She says “the
pleasure is all mine.” Arya replies.
She looks unsettled and Niran notices but it’s too late to do
anything anyway. Arya crosses her arms over her chest,
hiding the gash because it probably started bleeding again.
Arya’s eyes are haunted like something took control of
them. They look dull, broken and Niran wants to ask why
but he did not. “have a safe and delightful trip back.” She
smiles and Niran jumps on Hiraya’s back and so does
Caroline. Niran and Arya lock gazes for a moment until
Niran bows and kicks Hiraya and leaves.
Arya stands there for a while, staring at his disappearing
figure, he never looks back and maybe it’s better off that
way. Without looking back.

She enters the palace and goes looking for Falcon, she finds
him in the hall. “were the designs sent to the shipwright?”
she asked as a way of greeting him. “no, not yet.” She
raises her eyebrows. “and why is that?”
“waiting for you to approve first.” She nods. “I want you to
deliver them. I don’t trust anyone else.” He bows and goes
to fetch the designs for her. He comes back after a couple
of minutes “here, take a look at them before I deliver
them.” She opens them and nods in satisfaction. “this is
your responsibility, Falcon. From now on this is one of your
most important jobs. Do not disappoint me.”
“never.” He says. “I think it’s best to deliver it now, it’s
going to need a lot of work and we better get started.” He
bows and takes the parchments in his hands and leaves.
Arya sighs and heads to her rooms. She opens the door and
goes to stand by the window. She realizes that her wound
is bleeding again so she enters the bathroom, peals off the
bandage, and cleans the wound. It needs stitches but she
cannot let anyone see it because if they did, they might ask
about what happened or who did it and of course, she
won’t say oh my father did it. Arya heard a knock on the
door and she supposed it was one of the guards asking her
something “you may enter.” The door opened and closed
but no one spoke, she looked from the bathroom and it
was one of the guards or that’s what she thought. He was
wearing the royal uniform but something about him was
off. “something wrong?” she asked and he plunged
forward, slicing her arm. “who are you?” she grabs the
knife strapped to her thigh, she blocks every attack except
a couple of them and thanks for that she has new
additional cuts to hide now. “spoiled bitch.” He spat.
“what do you want?!” she yells and he knocks the knife
from her hand. “you want to know what I want?! Huh!” he
yells and Arya wonders where are her guards but then she
remembers that it’s the time where they shift now and she
sent Falcon to deliver the designs. “shit.” She mutters
under her breath. Her last resort now is hand-to-hand
combat. He jabs her side, the side where her father had cut
her and she winces in pain. She straightens and goes for his
throat to slow him down, he coughs and goes to swipe her
off her feet but she caught herself before she landed on the
ground and suddenly he was thrown back but not by her.
She thanked the gods, she thought that it was one of the
guards but when she caught her breath and looked up it
was Niran. It was him who threw back the attacker, his foot
is on the attacker, sticking him to the ground.
“who are you?” Niran shouts at him “we are the ones to
redeem this kingdom of this royalty filth.” And he looks at
Arya, she did not know that there were any rebel groups in
Rava. Never expected it actually. “GUARDS.” Niran shouts
and two enter the room “take him and lock him up until
the princess decides what to do with him.” They look
confused, they look back at Arya for confirmation and she
nods, not able to speak. They pick him up and leave the
room.
Arya is sitting on the edge of the bed “Are you alright?” his
voice is wary.
She looks up at him with eyes burning with anger and
something else he cannot quite place. Her dress is torn in a
couple of parts and blood is sort of everywhere. He rushes
out of the room and orders anyone to get a medic kit and a
couple of minutes later he re-enters the room but now
Arya is standing by the window, her eyes afar.
“sit down” her eyes snap to his “none of your business, I’m
fine, it’s just a cut.” he shakes his head unconvincingly.
“okay, then if it’s just a cut then let me see.” She groans
angrily “NO.” he is getting impatient “just sit down, Arya.
I’m not going to stab you. I just want to help.” She finally
sits down and un-ties the back of her dress and pulls the
upper part down, she is not fully naked there is a
fashioned-now ruined- tunic beneath the dress, she pulls it
up. And Niran’s eyes go wide. He sees the gash her father
caused her and then the one on her arms which was
caused by the attacker. Her body is full of scars, he cannot
avert his eyes from her body. Too many scars for someone
that young, that beautiful. Suddenly he feels a different
kind of anger, a dangerous one. Her body is a map of scars
and he is lost in them. He takes a hold of himself, the
bandage is bloody and needs changing.
He gestures to it and asks “may I?” she is hesitant but she
nods anyway, what could she hide now? She is laid bare to
him. He peels the bandage off and says “this is going to
sting a bit.” She bites down on her teeth and stifles a groan,
he cleans the wound, and from what it looks like this was
not caused by the recent attack. It was caused a couple of
times ago and then he remembered when she winced this
morning after Caroline gave her a hug. “that was not from
the attack.” He points out, he knows he shouldn’t but he
does anyway. “oh yeah? I didn’t know that.” She replies
mockingly. Niran shakes his head “just keep it clean and if
you can change the bandage every day, do so please.” He
looks at her arm but she cuts him with a glare “I can handle
that.” She says sharply, if he touched her body one more
time she might actually lose it. She looks down at him, he is
on his knees. They lock eyes for a minute and her eyes are
hurt, angry. His are furious, he looks away and goes to
wash his hands, when he comes back she mutters “thank
you.” He nods “No problem.”
He stands there looking at her, she looks broken. Defeated.
He wants to hold her, to tell her that it’s okay yet he
doesn’t so, he shoves his hands into his pockets. He never
realized that Arya was small, maybe because she always
walked with such grace, and now that grace seemed to
vanish. Disappear. She pushes her knees to her chest and
hugs them, his heart completely shattered by the sight of
her so fragile and weak. He takes that as his queue to
leave, he reached the door, looked back at her one last
time with longing and pain in his eyes but then he opened
the door and stepped outside.

He looked to the guards “do not allow anyone in unless she

says so. And stay on your guards.” They nod in agreement
and he leaves. He meets Falcon on the stairs “where the
hell were you?” Niran shouts at him. Falcon furrows and
yells back “watch your tone, prince.” Niran chuckles and
shakes his head “your princess was attacked in her own
rooms and I was able to interfere in time. The attacker is
now in whatever place you people hold royal offenders in.”
Falcon is shocked “are you serious?!”
“no, I am joking with you! Of course, I’m serious. Why
would I joke about that?” Falcon pushes past him and
heads to Arya’s room but the guards tell him that she
doesn’t want to see anyone. “how is this even possible?
Where were you lot?” he asks the guards. They look at the
ground and say nothing. “I think you should question the
attacker. He was saying some weird things about freeing
Rava from the royalty filth or something like that.” Niran
says. And Falcon looks beyond angry “I do not need you
telling me what to do!” Niran just rolls his eyes and turns
around and leaves.
Chapter 15

Exhaustion made Arya sleep in, she doesn’t remember

dreaming or having a nightmare. She opens her eyes slowly
and looks around, she then sits up and looks down at her
wound and everything came rushing back in. the attack,
her father cutting her, Niran. She lingers there, Niran is
here. He did not leave, he came back for her but why? He
tended to her wounds and she let him. The look on his face
when he saw her scars, she was now bare in front of him,
yet, she was not ashamed. Some part of her was happy he
knew that she is not the spoiled princess he thinks she is.
Then she remembers the attacker and what he said about
freeing Rava from the royalty filth, she somehow feels that
it was her father who was meant for the attack but they got
her instead. Arya gets up-winces in pain- and heads to the
bathroom. She lifts her tunic, peels off the too-tight
bandage. It’s better than yesterday. Niran did a great job
cleaning it and even bandaging it, she made a mental note
to thank him again. She takes a shower and goes for a
puffy-long sleeved white gown, that covers every inch of
her. From her neck to past her toes, she settles for a pair of
ballerinas. Arya is in no mood to style her hair today so, she
lets her hair run wild across her back. She gathers herself
and heads out.

She was looking for Niran but Falcon found her first.
“Arya,” he rushes to her “Are you alright?” she nods “Yes.”
He looks unconvinced “Are you hurt?” she shakes her head
“No, I’m good.” She spots Niran with the corner of her
eyes, a look of wariness in his eyes and he looks like he
hasn’t got any sleep since yesterday. She excuses herself
and moves towards him. “Walk with me?” she asks him as
some sort of greeting, he offers her a smile and they head
for the garden.

“How are you feeling today?” Niran is the one to break the
silence.
She looks at him now, the sun catching her eyes in a way
that makes them gleam. Niran looks back at her, her eyes
are still hollow. He wants to beg her to get back the
fierceness he first saw in her eyes, in her soul. Now she
looks… empty. She finds her voice “I really want to thank
you for yesterday. I’ll forever be in your debt.” He shakes
his head “There’s no debt, princess.” He means it, the
sincerity in his eyes tells her that he truly is sincere. Arya
gives him a smile and asks “May I ask you a question?”
“Sure.” They sit on one of the benches. “Where did you
learn to do that? The bandaging thing, I mean.” Niran
chuckles “umm my sister would get cut up a lot as a child
and after our parents’ death, she was my sole
responsibility. So, instead of calling a healer every time she
was hurt, I took it upon myself to learn to tend to wounds
and cuts.” He gives her a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes
and she smiles back. He clears his head and then asks “May
I ask you something then?” “go ahead.”
He looks her straight in the eyes “Who did that to you?”
she knows what he means, the wide gash he cleaned
yesterday. He knows it’s not from the attack and she
suspects that he already knows the answer, yet, he wants
to make sure. She looks away from his face, releases a
heavy sigh. It won’t matter anyway, he knows a lot of
things. There is no going back now, he knows too much
already. “My father.” She finally says. A muscle ticked in his
jaw and his eyes never leave her face. She looks back at
him now, her eyes burning with the effort to push back the
tears. His eyes are fuming with rage. Anger. She is afraid he
might do something crazy, she does not know why she
feels safe with him, protected even. Something about him
makes her tell him everything and not feel ashamed about
it maybe because she now knows too well that he is not
what people claim him to be. She walked past that mask of
him, she tore it apart, yet he still does not know. “Why?”
he asks and something like pain coats his voice. “Do you
want the short version or the long one?” she asks
mockingly. “Whatever you like.”
She swallows, looks him in the eye when she says “my
mother died a couple of years ago and since then my father
has been drinking day and night. He also wishes I was the
one dead instead of her.” Her voice cracks and she looks
away to wash away the tears running down her face. He
wants to hold her, to kiss her. He wants to take all of her
pain. “the cut I saw on your arm when I first arrived here, it
was him. Wasn’t it?” Arya nods “I probably have more scars
from him than from any training I’ve been to.” She laughs.
Niran puts a finger under her chin and turns her face
towards him. His eyes hold all meaning, it’s like they say I
understand. His face is exquisite, Arya thinks. They stare at
each other's faces for a while until Niran breaks the silence
“you are such a beauty, Arya. It should be a sin to look at
you, watch you.” Arya’s heartbeat quickens, she is
mesmerized. Niran kisses the top of her head looks back at
her, and then
Leaves.

*****

Niran went back to his room, shuts the door behind him
quickly. He unbuttons his jacket, needing to breathe more
freely. It took everything in him, to not kill that man she
calls a father. How could someone ever do this to his own
daughter? And he realized something that love was as
foreign to them as their own hearts. He punched the wall in
an attempt to release some of his anger but it’s still there,
creeping up to his head, to his heart until he felt a hand at
his shoulder. He turns around quickly, he did not hear the
door open and close. It’s her. Arya. Looking at him with
eyes soft as a babys’.
“it’s okay, Niran.” He shakes his head and his eyes are sad.
Angry even.
“how? Tell me how is it okay?”
she cannot answer that. “it just is.”
He moves away from her touch and he suddenly feels cold.
“you cannot keep doing this to me Arya!” he yells at her,
pain lacing his voice. It’s a pain like nothing she ever felt
before. She tilts her head to the side, all the words seem to
vanish. “I did not know that this-” he hits his heart. “this
could hurt as much. That it could break that much. You…
you broke me, Arya.” He’s fuming now, nothing to hold
back anymore. It’s too late to stop anyway. “Why did come
back?!” a foolish question to ask after what he just said
but she still asks it. He looks at her with eyes do fierce and
gleaming and with every ounce of pain and longing, he yells
“I want you! I wanted you from the moment I laid eyes on
you walking down those stairs. Your red locks enchant me
and those eyes, oh those eyes, green as a garden full of
wonders captures me every time I steal I glance at them
and I-I am afraid that one day I might get lost in them.” He
sighs heavily. “Is that an answer enough for why I came
back?” he chuckles “YOU, Arya. I came back because
halfway through the road I realized that I cannot breathe
without you near me, let alone live. I came back because
something about you holds my heart captive in some
twisted sort of way that I do not understand. You stole my
heart. It was only ever yours to steal.” She is strongly
crying, he looks at her waiting for an answer. Something.
Anything.
He looks at the ground and then he feels a hand on his
heart. “It’s always been you, Niran. It’ll always be you, no
matter where I go or who I meet it will always…always be
you.” Her voice cracks “I yearn for you in a way that
shatters me every time I cannot touch you and.. and when
you left, it felt like my soul was being sucked out of me in
the most gruesome way possible. You, my love, are
everything I have ever wanted and everything I’ll ever
want. So, I’m begging of you to never ever leave me alone
without that sly smile of yours.” He swiped her off of her
feet and kissed her ever so passionately like the world
might Parrish and he couldn’t care less, for a moment she
forgot was ever there. He pulls back, cups her cheek, and
wipes off her tears “My heart was ever yours to break,
Arya. Do whatever you want with it. You stole it from the
moment I laid eyes on you, and every time you look at me
it’s like my heart leaps from my chest and goes directly to
your hands, my love.” He kisses her forehead and she cries
again. They stand there in each other's arms and at that
moment they were…. Home
Chapter 16

Niran and Arya fell asleep in each other’s arms and it was
probably the first time both of them had a good, long
sleep. Niran woke up first, Arya’s head was lying on his
chest and her hand on his heart. Where it always should
be. He kept staring at her, at how lovely she looks while
sleeping, how peaceful. For a moment, he does not believe
that this is real, her sleeping in his arms. He thinks that fate
must be playing some sort of twisted games with him, if it
really was playing some game and at the end of the road he
would lose her just as everybody else. Then life was more
brutal and unforgiving than he already thinks it is. Arya stirs
and rubs her eyes, she looks up at him with sleepy eyes
“Good morning.” She says. Niran smiles “Good morning,
my love.” Arya beams even more when she hears him
calling her my love and her cheeks go as red as her hair.
“Keep calling me that, will you? Even when we are on
different grounds. Remember that I am yours and you are
mine. Remember that I am your love not anybody’s.” he
bends down and brushes a kiss to her lips. “Always, my
love. Always.” She sits up, cups his cheek and repeats
“Always.”

“We need to get up, I have a kingdom to rule and a

problem that is yet to be solved.” Arya says. Niran drops his
head on the pillows behind him and sighs heavily. Arya
makes to leave the bed but Niran grabs her and pins her
beneath him. Their breaths are mingling. “I have other
plans.” Niran whispers. Arya’s cheeks go red all over again.
“Oh really?” she challenges him “Is that a challenge,
princess?” she smirks “Is it, prince?” he bends down even
more that their lips are inches apart. “Don’t challenge me,
my dear. I’m quite a sore loser and you would not like
how…claiming I can be when it come to the people I love.”
Arya’s mouth tugs upward “Too bad you can’t show me.”
His eyes are playful, daring her to say more. He is toying
with her just as much as she is. Her heart is pounding along
with other parts, longing for his touch. He is still on top of
her, hands on either side of her. His muscles are exquisitely
attractive and a wonder to touch. “What are you thinking?”
Niran asks coyly. “I’m thinking…that every part of me is
aching for your touch and my mouth begs yours to be
kissed. I’m thinking that when I devour you, we’ll see then
who is more claiming, my love.” Niran’s eyebrows
disappear into his hair and the corner of his mouth tugs
upward.
His eyes are hungry, predatory even. It’s like any moment
now he would strip her naked and then she’ll see how
claiming he can be. Arya knocks her legs between his and
brings him under her. She kisses his collar bone, then up to
the part beneath his earlobe and he goes rigid. “Arya.” His
voice hoarse. “This should be enough,” she whispers “for
now.” And then she gets up and Niran releases a breath he
did not he was holding. He sits up on his elbows and shakes
his head.

Arya comes out of the bathroom a couple minutes later. In

a towel. Only a towel. “What are you trying to do to me,
Arya?” she turns to face him “huh? What are you talking
about?” her hair is damp from the shower and it’s brushing
against her lower back. Niran gets off the bed and moves
toward her. He is chest-to-chest with her and then he gets
a hold of his tunic, takes it off and throws it on the floor.
Arya straightens “Uhuh,” he says coyly. “you are naked
under that towel and you’re asking me what am I talking
about? Such a wicked little thing you are, my love.” He
grabs her waist and pins her to him, their chests are now
closely touching. “I have to get dressed, Niran. And you
need to put a shirt on.” He smirks “Is this view not to your
liking, princess?” she smirks “On the contrary.”
“But we have things to do and you are severely
distracting.” They stare at each other for a while, Niran licks
his lips and Arya goes rigid but then finally he pulls back
and says “Fine, I’ll let you get dressed. Yet, I’m not sure
about putting something on, it’s really hot.” She gives him a
look and picks a teal off-shoulder gown, the skirts swoosh
on the ground as she moves. She braids the front part of
her hair. “Fourth time to see you in a gown, Arya.” Niran
says “I’ll get used to it.” He says coyly “I didn’t know you
were counting.” Arya points out. “You have no idea, love.
She moves towards him, bends down-he is sitting on the
bed’s edge- sits on his lap and he wraps hi hands around
her waist and tugs her closer. “Are we ever going to get out
of this bedroom?” Arya asks mockingly “You know, if it
were for me I would stay her all day long. With you.” His
eyes sparkle with emotion, something like longing. “Me
too, Niran. Me too.” She brushes a kiss to his lips, her scent
rushes to him. Full of lavender and sea breeze, he inhales
her, looks up at her “Come on, princess, you got work to
do.” He whispers, he does not want her to go. He does not
want to let go. Because he is afraid to let go as if she might
cripple to dust and nothing more. He wants to hold on to
her for as long as possible.

******

They part ways, Arya goes searching for Falcon and Niran
head to his rooms to take a shower and change his clothes.
Once he opens his doors, he finds Caroline prowled on one
of his chairs. “Good morning, Brother.” She beams “Good
morning, Care. What are you doing here?” he asks.
“I came looking for you early in the morning, I thought we
might have a walk and maybe then eat some breakfast. But
apparently, his highness has not slept in his bed. I wonder
where did he sleep?” Niran shakes his head “I need to
shower, Caroline. If this is what you want to know, where I
slept? Then I suggest not to waste your time at all.”
“you’re no fun brother, you know that!” Caroline says. “Do
you want to see me naked or something, Caroline?” she
furrows his eyebrows, shakes her head “Of course not!”
she gets up and leaves and Niran’s laughter echoes.
Caroline bumped into Arya on her way out. “Oh,
apologies.” Caroline says quickly. Arya smiles “None is
needed, don’t worry.” Caroline nods and smiles too. “My
brother is in a quite a good mood today, and it is
something I do not see much.” Arya looks down, blushing.
“Really?” she asks
“Really, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Niran so… I don’t
know. Happy?” Something sparkled in Caroline’s eyes,
something like pain. “the last time I saw him so at ease or
happy was before our parents died and since then he
always seemed weighed down, broken.” Arya is looking at
her now, burning back the tears. Caroline closes the
distance between them and whispers in her ears “You are
his salvation, Arya. Do not let him go, there is only so much
left in him to hold on to anyway.”
She couldn’t help the tears running down her face now, she
nods at Caroline. “I won’t,” she promises her “Never.”
Caroline gives her a sad smile and pats her shoulder before
she moves past her. What Caroline doesn’t know is that
Niran is her salvation as much as she is his, Niran is the first
person to ever hold her, love her. The first person to ever
see her and love her the way she is.
Arya gathers herself and goes to smell some fresh air.
She reaches the terrace, goes to the railing and looks up at
the sky. It’s like for once, her chest is not so heavy
anymore. Some weight has been lifted, maybe it was him
after all. Maybe it was him that was meant to help her as
much as she did him. She does not want to hope because
it’s hope that breaks the bravest of men and kills the
cruelest of them. And then she thought that maybe just as
love Is her salvation, it could also be her death sentence.
But what’s life without some heart break?
Her thoughts were interrupted when a hand slipped on her
waist and a chin rested on the top of her head. She leaned
back in his warmth. “I saw you talking with my sister this
morning, did she scare you off?” she chuckles and turns
around to face him, still in his arms. “Not at all.” She says,
her voice a bit hoarse. Arya is gazing into his sea-like eyes,
saying nothing, yet, her eyes say everything. “Your sister is
an adorable person, really.” Arya points out and Niran
nods. She pulls him closer into a hug, rests her head on his
chest but then she winces and Niran pulls back, looks at her
warily. “Does it still hurt? Did you clean it?” she cups his
cheek, gives him a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “I’m
fine, love. Don’t worry.” He shakes his head “did you clean
it, Arya?” his voice harsh, angry. she shakes her head.
He grabs her hand and goes to leave but she doesn’t move.
“Come on, Arya.” “It’s fine, Niran. As long as I’m not
bleeding through my dress then it’s fine.” She says and a
muscle ticked in his jaw. “It’s not fine, love. I don’t want it
to get infected and I want you to heal as fast as possible,
so, come along now. Let me clean it for you, okay?” She
stares at him for a moment and then nods at him and they
head to her room.
On their way out, they see her father. “Niran, don’t.” Arya
warned him. Anger clouded his eyes and Arya held his arm
tighter. “Come on, he does not deserve your time.” he
glares at him for a moment, it took everything in him to not
smash that man’s skull. She nudges his arm and he looks at
her then they head to her room.
They enter and Niran flexes his hand in order to release
some of his fury. Arya goes up to him, touches his shoulder
and he turns to face him. His eyes are a raging sea, they are
so angry. She cups his cheek and nudges him to sit on the
edge of the bed. His shoulders are tense “Relax, Niran.” His
eyes snaps to her. “How do you do that? How can you not
smash that mans’ fucking skull?” his voice is so angry. Arya
shrugs and pain crosses her eyes “You get used to it, love.”
He shakes his head repeatedly. “No, no. You should not be
used to this.” She looks away, fighting back the tears.
“Look at me, Arya.” She does. “Someone as wonderous as
you and as beautiful as you, should never ever be hurt. It
takes every ounce of my self-control to not murder that
man, the thought of him laying a finger on you makes me
furious in an unpredictable sort of way and only because of
you that I did not harm him till now. The wound on your
stomach just completely and utterly breaks me, love.” He is
the one crying now and so does she. “I promise you, my
darling that I shall die before I see you hurt again.” She
shakes her head “don’t say that.” Her voice cracks
“it’s true, the mere thought of him hurting you, just breaks
my heart in every possible way and if it costs me my life to
stop him then so be it. It’ll give my life a meaning after all.”
She pulls him closer and inhales his scent, full of pinewood
and amber. “I love you, Niran.” She whispers, he pulls back,
looks deeply into her eyes “I love you, Arya. More than I
can even begin to comprehend.” She brushes a kiss to his
lips, it’s a kiss of longing and full of emotion. One full of
million of untold stories and tears.
He pulls back, wipes her tears “Now, will you let me clean
your wound?” she laughs and nods fiercely. So he does.
Chapter 17

“What are you planning to do about the offender?” Falcon

asks Arya in the throne room. “I have to talk to him, where
has he been held?” “in the cellars below.” Arya nods and
heads to the cellars.
The cellars are practically underground. Their only entrance
is through the kitchen-which are on the first level behind a
huge tapestry- there is a hidden door at the far end of it
that guides you to the cellars.
Once Arya enters the kitchen, all maids, chefs, servants
drop what they’re doing and bow. She moves past them
and head to the tiny door at the other end, she tops to face
Falcon “I want to do this by myself.” She orders him. He
gives her a glare “Are you sure? The last time you came
two inches with that man he tries to gut you.” He reminded
her. “I can handle myself, Falcon. Leave. That’s an order.”
He shakes his head. “I’ll wait outside then.” She nods and
then enters the cellar.
It smells of rotten rats and stench that Arya has to cover
her nose with her sleeve, but then she gathers herself,
straightens and spots a man chained in one of the cells. She
realizes that he can’t be so much older than she is, she
pities him. What led him to this? To being chained in a
royal cell whilst he could be living his live. The guards
stationed on his cells look at her warily, she just nods at
them and they give her some space but not a lot.
“What is your name?” Arya asks the boy huddled up in the
cell. He looks up at her, his eyes are dark and his hair is
shoulder-length black. The boy stands up and moves
towards her, he is fascinatingly tall for someone his age. His
hands are caressed, which means he is a sailor apprentice,
which also means that he cannot be more than eighteen
years old.
“None of your damn business, bitch.” He hisses and spits
on the ground. Arya chuckles “What do you want? You
seem incredibly young for all of that hatred in your eyes,
boy.” He lunges forward but Arya was quick, she stepped
back “unless you talk, you’ll stay here for some time, kid.”
So much hatred in those eyes, she wonders what happened
to him for those eyes to hold so much hatred and despise.
He looks her up and down and retreats to where he was
sitting when she entered.
Arya turned to one of the guards “He will be allowed no
food until he deigns to speak, understood?” he nods and
salutes “and of course, I do not need to say that no visitors
are allowed unless I grant the permission.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Arya turns around and leaves.
Falcon was indeed waiting for her, he sees her and they
walk together “Did he say anything?” Falcon asks. Arya
shakes her head “the boy is young for all that hatred in his
eyes. He is barely older than I am.” Falcon is confused. “I
ordered the guards not to bring him any food until he
decides to speak and no visitors are allowed unless I say
so.” He nods and she leaves him standing there.

Arya finds Niran in the throne room with Callum. Once she
enters Niran’s eyes move to hers immediately and Callum
bows. “good afternoon, gentlemen.” They both nod and
Callum replies “Good Afternoon, your majesty.” Niran
Chuckles and Arya says “please call me Arya.” Callum looks
at Niran in confusion but Niran only shrugs and says
nothing. Callum turns back to Arya, nods and dismisses
himself.
“You surprised the poor man!” Niran says with a huge smile
on his face. Arya laughs and says teasingly “What?! not all
royals are douche bags” “mhmm” she nudges him in the
shoulder he laughs again.
“how are you feeling today?” Niran asks her. And she
realizes that she probably loves that man more than she
thought she did. Arya moves closer to him and pulls him in
a deep embrace. Niran chuckles and hugs her tighter. Arya
pulls back and looks at his adorable sea-like eyes. “where
have you been all those years, prince?” Niran shrugs
“waiting for you, love.” She beams widely and pulls him in
another embrace.
“disgusting!” a voice said from behind them. They turned
around to see who that person is. Hart. Her father.
Arya sighs and shakes her head. “what do you want?” she
asks him angrily. “last I checked this was still my palace and
also my kingdom, so, I’m free to wonder the hell I want to.
Am I wrong?” Niran went rigid beside her, his jaw so tight it
might break. Arya closes her hand around his, trying to
relief some of his anger. He squeezes her hand back. “oh
my,” her father exclaims. “I see you two are quite intimate
now. How lovely.” Arya releases his hand and moves
toward her father “why do you care?” he shakes his head.
“you’re mistaking my words for caring, I do not care one
moment about who you choose to fuck, girl.” Arya flinches
and Niran plunges forward and hits her father in the face.
He falls to the ground coughing and cursing, but all the
sounds seem to vanish around Arya, she only hear this.
You didn’t even know that your daughter was attacked a
couple of days ago and it almost killed her. That was Niran
and then she heard her father say shame! I wish it did .
Arya heard that and went sprinting to her closure. The
library. She ran and ran and ran, she entered the library
and was welcomed by the dimness and darkness. She sat
behind the door, sinking to the floor gradually and then she
started crying. She felt like her heart might leap from her
chest, it was so heavy.
A knock startled her and she moved aside, so he can enter.
Somehow, she knew it was him, but what she doesn’t know
is how he knew she would be here.
He entered, closed the door behind him and sat next to
her. He pulled her into his lap and hugged her tightly,
fiddling with her hair, calming her down. Arya’s head was
buried in his tunic. She pulled back, looked at his face “I’m
so tired, Niran. I wish he would just accept me the way I
am. I do not want him to l-love me,” her voice cracks “I just
wish he would…s-stop.” She finishes. Niran hugs her again
and this time she holds on to him so fiercely.
Niran carries her and takes her to his room this time. the
guards’ eyes were popping from their eye-sockets. Niran
laid Arya down on the bed and cuddled her to his chest.
She ceases crying, looks up at him and whispers “How did
you know where to find me?” Niran smiles, brushes a kiss
on her forehead and says “you don’t know me at all, love. I
know everything.” Arya chuckles and says “right, of course
you do!”
She sits up a little bit, leans in and brushes a kiss to his lips.
“Thank you, Niran.” He shakes his head and a sad smile
creeps up his face “Never thank me, love. Never.” She nods
and burns back the threatening tears. She settles into his
warmth again and falls asleep.
Chapter 18

A knock startles their deep sleep and Niran Is the one to

leave the bed first. He paddles to the door, rubbing at his
eyes. He opens the door. “what?” he demands. The guard
bows “Good morning, sir.” Niran nods “what?”
“I have some bad news, sir. Can I speak to her majesty?”
the guard asks. “she is asleep, I’ll tell her.” Niran says. The
guard hesitates but then says, “The boy, the offender, was
found dead in his cell a couple of hours ago.”
“how?” Niran asks. The guard shrugs “I do not know sir, I
was only sent to inform her and that she is needed in the
throne room immediately.” Niran nods and dismisses the
guard. He turn around, sighs and head to the bed. To Arya.
He sits beside her, strokes her hair. “Good morning, love.”
He whispers. Arya stretches her arms and yawns “No, some
more time please.” She pleads like a child and Niran laughs.
“Come on, Arya. You have some work to do today.” She sits
up now. “What do you mean? Did something happen?” she
ask warily. Niran nods sadly. “what happened?”
He sighs heavily “the boy who attacked you was found
dead in his cell a couple of hours ago. A guard came to
inform you that your presence is requested in the throne
room.” “how?” she asks. Niran shrugs “I don’t know. Come
on, let’s go and we’ll figure it out.” She nods and gets up
from the bed.
Niran grabs her wrist and turns her towards him, he
crushes her lips with a kiss that cuts off her breath. Her
hands go to his neck and she kisses him back. Something
like longing and pure desire in that kiss. She pulls back and
asks coyly “What was that for?” he furrows “Do I need a
reason to kiss the girl that I love” he asks. The girl that I
love. He said and Arya’s heart danced and her cheeks went
as red as her hair. “I though so.” He says with a smirk.

******

“What happened?” Arya demanded once she entered the

throne room. Falcon was here and so was her father and a
couple of council men. Falcon is the first to speak “We
don’t know yet. But what we do know is that he couldn’t
have snuggled something with him, we checked him twice
a day.” Arya furrows “Do you mean to tell me that that boy
killed himself?” she asks. And the head of the healers’
answers. “the boy has no struggle marks on his body, which
could only mean two things. One, is that he took his own
life. And two is that someone else did, yet that would make
the boy willing to die with zero struggle.” She finishes. Arya
has never seen her before and she is surprised that she is a
female. She is in her late-twenties with chocolate-like skin
and astonishing blue eyes. She is tall and her black hair is
swept in a tight bun that shows her face clearly. She is
wearing breeches and a white tunic that hugs her body
perfectly. Arya looks back at Falcon as if to ask should I
believe her? And he nods.
The healer notices Arya’s hesitation and doubt. She moves
toward Arya, extends her hand and smiles. “I’m sorry, I
know we have not been introduced yet. I am Brena Kestrel,
head of the healers.” Arya shakes her head and smiles
back. “pleasure” she says. Her name sounds familiar,
Kestrel, it’s like she heard it before or even more, she was
accustomed to it somehow.
“so, you’re all telling me that either the boy killed himself
or somebody killed him? And he showed no struggle.” They
all nod and surprisingly her father has not uttered a single
word since she entered. Arya turns to the healer, Brena,
and asks “if he killed himself, what did he use?” “I do not
know yet. I need more time, studying his body, he looks
young and healthy. It’s a shame he had to do all of this in
the first place.” Although the boy attacked Arya and almost
killed her, she pitied the boy, to die so young. For whatever
he was told. It is indeed a shame. “Indeed, it is.” Arya says.
“where is his body?” Arya asks. “they moved it to the
informatory where I’ll take a look at him before they take
the body to wherever they will.” Brena replies. “After
you’re done, I want the body to be returned to the family,
if he has any. They have the right to bury him, a proper
one.” Falcon nods.
“keep me informed.” Arya orders Brena and head to leave,
she looks back at her father, who has still said nothing.
They lock eyes for a second but then she hold the door
knob and heads out.
She finds one of the guards and orders him to find Caiden
and bring him to her. Thirty minutes later, he was back
with Caiden. Arya dismissed the guard. “Your majesty,” he
bows. “How is the ship?”
“it’s still in the beginning but it’s going well.” He replies.
“this ship should be perfect, understood?” she says and he
nods. “you may leave.” She tells him and he exits the
garden.
Arya moves to one of the benches and sits down. She
inhales a deep breath and closes her eyes until she felt
someone’s prescence beside her. And from the smell, it
was not Niran. She opened her eyes and look to her side, it
must have shown how surprised she was because Brena
asked “not the person you thought I would be, right?” Arya
chuckles and nods.
“Can I ask you something?” Arya says and Brena nods. “you
seem so young to be a healer, hell the head of them. How?
And how are you the head and a female?” Arya asks and
Brena chuckles. “I’m good, I’m hardworking and about that
female thing, it’s because I kind of inherited the job. But I
still am good at what I do, if not, then I would be an
apprentice.” Arya nods once more “Your name sounds
vividly familiar, your surname I mean.” Arya points out.
“kestrel, it’s like I’ve known someone with that name
before.” Brena looks at Arya now “My dad used to work
here before me, he was also the one who…treated your
mom.” Before she died, was the words left unsaid.
“Oh,” Arya says, she was not expecting that. “that’s why
then.” Brena give her a sad smile “I’m sorry, I did not mean
to bring this up.” Arya brushes it off “it’s okay. How is he? I
don’t remember him much but I have some snippets of
him.” Brena looks away “Um, he is getting really old and
last year he was very sick. Anyway, he’s alive but he is
paralyzed from the bottom till down.” She says hoarsely.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.” Arya says quickly.
“No, no. it’s okay.” Brena says with a compassionate smile.
“I would love to meet him one day. I’m not sure he
remembers me, but I would really love to. If he would
agree, I mean.” “Sure, he would. I’m actually headed home
now, would you like to come?” Brena asks and Arya
straightens up “Are you sure?” Brena nods “yeah.”
Arya looks down at herself, she is wearing black leggings, a
navy-blue tunic topped with a silver corset that shows her
figure exquisitely. Her hair is loose and is ornated by a
small feather pin. She looks back at Brena, she laughs and
says “you’re fine. Don’t worry.” And Arya thinks that she
just made a new friend.
They leave the palace and Arya orders the guards to not
follow her. they move
“where do you live?” she asks Brena. “I live in Chaska city.”
Arya nods and comments “the city of tides” Chaska is
known for its’ seas and water and over time it became
known as the city of tides. Brena laughs and nods. “you
know I have never been there. I’ve always wanted to but I
never got the chance to go.” Arya points out.
“You’ll love it. I promise.”
After a couple of minutes, a flash of blue and white comes
in view and Arya’s mouth drops open. “Wow!” she
exclaims. The city is very colorful and bright, kids are
running around, playing. The houses are made of White
stone, with blue paint that makes them look like homes
from a fairy tale. The streets are clean and the sea is visible
from almost every side corner and possibly window. People
are welcoming and everyone is smiling and nodding at
them. At Brena. She seems quite known here. “If I weren’t
a princess, I would live here. This is just….exquisite.” Arya
whispers and Brena chuckles “It is, isn’t it?” “yeah” Arya
says, still in awe.
“you seem quite known here.” Arya points out, wanting to
know more. “it’s a small town, everyone knows everyone.”
She says. “how lovely.” Arya replies.
They turn around a corner and a house comes in view. A
middle-size house, also in blue and white, faces the sea. It
has a two-step stairs before you reach the door.
An old man in a wheelchair is on the porch, playing and
laughing with a six-year old girl. “Mama!” the girl shouts
and comes running at Brena. Brena bends and picks up the
girl and hugs her. “Hello, gorgeous.” Brena says and puts
her back on the ground. The girl is beautiful, with skin that
matches her moms and but her hair is lighter and
everywhere. Her eyes are a light shade of ember and she
has freckles all over her face. “Arya, this is Mysie. My
daughter.” Arya bends down on one knee, smiles and
extends her hand “hello, Mysie. I’m Arya.” Mysie’s smile is
adorable, she goes for a hug instead of shaking hands. Arya
is taken by surprise but then she hugs her back. Mysie pulls
back, still smiling “I like your hair.” She says and Arya
laughs “I like yours, too.”
“thanks.” She says shyly.
Arya stands up, looks at Brena “You look so young to be a
mom!” she says and Brena shrugs “it’s a long story.” She
says. “Come on, my dad is definitely curious about you,
he’s been eyeing you since he saw us.” They move towards
the porch, she reaches her father, kisses the top of his
head. “Papa, this is Arya. Arya Hart.” His eyes widen at the
mention of her full name. Arya extends her arm “Pleasure,
sir.” She says. He shakes her hand and says “the pleasure is
all mine, lady.”
“please, call me Arya.” She says way too quickly and he
laughs. Something in his face radiates with kindness and
Arya is sure that he never saw any kindness from her
father. His hair and beard are all white, he has the same
skin color as Brena and also same eyes.
Mysie goes up to him and sits on his lap, he smiles and
tickles her. Her laugh is contagious. Arya looks at Brena
nervously but Brena only gives her a reassuring smile and a
pat on the shoulder.
“Why don’t you go get Arya a cup of your mothers’ juice
and come back. Huh?” Kestrel asks Mysie and she runs off
inside the house.
He gestures for Arya to sit on one of the chairs opposite
him and she does. She looks at Brena again, she is more
nervous now than ever. “Papa, do you remember Arya?”
he smiles “Of course, I do. But you were more of a child at
the time I last saw you. You’ve grown into a beautiful lady.”
His voice is warm, soft. Like a fathers’ should be and that
sends a wave of sadness to her heart. “how come I do not
remember you that much?” she asks. He nods “you were
so little when you saw me. I’m sure you would not
remember me that well. But I would recognize that hair
and those eyes anywhere.” He says. Arya beams.
“You are the healer that took care of my mom, right?”
“Oh, yes. She was a lovely lady.” He comments and
something like sadness crosses his face.
A moment later, Mysie comes back with an older woman
who must be Brena’s mom. She has the same hair as
Brena’s but her eyes are brown with a tiny honey sparkle.
She looks old but not as Kestrel does. The only indication
that she is old, are the silver strands in her hair.
Mysie hands Arya a cup of something the color of pink-ish
drink. “Thank you.” Arya says to the girl “You’re welcome!”
she replies with such enthusiasm that makes Arya smile
even more. The mother looks wary. she looks at her
husband and he nods to her.
Again, Brena is the one to introduce them. “Mama. This
Arya Hart.” Brena’s mom seems worried, and she has the
right to, how often does the princess of Rava shows up in
one of the citizens homes. Arya senses her concern and
says “I’m not here to cause any harm nor am I here on
orders. I just knew that Sir Kestrel was the one who treated
my mom and I wanted to see him, thank him. Even if my
mom died, he still took care of her and that means a lot to
me.”
Some of her concern seemed to fade, her face relaxed a
bit. “pardon me, dear. It’s just that not every day we get a
royalty at our house.” The mother says with a grin. Arya
shakes it off “Don’t apologize. I understand.” Arya replies
with a soft smile. She smiles again and this time the mother
extends her arm “I’m Zehra.”
“Pleasure, ma’am.” Arya says, shaking her hand.
She turns to look at Kestrel “I know that she died, but I still
want to thank you for all what you’ve done. I’m sure you’ve
done a lot, I do not doubt it, sir.” She bows her head a little
and he moves toward her, hold her hand and looks up at
her “you look exactly like her, and you look like someone
who might’ve been the exact her in your actions. Never
change, young lady. Never.” Tears are running down her
face. She kneels in front of him, so, that she is eye to him.
“Thank you.” Her voice cracks. He pats her shoulders and
gives her a compassionate smile.
“Don’t cry.” A soft, cute voice said from next her. Mysie.
She turned to face her and the girl hugged her once more
and this time Arya hugged her even tighter and laughed.
“Mama says that hugs make everything go away.” She says
when she pulls back. “your mama is a very special person,
Mysie.” Arya stands up and faces Zehra. “you have no
worries from me, ma’am. If you tell me to not come here
again, I would understand. Truly.”
Zehra moves towards her, puts her hands on Arya’s
shoulders and says “you’re always welcome here, Arya.
Don’t take my wariness for cruelty.” Arya smiles and wipes
her tears away. “I better head back, they don’t know where
I am.” She says. She thanks them again and leaves.
Chapter 19

“she looks so much like her mother.” Kestrel says after Arya
leaves. “it’s been so long, wonder what brought her back to
me!” he adds.
“this girl is lonely, kestrel. Something about her radiates
with pain. I can see it.” Zehra says. “I felt it too.” Brena
adds. “the way she was sitting in the garden at the palace
with her eyes closed, like she wishes she would just
disappear. You should’ve seen her face when she knew
that you were the one who treated her mother. Like some
light has returned to her face. Shame, she carries so much
around.” She finishes.
Kestrel sighs “I know Hart and I know even more that after
she died he became the worse father anyone could ever
have.” He says.
“does she know?” Zehra asks him. “No, I don’t think so.” He
replies. Brena raises her eyebrows “did something
happen?” she asks. Her parents exchange a look and then
they look back at her. “is it something to do with her
mom?” she asks and her father nods. “am I allowed to
know?” she asks again. “I honestly do not know, Bree.” her
father says. “is it something she must know?” Brena asks
“You ask too many questions, Brena.” Her mother points
out.
“you’re not gonna tell me, are you papa?” Brena asks. Her
smiles “Not yet, Bree. Not yet.” Brena nods and asks no
more.

******
A body crashed into her, it was one of the fiercest embrace
she have ever had. “Where have you been?” Niran asks and
something like deep concern laces his voice. He pulls back,
looks at her face and his eyes are deeply concerned and
worried. Arya cup his cheek with her hand “Relax, darling.
I’m okay.” She says.
“where have you been Arya?” he asks again. She takes his
hand and leads him to her room. She goes to the window
and looks outside “I was with Brena.” She finally replies. He
moves toward her, hugs her from behind “who is Brena,
love?” he asks. “Brena is the head of the healers here.” She
answers. Niran is still confused. “okay…may I ask why?” he
says carefully. Arya sighs and turns in his arms to face him.
“her father was the healer who took care of my mom
before she…died.” She says. He bends down a little bit,
brushes a kiss on her lips “why?” he asks softly.
Arya shrugs “I don’t know. Maybe I just wanted to see him
a-and thank him even though my mom d-dies.” She
whispers while trying to swallow her tears. He hugs her
tightly and whispers “it’s okay, love.” He whispers into her
ears and she nods in his chest. “How can you be
so….strong?” Arya asks him. “I’m not, it hurts every time
they cross my mind. The mere thought of their absence is
the source of all agony and to know that when I go home
they won’t be there, waiting for me, just rips my heart.” He
replies and she nods so hard because she understands him.
“it’s that pain that keeps you going as much as it breaks
you. But it is something to hold on to.” He finishes “I love
you, Niran.” He smiles “I love you, Arya.” he kisses her, a
kiss full of longing and love.
He pulls back “have you eaten anything today, Arya?” she
furrows her eyebrows “what brought that up all of a
sudden?” she asks “I’ll take that as a no,” he says “come
one” and he heads for the door “have you eaten anything
today?” she asks him. Niran chuckles and turns to face her
“good one. I’ll eat with you, now come on.” She shakes her
head and mumbles “fine.” “such baby, Arya.” he teases her
and she narrows her eyes at him and she punches him in
the stomach “ouch!” he exclaims “you have a tough hand.
I’ll remember never to piss you off then.” He remarks and
she genuinely laughs and moves past him. “you better.”
She shouts and heads to the terrace.
Caroline is sitting in the terrace and the sun is almost gone.
“hello, Caroline.” Arya says once she enters and Caroline’s
head goes straight to Arya’s “Oh, hey.” She says and the
Niran enters and Caroline’s eyebrows go flying into her
hair. “hello brother.” She greets him coyly. He shakes his
“hello, Caroline.” And goes to sit on the table full of
different kinds of food. A servant comes in a puts plates
and cutlery. Arya thanks him and he leaves.
“why are you all alone?” Arya asks Caroline “Oh, I enjoy the
quite. Don’t worry.” She replies. Niran hasn’t uttered a
single word since he sat down. Arya puts a piece of steak
and some vegetables in her plate and when Niran doesn’t
budge, Arya kicks him under the table and glares at him.
Caroline is trying her best not to laugh, and Niran sighs and
leans in to add some food to his plate.
Someone cam rushing into the terrace. Falcon. “Princess,
you have a visitor.” He says and Arya raises her eyebrows
“who?” she asks “Zoraida.” He answers and Arya bolts from
her chair and follows him outside.
“what is it?” she asks once she spots Zoraida in the garden.
“I have some…updates.” She says and Arya nods as if to say
go on. “I went to the harbor myself and something about
its waters was severely off. Like it was dark, evil.” Zoraida
says.
“what do you mean evil?” Arya asks, her curiosity peaked.
“I know we’ve all heard stories about mermaids and sirens.
And that they’re also supposed to stay stories, yet, when I
looked into the waters I saw something lurking
underneath.” Zoraida replies and Arya laughs. “Oh, you’re
quite serious, aren’t you?” Arya asks when she sees
Zoraida’s serious face. “take me there now.” Arya orders
Zoraida and they head out of the palace quickly.
They reach the harbor and Arya looks at the sea, really
looks. “wow, this does seem pretty evil to me.” She
exclaims. The water is like blue-black, it’s consuming.
What Arya does next is beyond madness. She takes off her
boots and jumps in the water.
Zoraida curses “dammit.”
Once Arya’s head is beneath the surface, she feels the
darkness surrounding her. Hugging her. It’s so dark
although it’s midday now and the sun is burning. She is
feeling eyes on her back, as if some one is watching her.
She turns around quickly at the sound of something
moving. It’s coming closer and closer and Arya holds her
breath.
Two unnervingly beautiful creatures appear before her.
both have pretty tails but one of them has fins for hands,
and very sharp check bones and gills and is naked from the
top of her body and long white hair that flows around her,
her eyes are lovely yet scary. The color of her tail, blue-
black. The other is less sharp, more humane. With dark
black hair and face that look very similar to the human
faces, her body is covered unlike the other one. She has
blue eyes and ravishing purple eyes, her tail and top shells
are also purple.
They both stare at her with a question in their eyes and so
does Arya. She has lots and lots of questions. Myths and
legends are supposed to stay that way, they are not
supposed to turn into reality.
Surprisingly enough they both speak the common
language. What happens next is scary. They grab her arms
and drive her away from the place she landed.
They drove her to a cave at the very end of the harbor, it’s
actually a pretty cave, full of sunlight and clear water. Once
they stop and release her, she goes to the surface for some
air. Her lungs are burning for some fresh air and they go up
with her.
“who are you?” the one with the more humane features
asks, her eyes narrowing a bit. Arya is truly shocked. She
looks at them, confused. “Who are you? What even are
you?” she hisses and moves backward away from them.
“I’m Oceana” the humane one says. “and I’m Azure.” The
other one says.
Arya nods “what are you people? Are you even people?”
“I’m a mermaid” says Oceana. “I’m a siren” says Azure.
Arya’s mouth drops open and she genuinely laughs “Are
you guys kidding me?! Aren’t you supposed to be bedtime
stories or something?” she asks, clearly in shock. “yeah, we
were supposed to be that. But what can I say after all this is
the kingdom of stories and lies, you know?” Azure says.
“kingdom of lies? What do you mean by that?” Arya asks
quickly.
“Oh right. I forgot that that’s not what you humans call it
anymore. What is it called? Rava I think.” Oceana points
out.
“tell me the story” Arya demands, all her fears gone and
now replaced with pure curiosity.
Chapter 20

“once upon a time,” Azure starts “there were two breeds

older than time can ever remember, they lived freely and
ruled upon themselves. The sirens were the powerful
breed and their song could lure anyone who hears it. The
other breed, which are the mermaids, were less…devious
creatures. The mermaids did not harm any man nor even
care about them, they only cared about gold and treasure.”
Azure stops and Oceana continues. “mermaids and sirens
lived among each other as a kingdom, as one people. Until
humanity was born and everything changed since then.”
“how are you guys still here then?” Arya asks
“oh, we were hunted down for several decades until one
king and queen decided that the centuries before were
enough of hunting. So, they decided to put an end to it and
sign a treaty. It was called the treaty of two peoples, it
basically stated that the humans would stop hunting us
down and we would also stop hunting them down.”
“but?” Arya asked. Azure chuckled “smart girl. But decade
after decade, humans failed to keep up their end of the
treaty and some of the rulers started hunting us again.
Until a couple of years back, a king made a deal with us.”
Azure paused and also Oceana completed the rest of the
story. “he allowed us to take a ship every two months or so
in exchange to stop hunting you humans down. And
ofcourse we agreed.” She finishes
“what’s the name of this king?” Arya asks and she already
knows the answer yet she needs to make sure.
“Hart.” Oceana replies and Arya gasps although she knew
it.
“okay, one last question. What do you mean by the
kingdom of stories and lies?”
Azure chuckles “this kingdom was built on stories and now
everything you humans know is a lie. That’s what we call it
nowadays. And something tells me you’ll do too.”
“Now it’s my time to ask.” Oceana says and Arya nods ‘who
are you? And what brought you here?” Arya debates
whether or not to tell the truth or lie about her identity.
They said nothing but the truth, so she has to say it to.
“my name is Arya Hart, I’m the princess of Rava or
whatever you call it.” She says and they both nod in
satisfaction. “I came here because I started noticing ship
disappearing without no logical explanation and I was
seeking one. Although, this doesn’t seem quite logical but it
is something after all.” Arya finishes.
“so, you’re his daughter huh?” Azure asks or points out,
Arya doesn’t know. “yeah..” she says lazily “I wish he
wasn’t though.” She whispers. “anyway. Can you now take
me to the place I jumped from? Or will I have to swim and
get lost?” Arya asks jokingly. “I’ll take you.” Oceana says
and makes to grab Arya’s arm, Arya moves back “I’m not
going to hurt you, princess.” Oceana reassures her “sorry,
not used to all of this.” Arya says back and Oceana smiles
“get ready” then they were below the surface again.
Oceana dropped her at the same place “he was not a bad
man then and he is not now. He is just a lost man and a
broken one. don’t give up on him, princess. He can be
saved.” Oceana whispers and then vanishes.
And a million questions spiral into Arya’s mind. How does
she know him? Did she ever meet him? And most
importantly is how does she know that he is broken?
She breaks the water’s surface and everyone, literally
everyone is gathered. Probably waiting for her.
A hand gripped her arm and hauled her from the water.
Niran’s. “Are you out of your mind?” he hisses while
holding her arm. He grabs a blanket and covers her
shoulders, she is shaking from the cold. “I’m okay.” She
whispers. “Do you even know how long you’ve been
gone?” he asks angrily. “what? it must’ve been not more
than an hour of course.” She says as a matter of fact.
“Look up, Arya.” he motions to the sky, so she does. “oh,
it’s dark.” She exclaims. “you’ve been gone for five hours,
love.” He says and some of his anger starts to reside. “you
scared the shit out of me.” He whispers. They are so close,
chest-to-chest and sharing the same breath. She cups his
cheek “I’m okay, love.” She says and stand up on her
tiptoes and brushes a kiss to his lips. She pulls back and his
eyes are warm now, still a hint of wariness for her but it’ll
never go away.
“I know where the ships have been going and what is the
reason behind their disappearance.” Arya says to him, still
in his arms. Niran nods “let’s just get you back to the palace
for now and make sure you’re okay. Then I’m all yours.” He
says.
“All mine, huh?” Arya teases and Niran smirks “All yours,
love. Always.” Arya’s smile goes feral and Niran chuckles
and head to the palace.
Brena is the one to receive them once they enter the
palace. “what happened? Why are you wet?” she asks
warily. Niran laughs and looks at Arya, waiting for her to
explain. “I, too want to know why is she wet?” Niran adds
and Arya shakes her head.
“okay, okay. Let me get changed first, then I’ll tell you guys
everything you need to know. Deal?” Arya says and rushes
to her room quickly.
She opens the door and finds a man sitting on her bed. Her
father. She halts, furrows her eyebrows and waits.
“what are you doing here?” She asks first. He looks up at
her, he looks drunk as usual. “you know.” He says hoarsely.
“what do I know?” she plays dumb. “oh, don’t play stupid,
girl. You’re smarter than that, better than that. Your
mother raised you better than that.” He yells. “oh so now
we are talking about my mother! Now you want to talk
about it?” she yells back and he stands up, moves toward
her and halts a couple of inches away. “you don’t know
me.” He whispers “and you do?!” she hisses “huh? Answer
me! Do you know me, Hart?” she uses his first name as if
he is not her father. “You know nothing about me just as
much I know nothing about you.” he grips her elbow and
pushes her toward him “you are so foolish, so young and
unexperienced. You know nothing about life, about pain.”
He hisses back.
“oh, I don’t? I don’t know nothing about pain?” she lifts her
tunic and reveals her scars. “this is not pain?!” She yells
“Answer me. God dammit!”
“it’s not the same.” He says and she snorts “no, of course
not. Because I’m not even allowed to feel pain, to feel
alone. Only you, right? Only you.” She hisses at him and he
shakes his head. “why don’t you love me?” her voice breaks
“what did I ever do to you? I did not let her die.” His head
snaps to her direction and a momentarily sadness crosses
his eyes.
He chuckles and leaves the room.
******

Arya wanted to throw some steam off, so, she headed to

the training room. She found a punching bag at the very
right end of the room and went straight for it. She
bandaged her hands and started punching with every
ounce of pain and emotion. Arya is alone in the training
room and this is better for her to take out all of her anger.
“what did that por punching bag ever did to you?” a voice
says from behind her. she turns around and crosses her
arms. It’s Niran. “what are you doing here?” she asks
hoarsely, he furrows his eyebrows and asks “what’s wrong
love?”
“nothing.” She says plainly.
Niran jumps into the ring, throws his tunic on the ground
and smirks at Arya. Arya stiffens “come, love. Let’s blow off
some steam.” He says with a smirk and extends his hand.
Arya moves toward him and takes his hand.
“you want us to…fight?” she asks teasingly. He moves with
such ease that Arya had to shake her head after looking at
his gleaming torso. Arya shakes her head and starts
jumping a little bit. “ready now?” he asks teasingly and
Arya nods “mhmm.”
He plunges first and she dodges him fast enough. “oh,
you’re fast.” She exclaims and he laughs. “and you’re
tough, come on love. You won’t hurt me.” He says softly
and she moves fast and knocks him off his feet and hold
him arm behind his back, her knees digging into his back.
Niran laughs and Arya releases his arm and moves away.
Niran moves again and this time he knocks her off of her
feet, but she is on her back and he is on top of her. “pay
back.” He whispers. She pushes him off of her and now she
is on top of him.
She bends down enough that they’re sharing the same
breath. “you are exquisitely beautiful Arya.” he whispers
and Arya crushes her lips to his and there is something
more to it. Hunger. Like they’ve been looking for each
other for way too long and they finally found who they’ve
been looking for. “where have you been all of those years,
love?” Niran whispers
“looking for you.” She whispers and kisses him again. This
feels like déjà vu, but it’s still as wonderous as ever.
He pulls back “now, are you ready to tell what happened or
not just yet?” he asks while pushing back the hair from her
face. “okay.” She gets off him and sits beside him. She
crosses her legs and sighs. “I know the reason behind the
disappearance of the ships.” She says and he waits for her
to complete. Always the gentleman.
“before I finish what I’m about to say, I would like to tell
you that I’m not crazy nor mad but you’ll have to trust me
on that, okay?” she looks at him with hope in her eyes.
“Always, love. Always.” He says with a smile.
“apparently this kingdom is not named Rava but the
kingdom of stories and lies and not only that but the
reason behind those ships disappearing, including yours,
are sirens and mermaids.” Arya sighs and looks at Niran
waiting for him to mock her, to tell her that there is no
such thing. But no, his face is the calmest face ever. He sits
up straighter and looks at Arya. “how do you know, love?”
“you said I was gone for five hours. Where do you think I
went? I wouldn’t have survived three minutes under water
with no air.” She says with a heavy sigh. Niran nods and
pulls her into his lap. “does your father know?” he asks and
Arya nods. She tells him what the siren did, that he is the
one allowing them to take a ship every once in a while, just
to keep the peace and it happened to be his ship this time.
“that’s not all, is it?” he asks gently and Arya shakes her
head. “before I surfaced the mermaid, Oceana, told me
that my father is not a bad man, that he is just broken and
lost. She told me that he can be saved.” She says and lays
her head on his chest. “everyone is salvageable, Arya. you
just need to know where to start from and never give up.”
She nods “like you did with me. You saved me, love. In
ways I did not know were possible. You helped me even if
you don’t see it, everyday you smile at me, and a new kind
of hope and…and love glimmers in my chest. You are my
salvation, Arya. as much as anyone can be saved anyway.
Thank you. There is no amount of words this world behold
that would suffice my gratitude for having you in my life.”
He finishes. Arya is crying, she lifts her head to meet his
eyes and she sees that he is crying too. This state of his, his
vulnerability in front of her is something so new and
precious at the same time. she brushes away his tears and
whispers in his ears “you are my salvation, Niran. As much
as I’m yours. You cannot even begin to fathom what I’d do
to keep you forever. I never want to lose you. Ever.
Because if I did, then there will be nothing left of me to
save. I’ll be gone just as you, if you left.” She finishes.
They stick their foreheads together and sit in silence and
say no more. Because what more could be said or felt.
Chapter 21

“I have some updates.” Brena says once she enters the

throne room. “what is it?” Arya says quickly. Brena looks
sad, wary even. “it’s about that boy, the offender who
died.” Arya nods and waits for her to continue.
“there were no physical or exterior harm done to the boy
and this shows me that he most probably was poisoned
either he did it himself or someone else did it.” She
finishes.
“in either ways, he must’ve had someone help him,
someone who gave him the poison. Someone inside the
palace.” Arya points out and looks around to examine
everyone’s faces. But nobody shows any sign of shock or
even betrayal except the guard standing at the door of the
room.
“the person who helped that boy better say now where I’m
in a forgiving mood or not and then he shall suffer my
foulness and cruelty.” Arya raises her voice so that
everyone listens. this one guard looks around and stiffens
and Arya notices it and makes a mental note to call for him
later and question him herself.
“okay, fine then. Falcon, I need you to question every
guard, servant, the council members and even my father.”
Arya orders Falcon and he nods.
Arya goes up to that guard. He’s kind of short with dark
hair and eyes. “what’s your name guard?” Arya asks him
boldly although everyone is watching her. “Ward, your
highness.” He says with a shaky voice. “come with me.”
She orders him and heads out.
Arya enters her room with the guard behind her. “which
city are you from, Ward?” she asks.
“I’m from Tallis, your majesty.” He replies quickly. Tallis is a
city that nobody should be born into. A wasteful kind of
city, gloomy and poor. It’s surprising that it still has a
population till now, the number of people living below the
poverty line is uncountable. “do you have family, Ward?”
she says flatly “No, my lady.”
Arya nods and goes to sit at her desk “did you hear about
that boy who died in his cell?” she is playing with him,
trying to get any reaction from him. A clue even. Ward
swallows hard “y-yes.” He says dryly.
“poor boy. Wonder who helped him or who got him and
finished the job.” Arya points out.
“please if you know anything, inform me immediately.”
Arya demands “of course, my lady.” He bows.
“you may leave.” She dismisses him and then calls for
Falcon.
“Falcon, I need you to look up the boy’s family name and
the guard’s also, his name is Ward and he lives in Tallis city.
He says he has no family but something tells me he is
related to that boy.” She orders Falcon.
“yes ma’am.” He nods and leaves.
A knock startled Arya. “Come in.” she says. Brena popped
her head first “Are you busy? Shall I come at another
time?” she asks nicely and Arya stand up “oh, not at all.
Come on in.” Arya replies and Brena opens the door wider
and enters.
“How is everything? And how is Mysie?” Arya asks first.
“oh, everything is great and Mysie has been asking about
you a lot. She likes you.” Brena says and Arya laughs “she is
an adorable kid, really. And I like her too.” Arya says.
“I came to tell you something that probably shouldn’t but I
just can’t keep it a secret.” Brena says with a sigh. Arya
straightens up “What is it?” she asks worriedly. Brena sighs
heavily, closes her eyes and then speaks “just so you know,
I only knew about this a couple of days ago,”
“okay….” Arya says and now she is truly concerned. “it’s
about your…mother” Brena finally says. Arya’s breath
catches and her heart drops. “umm what about my
mother?” her voice is hoarse, scared. “my father told me
that during her pregnancy, she had some….complications.
and although she knew the risks she chose to complete the
pregnancy and risk it. After she gave birth to you, she
developed an illness. This illness cause her heart muscle to
weaken and start to lose it’s efficiently. She knew all that
would’ve happened if she chose to complete the
pregnancy.” Brena pauses.
“so, you’re telling me that…” Arya’s voice breaks and her
tears are running free now. “that I’m the reason my mother
is…d-dead? That she shouldn’t have given birth to me?”
she finishes. Brena looks at the ground, instantly regretting
her decision. “my father has a good reason of hating me
after all.” She chuckles and wipes away her tears “I’m the
one who killed his wife. Of course, he’ll hate me.” Arya
says.
Arya storms out of the room and heads to the main gate.
“get me a horse. NOW!” she orders a guard, he disappears
and comes holding a beautiful black mare and hands her to
Arya.
She mounts the mare with ease and rushes out of the gates
to god knows where. All the sounds seem to fade around
her, the wind crushing her face. After a couple of minutes
of crushing through the kingdom she finds herself on a high
cliff with some noise of crashing waves. She gets off her
mare and moves to the peak of the cliff. Her heart beating
so fast, it feels as if it might jump from her chest. She falls
to her knees, sobbing her heart out. She opens her mouth
and releases the most thunderous and heartbreaking
scream ever. She screams and screams until her throat is
dry and her heart is calm. She looks down at the waves
crashing with the hard rock and just for a moment she
thinks
What will happen if I just close my eyes and let go? What
will happen if I just…jump? Be gone? Of this pain, this
burden, the knowledge that I killed my mother.
She takes a step forward, her heart beat quickening again.
Her hair is flying everywhere from the wind, she takes
another step forward.
One more step and she’ll be gone.
Chapter 22

Day turned to night and back into day again and Arya is still
on that cliff, debating whether or not to forfeit her life right
now. She is sitting on the peak, looking down, all the
sounds are drone out except the sound of her heart and
her mother’s voice Reya. It’s like torture, listening to her
voice over and over again. It’s more torture knowing that
she probably was the reason of her mother’s death.
She looked up at the sky, wiped her tears and took a deep
breath. She looked back at the breathtaking black mare
behind her, she stands up and goes up to the mare. She
pats her gently and then mounts on top of her.
“I wonder what they call you.” She whispers to the mare
and then kicks her to move. They speed back to the palace
and Arya realizes that judging by the sun, that it’s just past
dawn and that she’s been out since yesterday.
Niran. He must be worried sick about her.
The palace gates came into view and so does the many
people gathered on it. And of course, Niran is one of them.
Arya nears the gates and dismounts from her horse, she
hands the reins to the stable boy and gives the mare a
small pat before handing her off.
Niran runs towards her and swipes her off of her feet and
crushes her in a breathtaking hug. She hugs him back
tighter and Niran releases a breath he didn’t know he was
holding. He pulls back, cups her cheek and brushes the hair
out of her face. His face is a mix of worry, anger and
absolute fear. “Don’t you ever do that to me again. Do you
hear me?!” his breathing is raged and his words are laced
with pure worry and fear.
He presses a gentle kiss to her forehead, takes her arm and
leads her to his rooms. Arya still has not uttered a single
word.
“leave us.” Niran orders the maids in his rooms once he
enters. He guides Arya to the edge of the bed and they sit
down.
“where were you, love? I almost died from worry.” Niran
says softly and he truly mean it. Arya closes the distance
between them and joins her lips to his, there is longing and
something like an apology in that kiss. She pulls back, cups
his cheek and he is still stiff. Full of worry.
Arya finds her voice “I, umm, was” she trails off and looks
away, trying to burn back the tears. A hand gripped her
chin and turned her face toward him. ”it’s okay, love. You
can tell me.” He whispers and wipes away her tear by his
thumb. She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes. “I knew
today that…I am the reason my mother d-died.” Her voice
breaks. He puts her hands into his and draws smoothing
circles on the top of her hand. “What do you mean, love?”
“I mean that my mother could’ve chosen not to go through
the pregnancy, she would’ve been alive right now.” Arya
says.
“and you wouldn’t be here? Is that what you’re saying,
love?” Niran asks with such warmth that makes her love
him even more. Arya nods “she would’ve been alive now a-
and he wouldn’t have to hate me that much. Now I
understand, why he…he despises me that much. I killed his
wife, of course he hates me.” She spits it out.
“if you were not born, Arya, I wouldn’t have met you and I
wouldn’t known what love truly feels like. I wouldn’t have
known that no matter what happens, the person can be
saved. I wouldn’t have known what it feels like to love
someone more than anything in this whole universe, I
wouldn’t have seen those beautiful eyes of yours or how
they shine when you’re happy. I simply wouldn’t have
known you, love. And I wouldn’t be alive either.” He
finishes.
“don’t say that. You’ll live until your old and fat.” She
mocks and he laughs. He feels so much love for this girl
sitting in front of and he doesn’t know how to tell her other
than this and his actions. He loves her so much that when
he sees her crying, he wants to rip out anyone who hurt
her.
“we’ll live together until we’re old and fat.” He whispers
and her heart swells. She starts crying again and this time
she moves closer and wraps herself in his arms. He holds
her for as long as they can remember.
“I love you so much, Niran.” She whispers with her head
buried in the space between his neck and shoulder.
“you have no idea how much I love you, Arya. No idea.” He
whispers in her ear and this sentence makes her cry
somewhat even more. But more of a happy cry not a sad
one.
“Never let go of me, will you? Always hold me.” Arya pulls
back and says it to his face. Niran leans in and brushes a
kiss ever so gently to her lips.
“Always, love. Always.” He whispers in the breath they’re
sharing.
 ******
Arya slept till afternoon and when she woke up she found a
note on the pillow beside her saying.
I had some business to attend to and I couldn’t bring
myself to wake you up, you looked so peaceful and
gorgeous.
-Niran-

Arya smiled to herself, yawned and then got out of bed.

She headed to the bathroom to wash her face and maybe
fix her hair a little bit.
When she was done, she left the room and went to
confront the only person who kept the truth from her. her
father. She reaches his door and knocks, after a couple of
seconds an answer came. “come in.” so she did.
She entered the room, its dark as usual. He is perched on
his desk looking at some papers. He doesn’t look up until
she speaks. “I know why you hate me so much now.” She’s
trying to sound confident and strong yet her voice quavers.
“a-and I think you kind of have the right to hate me, you
know?” she completes.
He looks up at her “what exactly are you talking about?” he
says calmly. Arya releases a breath “I-I know that mother
would’ve been alive now if she hasn’t chosen to go through
the pregnancy. And I’m probably the reason of her death.”
She stops and looks at him, waiting for any reaction. He
rests his hands under his chin and sighs “who told you?” he
finally asks.
Arya gathers her voice “Brena. Brena Kestrel.” She says and
he nods. He did not comment on anything she just said
except for who told you! Maybe she deserved that too.
He stands up and moves towards her, he clasps his hands
behind his back. “now you know.” He says roughly and
there is some kind of emotion in his eyes, but she cannot
place it. It’s a mix between grieve and disgust. And she can
bet that the disgust part is towards her. she nods and tries
to give him a smile then turns around and leaves.
Arya runs out of the room and bumps into Brena. “oh,
sorry.” Brena says quickly “it’s okay.” Arya says softly.
An awkward silence stretches between them and Brena is
the one to break it “I’m really sorry, Arya. I shouldn’t have
told you.”
“No, please don’t apologize. I would’ve known anyway,
actually, I want to thank you. For telling me.” Arya says
with a smile and something like happiness and relief
crosses Brena’s face. “Mysie has been asking about you a
lot lately. Why won’t you come around some time later?”
Brena changes the subject. “Are you sure about that? I
don’t think your mom wants me around that much and I
think she actually has the right to worry from me.” Arya
says. Brena shakes her head “Oh, don’t take my mama’s
concern for cruelty. She really likes you, it’s just the
protectiveness of being a mom. You’ll get it when you
become one.” And by that Arya’s cheeks go red and she has
to look away.
A hand closed around Arya’s waist and a kiss is pressed to
her cheek, Brena laughed. She turns around and faces him
“You scared me” she says and Niran laughs. “what are you
guys talking about? And why are your cheeks so flushed?”
he asks playfully. Her cheeks are so flushed because Brena
was just talking about being a mom and the first thing that
came to Arya’s mind was her having Niran’s babies.
“Nothing.” she says while looking down. Arya then turns
around “I’ll be glad to come and visit Mysie anytime, just
tell me when it’s suitable.” She says to Brena.
Brena gives her a smile and nod then leaves them alone.
“what?! Get that sly smirk off your face.” Arya yells at Niran
mockingly after Brena leaves. “what were you talking about
then, love? I’m curious. And I assure you do not want to
hear what I think you two were talking about.” He says
slyly and Arya shakes her head and goes running to the
terrace. Niran laughs and follows her.
He grabs her by the waist and pushes her to one of the
walls, both of his arms around her, resting on wall.
Trapping her. “the thing is, Arya, that if you don’t tell me
then I’ll have to tell you what I’m thinking was told and I
don’t really think you want to hear it…especially here
where everyone can be watching and listening.” He says
and his eye turn hungry, predatory.
“jerk!” Arya says playfully. He leans in closer that their
breaths are mingling. Arya sighs and shakes her head.
“ugh, fine I’ll tell you.” Niran’s smirk goes even wider.
Arya looks away from his face “Brena was talking about her
mom and the she mentioned that I’ll get why her mother
was being protective when I become a…” she trails off
“when you become a what?” he says coyly. Arya rolls her
eyes “when I become a mom.” She finishes and her cheeks
go red all over again.
“you’re blushing because she told you that you’ll get it
when you become a mom?” Niran is quite toying with her
now. She avoids his eyes at any costs. “Arya,” he says
“hmm.” She replies without looking up. “look at me, love.”
He asks her and she shakes her head. He releases a hand
from the wall and uses it to lift her chin to face him, he dips
his head just s bit “having a family with you, love, having
babies who would grow up to be just like their mother is
more than I would ever wish for. I would more than love to
have your babies. Our babies. I’d want them all to grow up
to be like their mother. Strong, brave, kind and forgiving.
I’d be honored to complete my life with you and bare
children with you. What else would I ask from the world
huh?” he finishes
“Really?” Arya whispers.
“with no doubt, Arya. you have to know that growing old
with you and having children is more than I could even
wish for.”
“I would love that so much.” Arya whispers whilst sobbing
and Niran cradles both of their bodies in an embrace.
Chapter 23

Falcon found Arya in the terrace. “I have some updates” he

says. Arya looks to him and nods.
“the boy snuggled something with him and I don’t know
how but we did not notice it.” Falcon sighs
“Are you serious?” Arya shouts in frustration and Falcon
shakes his head
“does he have any family?” Arya asks
“no, that kid was an orphan” Falcon replies.
Arya shakes her head and sighs heavily “give him a proper
burial. And that’s and order Falcon.”
Falcon nods and dismisses himself.
“why is my love looking so sad like that?” Niran says while
kissing her hair. Arya stands up and faces him, he locks his
arms behind her and she rests her arms on his.
“what’s wrong, love?” Niran whispers.
Arya shrugs. “that boy who died, he has no family. He is an
orphan and I ordered Falcon to give him a proper burial.”
Niran pushes her closer and kisses the top of her head
gently. “you did the right thing, love. You always do.”
Arya chuckles and nods repeatedly. She buries her head
into his shoulders and just stays there for a while.
“Arya,” Niran whispers yet there is no answer. Her hands
had slipped from his waist. Niran’s heart is beating so hard
now. “Arya!” he yells and lifts her gently off of him.
No response.
Her arms are so loose and her head is thrown back like she
isn’t even conscious. Niran carries her and rushes to her
bed, he lays her on the bed gently. Niran goes rushing to
the doors.
“I need a healer. Call for Brena. NOW!” he yells at the
guards and they go running.
Niran enters the room again and sits beside Arya, brushing
her hair and whispering “oh, love. What happened.”
Niran is absolutely worried and terrified.
Brena comes running into the room “what happened?” she
asks warily.
“she was in my arms and then she suddenly just… I don’t
know. Fainted?” his voice is laced with worry.
“okay, let me check her. Don’t worry.” Brena re-assures
him. Niran is pacing and flexing his hand.
Brena stands up and Niran rushes to her. “um, she is fine,
don’t worry. She probably just haven’t eaten in a very long
time.” Brena tells him.
Niran scrubs his face with his hands and releases a breath.
Brena goes up to him and pats his shoulder. “don’t worry,
prince. She’s okay. And um tell her to meet me when she is
regains her conscious.”
Niran nods “thank you.” She smiles at him and leaves.
Niran moves to Arya’s side and sits next to her. “wake up,
love.” He whispers and brushes her hair back from her face.
An hour passes and then Arya stirs slightly, Niran’s whole
body is alerted and he helps her to sit up. “slowly.” He tells
her.
“what happened?” she asks hoarsely.
“you nearly caused me a heart attack, love.” He sighs and
sits next to her, hugs her tightly.
“I’m okay.” She assures him.
“you fainted, Arya.” he says, worry still lacing his voice.
“Brena came to see you. She said that you probably haven’t
eaten in a very long time and we are going to talk about
that, I assure you.” He finishes.
She looks up at him and he dips his and brushes a kiss ever
so gently to her lips. “don’t you ever do this to me again,
Arya. Never.”
“I’m sorry.” She whispers and he hugs her tighter.
“I’m gonna get you something to eat and I’ll inform Brena
that you’re awake, she wants to speak to you.” He kisses
the top of her head and leaves the room.
A couple of minutes later, Brena enters the room and
rushes to Arya’s side.
“how are you feeling?” she asks worriedly.
“a little light-headed but okay.” Arya replies and Brena sits
at the edge of her bed.
“Arya,” Brena says and Arya is alerted now.
“what is it?” Arya asks.
Brena moves closer, holds Arya’s hands in hers. “Arya, you
are going to be a mom.”
Arya is shocked and doesn’t reply for a moment, she starts
crying now and laughing at the same time. “are you sure?”
she asks Brena.
“hundred percent. You’re probably a month pregnant or
so.” Brena says.
“oh my god! I’m gonna be a mom” Arya says while sobbing.
“I did not tell Niran, I thought you would like to tell him.”
Brena says.
Arya moves closer and hugs Brena “Thank you.” She
whispers and Brena hugs her back.
“you’re gonna be a mom, Arya.” Brena says happily. “stop
crying. If Niran came, he’ll be worried. Go wash your face
and eat something huh? There’s a baby in there.” Brena
says while patting Arya’s stomach.
Arya stands up and goes to the bathroom and when she
comes back, she finds Niran sitting on her bed with a food
tray in front of him. He spots her standing at bathroom’s
door, he stands up and moves up to her.
“Are you feeling any better, love?” he locks his arms behind
her waist and pulls her closer.
Arya is looking at his face and all she can think about is
you’re gonna be a great father. She is looking deeply into
his sea-like eyes, fighting back the tears threatening to
escape. She pulls him into an embrace and whispers into
his shoulders.
“I’m okay, darling. Don’t worry.”
He pulls back and leads her to the bed, she sits opposite to
him. “come on, you have to eat something.” he urges her.
“okay. Eat with me?” she asks and Niran nods, giving her a
smile and starts eating with her.
“can I ask you something?” Arya says whilst eating.
“sure, love.”
She puts down the fork. “what is something you did with
your parents that made you so happy? Something you
would want to carry on if we had any children.” She
finishes and her heart is racing through her chest.
Niran is confused, he thinks about it for a while.
He chuckles “when I was a kid, my mom used to snuggle
me into the kitchens and we would wear like normal, cheap
clothes, so that we would mot be immediately recognized.
We would bake something, like a cake or even muffins and
then we would take them and go out to Torrine, the
capital, and would give out what we baked.” He finishes
and Niran’s eyes are full of pain and longing. He clearly
misses them so much.
Arya stands up and moves to sit in Niran’s lap, his arms go
immediately around her body and her hands on his face.
He gives her a sad kind of smile and she bends down and
kisses his mouth, a kiss full of longing and…love. He pushes
her body onto the mattress, so he is on top of her.
He leaves her mouth and kisses the place under her
earlobe and the lower and lower to her collarbone, then
back to her mouth again. “I love you so much, Arya.”
“no, I love you even more, Niran.” She challenges him.
“really?” he shoots back.
“uhuh.” She says coyly.
He crushes his lips to hers and she starts moving with him,
it’s like a rhythm and they’re dancing together.
“I don’t know what did I do to deserve such an amazing
person in my life.” Niran whispers in the breath they’re
sharing.
Arya laughs and kisses him again and again and again until
they both fall asleep in each others arms. A promise of a
new future in Arya’s belly and an amazing one.
Chapter 24

Brena took Arya to their house since Mysie keep insisting

that she wants to meet Arya again.
“Did you tell him, yet?” Brena asks enthusiastically.
“No, not yet. I want it to be something special. But I think
I’ll tell him tonight or something.” Arya says cheerfully and
Mysie come running to her.
Arya catches her and they spin around. Mysie falls back
giggling and so does Arya.
“Brena, I’m so happy. It…it feels like some kind of joy has
suddenly filled my soul.” Arya admits.
“yeah, I know that feeling and when you get to hold her or
him, you’ll be the happiest person on earth trust me.”
Brena says with a smile plastered on her face.
Kestrel came outside and Arya moved towards him to greet
him. “Good morning, sir.” She shakes his hand and he
smiles.
“you look happier than the last time I saw you.” He says
and Arya blushes.
“yeah, I am.” She whispers.
“Arya, come play with mee.” Mysie squeals and Arya
laughs.
*****
“Come with me and put those on.” Arya throws at Niran a
pair of regular pants and a tunic.
“what are those?” he asks curiously.
“you’ll understand, just put them on and come with me.”
She beams and Niran changes his clothes and goes up to
her.
She takes his hands and they sneak around the palace until
they reach the kitchens. It’s pretty late, so, they aren’t any
maids or cooks here.
Arya opens the door, look around and then enters. Niran is
very confused now. “what are we doing here? And why are
we dresses up like that?”
“so inpatient.” She teases him and goes to take out all the
ingredients needed to bake a cake.
“okay, come.” She tells him and he inches closer. He slips
his arms around her waist and kisses her forehead.
“will you tell me what’s going on now? And shouldn’t you
be resting? You fainted yesterday.” He exclaims.
Arya rests her arm on his heart “remember when I asked
you about something that you used to do with your parents
and you told me that your mom would sneak you and her
into the kitchen and bake?” she reminds him.
“yeah…” he says doubtfully.
“well, I thought it would be good to re-practice because.…”
she trails off, her heart beating is in the sky.
“because what, love?” he asks gently.
She releases a breath “because you’ll have to do it with our
k-kids. Since there is one on it’s way.” She pats her stomach
and Niran takes a step back. He rubs his face with his
hands.
“Arya, are you serious?” his voice shaky.
“yeah, I am.” She whispers with tears brimming her eyes.
Niran runs up to her, swipes her off her feet and kisses her
ever so gently. He pulls back, crying.
“I think I’m dreaming.” He whispers.
“no, no you’re not. It’s real.” “you’re gonna be a father,
Niran. The best.” She says whilst crying and he presses her
to him closely.
“I wonder what did I do to deserve all of this? To deserve
you.” He whispers.
She pulls back “I love you so much, Niran.”
“I love- Arya’s hands gripped him tightly and turned him
behind her. and then a scream.
An arrow.
An arrow pierced Arya’s chest, Niran caught her before she
fell to the ground. “no, no , no, no.” he whispered.
“what did you do, love?” he whispered angrily.
“hey, it’s okay. I’m okay.” She assures him.
“it’s gonna be okay. I’m happy. I got what I wanted. I got y-
you.” She takes a breath. He cups her cheek. “SOMEBODY
CALL OF A HEALER NOW.” He yells and someone come
rushing in and the back out.
“Niran.” She grabs his attention. “let me go.”
He shakes his head, crying deeply. “I can’t.”
“it’s okay. I will be okay.” She whispers, tears running down
her face. “hold my hand?” she asks him softly.
He reaches for her hand and entwine his and with hers
“y-you have to know that….that I love you and will always
do. I’m more that grateful to have you in my life his past
couple of months, it was the happiest I have ever been, a-
and now I can go knowing that I lived the last months of my
life with the person that captured my heart…” she coughs
blood and he tries to get her to stop talking but she shakes
her head and continues. “and bewitched my soul.”
“my only request of you, Niran, i-is to…live. Please, love. I
need you to live.” She trails off, raises her other arm and
places her hand on his heart. “thank you. A million times
thank you, Niran.”
“no, love. Please don’t go. I need you.” He breaks.
“you will always have me Niran. In here, I will always be in
here.” She pats his heart and he cries even more.
“I’ll see you in the otherworld, love.” She coughs again.
Her hand falls from his chest and her eyes flutter shut.
Niran releases the most splintering scream ever heard. He
doubled over, hugging her and crying his heart out.
“no, it was supposed to be me!” he yells. “not you, never
you.” He breaks again.
“what will I do now, love? I cannot live without you, my
heart will not survive. I will not survive. Pleaseee.”
Brena comes rushing in, her hand went immediately to her
mouth and she started crying.
“she’s gone.” Niran whispered, his eyes full of pain and
void that they shall never be the same again.
Niran stands up, scoops Arya into his arms and leaves the
kitchens. He reaches her father’s rooms and kicks the door
open.
“your daughter is dead.” He announces blankly and then
turns around and heads to her room.
Chapter 25

he laid her down on her bed, bent down, kissed the top of
her head. “I’ll always love you, Arya. no matter where I go
or who I meet, you shall always be the one in my heart.
And that unborn baby that I just knew of, I loved him and I
still do even if I’ll never get to see him. I’ll never forget you,
love. Never.” He whispered into her ear.
“may you rest in peace, love. Until I see you soon.” He
kisses her forehead again.
He heard someone enter the room. Brena.
“did she tell you?” Brena asks.
Niran looks away, brushes his tears away and nods
repeatedly. Brena closes the distance between them and
hugs him.
“I don’t know what to do now” he admits.
“you’ll do what she told you to do. Live, Niran. That was her
only request of you.” Brena told him and he nodded again.
“I’ll clean her up and we’ll arrange something immediately.
You can wait outside if you want.” She says hoarsely.
He nods and leaves the room.
It’s like after she is gone, he cannot find his voice any
longer. He gathers himself and heads to the kitchen again.
He found the arrow and picked it up, looking for any clues.
The arrow was black, and it’s peak was silver.
It was the from the royal weaponry.
Hart.
Could it really be him? At the end of the day, Niran was the
one intended for this shot.
He grabbed the arrow and stormed out of the kitchens and
into Hart’s rooms.
“YOU ARE SUCH A BASTARD! No wonder you were so
shocked when she died instead of me.” He lunged forward
and grabbed Hart by the collar.
“HOW ARE YOU FEELING, HART?” Niran yelled at him.
“tell me! HOW DOES IT FEEL TO KNOW THAT YOU KILLED
YOUR OWN FUCKING DAUGHTER AND UNBORN GRAND-
CHILD!” Hart’s eyes go wide and a sob breaks from his
throat.
“I will not kill you because I know she wouldn’t want me to.
But know this, Hart. I will come for you one day, when you
least expect it.” He releases his grip on him and leaves the
room.
Niran entered his room and started thrashing everything in
front of him. He lost everything in one night. The love of his
life and his child. How can it get any worse.
I cannot do this. I cannot live knowing that I will not see
her again, knowing that I’ll never hear her laugh or that
I’ll never see her eyes sparkle or that I’ll never hold her in
my arms ever again. I’ll never get to kiss her and tell her
that I love her more than anything in this whole fucking
world! Why?!

Someone’s touch interrupted his thoughts. Caroline. He

looked up at her and started crying all over again. She sat
down beside him and embraced her brother ever so tightly
while whispering. “it’s okay. Let It out. I know.”
“she is gone, Caroline. She is gone and I don’t know what to
do after her.” his voice breaks and she hugs him tighter.
Epilogue

A couple of days have passed since Arya’s death and her

funeral. Niran is supposed to be leaving Rava, but his legs
cannot get him to go and leave. He cannot leave the place
where his love lived and where her grave is. How will he
visit her?
So, he decided to do something maybe a bit crazy. Yet he
cannot seem to care anymore.
“Caroline will be the one to rule over Alynthi, transfer
everything to her.” Niran informs Callum.
“I’m sorry?” Callum is shocked.
“what? Did you not hear what I said?” Niran asks angrily.
“No, sir. I did.” Callum replies. Niran dismisses him and
goes to find Brena.
He found her in the terrace, all in black just like him.
“were you able to find me a house?” he asks her as some
sort of greeting. She stands up and faces him.
“yeah, I did. It’s right in front the beach. Just tell me when
you’re ready to move in.” she says softly.
“she would’ve loved it.” Niran whispered, pain lacing his
voice. Brena nods in agreement.
“can you take me there now?” he asks gently and Brena
nods.
They leave the palace and go to Niran’s new house.
“thank you Brena. For everything.” He says. She hugs him
and leaves the house.
Niran grabs a piece of paper and a pen and sits down.
Dear, love:
I miss you so much, Arya. it’s getting harder and
harder everyday without you. It’s like I’m slowly
suffocating day by day. With you gone, I’ve become a
sailor with no home. I’m lost, love. And I need you back, I
need to see your smile that used to brighten my whole day
and those eyes of yours that bewitched me every time. oh, I
miss everything about you, my angel. I don’t know how
will I survive without having you in my arms or smelling
that beautiful scent of yours. It’s like day by day, a piece
of my heart leaves me. You shall always inhabit my heart
and own my soul, I don’t think that I will ever be able to
love another one after you. I told you once, that my heart
was only ever yours to steal and you stole it, you took it
with you forever the day you left and I never got it back. I
will see you in the other world, love. And until then, rest in
peace, love. Until we meet again.
I’ll love you forever.
-Niran-

He rolled the paper and put it into a tiny glass bottle, took
off his shoes and walked towards the sea. He bent down,
kissed the bottle and dropped it into the sea.
“until I see you, my love.” He whispers to the crashing
waves.